Patreon LogoYour support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)

A system to our fantasy madness (for Zaval and Blurugirl)

"She doesn't so much do as she simply is," Misia said. "She is an accomplished rider, of course," Misa said matter-of-factly. "Do no get me wrong. Gordan is a respected figure, and people seek his wisdom. But Misia is seen not simply as someone to listen to, but someone to reckon with. I know you are from the West, but in the steppes, I cannot speak strongly enough the regard that is given to a good rider."

"Lady Rythia, as I said, is a leader, but not a leader as is custom." Misia continued. "She commands the loyalty of those not necessarily in her clan. And though she is not a trader or a warleader, she has the skills of both. She even keeps a man in the village of the great houses a half day's ride of here. And that is also something of her own creation. Or rather, something she has solidified. That area where the great manors are, used to be under the sway of the local clan leader. Now it stands on its own, though that freedom is tempered by remaining under Lady Rythia's goodwill."

"And, like you, she knows magic," Misia said, in a quiet, reverent tone. "Though I suspect she knows the kind that goes beyond the small ones that people use to tell a tale or bring an ale to a better taste as it ages."
 
A true leader of men and women. One whose respect broke through traditional barriers such as tribe or territory. Those sorts of individuals came rarely, and it seemed that Lady Rhythia was one of them - no wonder that Misia followed her as readily as she did. "She sounds like quite the woman," Morcant simply said. "The kind that only arises once a generation, if at that." He cracked a grin. "Perhaps I should create a ballad for her, provided I can see it all in action."

With the benefit of waiting for Alsa to return with the scholar, Morcant whispered into her ear. "So...what else did you want to talk about?" he asked slyly. "Something that you wished to explore in a few nights?" Just because she was his wife, and that she could probably utterly demolish him in combat if she felt so inclined, did not preclude her from the inevitable teasing that he was going to give her - she made it far too easy!
 
Misia blushed and answered, "Well, I was thinking..."

And was interrupted by Alsa's returns. "Lady Thenais...I think that's her title, those Greek words don't fit properly in my mouth," Alsa admitted. "Too slippery...anyway, she's willing to talk to us now, but we'd have to join her while she...um, meditates." The last word brought a deep red to Alsa's cheeks.
 
"'Medidates?'" That was admittedly a new one for Morcant. Even as he stood up, he looked quizzically at Alsa. He could understand why Misia was blushing, but why her? Unless this Lady Thenais did something particularly raucous for relaxation (and he'd heard plenty of rumors of how people along the southern sea could be rather...relaxed about such things). "Well-" he glanced to Misia, "-take us there, if you please."
 
"Yes, well, that's the problem," Alsa said, turning redder. "You'll have to change what you're wearing, because, well, because she's in one of our rooms." Alsa looked to Misia for help.

"The inn is built on hot mineral springs," Misia explained. "Which is why even in rooms like this without a fireplace, it will remain warm in the winter. The steam the water produces, plus the minerals in the water themselves, help people heal. So there are rooms to contain the steam. This isn't the southern sea, so men and women attend the rooms separately, and still wear towels wrapped around themselves. If a guest has money, they can have a small room for themselves and their companions. I am told that in the land of the Northmen, warriors will let the steam consume them, then go running out into the snow. Not something I would care to do," Misia said with a shiver.

"Lady Thenais doesn't have any companions in the room, just herself," Alsa said. "Still..."

"I can accompany Morcant into the room to speak with her, then," Misia said. With a blush, she added, "It will be okay, Alsa. Morcant is already familiar with my body." Alsa blushed at Misia's admission, but also grinned.
 
Last edited:
"Well, you said it, not I," Morcant said with a grin. He was impressed though - he'd heard of natural baths like these, but primarily from the famed Roman aqueducts. That this humble inn was well placed enough to boast its own version really was a feat. "So clad in nothing but a towel with Misia? I can think of worst fates." No, Morcant was not going to be showing any shame in this particular occasion. And if Thenais was alone...well. She might well be rather blase about entertaining two naked guests with her in the private bath.

Or she might not. Morcant's life was already being sprung with surprises lately...

"Don't worry, don't worry, I will be on my best behavior," he promised - though the promise was more towards Misia than Alsa. "Lead us to her, please?"
 
Alsa led them through a door, with steps leading downward in a tunnel. The tunnels were lit by some kind of bioluminescent fungus.

"Remember that this was not all built in a day," Alsa said as she lead the other two forward. "My father started this before I was born, and did it initially with just him, my oldest brother, and two of my uncles. Over the years, more and more of my family and clan has moved down here to expand. Which is what caused the argument between Fadir and his clansmen that Misia had to intervene in."

