A , Regretful Request

“Nnhhh...” Thea whines, leaning heavily onto the bathroom counter. “You need to learn how to hold back...”

“Come now,” Krvavy gently soothes her fiancée, running a brush through the silver-blonde girl’s slowly drying hair. “No need to be so dramatic. I’ve been rougher with you before.”

“Not for that long though...” The bratty girl grumbles back. “I can barely feel my legs...”

“I’ll admit that I got a bit carried away, but can you blame me~?” The barbarian leans forwards, brushing her cheek into the back of her beautiful brat’s head. “I was playing the part of a wild dragon who got to ravish and use the most beautiful princess who ever lived~!”

A blush colours Thea’s cheeks, even as she rolls her eyes. “Excuses, excuses... Our acting was no where near good enough to get lost in.”

“Really? I thought we did great.” Krvavy calmly states, smiling at her fiancée’s imperfect reflection. If only they had actual mirrors in here, and not just polished copper sheets. Still, Inanna did an amazing job with what little resources they have...

“Your acting was atrocious.” The bratty girl plainly states. “If we had a script, you would have gone off of it multiple times. You shifted between loving and cruel far too flippantly.”

Krvavy smiles and softly shakes her head. “Hey, that’s hardly my fault. You are the one who wanted me to be a bit rougher than usual~!”

A deep red flush fills Thea’s face as she refuses to respond.

“What, have nothing to say to that~?” The barbarian playfully nudges her little princess in the back. “Or are you just too embarrassed to admit that I gave you exactly what you asked for~?”

“Ugh...” The bratty girl slumps forwards, hiding her growing blush with a cascading curtain of silver-blonde hair. “Are we done here...? I just want to lie down...”

“Mmmm... Alright, I guess so.” Krvavy nonchalantly puts away the brush. “Want me to carry you to bed?”

“Couch, please...” Thea sighs back, straightening out the towel wrapped around her body. She turns her head to the side and refuses to meet the Drakling’s gaze, even as she is scooped up into the dickgirl’s strong arms.

“You look pretty cute with your hair down like this~.” Krvavy’s casual comment causes the bratty girl’s blush to intensify. “But...” She drags that word out, crossing from the bathroom door all the way to the segmented couch. “I prefer your braids more~.”

Thea’s blonde brow furrows as her soft-blue eyes glare up at the Drakling. Her cheeks burn brightly as she is very gently lowered onto the padded moss cushion. Her lips press together into a pout as she grabs one of Krvavy’s lower horns, pulling her inhuman fiancée in for a kiss. “I love you,” she almost reluctantly mutters out, immediately her head to the side. “Now go away and leave me in peace...”

“I love you too.” Krvavy calmly and confidently states, smiling as a bit of colour fills her own cheeks. “Want me to move your book closer? So you don’t have to get up to grab it?”

“Ughh... No.” Thea dismissively waves her hand, before lazily resting that arm across her face. “I have had enough of that thing today...”

“Alright. See you later, my fiancée~.”

“Hmph...”

A wide smile fills the barbarian’s face as she leaves the living area. The stone steps down to the first floor are a little cool beneath her feet. Huh. Maybe that is something to ‘fix’ before winter? Just for comforts sake?

Steamy hot spring air surrounds Krvavy as she follows the path down from their home.

Even though she just showered, a part of Krvavy kind of wants to just laze about in one of the wonderfully warm pools... Suppose she is a bit tired after all that ‘acting’, even if Thea’s magic kept her energy up pretty well...

The barbarian’s thoughts trail off as she turns the last corner, close to exiting out of this cluster of hot springs.

Beryl is sitting up ahead, facing away and staring off into the darkness towards the faintly glowing lake in the center of this expansive cave. Thin trickling waterfalls flank her long legs as she rests on the edge of a fairly short ‘cliff’.

“Hey.” Krvavy greets her Elf, smile fading as she doesn’t get an immediate response. “Everything okay?”

