Gift of the Sauia
#4 of Song of the Sauia
Gift of the Sauia
Part 3 of the "Song of the Sauia" Series
Almost as if gifted in pity, a cool breeze drifted through the sweltering night. The thick scent of flowers and grass tickled Judith's sensitive nose, causing her to stir while she dreamt peacefully. Following this playful breeze was an elegant form, smoothly climbing through the window and casting it's soft emerald eyes towards the bed were Judith slept. Slowly it walked over to the girl, lifting it's front paws onto the side of the bed and looking down at Judith's sleeping face.
Wake up, little one. it whispered into Judith's mind as it gently nudged the sleeping girl with it's nose.
Judith stirred briefly, but then continued to sleep. Not discouraged in the slightest, Lyenu nudged again with her nose and then began softly stroking her tongue across the side of her head.
"Ss..stop.." protested Judith drowsily, pushing the sauia's head away with her hand.
..Judith..
Seeing that the girl was still asleep, Lyenu continued to warmly brush her tongue along Judith's face. Finally, Judith sat up and looked around tiredly, annoyance obvious in her eyes. It's was clear she was not used to having her sleep disturbed.
Looking around but only half aware of what she was seeing, Judith struggled to focus out of the grogginess that threatened to overwhelm her "..What?.." she said dully before finally spotting Lyenu's emerald eyes shimmering in the darkness. Shock overcame her as she nearly shrieked at the top of her lungs before a reassuring feeling quickly brushed over her mind, making her realize it was Lyenu. She closed her eyes briefly, her heart racing as she calmed herself down.
"Don't scare me like that, Lyenu." she complained, glancing over at the beautiful creature before her.
She only received a wave of amusement in return which didn't improve her mood. Sighing deeply and shaking her head, she slipped her legs over the edge of the bed and looked down at Lyenu with half shut eyes.
"So..what do we have to do to finish..um, binding."
Lyenu sat back on her hind quarters, waving her ribbon-like tail behind her idly. She watched Judith for a moment, the wave of amusement continuing to radiate from her.
"What's so funny?"
You're quite adorable while sleeping, little one. she replied, her mind twinkling like stars. It didn't take Judith long to realize she was laughing gently, even if she felt it rather than heard it.
"Mm." A blush quickly spread across her face as she flicked her tail and ears.
It's much the same as when I seeded you. Simply relax, and I will do the rest.
"I wasn't very relaxed then." she responded, a tired smile on her face. Sighing drowsily, she turned around and leaned forward on her knees and paws then pulled her pajama bottoms and panties down to her knees.
"Just hurry, if you don't mind. I want to go back to bed." She looked back at Lyenu with half shut eyes, her tail raised expectantly.
Lyenu's amusement only grew in her mind as she leapt onto the bed besides her and nuzzled her briefly. Not in this manner, little one.
Using her powerful paws she pushed a surprised Judith over on her side and then calmly walked over her so that she lay between Lyenu's four legs.
Lie on your back. It will be easier to keep you from moving this way.
Judith looked up at her, puzzled, but did as she was told. Shifting slightly, she moved onto her back. "Why would you have to keep me from moving?" she asked, worrying creeping into her voice. After all, she knew little about the actual binding process.
We are about to connect not physically, but mentally. What you are about to experience is unlike anything before. I do not wish for you to harm yourself during our melding.
Judith frowned at her words, her heart beginning to pace nervously. "It's going to be simple, right? After all, you've already started the process...you just need to finish it?"
Yes, I connected our bodies and only enough of our minds so that I could speak with you. I'm sure you recall the pain at the end of our night of meeting?
"How could I forget.." The entire situation wasn't something someone casually forgot, after all. "It's...not going to hurt like that, is it?"
Lyenu lowered her body on top of her own, though this time she supported most of her weight. Her face inches from Lyenu's, all Judith could sense was honest apology from her mind.
I never meant to harm you. That was, unfortunately, the only way. When I placed my symbolic name upon you, both our bodies began to change in attunement. That intense moment of pain was also the moment of our binding.