"The growth you see on the wall that lights these tunnels has only been added since after I arrived here," Alsa added, lightly brushing a clump as she passed by. "Until then, well, the serving tunnels were not at all pleasant to traverse. Smoke tends to linger."

"By the by," Alsa continued, looking over her shoulder with a smile, "Most of our visitors never get to see the tunnels, or the room you were in, or other places. But Fadir considers Misia kin, so the same light is extended to you, in her honor."
 
"What haven't you done?" Morcant said to Misia with an admiring air to his voice. She really was an amazing woman it seemed - resolving a northman's feuds was no small feat. "Next you will tell me you shot a bird from flight with naught but a glance." The scary portion of that - Morcant was fairly confident she could do it.

"And I thank you for the privilege," he said respectfully to Alsa as she guided them both towards the baths. A part of him wondered though - one did not come to know these types of people on a whim. Who else was Misia acquainted with that was as extraordinary as Gordan? What required her to do so?
 
"Yes, well," Alsa came to three doors. "The center door is to enter the steam room. It is the serving entrance. To the right is the men's changing room, where you can...well, disrobe," she said with a bright blush, "And wrap a towel around your waist. The left is the women's changing room, where we do the same, save we wrap the towel around here." Alsa pointed at her collarbone. "We will go change, and meet you at this door." Without a further word, Misia l ed Alsa through the left door.
 
"We?"

Yet before he could probe further, both Alsa and Misia left for the women's changing room. His was a slightly perverted mind, he would not deny - the sight of those two beauties undressing next to each other was enough to give warm, fuzzy thoughts to any man comparable to a warm hearth's. But he discarded the thought - best not to get too greedy. One woman in that room was already spoken for him, provided he could learn to ride...

It was the work of a few minutes to undress himself. He was mindful to store his clothes and belongings into a more isolated part of the room - he trusted Alsa, but it was better to be safe than sorry (especially after the last time he'd been robbed in a bathhouse; best not to remember being chased out of that one somehow). His body was clad with but a towel around his waist, showing anyone who saw a lean, toned physique, if not a muscular one like that of a Celtic warrior or a hoplite. He waited back for them both in the room with three doors.

He wondered if Alsa would press Misia for details about how she met him...
 
Waiting for him outside were both Misia and Alsa, clad in towels, there hair bunched above their head. The towels were wrapped and clasped just below their collarbones, and stretched down to their knees (though the towel that Misia was wearing stopped just short of her knees, while the towel Alsa was wearing covered her knees).

Even though they both wore fleecy towels of dull gray, the two women were a study of contrast. Misia stood a head taller than her blonde companion, and though she was still feeling shy about being this exposed in front of any man, she had emotionally attached herself to Morcant. That attachment, coupled with her natural confidence, had her standing proudly.

Alsa, on the other hand, was a young maiden who had literally never left the village she lived in since being a little girl. And whereas Misia was a force of nature that no one willingly provoked, Also had lived under the protection of others all her life. And no sane man willingly provokes a Northman.

The fact that Northmen provoke other Northmen all the time is a leading reason why most consider Northmen as a whole mentally unbalanced.

Alsa was leaning against Misia, who put a protective arm around her to comfort her.

The gray towel displayed how dark Misia was, why it almost blended in with Alsa's fair skin. Misia's limbs were lean and muscled and, why there was no fat on Alsa's limbs, the muscles on her arms weren't as defined as they were on Misia's. And the was the towel pushed forward showed that, while both women possessed firm bosoms, Misia's were the size of healthy oranges, while Alsa's were the size of large grapefruit, perhaps even small cantaloupes.

"If you two will wait for me," Alsa said, still acting nervous as she moved toward the center door, "I shall advise Lady Thenais that you are here." Alsa opened up the center door and disappeared into the steam escaping from it,
 
Last edited:
The moment Alsa entered the bath to inform Thenais that they were about to enter, Morcant sidled up to Misia, his arms wrapping around her waist. The sight of both women nearly naked in front of him was enough to give him pleasing, warm thoughts for a long time...but he found his eyes being drawn more towards Misia's glorious form, even though Alsa held quite a beautiful looking appearance as well. Perhaps it was because Misia was definitively his, whereas Alsa wasn't.

Leaning in, he kissed Misia's lips. "I could get used to seeing you dressed as such every day," he teased her. She might be his wife, but seeing her in any state of undress was something that was still relatively fresh for him as an experience. "I'd love to see you like this some more..." Yet while his hands wandered, they did not wander too much. His hands rested along the small of her back, pulling her closer against him as he embraced her, but he did not do anything too direct at the moment - he respected her wishes too much for that

"One day, you will have to tell me how you meet these people," he said. "As it is, I'm just happy to be present for it all. A seer? His daughter? A Greek scholar? Any one of these would be enough for a tale by themselves."
 
