"Took you long enough." Mother teased in that way only a mother could. "Dinner should be ready in a few minutes."
I stared at my mother for a moment, not really knowing how I felt about her reaction. Her quick acceptance was definitely welcome, if a bit disappointing. I thought mothers were supposed to make a big deal out of this kind of thing.
"Oooh! there is one more thing, though." Mother called out, her smirk shifting from motherly to malevolent. "I will need you to start wearing this if the two of you are going to continue sharing a bed." She held up what looked to be a pair of metal underwear as she finished her demand.
Utterly stupid, I wasn't paying attention to the words that left my mouth. "Why do you just have a chastity belt?"
Mother giggled devilishly and gave a quick reply. "Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to."
Pure instinct took over as the next word came out of my mouth: "Yes, Mother."
I tried to hide behind Asra as Mother advanced toward us, a malicious grin dominating her face. Luckily, she didn't make it very far, though, bursting into a fit of giggles about halfway to us. The chastity belt broke into motes of moonlight as she let go of it.
I just stared at her as she devolved into a heaving fit of laughter. At first, I was utterly bewildered by her antics, but slowly, a dawning sense of realization washed over me. She had done 'similar' things when I was young. Well, as similar as joking about forcing me into a dress or chastity belt could be.
"Sorry, sorry, I couldn't help myself." Mother managed to force out as her laughing fit came to an end. "Back when I was your age, mothers could be quite... insistent on preserving their daughter's chastity. Personally, I don't really care, especially since you're already adults. Do try to be a bit careful though; blessed of Eluna tend to have 'special' fertility."
"Special?" The question slipped out of my mouth before I had even realized what I had said.
Giving an affirmative hum, she bent down to check something in the oven. "It's not really something that has clear-cut rules, but being the goddess of motherhood, Elunas blessed tend to find themselves becoming mothers. Most of her minor blessings tend to make some kind of alteration to the blessed's reproductive ability." I felt a bit stunned, somehow having not expected that. It made a bit too much sense in hindsight.
My mind wared between two incompatible urges. The first was my unquenchable thirst for knowledge. The second being the soul-crushing embarkment of talking to your mother about anything even remotely sexual. In the end, knowledge won out.
"What kind of alterations?" The words came out with a skeptical interest.
"They're different for each person. I was given a choice." Mother began to explain. "Shortly after the previous champion passed, Eluna appeared to me. She offered me a choice. She could leave, and everything would be as if the meeting had never happened, or I could take all of her followers as my children, losing the ability to have any of my own and become her champion. In return, I was granted the ability to perform a ritual that could make a willing participant 'of my blood.'"
"Wait." As I listened to her explanation, my mind latched on to one thing. I needed to know. "D-Did you... am I..."
Mother turned away from her work to look at me, a smile so warm it almost felt like it could burn you on her face. "I had planned to. I was going to offer it to you on your 15th birthday, but... things got in the way. I thought it would have been a nice way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of me taking you in."
As seemed to be the case far too often these days, I had absolutely no idea how to feel about that. A large part of me was just happy that she had wanted me to be a child, not just in name but in blood. Still, deep down, a part of me seethed at what had been taken from me. The life I could have had.
Pushing those thoughts as far away as I could, I tried as best I could to ask the one question I needed to. "Could we..."
Thankfully, Mother was able to interpret my barely coherent half sentences. "If that's something you like, then absolutely."
I don't really remember what happened for most of the rest of the night. I think I was crying for a good portion of it, but I was a bit too overwhelmed to tell for sure. On top of everything that was going on, it felt like everything I had ever wanted was happening all at once. It was going to take a while to get used to actually feeling my emotions, wasn't it?
The next thing I knew, I was already halfway through getting ready for bed. The loud clunking of the bedroom door behind me caused me to jump. Spinning around, I found Asra standing in front of the door.
"Well, look who's back." Asra teased a playful smirk on her face.
Reaching back, I grabbed the hair at the back of my skull. I looked at the ground; I didn't want to meet Asra's gaze. "Sorry. It all just became a little too much."