"Oh." she said in surprise. She wasn't expecting such raw and honest emotion from Lyenu. It was obvious to her that this was important to Lyenu and that she just wasn't some egg container to her. Judith had conflicting feelings about that...how was she supposed to feel, after all?
"You never answered my question.." she said quickly, trying to change the topic out of her own guilt.
You will not feel physical pain... Lyenu seemed to hesitate a moment before continuing. This is obviously my first time binding, little one, so I can not promise anything as I do not completely know how it will feel..but having the walls of your mind toppled may not be the most pleasant of feelings.
"I see.."
Lyenu touched her nose to her own, her mind once again washing over Judith with calmness. "Are you ready, little one?"
Judith sighed heavily while looking at those emerald eyes. "As ready as I'll ever be."
Ah..you may want to find something to chew upon.
"What?" she replied blankly. "What do you mean?"
Something to bite on. Otherwise, you may ruin your lovely fangs.
"Oh...well, give me a second." Reaching over to her nightstand and opening one of the drawers, Judith reached inside and grabbed leather pouch filled with random items such as quills and vials of ink. Using her hand, she turned it over and emptied the contents before bringing it to her mouth. It smelled faintly of dust and probably wouldn't have a very enjoyable taste, but she couldn't think of anything else she wouldn't chew through that she could get her hands on easily.
"All right.. I'm ready." she said, placing the neatly folded leather in her maw and clamping down tightly.
Very well. Lyenu shifted once more, thankfully moving into a more comfortable position where she wasn't pressing so awkwardly against her. Judith did notice though that Lyenu had placed more of her weight on her, but didn't bother remarking on it.
Without another word, Lyenu lowered her muzzle past Judith's head. For a moment, nothing happened, then slowly Judith felt a small prickling in her mind. It felt strange, like thousands of small needles were slowly pressing themselves into her mind. Moments more and her focus began to fade while her vision swam. Feeling nauseous, she closed her eyes.
Slowly Lyenu's warm presence in her mind was replaced by an eerie cold. Walls of frost rose, threatening to enclose her. She turned her head away despite knowing it was all taking place within her mind. Quickly the walls boxed her in darkness, their frigid cold sending shivers throughout her body. At first she was afraid, then the fear slowly passed as she realized she was seeing her own mind. While it was cold and lonely, she also had serene peace and privacy. Nothing could peer into the dark corners of her mind.
Then a blaze burst in her mind, almost blinding eyes that were not open. Heat washed over the walls and over her as small points of light burst into life all around her. Judith tried to scream, overwhelmed by the sudden strange mixture of pain, light, and heat in her mind. But her body wouldn't respond. Instead, the heat grew stronger, raging through the walls, forcing itself inside to light her darkness.
She tried to resist it, to force it away, but it pressed on. She began struggling, feeling weak and sluggish though she could faintly tell her body was fighting for freedom with a fierceness that surprised even her. Even so, Lyenu easily held her down by using her weight and strength to keep her from moving. Gently, Lyenu placed a paw over her muzzle and snugly kept the leather pouch in her mouth while at the same time preventing her head from tossing violently. All for the better, for Judith was sure she would of been screaming at the top of her lungs if not for the pouch. Already she could feel her muffled screams, could sense her fangs sinking deep into the rough leather.
Desperately she tried to raise her walls once more, to once again sink herself in dark solitude like how she had been born, a floating conscience experiencing the universe through the distant and mechanical components of smell, taste, feeling, sound, and sight.
I am sorry, little one, but never again will you be alone in the confines of your mind.
She felt Lyenu's words as a thought, rather than hearing it as a sound in her mind. It was so different from even the way Lyenu had been speaking to her, so direct and personal. If not for Lyenu's calm, gentle presence and her way of speaking, Judith had no doubt she would of mistaken it as her own thought.
Stop, Lyenu...it h-hurts...stop..please..stop she replied, the flames ever increasing in intensity as they burned everything that had once been the structure of her mind.
