CH 52: A Day of Rest

Claire woke up like a dead woman. Her eyes were heavy, body sore and her feet hurting. She could barely move as she lay in their carriage. She wanted to get up and get moving to ease her soreness, but her lovers were still asleep on top of her. Elsie and Ana had their heads on her chest and she dare not wake them. Never mind the fact she didn’t have much strength right now.

She lay in their warm embrace, waiting for the two to stir when Jasmine appeared above her. She had a warm smile as she leaned in to kiss Claire’s forehead. She held it for a moment before parting. Claire could feel her skin tingle even after she parted and her face reddened.

Jasmine giggled and whispered, ”Your face matches your hair.” Which only got her to blush more. Lily’s arms appeared behind Jasmine as she wrapped them around her chest. Her head peaked over Jasmine’s shoulder as the two looked at Claire.

“Feeling tired? Like dead tired?” Lily asked as she scanned Claire’s body.

Claire gave her a meek nod. “Like I can’t even lift Ana tired.”

“Here drink this, it’ll help with the fatigue.” Lily said, holding a vial up for Claire. She nodded and let Lily pour the potion in her mouth. It had a bitter taste, but it warmed her appendages and made her fingers tingle.

“I bet… Ever heard of healing fatigue?” She asked. Claire nodded as she thought about it. She shouldn’t have hit that threshold last night as it’s usually gained over a prolonged period of time. Then she remembered her state and put together what happened. “Seems poor Ana panicked so badly she overhealed you…”

They looked to Ana as she slept soundly on her paladin’s chest. She seemed so peaceful right now. They watched her rise and fall with Claire’s breathing for a moment. Claire steeled herself before asking, “How close was I?”

The two hesitated before Jasmine sighed. “Three. Three points is all you had left. Thank the Goddess for your shield…” She caressed Claire’s cheek as she spoke. Claire could see the worry in her face as she did.

“Fuck… it baited me in…” She said her memory of the fight was hazy, but she remembered its smile. It laughed at her after she fell for it. It was so obvious in hindsight that her anger began to flair again. It’s laugh still echoed in her mind as she tensed up.

“We’ll address that later… just for now, let’s rest.” Jasmine said, her finger tracing Claire’s chin. Claire moved with her touch, craving it as she lifted her finger. It felt nice as her rhythmic movements slowly lulled her out of her anger.

“Okay.” She whispered, her mind focused on Jasmine’s touch. She let herself be distracted by Jasmine’s finger as her eyes began to feel heavier. She let her body rest as she focused on her movements. She fell back asleep without the burden of her thoughts.

“Goddess… Thank you for protecting her.” Jasmine said as tears welled up in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away as Lily tightened her grip around her.

“Shhh, it’s okay. She’s safe now.” Lily whispered in her ear. “She’s sound asleep right in front of you.”

Jasmine nodded as she got her tears under control. She wiped away the tears with her sleeve as Lily whispered in her ear. Her voice cracked as she spoke again. ”I know… it was just so bad. I could see her bone… Her back looked crooked. I could barely think…”

“I can only imagine…” Lily whispered as she shifted Jasmine to face her. She helped Jasmine clean her tears up before their eyes met. “I wish I could have helped more.”

Jasmine shook her head, “It’s not that simple… we had bad intel from the beginning. The trolls were much older than we were told AND there were two. We should have left when we could…”

Lily hugged her friend. She was blaming herself for the mess of a fight. She was doing her best to keep her calm. “None of that was your fault. You had outside factors that stacked against you… like that northern woman, you could have escaped if she didn’t show up.”

Jasmine just nodded into her shoulder. She knew what Lily was getting at. She did the best she could given the circumstances. She just wished she didn’t waste so much time helping that woman. Had she shown up faster, she could have saved Claire from that hit.

Lily pulled her out of that train of thought. She caressed her face and moved it to face her. She took a moment to look into her grey eyes before she leaned in to kiss her. She held her kiss until Jasmine seemingly stopped resisting. She parted from it, breathless, and whispered. “You did all that you could.”

Jasmine wanted to say something to her, anything. How she could have done more, should have done more. But she had no fight left in her. She just nodded and leaned in to hug Lily. She felt the warmth of her friend as she calmed down, she’d think about it more when she was emotionally stable.