Misia returned the kiss passionately and, when Morcant placed his hands on the small of her back, she did a little wiggle while standing on her toes to force them to go a hand's span downward.

"I could get used to being dressed like this for you...or dressed in less," Misia said, a slight blush rising to her cheeks at that admission. "Truthfully, I have been waiting for an opportunity to...to be undressed before you, and to feel your hands and lips on me once again."

With a sigh of regret, she stepped back a little. "This Greek scholar, I have not met yet, though her presence in this inn, in this village, is not that unusual. It is if the Fates have woven their cloth so that, at this time, in this place, wanderers from the known corners of the world have come to this place. Including me and you," Misia said, drawing Morcant in for another kiss.

The kiss was interrupted by a nervous giggle from Alsa.

If you two will follow me," she smiled.

Waiting in the wooden and stone enclosed, steam filled room was the greek scholar in question, Lady Thenais.

megara_by_mari945-d9y6b5c.jpg

The Greek Scholar in question had her towel wrapped around her body in the same manner as Misia and Alsa, though somehow she made it seem like an elegant gown. Like Misia and Alsa, the young Greek woman had her hair bunched over her head. Her skin tone was somewhere between Misia's and Alsa's though somewhat closer to Alsa, as was her bosom. There was something of mild amusement on her lips, and something hypnotizing about her eyes.

"Please, sit, sit," Thenais said, as she gestured toward a wooden bench opposite of her. "I must say, I have actually wanted to meet you, Lady Misia. The stories I've heard told about you from the Sarmitans and the Northmen are...well, they would rival those I have heard of Jason and Herakles. And a bard from the far Northwest...your stories will make a find addition to any histories."

Alsa looked to be about to leave before Thenais stopped her. "Stay, child, stay. This geometric problem you have presented me, combined with the telling of an oracle...I must say I am intrigued. But before we continue, would any of you care for a cup of wine?" Thenais gestured toward a small vase sitting in a bowl packed with snow,
 
This was a situation Morcant never imagined could ever happen to someone such as himself. Himself, seated in a bath clad in naught but a towel, surrounded by three gorgeous women - one being his new wife - wearing barely any better than himself. And Lady Thenais looked like quite the beauty indeed - a woman of a body kissed by the sunlight of the Mediterranean, with hair almost, but not quite, reaching the lustrous red of fire. He also tried to not be too distracted by the thought that Misia was hoping to spend more time with him in states of undress. That...that was fairly distracting, he had to admit...

"Well met, lady Thenais," Morcant greeted her - his own Greek was somewhat rusty, but he spoke at least his greeting in her mother tongue, if just for the sake of courtesy. "Morcant of Powyss, son of Donnchad. And I would be happy to exchange tales over food and wine later..."

He glanced at the wine cooled by mountain snow. A luxury - one that was not easily claimed. Or was there in fact a passageway that led to the nearby mountains, with a place cold enough to allow it to remain without melting? Gordon was full of surprises if that were the case... "And I would have some wine, with my thanks." Either it was wine imported from Macedon, or possibly Corinth, or even further - he would not have discounted any of it. "Are you familiar with patterns given from oracles?"
 
"Alsa, be good and pour the wine," Thenais said with a gesture. With a nod, the blonde serving girl poured out small cups of the cold, dark, fruity wine to Morcant, Maisa and then to Thenais before taking her seat.

"I'm familiar with patterns, though not with oracles," Thesia answered, taking a sip of her wine. "I've never been to Delphi, though I've been counseled to do so. If you wanted to seek true wisdom, I would suggest visiting Alexandria or Syracuse. But patterns and shapes, I do know something about. And I have seen the Sphinx, to the south of Alexandria, so perhaps that might make me more adept at solving riddles." Thesia gave a shrug of her bare shoulders and smiled. "So why don't you repeat the reading to me, and I'll see what I can decipher from the clues."
 
Morcant accepted the wine gladly, smiling at Alsa before offering the same gesture to Thenais. "To your health," he said, raising the cup in the air before downing it slowly. The wine was rich in flavor, tasting of a berry-like flavor while still watered down enough to not overwhelm the senses. He was thankful for that - he knew some of the more decadent Roman families drank the wine straight without applying water at all.