All she received in return was an apologetic wave of thought, but the flames did not stop. Her body was fighting Lyenu's as much as her mind was resisting the sauia's, though in both cases Lyenu prevailed through overwhelming strength. Her body struggled hopelessly against the Lyenu's muscled form as it easily pinned her to the bed. Lyenu's mind drilled into her own, breaking down all her barriers, the tides of thought that were her last defense, and then finally Lyenu reached the deepest and most intimate part of her mind: her self identity. Suddenly her mind burst into a haze of nothingness, her thoughts, beliefs, and ideas fading away like leaves in the wind. Light fell softly, each like a snowflake in an endless white paradise.
She knew she had lost something incredible, felt that it was gone forever, but in the very same manner realized that she had gained something even more incredible. "I" no longer truly described her. Her mind was a domain now shared with a sparkling white, gentle and soft, caring and honest. She felt naked before it, her past and present, her current thoughts, her way of looking at the world, intimately viewable by her other. At the same time, however, she too could look upon the sparkling light.
Unlike herself, cowering shyly, it let her look without shame. She saw Lyenu's past, the beast her mother had bound with, saw how Lyenu's mother was torn asunder by kamu as she weakly tried to escape while her broken bond sapped her of strength, her desperate last steps a bid to lure the predators away from Lyenu and her siblings. She saw Lyenu's own view of the world, her own view of Judith herself, the first and faint trails of what Judith could only describe as love for a fellow parent, a partner, and a friend, love that would last their lifetime. She could feel Lyenu's undying respect for her centered on the eggs inside her and the desperate hope that she might give birth to the life the sauia, and Lyenu personally as their mother, so vigorously wanted to survive.
It overwhelmed her. No, overwhelm was an understatement. It shattered her very sense of being and rebuilt her mind from fragments not entirely her own. Lyenu's presence was now as constant within her mind as she was in Lyenu's, their thoughts filtered through each other even as they themselves thought it. It was awkward and disorienting, to say the least. Her own sensitive smell picked up the soft scents of wilderness from Lyenu's fur, the faint tropical scent of the perfume Judith loved so much. At the moment these thoughts passed through her mind without any effort on her part, so too did Lyenu experience them. In the same way, Judith experienced Lyenu's much more powerful sense of smell, experienced how much Lyenu enjoyed the fruit-like scent of the perfume and how it reminded her hungrily of her old home where a lazy day could be spent between the fallen fruit of an umbaan tree and whatever the day's hunt had been.
Do not try and see all at once. You will make yourself sick.
The warm thought radiated through her very body. She felt Lyenu's nose touch her own, felt her warm nuzzling. Opening her eyes and immediately regretting it, she was greeted by bright emerald green eyes. With effort, she spat the leather pouch out of her mouth, noting the deep gashes along it.
I believe is much like when we first met. Slight humor radiated through her presence. How do you feel?
"Fine...I think..that was.....uh...something..I don't know..I don't..think I can...ever...describe..." she let her voice trail off, closing her eyes again before she got a migraine. A warmness washed over her mind, clearing it of pain. She reopened them with a puzzled expression.
"Did you do that, Lyenu?"
Yes, little one. Does it feel better? the voice asked worriedly.
"It feels great! I don't feel sick anymore. What did you do?" She actually did feel better, even the faint throbbing of her thigh from the night before was completely gone.
_It was simply one of the smaller gifts we will be eventually receiving.
"You can heal me?!" she asked, surprised.
Amusement flooded from her again. Judith could almost see her soft laughter. "Not exactly, little one. Using our bond, I can attune our bodies to the point of equality. If one of us is in good health and the other not deeply wounded, it will balance with both of us in good health."_
"That's amazing!"
You can do it as well, Judith, though likely I will have to show you how to control your wild magic.
"Huh? I thought you said it took time?" she replied, a puzzled look on her face.
Lyenu lifted herself from on top of her and sat back on her hind quarters. Her tail waved about, as always a ribbon dancing playfully in the wind and making Judith feel her own tail was made of lead.
I think your tail is lovely, little one.
Judith blinked. She had forgotten their thoughts went to the same place now. "Um, thank you."
To answer your question, it does. We both have very little wild magic in our bodies, but that will soon change. Soon we both will be brimming with it, but even this amount is extremely useful.