“Okay… I just couldn’t stand the thought… I’ll do better next time.” Jasmine got out between her silent sobs. Lily was patting her head as she cried into her arm. It was so different to Jasmine in the past. She wouldn’t be caught dead crying, but now, she felt comfortable to cry. It warmed Lily’s heart to know that.

“We’ll figure everything out later… just let it out.” She whispered into the assassin’s ear. She soothed her the same way she soothed Ana last night. The twins were almost inconsolable and they both took one to calm down. Ana was shaking so much in Lily’s embrace, she was afraid she was having a seizure or something.

It took them awhile, but they had gotten the twins to sleep. They insisted on sleeping next to Claire like they are now. Lily could only imagine how frightened they were and how bad Claire’s injury truly was. From the descriptions she’s gotten, it must have been quite severe. She’d have to keep an eye on her recovery.

She was pulled out of her own thoughts  with Jasmine pulling away. She looked into Lily’s eyes again before saying, ”I’m so glad you joined us… Having you here takes so much off of me.”

Lily gave her a smile, she knew Jasmine regretted bringing her. It was more in line with the Jasmine she was familiar with. The old Jasmine would never bring along a party member needlessly, only those that would be fighting. It was nice to see this change in her.

“Thank you. I’m so glad I joined too.” Lily said, she paused for a moment and continued. “Getting to know Claire and Ana has been so much fun. Elsie’s been a bit shy around me, but I think I’m making progress.”

Jasmine giggled and wiped her eyes. “She’s not shy, just too busy staring at your breasts.” She said with a laugh. Lily joined in. Ana already told her.

“True, haha… I don’t think she could tell you what color my eyes are.” Lily said.

“Probably… Her mind is so one-track. It’s been so fucking annoying, yet… I’ve recently started enjoying that part. She’s so passionate about what she likes… She’s grown on me.” Jasmine said.

“I’ve noticed. The Jaz I knew would have hated a party member like Elsie. She would have trained that part of her personality out of her…” Lily said, reminiscing on the rants Jasmine sent in letters. She still had them back home, it’d be nice to compare her words to the Jasmine before her.

“True… but Claire loves her to bits. I could never…” Jasmine said. She smiled as she looked at the three. She wouldn’t lie, at first she dreaded Elsie’s personality. She wanted any other mage or backline, but Ana was such a quick learner. “Ana is a bit tougher for me… she’s so shy and closed off. I’m honestly jealous she warmed up to you so fast.”

“Mmm, she was curious about Alchemy. She had even asked about it before all this. Maybe you could join one of our lessons, she’d enjoy a reward from you…” She let it hang in the air for a moment. Jasmine slowly pieced it together as a smile crossed her face.

“Not now Lily… far too tired for any of that.” She whimpered.

“Aww, I thought that’d work on you. Ana loves when I imitate her sister’s tone and teasings.” Lily said. She gave Jasmine another hug.

“Makes sense… those sisters love each other too much.” Jasmine whispered.

“I don’t know… it’s very cute how much Ana adores Elsie.” Lily whispered back. She nuzzled her cheek against Jasmine’s. She was so full of energy and love that she needed release. “Hot is probably better than cute…”

“Stop… I said I was tired… please.” Jasmine begged in her ear. Lily bit her lip before nodding. It was far too much fun mimicking Elsie.

“Fine… Let’s follow their lead…” Lily said motioning to their sleeping party members. Jasmine silently nodded as Lily dragged her to their own little corner. Lily hummed a tune to Jasmine as she held her. Jasmine’s own fatigue from last night slowly took over as she lay her head in Lily’s lap. She listened to Lily’s melody as her eyes slowly closed before she fell asleep.

Lily was left alone as the only one awake. She was humming a tune from her mother as she caressed Jasmine’s face. She had kept her feelings in check for a while, not wanting to overwhelm her friend earlier. She whispered into Jasmine’s ear those three words. “I love you.”

It felt nice to get off her chest as she wasn’t able to before. They were so caught up in Claire’s love, she neglected to tell Jasmine and Ana how she felt. She might have said so in the throes of love, but she couldn’t remember. She still needed to get closer with Elsie too. Maybe spoil the little mage with her breasts like Ana told her too.

She giggled to herself as she thought about it. Jasmine stirred and Lily panicked. She wanted her to rest so she started humming again. Jasmine stirred for a while more, seemingly having a bad dream. Lily did her best to calm the stirring woman with her touch and melody. It took awhile, but Jasmine calmed down eventually. Lily was left alone for quite some time as her party slept.