"That's not something you need to apologize for. We all can get a little overwhelmed sometimes. Some are just better at dealing with it than others." Starting with a bit of a giggle, Asra explained with all the compassion in the world.
"Okay." I didn't really know what to say, so instead, I just said the first thing that came to mind. Then suddenly, I remembered something quite urgent. "Did I ever take the blade out of the sealing slurry?"
"I just took care of that." I must have had a rather skeptical look on my face because she let out an annoyed sigh before continuing. "It's not that hard. I've watched you do it a million times. All you have to do is wipe all the sludge off the blade and hand it to dry overnight. It's literally the simplest part of the process."
"Sorry, sorry. It just wasn't something I expected." I explained.
"Again, that's not something you need to apologize for." Taking a step toward me, a mischievous smirk spread across her face. "You know, you forgot something yesterday."
"I did?" I asked, not remembering anything I might have forgotten.
"Yep." She replied as she continued her advance, putting extra emphasis on the P.
Nervous because of whatever Asra was planning, my next words came out a bit stilted. "Would you remind me what that might have been?"
Looking like the cat that caught the canary, she was now only inches away from me. "Why, you're reward, of course." She said in a tone that did things to me, cupping my chin in her hand.
"Reward?" I squeaked out, not knowing what to do as her face was getting closer to mine.
Then, with a sudden burst of realization, I remembered something. Holly shit, the kiss. I'm not ready for this. But it was already too late. Her lips met mine, and nothing else mattered. I gave into my instincts as a pleasant warmth washed over me. Luckily, I didn't burn the bed.
gNatonthewall Hello everyone. I doubt many of you were expecting this. I was struck with a bit of inspiration for this story. I mainly wanted to put this into a more stable place for what's turning out to be a much longer hiatus than I had originally expected. September Swords will return in future. Right now, I'm just trying to get a bit further into Bound in Steel before I come back to this story for any extended period of time. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Thank you for reading, commenting, and favoring. Have a nice day.
"Took you long enough." Mother teased in that way only a mother could. "Dinner should be ready in a few minutes."
I stared at my mother for a moment, not really knowing how I felt about her reaction. Her quick acceptance was definitely welcome, if a bit disappointing. I thought mothers were supposed to make a big deal out of this kind of thing.
"Oooh! there is one more thing, though." Mother called out, her smirk shifting from motherly to malevolent. "I will need you to start wearing this if the two of you are going to continue sharing a bed." She held up what looked to be a pair of metal underwear as she finished her demand.
Utterly stupid, I wasn't paying attention to the words that left my mouth. "Why do you just have a chastity belt?"
Mother giggled devilishly and gave a quick reply. "Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to."
Pure instinct took over as the next word came out of my mouth: "Yes, Mother."
I tried to hide behind Asra as Mother advanced toward us, a malicious grin dominating her face. Luckily, she didn't make it very far, though, bursting into a fit of giggles about halfway to us. The chastity belt broke into motes of moonlight as she let go of it.
I just stared at her as she devolved into a heaving fit of laughter. At first, I was utterly bewildered by her antics, but slowly, a dawning sense of realization washed over me. She had done 'similar' things when I was young. Well, as similar as joking about forcing me into a dress or chastity belt could be.
"Sorry, sorry, I couldn't help myself." Mother managed to force out as her laughing fit came to an end. "Back when I was your age, mothers could be quite... insistent on preserving their daughter's chastity. Personally, I don't really care, especially since you're already adults. Do try to be a bit careful though; blessed of Eluna tend to have 'special' fertility."
"Special?" The question slipped out of my mouth before I had even realized what I had said.
Giving an affirmative hum, she bent down to check something in the oven. "It's not really something that has clear-cut rules, but being the goddess of motherhood, Elunas blessed tend to find themselves becoming mothers. Most of her minor blessings tend to make some kind of alteration to the blessed's reproductive ability." I felt a bit stunned, somehow having not expected that. It made a bit too much sense in hindsight.