“{Can we talk, Krvavy?}”

The Drakling’s stomach turns as she hears her usually cheery tomboy’s rather strained tone. “{Yeah, of course.}” She replies, speaking the Wood Elf’s native language. “{What, uh, what’s bothering you...?}”

Beryl jumps down from her seat. “{Not here. Let us go somewhere a bit more private first.}” Without even glancing towards Krvavy, she begins walking deeper into the cave, not following a path but instead the river that runs past their home.

“{Did I –?}”

“{No, my dearest love.}” The tanned Elf’s tone is uncharacteristically blank as she sighs out and silences her Draconic lover. “{You did not do anything. This is... me.}”

Krvavy bites the inside of her cheek as she follows the Wood Elf towards another cluster of hot springs further upstream, growing increasingly anxious with each step she takes.

“{Here.}” Beryl walks past two ponds before stepping into a third. The bubbling water rises up past her bare breasts as she sinks down, gesturing for Krvavy to do the same.

The water here is noticeably hotter than the pools beside their home, but not uncomfortably so.

“Ah’m sorry fer worryin’ ya.” The lithe Elf’s blue-green turn to look away, unable to meet the gaze of her lover sitting across the medium-sized pool. “Ah... Ah really am...”

“No, it’s... it’s okay.” Krvavy responds, tail idly swishing back and forth beneath the surface. She wants to hug and comfort her Elf, but can clearly tell that, for whatever reason, Beryl needs some space right now. “Is this about... whatever has been keeping you busy these past few days...?”

Beryl visibly winces. “Ah’d like ta tell ya a bit about my last love.”

Krvavy bites her tongue and nods, letting the Elf get away with dodging the question.

“She... ‘er name was Eirlys. And from wha’ Ah’ve told ya, ya probably think she was whisked away by slavers from right under my nose, aye?” Beryl pauses, but obviously isn’t expecting an actual answer. “Tha’... isn’t really true. We were separated at the time. She... Ah pushed ‘er away, even though tha’ was the last thing Ah’d ever want ta do...”

The barbarian shuffles in place, wanting more and more to pull Beryl into her embrace.

“We still loved each other, even if we argued, but she... she thought tha’ we could use a bit o’ space. Because Ah... Ah... She wanted what was best fer me. She didn’t want ta get in the way o’... o’...”

Krvavy’s heart twists as she watches a tear roll down her hurting Elf’s cheek. That pang grows more intense as she sees that the whites of Beryl’s eyes are already pinkish, not quite bloodshot. “You don’t hav –”

“No, Krvavy.” Beryl’s weak voice grows firm for just a moment. “Ah do. Ah...” She shudders and pushes herself up, shakily making her way through the pond to sit by Krvavy’s side. She slowly exhales, resting her head on the barbarian’s breast as a strong arm tightly wraps around her shoulders.

The two sit there for nearly a minute, listening to the sound of countless little waterfalls and flowing streams.

“Do ya remember wha’ Ah told ya about my people...?” Beryl hesitantly speaks up, reluctantly breaking the silence. Her tone sounds... slightly strained. As if she was procrastinating and beating herself up because of it.

“Kind of...? It was... some time ago.” Krvavy gnaws on the inside of her cheek, feeling slightly frustrated. Both with herself, for not having a perfect memory, and at her meandering tomboy, for not getting to the point. But... that impatience eats at her heart. It makes her feel like an asshole. “I remember you talking about how, uh, fantastical the forests are,” she slowly breathes out, letting Beryl take this conversation at her own pace. “That there are entire regions ‘stuck’ in specific seasons or times of the day. You grew up in an area that was always spring. Is that...?”

“Ach, no, Ah... Don’t feel bad fer not rememberin’ fully.” The tanned Elf almost pleads, grasping onto the Drakling’s hand. “Ah think tha’ Ah only mentioned it once, so it’s not yer fault...” She pulls that hand up against her slim chest, hugging it tightly. Her heart is beating quickly. “My ‘omeland is governed in two parts: the Earls and Margraves rule over the people, while the Dryads rule over nature. My lost love ‘ad a career under a Margrave, and Ah under the Dryads. Our duties kept us apart at times, and tha’ only became more true as the years went on.”

The Drakling gives her sweet berry a gentle squeeze, unsure of what else she could possibly do to comfort her Elf.