"Not to sound unimpressed, but as amazing as healing my headache was it won't allow me to do anything really incredible except heal you as long as I'm in good shape.."
Then let me show you.
Suddenly a image of a terrible black creature came to her, a reptile oozing with poison and bearing many, many claws and several mouths. She saw it move with incredibly agility, even tear through the earth to surprise it's prey. A kamu, she realized. A terrible hunter.... so deadly, poison that ravaged the veins and nerves, whose teeth killed slowly...Judith screamed, shaking her head. A calm presence replaced the terrifying image, calming her down.
"Why did you do that for, Lyenu!" she exclaimed angrily, looking over at the sauia.
Forgive me, little one, but I wanted to show you what I meant.
"What do you mean?" she asked, puzzled. Lyenu didn't respond, however. Instead she turned towards the door as it flung open and her parents burst into her room, worry etched on their faces.
"Judith, what's wrong?!" her father asked as he eyes scanned the room, her mother inches behind him.
Fear gripped her as she realized she must of woken them with when she had screamed. Judith knew her parents would see Lyenu, and then it would be over. There wasn't any explaining her way out of this. She could feel the maternal instinct that forced her to protect the eggs already raging in full, placing all sorts of sickly ideas in her mind; even killing her own parents. What truly scared her was that each time she tried to reel at the impossibility of wanting to harm her own parents, she was quickly overwhelmed by a powerful feeling of justification and an urgent need to do the deed.
Wrenching her mind from the thought, she quickly turned to Lyenu pointedly. "N-nothing's wrong! R-really!" she said as she tried in vain to come up with an excuse as to why there was such an odd beast sitting calmly on her bed. She would strangle Lyenu later for this.
Amusement aimed at her remark pooled from Lyenu. Watch, little one.
Her father and mother had both turned to her when she had spoken, somehow not seeing Lyenu standing so clearly next to her. Her father's eyes slowly drifted to her exposed bottom half, causing her to look down and realize she had forgotten to lift her pajamas and panties up. She blushed deeply, closing her legs and covering herself with a blanket.
"I-I...think you can take this one, darling." her father said as he quickly turned away. His wife looked at him, nodding, and gave him squeeze on the shoulder. Nodding back, he walked out of her room and closed the door behind him. Her mother walked over to the edge of her bed and sat down, sighing heavily and seeming to somehow be oblivious to Lyenu.
"Honey..um...well..you don't have to be embarrassed...what you did is perfectly normal.." she started, seeming to be trying to find the right words.
"Huh?" Judith asked blankly, until realization washed over her face. "N-no, I wasn't doing that!"
"It's okay honey, a lot of girls do it. Heck, even I do it still, sometimes for your father." she replied with a laugh. The situation wasn't improving.
"I really did not need to know that, Mother." she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm fine now, sorry about waking you up.. you can go now.."
"Of course. We'll have to talk later..I think you might be feeling the early waves of your heat. " she looked away thoughtfully for a moment before turning back to face Judith. "At any rate, honey, I know it feels good but try not to scream so loudly, okay?"
With that her mother patted her head and stood up, briefly looking at Lyenu. "My, what an adorable little thing."
To Judith's amazement, she petted Lyenu on the head before walking out and closing the door behind her.
Your mother is kind. commented Lyenu as she watched Judith's mother leave.
Judith glared at Lyenu while she tugged her panties and pajamas up, shaking her head. "Thanks, I really needed my parents thinking I've been playing with myself."
Lyenu gave her a puzzled expression for a moment before she pulled the details from Judith's mind. Why does it bother you? She was right, you know. Even I do it, at times, since we spend our lives usually alone.
Sighing, she waved her hand dismissively as her tail and ears flicked in annoyance. "Never mind. How did you do that? Why weren't they surprised to see you?"
Hm? Have you not obtained the answer from my mind, little one?
"No.." she admitted.
I will let it be for now, Judith, but you can not continue to try and separate yourself. We are already one, and we will become mentally closer as time passes and the bond increases in strength. I would suggest becoming accustomed to it sooner, rather than later.
"Fine, fine. I'll work on it, give me time."
A mental expression that came off to Judith as a mental shrug washed over her. Using our wild magic, I linked the perception of your parents through you. Since they saw you as a daughter they loved and cared for and someone they are used to seeing, they saw me in a similar way.
Judith stared at her. "Are you serious?" she asked, amazement in her voice.
I am, little one. With practice you could do the same, and so much more. This is the gift of the sauia, and we will only become stronger as time goes on.
"How could you ever fall to predators with this kind of power? Is it the mental binding? I can't imagine you doing that with a normal beast..."
You forget it is this very same power that they use against us. As we are now either one of us would not last long against a beast of wild magic. And no, little one, the mind of a beast is infinitely less complex than yours. It would of been a far easier process, though I can't see that the results would be as promising.
Warmth bled into Judith from Lyenu's sparkling mind, causing her blush yet again.
"So...what now..?" she asked, realizing she was tired. Lyenu, of course, noticed.
Now we sleep, little one. You've lost enough as it is. Before I go, however, let me examine the mark.
"Huh? What mark?"
The one on your rump, little one.
"You mean there's an actual marking on my body?!" she asked in surprise. "When you said you marked me, I didn't think you meant literally. What if my mother sees it? She'll think I've become a Magi apprentice...she'll never forgive me..."
The sauia's amusement was mixed with her presence as she searched Judith's mind for meanings to her words, discovering that those who practiced normal magic needed to place many symbols on their bodies to tap into their arcane power. It's upon an area you normally keep covered, so I would not worry.
Judith only sighed, turning around once more and shrugging her pajama bottoms and panties down once more. Lyenu moved forward, placing a paw lightly on her rear. Seeming satisfied, she sat back once more and waited while Judith tugged her bottoms back up and sat down facing the sauia. Moving forward, Lyenu touched her nose to Judith's and briefly nuzzled her before heading towards the window. Her warm presence blazed like a mother's embrace in Judith's mind.
Sleep well, little one. I will teach you of magic another time, if you desire. Tomorrow, you can tell me what your choice will be.
With that she smoothly leapt through the window and vanished into the night, going back to overgrown garden on the Academy's west side. Judith didn't know Lyenu had been staying there, but their link now told her a lot about Lyenu. That same knowledge, however, had shattered her resolve. Before her hot anger was a useful tool in keeping her will afloat, but now not so much.
After all, Lyenu had been honest in all she had told Judith. Even more, she really didn't see their situation as badly as Judith did and was even looking forward to being with Judith.
How could she ever tell such being, one with both a graceful and artistic form and a mind as soft as falling snow and as honest as a white paradise that she wanted to see Lyenu die. Because even if she did free herself from the bond, Lyenu would die. She had left that detail out on purpose, feeling that it wasn't important to Judith's choice and not wanting her choice to be affected by guilt. Even now, she felt same, her only regret being that Judith would no longer make her choice based on her feelings alone.
But she also knew Lyenu didn't have a choice. No, she was acting on the desperation of her race and her own heart. That, if anything, was the only imperfection in what Judith had half a mind to call a perfect creature. Hidden past that calmness, Lyenu's loyalty to her kind was conflicting strongly with her growing love for Judith and her powerful desire to not wish her harm. And it was tearing the sauia from the inside.
She had been told to use force, that need demanded it and later could choice be given to others. And she had, but only to speak with Judith and not without her own share of guilt.
Judith sighed as she fell back into her bed, feeling the warm echos from the sauia that made a point of focusing her mind elsewhere. If she was completely honest with herself, nothing had really changed. It was completely possible she might find a way to free herself through arcane arts or technology, but going that route and failing would mean a terrible fate for the both of them. Lyenu's efforts would also go to waste.
But could she really bring herself to willingly become another mother to Lyenu's children and have her life changed completely? How long before her friends and family found out about Lyenu and their growing wild magic, let alone the children was to give birth to? What if the Academy found out?
What would they think of her? More importantly, she wondered fearfully, what would they do with her? It wasn't the most comforting of thoughts, but thankfully the soft folds of sleep quickly came to her tired mind and drowned the world in hazy black.
The sparkling light, however, remained.
Next: A Choice Unchosen