"'Woman, child, death,'" Morcant repeated. Taking a few nearby pebbles, he recreated the geometric shape that Gordon had shown him as best he could - the measurements might have been slightly awry, but the shape was not. Pointing out what each and point line represented, he explained further, "And if Alsa were to stay between woman and child, if she chooses to travel with us, she will live a long life. It would be our duty to make sure she comes nowhere near this line of Death."

He looked at Thenais. "There is likely something I am not seeing or understanding...and I am not keen on endangering Alsa's life because of something I could not perceive. And I certainly do not wish to grant the two coins for passage to Hades." Especially if it involved a horde of Northmen out for his blood.
 
For the first time since meeting Morcant and Misia, Thenais' face assumed a serious countenance.

She was silent for a few minutes, before she asked, "Tell me, Morcant, have you ever heart of Archimedes of Syracuse? He is one of my teachers."
 
"I've heard of a famous inventor on that island," Morcant said. "But aside from stories, I know but little about him." Some of what he was capable of doing seemed utterly fantastical, even by Morcant's standards. Mechanical devices and the ability to harness the sun? It seemed absurd...but he'd been proven wrong before.
 
A frown appeared on Thenais' face when she turned toward Alsa.

"Before I continue, I wish to apologize to you," she told Alsa.

"Me?" the blonde squeaked.

The Greek woman nodded. "I know those of us who live on the Southern Sea have a...reputation of sorts with our cousins to the North. For one, we are not as modest in our dress or our speech, as can be attested by the fact that I am sitting comfortably with someone other than my own sex wearing naught but a towel. And I am a maiden. No doubt you can only imagine what my behavior would be like if I were a matron rather than a maid."

Alsa blushed at the prospect.

"Nevertheless, even a southern woman should not be so bold about discussing your possible future so bluntly, which I nevertheless am about to do, but only with your permission," Thenais continued,

Alsa nodded, "Please, Lady Thenais. I just want to know what Fadir's reading might mean for me."

"Archimedes would say that that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line," Thenais began. "So consider this triangle, which has three points. The first point is birth, the place where presumably Alsa was born. Then, the second point is child, where Alsa grew up. Alsa, you have told me that you were born in one village and raised in this one, and have been no elsewhere. Is that correct?"

Alsa nodded. "It is where I first met Misia, travelling from that village to this,"

"And you have been nowhere else since then, correct?" Thenais asked.

"Never," Alsa agreed.

"Then this is how I would interpret the reading you received, Morcant," Thenais said, "Each one of these points represents not only a stage in Alsa's life, but the specific geographic point in which she experienced, or will experience, that part of her life. Birth, obviously where she was born, childhood, where she grew up and finally, the point for womanhood is where...well, from the histories and tales I have recorded from the North people, I take to mean is where Alsa will become a woman when she is no longer a maiden."

Alsa was beet red at this announcement. Misia, on the other hand, appeared enthralled at the sight of Thenais laying out her argument. No doubt it was reminiscent of the way Lady Rythia would approach a problem.

"So I would take this reading to say that, from this moment forward, as long as Alsa confines herself to traveling between the two points of Childhood and Womanhood, that is to say, the actual place where she grew up, and the actual place where she is to become a woman, then she will enjoy a long and fruitful life. If she ventures beyond those two points, and the triangle would seem to suggest that she can only take the shortest route between those two points...well, you heard what the reading says will happen to both her and the one who takes her away from those two points."

"But," Thenais concluded as she drained her cup of wine, "Interpretation of divination is not my main scholarly pursuit. And it may be that I am overlaying my own geometric prejudices on the reading."
 
"I...see." Morcant wondered if Gordan saw even a small hint of what was being suggested - to see that his daughter might travel with the man whom he was reading, to see that she might well become a woman at her next destination - well, that may have been a disconcerting fact for any father to learn of.

"So if she were to travel with us...say, to Misia's home-" he gave Misia a searching glance, wondering if this was something he would even have approval for from her, "-and she were to become a woman there...so long as she never wanders from her former home and her new home, she would live long and well."

He raised a hand. "I'm aware that the interpretation may be off, but do I have the sum of it?" He then continued, "and I do appreciate your assistance, lady Thenais." He left the statement open, wondering if she would ask for a service in return.
 
"That would be my interpretation of the reading," Thenais answered, "Though bear in mind that...well, how we approach a problem depends on how we were raised and educated. There is a philosopher in Athens who has what he calls the Law of the Tool. So if you have a saw, you use a saw to solve your problem. If you only have a mallet, you attack your problem with a mallet. Because my education has been in geometry and histories, this is how I approach your reading. But how the future unfolds, that can only be seen by the unfolding of the future. What do you think Alsa?"