“When it came ta our careers... Ah... Ah ‘ad more o’ a future than Eirlys did.” Beryl shrinks slightly as she says that, hating herself for that truth. “But as Ah advanced, we’d ‘ave less and less time ta spend wit’ each other. So Ah didn’t want ta advance, ta get ‘promoted’. But Eirlys felt like she was ‘oldin’ me back. Tha’ is why she took a job in the borderlands, ta show tha’ we didn’t need ta be at each others’ side all the time. Tha’ is why she was out there, in a place where she could be kidnapped and enslaved... Where she w-was...”

“You can’t blame yourself for that.” Krvavy softly whispers out, planting a tender kiss atop her tomboy’s head.

“No, Ah can.” Beryl takes a deep breath and harshly exhales. “Ah spent years ‘esitatin’. She gave me warnin’ after warnin’ after warnin’. But Ah never listened. Ah pushed off my... my ‘promotion’... fer well over a decade. Ah caused the strain in our relationship. Ah was the problem. If Ah wasn’t such a... such a coward, then...”

The Drakling pulls her shuddering Elf even closer, dragging Beryl into her lap. “Shh... It’s okay... You’re not –”

“Krvavy,” the Wood Elf’s voice wavers, sounding pained as she pushes back against her Draconic lover’s embrace. “Ah never told ya wha’ Ah was before exilin’ myself, did Ah...?”

“I... I think that, back when we ‘fixed’ Khalia, that you said you were a, uh... a priestess in training?”

Beryl winces. “Not... not exactly. My fate wasn’t tha’ o’ a mere priestess. Ah was... Ah was in trainin’ ta be a Dryad. Ah was selected fer one o’, if not the greatest o’ honours tha’ my people can bear, and Ah all but rejected it. Few ‘ave ever turned tha’ down. And Ah... Ah pretty much did. Fer a woman. A woman who blamed ‘erself fer it. A woman who felt like she was ‘oldin’ me back...”

“This...” A shiver runs down Krvavy’s spine. Her throat feels... clogged. Her tongue swollen. She struggles to speak as her mind jumps to conclusion. “This isn’t really about Eirlys, is it...? Not... not entirely, at least...”

“Ah’m sorry fer... fer not bein’ straightforward...” The tanned tomboy’s shoulders slump, limply leaning into the barbarian’s body. Her forehead presses into Krvavy’s collarbone as she sinks into the steaming water. “Ah... Ah just... Ya are eclipsin’ me, my dearest love.”

“I... I know you’re worried about that.” Krvavy gently trails a finger across her Elf’s cheek, cupping Beryl’s chin and coaxing the despondent tomboy’s head up. “I’ve told you this before, and I’ll tell it to you again. You don’t need to be powerful for me to love you. You won’t be a burden no matter how ‘weak’ you feel compared to me. You’ve done so much for us, for me and the others, already. You’re not useless. You’ll never be useless.”

Beryl’s blue-green eyes waver but remain downcast. “Ah don’t want it ta ‘appen again... Ah don’t want ta lose ya... Ah don’t want ya ta lose me... Ah –” The Wood Elf woman abruptly cuts herself off, teary gaze snapping up to meet the Drakling’s emerald eyes. “Are ya goin’ ta take Rina’s offer or not?” She asks – no... She demands an answer.

“What?” Krvavy blinks, feeling whiplash from that sudden question.

“Will ya take the job or not?” Beryl’s hands grasp at the barbarian’s body, quivering with an odd intensity. Her voice is firm but unsteady. Stilted. Determined. “Answer me, Krvavy. Will ya be leavin’ in a week, and be gone fer a month?”

“I... Maybe...?”

A crazed twitch pulls at a corner of the tanned tomboy’s eye. She slowly rises up from the water, looming above the Drakling. “Yes. Or. No. Ah need ta know. Please...” Her pert breasts rapidly rise and fall with each shallow but quick breath she takes.

Krvavy audibly swallows. “I... Adeline seems alright and is okay with it, so... Y-yes...? Yes.”

Without warning, Beryl completely collapses. She splashes back down into the steaming water, going limp in her Draconic lover’s arms.

“What’s going on?!” A tinge of panic fills Krvavy’s thoroughly worried tone. Her strong hands grab onto the Elf. Beryl looks so... so tired and frail. “Please, just... just tell me...”

“There’s not enough time... Ah don’t... can’t... Not now...! Ah’m sorry...! Ah’m sorryy...!” The Elf openly sobs, burying her face into the crook of Krvavy’s neck, bumping the lower horn out of her way. “Please, Krvavy...! Order me ta... ta drop it...! Ta not speak about it...! Ta forget about it all...!”

“No!” The barbarian recoils at her Elf’s suggestion, pulling Beryl back so that they are face-to-face. “I’m not going to –!”

“Please! Please...! Ah... Ah can’t do this...! Ah thought...!” Beryl’s hands weakly grab at Krvavy’s wrists, doing little more than steadying herself. “Please... The collar... Let it... Please...! Please... please...”

Krvavy’s throat goes dry. Her heart twists into a knot. She takes a deep breath and slowly exhales. “Beryl. I order you to...” A glimmer of melancholic hope enters the Elf’s watery eyes, even as the Drakling grimaces. “To tell me what the problem really is.”

Horror and despair twist Beryl’s beautiful face. “Ah’ve spent years – decades upon decades – o’ my life wastin’ my potential.” Each word is a struggle, pained and hesitant. But being **** against her will to talk also seems to bring her a modicum of relief, whittling away at her inner torment. “Ah was supposed ta become a Dryad. My talents lay in tha’ direction. If Ah want ta grow stronger, Ah ‘ave ta go through wit’ it. Ah’ve already prepared the ritual. It’s the only way fer me ta... ta... ta be more... The only way...”

Krvavy’s brow furrows with worry. But not surprise. “And... what does becoming a dryad entail...?” A part of her doesn’t want to know, but the rest needs to hear the answer. If it was easy... if it was inconsequential... then Beryl would have gone through with it long, long ago. And even just speaking of it wouldn’t hurt the Elf so much...

“Ah’d become more powerful. Ah’d be able ta protect yer ‘ome, yer other girls. But Ah’d change.” Beryl quietly breathes out, her voice growing weak and exhausted. “Ah’d... Ah’d stop bein’ a woman o’ flesh and blood. Ah’d die and be reborn. Ah’d be bound ta my grove, ta this place, ta yer land. Ah’d see things differently. Ah’d... Ah might no longer be me.”

“So it’d be like with Khalia, but...”

“More. More. Way more.” The caramel coloured Wood Elf rocks back and forth as best she can with Krvavy’s hands holding her firmly beneath the arms. “So much would change... Ah... Ah can’t make the decision... Ah couldn’t then, Ah can’t now... Please, make me drop it... Make me forget... Fer both our sakes...”

“Beryl.” Iron underlines Krvavy’s tone. Iron and regret. “Tell me what you really want. Do you want to be a Dryad? Do you want to put all that aside and stay as you are now? I love you, Beryl. I love you. I’ll love you no matter what you pick.”

“Ah...!” The Elf quivers and seizes, her tanned skin paling visibly as she struggles to even breath. “Ah... Ah... Ah...! Ahg...! Akgh...!” She chokes. A trickle of blood leaks from her left nostril, flowing over her parted lips.

“Stop!” Krvavy shouts out in panic, sighing in relief as Beryl’s seizing stops. “What...?!”

“S-sorry... Ah’m... sorry... Ah can’t... Ah can’t...”

The barbarian hugs her weakly whimpering Elf. “Beryl... You... you have to stop beating yourself up over this...”

“Ah... Ah know... Ah know... But Ah can’t... Ah...” The tomboyish Elf trembles. “Please, decide fer me... Take this pain away... please...”

Krvavy’s lips press together, forming a thin strained line. A tense, uncomfortable silence surrounds the two of them for more than a minute. Eventually, Krvavy sighs out, eyes unfocused and staring off into nothingness. “Beryl. You’re going to go through with it.”

The Elf violently pushes herself back from the barbarian, scrambling across the pond and out of arms reach. “What?! No! Why?! Please! N-no!”

“Quiet.” Krvavy coldly orders, angrily focusing her gaze towards Beryl. “You had your chance to decide, but you couldn’t! You’re making me pull the trigger! And I...! I don’t want an empty, obedient doll...! I love you Beryl...” The Drakling’s rage flickers and fades. “I hate that we only have a relationship because of that collar. I... I can’t rely on it to ‘fix’ this. I can’t just paint over your problems and pretend that everything is fine. You... you’ve left me with ****, Beryl.”

“But...! But wha’ if Ah’m no longer me!? Wha’ if Ah no longer love ya?! Ah can’t lose ya too...!”

The Drakling sadly shakes her head. “Then... then so be it. As long as you aren’t in pain. That’s all that matters. We’ll rip this bandage off together.”

Misery and agony swirl together into Beryl’s bloodshot eyes. “When we first met... ya were horrified with the thought o’ tha’ collar ‘avin’ ‘killed’ who Ah was before, o’ it ‘avin’ stripped away who Ah was and leavin’ me in ‘er place.” Regret and spite fills her gaze as she seeks to share her pain. “And now you’re willin’ ta do just tha’ all over again.”

Krvavy glares at her manipulative Elf. “If you don’t want this to happen, then say so. Don’t just protest and complain. Don’t guilt me into changing my mind because you couldn’t make up your own. Be honest. With me and yourself.”

Beryl immediately turns her gaze away. Her tone softens, growing weak and pathetic. “Please, Krv–”

“You said the ritual is already prepared?” The barbarian interrupts that pleading whine. “When can we go through with it? When would be the best time to do it?”

“When both moons are new, tha’ would be best.” Beryl sighs and gives in, slumping down and relaxing as she truly surrenders to this decision. A decision made for her, at her **** request. “But... tha’ is around the time ya’d be arrivin’ in wha’ever city Rina wants ta bring ya ta. It doesn’t... need ta be on tha’ exact date though. We’re close enough now fer it ta work just fine. We can... do it tomorrow. Tomorrow afternoon.”

Krvavy slowly nods her head. Much like her sweet berry, she too slips further down into the water, growing tired and heavy. “Where... where will your grove be? Down in the grotto?”

“No. Over there.” The Wood Elf woman weakly points further into the cave, further into this cluster of hot springs. “It is a... a nice spot. Full o’ life magic from the waters. Peaceful, if a bit loud. Ah couldn’t... Ah couldn’t claim a spot in the very center o’ our home. Out ‘ere is... perfect.”

Krvavy nods again, unsure of what else she could do. “Is there anything I can help with? Any last minute... things... you need a hand with? I don’t want this to... to go wrong.”

“Not... not now. But tomorrow... Ah’ll need yer ‘elp tomorrow. Ya’ll be a part o’ it, my dearest love. This isn’t somethin’ Ah can do on my own.” Beryl slowly massages her forehead, ignoring the few tears that continue to trickle down her cheeks. “Just... be there. Ah’ll explain more when we’re ready. All Ah can ask is... is fer ya ta be topped up with mana. Ah’ll... need a lot o’ it...”

“Right... Beryl, I’m... I’m sorry.”

“So am Ah, my dearest love. Ah’m sorry about so many things. Least o’ all ‘ow ‘ard Ah’ve made this fer the both o’ us. If Ah...” The Elf clicks her tongue, and buries her face into her hands. “This should’a just been a calm conversation, but Ah couldn’t... just couldn’t be straightforward. Ah couldn’t make up my damned mind. Despite everythin’, guess Ah’m still the same girl Ah was all those years ago... Ha, ha... ha...”

The bubbling water swishes around as Krvavy pushes through it, moving to sit beside Beryl once more. Without a word, she wraps her arms around the Elf.

“As sick as it is ta say... Ah’m ‘appy ta... ta be bound by tha’ collar...” Beryl quietly mutters out. “Ah wouldn’t ‘ave ya without it. Ah would ‘ave just... just pushed ya away without it keepin’ me in line...”

“Mmn.” The Drakling simply hums back, unable to bring herself to agree but also unable to fully disagree.