...and Aliara has ideas about what to do in that time

By the time they arrived at their room at the Golden Cockatrice, it was all Teysa could do to keep her eyes open. The adrenaline was long gone from her system and her muscles were making their complaints felt. Her knees creaked, her back twanged and her feet felt as though they were encased in lead.

The straw mattress in the corner looked about as comfortable as sleeping on a hedge. Teysa didn't care. She let herself topple forward and sprawled across it.

She had been wrong. It was far less comfortable than some hedges she'd slept under. She didn't care.

Aliara sat at the foot of the bed and pulled off Teysa's boots. She peeled off the long cotton socks beneath and began massaging Teysa's feet. Teysa groaned into her lumpy pillow.

"Ooooaaaghhh, Li, thank you."

"You did great back there, babe," Aliara said. "I'm proud of you. I know that must have been hard."

Teysa shrugged. "It's just a job. It's for the warren." She propped herself up on her elbows and looked Aliara in the face. "You know, it's actually easier for me now than it was before. When I was on the surface, I was doing it all for Agamor, but mostly I was just doing it to eat and sleep indoors. Smite this, rescue that-- it was all for coin for you, right? I told myself that I was different, but I had to eat, too. Now it feels more... honest. Serving the warren is helping to bring about a lasting peace. I'm making a real difference now. So I don't mind getting my hands dirty from time to time. You don't bring a candle outside in daytime, because you don't need it then. You need it when you're going into a dark place."

"Is that what you are, Tey? A candle?" Aliara smiled. "Sorry, that sounded a little mean. But it's ok to live for yourself sometimes. You're a good person. You don't have to keep proving it every day. Sometimes it's ok to do something for the reward. Speaking of..." she laid down behind Teysa and spooned her body against the paladin's. One hand crept across Teysa's waist and slipped past her waistband. Teysa shifted around and grabbed Aliara's wrist.

"Li, I'm tired..."

"Oh, Tey, just let me help you relax," Aliara said, her voice becoming wheedling. "You don't have to do anything, I promise." She looked away, a little bashful. "I'm sorry. I should have asked first. If you just want to rest, that's ok."

Teysa sighed and laid back. "No, it's ok. Just ask next time before you get handsy, ok?"

"Deal," Aliara whispered into Teysa's ear. Her hot breath raised the hairs on the back of Teysa's neck. As her fingers slid along the paladin's hip, her teeth nuzzled gently at her earlobe. Those fingers took their time tracing the swell of Teysa's waist, caressing her navel and sliding downward across her mound. By the time they reached her slit it was already growing damp. Aliara kissed the back of Teysa's head, her neck, her collarbone. The tip of her tongue explored the hollow of Teysa's throat. She peppered her with feather-soft kisses like the fluttering of a moth's wings. All the while, her slim fingers circled slowly around Teysa's moistening lower lips. She parted them gently with her forefinger and slid its tip up and down Teysa's labia. Her thumb brushed against the hood of Teysa's clit and stirred it to wakefulness. She cupped her partner's mons and gave it a delicate squeeze before returning to her circling.

Teysa realized she had been holding her breath and let it gust out of her. Her heart was starting to beat faster. She tried to relax, to melt into the bed and the warm body of her partner. Aliara's fingers were everywhere at once, stroking, teasing, but never daring to take that final step and slide into her wet and waiting channel. She took her time building up Teysa's anticipation. Her pace would increase, faster and faster, rubbing and squeezing and pressing, and then she would slacken off and leave Teysa gasping for breath and seeing stars.

Finally she deigned to show mercy. One finger, held ramrod-stiff, rubbed against Teysa's aching and straining clit. Another curled up inside her and caressed her quivering inner walls. Aliara began to jerk her arm back and forth with great ferocity. She plunged another finger in the swampy morass between Teysa's thighs even as she built up the pressure on the paladin's clit. Teysa ground her pussy against her lover's hand and twitched her hips back and forth. She screwed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth, then cried out in a voice delirious with joy. Her mind went blank for a moment, and all she could feel was the pleasure, a wet hot core of it that spun inside her like a miniature sun. All throughout Aliara did not stop her patient ministrations. She kissed, rubbed and squeezed until Teysa ceased writhing and lay in a boneless, sweaty puddle on the bed. Only then did she withdraw her hand, dripping with sweet juices, and lick each finger clean in turn.

"There," she cooed, inches from Teysa's ear. "Wasn't that nice?"

Teysa couldn't answer. She was already asleep.