The young blonde had been deep in thought, listening to others discuss how her life would unfold. "I...I haven't thought of what I would do. Going to Misia's home...well, she has been my sister, my friend and my protector...when I finally leave my home here, that would make me happy. I was telling Morcant that I have never had a desire to live in the great stories, only to hear them. So being in charge of my own hearth and home, that would be a pleasant life indeed."

"You are welcome in my home any time you wish, Alsa," Misia told her friend, who beamed in response.

"Well, if you will excuse me," Thenais said, rising to her feet, "I've had enough of the steam. I'm going to take a dip in the cold pool, before moving to the heated one." With that, Thenais headed toward a door opposite the one that the other three had entered. As she opened the door, she dropped her towel, revealing a perfect posterior and smooth, unblemished skin covering toned limbs. Looking over her shoulder, she added, "You are all welcome to join me, if you wish," before walking through the door.
 
"I admit I am guilty of this law as well," Morcant readily agreed. "I spent most of my time with my clan's storytellers and sages, so I see most things - including my own life - through the lens of an unfolding tale." Though he'd never quite heard of a tale of a man who was constantly surrounded by beautiful women, including in states of undress! There was that one story he'd heard snippets of, far beyond the great deserts that bordered Carthage - the tales of Gamesh? Something along those lines.

Yet his thoughts utterly derailed - again - as Thenais simply allowed her towel to fall to a pooled heap about her legs. Morcant would be the first to admit that his eyes were drawn to her perfectly shaped rear - which only drew even more attention to her perfect skin, the sway of her hips as she walked beyond the door and into the cold baths...either the gods are blessing me, or they are taunting me, he decided, and I am undecided as to which.

He looked towards Misia, bemusement - and interest - clear to see on his face.
 
A cryptic smile appeared on Misia's lips as she stood up and, without preamble, dropped the towel to reveal the body she had already shown to Morcant before. She stood there for a moment, letting her husband admire the firmness of her body, before she turned to Alsa and extended a hand. Wordlessly, Alsa took the proffered hand and stood up. Alsa gasped when Misia reached over and undid her towel, but did nothing to stop the towel from dropping. Instead, Alsa stood there motionless, letting Morcant and Misia see her body. Though slim, there was not the underlying muscular definition that one saw in Misia's body. Alsa's skin looked almost snow white. Her firm breasts were larger, with her smallish pink nipples hard and pointing straight forward. Looking down across her flat stomach, one would come to the junction between her legs, covered by sparse, pale blonde hair.

Alsa stood there, her face red, the blush reaching down to the top of her breasts, but not hiding herself. Misia stood there by her shorter friend for a minute, before turning and leading Alsa through the door that Thenais had just entered.
 
Last edited:
...I will happily face ongoing and continuous dangers if it means this is to be my lot in life. Morcant thought as he stood to his feet. Without actively thinking of it, his own towel fell to the side as he walked towards the door, almost as if in a trance. He pinched himself - he was genuinely worried that he was about to wake up from a pleasant, if ludicrous dream, and he would wake up in the inn he'd seen Misia and Rhythia in, facefirst in a bowl of ale and his belongings taken by opportunistic thugs.

But no. Praise be the gods, the pinch still hurt, and he was still walking forward. And while Morcant was not a muscular Roman legionnaire, or a Spartan raised on years of war and training, his was a lean, toned muscle, conditioned yet graceful from years of travel on the road and the occasional brawl at tavern-goers dissatisfied with his tales. His manhood - or his 'hero' as Misia had called it - swayed between his legs, semi-rigid from close proximity to the three beautiful women he was surrounded by.

Stepping inside with them was either going to have him tossed out on his ear, or lead to something interesting - at least if Misia's mysterious smile was anything to go by...
 
Inside the next room, there were two pools. One had a stream of water falling into it from above, while the other had wisps of steam rising from it.

Thenais was standing under the fall of water, facing the entrance, her head back as she rinsed her hair. Her breasts were slightly larger than Misia's, though just as firm. Her nipples, hard and pointing forward, were slightly larger than Misia's, and a slightly darker pink than Alsa's. And, unlike Alsa and Misa, her mound was bare of any hair.

She smiled as she saw Morcant studying her, and did nothing to cover her body.

"The Northmen like to go out and roll in the snow after a good steam," Thenais said, as she stepped away from the steam and lowered herself into the steaming pool. "Myself, I just want to rinse off the sweat, before getting back into the warmth. But I come from warmer climes."

"Shall we rinse off, husband?" Misia asked Morcant, stepping into the stream of water. Alsa just stood there, her arms crossed over her breasts, her legs pressed together.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom