The Reeve Amidst The Green (25) Goblin Kisses (pt 2))
“You still want to do this?” said Charli. The wagon was at the branchoff, just across the river from Refuge. A right turn would put them on the River Road, headed east for home. Or straight north would take them past Mother Thall’s old cottage, and up towards the rocks, where the Magicians lived.
“I … know what I want,” said Shuffa. “What do YOU want? Will you … help me care for … our baby? Will we stay on your farm while it grows up? And be family?”
“You gonna help us look after Oddri’s baby?” said Charli. “Make goblin suppers and help out with the laundry? Sell mustard? Be a farm wife? Live with us, love with us, and be family?”
Shuffa looked with slitted yellow eyes into Charli’s green eyes, and turned around to look at Oddri. Oddri looked back at her with her great brown eyes, and put a hand the size of a salad plate on Shuffa’s little green one.
“You don’t have to do this,” said Oddri. “I will share my baby with you, if you want.”
“I know,” said Shuffa. “And I love you for that. So much! But…” and she turned back around, facing the front, looking at the road ahead. “But … the old Shuffa wanted one thing. A child of her own. And I want to feel … what it is to be human. To not be Shuffa for a while. To be someone else. And when Shuffa comes back… she will have what she wanted. And… I will be someone else. Mrs. Buds, maybe. Or Mrs. Oddri. Or Mama. Or … maybe… just … something better than the old Shuffa was.”
Shuffa looked back at Oddri, and then at Charli. “North,” she said.
Charli shook the reins, and Kari the horse drew the wagon north.
********************
Jon stared, his heart in his throat. He’d wanted to hold her hand, but the Magician had said no, something about “you can’t be in the field, it would change you, too,” and he’d stood by, helplessly, biting his lip and hoping like hell nothing would go wrong. How would it change me? I’m already a human!
The Magician and the Witch Goblin had stood on either side of Teej, her dress finally unsupported, the hem dragging on the wooden floor of the gazebo, while the Red Witch stood, staff in hand, and kept Jon at a safe distance in the grass below while the other two had waved their hands around and said strange singsong words that made Jon’s head feel funny… and he'd watched Teej consumed by a strange whiteness as she’d… blurred out, somehow… and grown, as if she was drawing more of herself out of nowhere. Jon realized that most of the whiteness he was seeing was the color of the housedress she was wearing, but… something was definitely changing, inside the blurred confines of the… field, was it? The dark blob at the top seemed to be Teej’s poofy hair, that didn’t seem to be changing, but everything else…
And the Magician and the Witch Goblin had stopped… and slowly dropped their arms … and suddenly, Teej had snapped into focus again. Or… was it Teej?
The hair was the same, the same big fluffy frizzy cloud of brown hair she’d always had. Her nose was the same, the exact same. Her face looked a little different, her skin color, certainly so. The hem of the housedress now hung a little above her knees.
She opened her eyes. “Oh…” she said.
“Teej?” Jon had barked, tensed to step forward. The Red Witch put out her hand to stop Jon--
Teej turned her head and looked at Jon, and saw him, standing in the grass, perhaps twenty feet away. And burst out laughing.
Jon stared. It was Teej. It looked just like Teej. But… her eyes were brown. And she was… human.
Laughing, Teej turned to dash down the steps, and promptly staggered, caught suddenly before she could fall, by the Magician and the Witch Goblin. “Whoa, there!” said the Magician.
“Should have warned you about that,” said the Witch Goblin. “Your center of gravity’s about two feet higher than it used to be. You’re going to have to learn balance all over again. Until you do, take it slow, don’t try to run or change direction suddenly, or you’ll fall on your ass. Nice ass, by the way.”
“Tolla?” said the Magician. “It’s done. You can let him up here.”
The Red Witch smiled and stepped aside, and gestured at Jon to join Teej on the gazebo. He dashed up, followed by the Red Witch, and stopped, suddenly, not daring to touch the new woman who stood before him. It was Teej. It looked just like Teej… but different. Tentatively, he reached out and put his hands on her waist. “Teej? How you feel?”
Teej took a deep breath, and said in Teej’s exact voice, “You… look so … different! You’re smaller… and your colors…” Abruptly, her arms whipped out around Jon’s neck and she leaned in and kissed him, hard, her tongue probing between his lips… and Jon slid his arms around her waist, and kissed back.
A moment later, she broke the kiss and looked at him. “Tastes the same, though,” she said. “It’s Jon. Same Jon, through new eyes! Meet Leeja, Jon. I am your cousin, from Ponce!” Her eyes narrowed, and she smiled wickedly. “And I will do terrible things to you that a cousin should not!”
Jon felt his heart pounding in his chest. “This is … mmm,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I feel kinda like I’m cheatin’ on my wife. And she looks just like my wife. This is … gonna take some gettin’ used to.”
Teej giggled furiously, and hugged him gleefully, and Jon felt his heartstrings twitch. It was Teej’s giggle, in Teej’s voice… a sound he’d heard a thousand times… from a human woman… a human Teej. He took a deep breath, feeling his head swim…
“TEEJ?” came a voice from the field below.
Everyone on the gazebo spun, suddenly, to look into the mushroom field. Not far beyond where Jon had stood only moments earlier, now there stood three others: towering Oddri, a bemused Charli, and a shocked Shuffa, staring up at the transformed Teej.
“H’shi’vok, I can’t believe this,” said Shuffa, her voice slightly muffled by her hands over her mouth, her expression one of awe. “You … look just like Teej. You ARE Teej. You are HUMAN Teej! It was all true…” Suddenly, Shuffa flicked her glance to Jon, still wrapped in Teej’s arms. “And you are going to… oh, oh, OH!”
“Scuse me,” said Charli mildly. “I’m sorry… are we interruptin’ somethin’? We could come back another time.”
Jeeka pinched the bridge of her nose. “We should have done this indoors,” she said.
Ben glanced down at Charli with a wry face. “I don’t think we’ve ever done this kind of traffic out here before,” he said. “Is there something we can do for you?”
Shuffa looked up at the Magician, and realized. “Oh,” she said. “I… am sorry. We’re… interrupting…”
“You came peacefully,” said the Magician. “And our business is concluded here. Unless there is something else, Jon?”
Jon looked raptly at Teej. He’d barely glanced at the interlopers. “Um… I think we’re good…”
The Red Witch held her staff in a defensive position, her expression tense. “Am I the only one seeing the giant?”
“This is Oddri,” said Charli. “I promise, she won’t do any harm. We came to beg a favor.”
Shuffa opened her mouth to speak, but Charli spoke first. “See… we had somethin’ in mind a bit like these two folks did, I think. Shuffa told me she spoke to you about it, once, and you turned her down. I was wonderin’ if it would make any difference if… well, if I was to ask for it, instead.”
“You would be a father to the child?” said the Magician. The Witch Goblin and the Red Witch moved to either side of him, and even Jon finally took an interest in the proceedings.
“Naw,” said Charli. "I reckon I'll be a Dad. To OUR children." He bent slightly, and took Shuffa’s hand. Oddri stepped up behind them, knelt, and brought her arms around both Shuffa and Charli, and looked at the Magician over Charli’s shoulder.
The Magicians stared at the trio for a moment.
“Y’see, Oddri’s already got a baby comin’,” said Charli, “and… well, Shuffa wants one, and, well, we figure that havin’ ‘em both more or less around the same time might save some extended effort. I understand you did somethin’ similar.”
“You’re going to raise an ogre baby?” said Tolla.
“Well, half-ogre,” said Charli.
And this earned him a stunned silence for another moment.
“Is that possible?” said Jeeka.
“You’re sure you are the father?” said the Magician.
Oddri and Charli both nodded.
“Well, it’s official,” said Tolla. “We aren’t the weirdest game in town, any more.”