My mind wared between two incompatible urges. The first was my unquenchable thirst for knowledge. The second being the soul-crushing embarkment of talking to your mother about anything even remotely sexual. In the end, knowledge won out.
"What kind of alterations?" The words came out with a skeptical interest.
"They're different for each person. I was given a choice." Mother began to explain. "Shortly after the previous champion passed, Eluna appeared to me. She offered me a choice. She could leave, and everything would be as if the meeting had never happened, or I could take all of her followers as my children, losing the ability to have any of my own and become her champion. In return, I was granted the ability to perform a ritual that could make a willing participant 'of my blood.'"
"Wait." As I listened to her explanation, my mind latched on to one thing. I needed to know. "D-Did you... am I..."
Mother turned away from her work to look at me, a smile so warm it almost felt like it could burn you on her face. "I had planned to. I was going to offer it to you on your 15th birthday, but... things got in the way. I thought it would have been a nice way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of me taking you in."
As seemed to be the case far too often these days, I had absolutely no idea how to feel about that. A large part of me was just happy that she had wanted me to be a child, not just in name but in blood. Still, deep down, a part of me seethed at what had been taken from me. The life I could have had.
Pushing those thoughts as far away as I could, I tried as best I could to ask the one question I needed to. "Could we..."
Thankfully, Mother was able to interpret my barely coherent half sentences. "If that's something you like, then absolutely."
I don't really remember what happened for most of the rest of the night. I think I was crying for a good portion of it, but I was a bit too overwhelmed to tell for sure. On top of everything that was going on, it felt like everything I had ever wanted was happening all at once. It was going to take a while to get used to actually feeling my emotions, wasn't it?
The next thing I knew, I was already halfway through getting ready for bed. The loud clunking of the bedroom door behind me caused me to jump. Spinning around, I found Asra standing in front of the door.
"Well, look who's back." Asra teased a playful smirk on her face.
Reaching back, I grabbed the hair at the back of my skull. I looked at the ground; I didn't want to meet Asra's gaze. "Sorry. It all just became a little too much."
"That's not something you need to apologize for. We all can get a little overwhelmed sometimes. Some are just better at dealing with it than others." Starting with a bit of a giggle, Asra explained with all the compassion in the world.
"Okay." I didn't really know what to say, so instead, I just said the first thing that came to mind. Then suddenly, I remembered something quite urgent. "Did I ever take the blade out of the sealing slurry?"
"I just took care of that." I must have had a rather skeptical look on my face because she let out an annoyed sigh before continuing. "It's not that hard. I've watched you do it a million times. All you have to do is wipe all the sludge off the blade and hand it to dry overnight. It's literally the simplest part of the process."
"Sorry, sorry. It just wasn't something I expected." I explained.
"Again, that's not something you need to apologize for." Taking a step toward me, a mischievous smirk spread across her face. "You know, you forgot something yesterday."
"I did?" I asked, not remembering anything I might have forgotten.
"Yep." She replied as she continued her advance, putting extra emphasis on the P.
Nervous because of whatever Asra was planning, my next words came out a bit stilted. "Would you remind me what that might have been?"
Looking like the cat that caught the canary, she was now only inches away from me. "Why, you're reward, of course." She said in a tone that did things to me, cupping my chin in her hand.
"Reward?" I squeaked out, not knowing what to do as her face was getting closer to mine.
Then, with a sudden burst of realization, I remembered something. Holly shit, the kiss. I'm not ready for this. But it was already too late. Her lips met mine, and nothing else mattered. I gave into my instincts as a pleasant warmth washed over me. Luckily, I didn't burn the bed.
gNatonthewall Hello everyone. I doubt many of you were expecting this. I was struck with a bit of inspiration for this story. I mainly wanted to put this into a more stable place for what's turning out to be a much longer hiatus than I had originally expected. September Swords will return in future. Right now, I'm just trying to get a bit further into Bound in Steel before I come back to this story for any extended period of time. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Thank you for reading, commenting, and favoring. Have a nice day.