“You were telling the truth, then,” said Teej, which drew everyone’s attention. Teej released Jon’s neck and stepped towards the edge of the gazebo floor. “When you were tearing down your wickiup. You said you’d give anything for what I had. And you went out and you found yourself a man.”
Shuffa looked up at Teej, human Teej, with something like wonder. “They found me, more like,” she said. “They helped me, they took care of me. I owe them everything. And still, they gave. Even a baby, if you will help me. And in return, I give them all that I have to give.”
“And that is?” said Tolla.
“Me,” said Shuffa. “I … give them myself. My crops, my farm, my future. I wanted a baby. But first, I found a family. You were right to refuse me, the first time. I wanted to raise a family, but I couldn’t even take care of myself. But together, now, we are stronger than we were. Will you refuse me, now?”
The Magician glanced down at the Red Witch, and at the Witch Goblin, and they exchanged looks.
“Please?” came a deep voice, for the first time. “Will you help her?” said Oddri. Reaching for her waistband, she said, “I can pay…”
The Magician closed his eyes. “Stop,” he said.
Oddri looked up at him.
“Put your money away,” he said, opening his eyes and looking at the Witch Goblin. “I’m convinced. Jeeka, do you have the power to connect and do this twice?”
Jeeka looked at the strange family, standing out on the grass, and snorted. “I’ve got the strength if you do.”
The Magician turned and extended his hand. “Shuffa,” he said, “come forth.”
**********************
Bekk looked at the strange party being held at the big table on the dining floor of the Goblin Pie.
She’d felt a moment’s terror when the great black haired ogre had squeezed in through the front door before realizing it was just Oddri. A few of the customers had reacted badly, but had quickly been calmed; enough townsmen had seen Oddri before that it wasn’t the disaster it might be. Still, Oddri had never been to the Goblin Pie before, and certainly not on a night when they were shorthanded…
Oblivious to the ruckus caused by her presence, Oddri had walked boldly up to the counter, her head nearly brushing the ceiling, and had said, “I need a lot of beer. And I need five goblin pies, the big ones, all with the little red circles and the green things and the mushrooms, and only one with the little fish. And do you have water? I don’t like beer.”
Bekk stood, stunned, and stared. Bekk was very much used to being the one in charge of the conversation while the other person stared and was silent or blathered and fum-fuh’d, and for the first time in her life, was finding out what it was like to have it the other way around.
“Oh,” said Oddri. “I can pay.” She fished a pouch out of her waistband, and hooked a King’s Head out and slapped it on the counter, gently, with a fingertip.
And the sight of gold reengaged Bekk’s mental gears. “FIVE PIES, SAUSAGE, PEPPER AN’ MUSH! ONE WITH CHOVY!” she belted out loudly. Taking the coin, she said, “It’s going to be a minute on the pies. I’ll be back in a minute with your change. Beer’s over there, mugs are next to the barrel, and the glass thing has water if you don’t like beer. Welcome to the Goblin Pie!” And with coin in hand, she scuttled back into the kitchen, to the cash box and safety.
Oddri wandered over to the beer barrel and began filling mugs. She looked at the five gallon glass water dispenser, and picked it up and stuck it under her arm as an afterthought. Filling the remaining mugs, she carried them to the table, distributed them to her friends, and then pushed two chairs together, sat down, took out the water dispenser, unscrewed the top, and took a big drink.
Grola peered out into the dining area over the back ovens. “Is that the ogre?” she said. “I’d heard they had one here who liked to get her hair done… oh, negoksa, the MAGICIAN is out there! And Jeeka and Tolla!”
Midway to the cash box, Bekk’s head spun around so fast she nearly lost her balance. Sure enough, the Magician, Jeeka, and Tolla had taken seats at the big table… and a human Bekk didn’t know… and Jon, and two human women …
And it hit Bekk like a rock between the eyes. She looked again. There was no mistaking that cloud of frizzy brown hair. “TEEEEEEEJ!” she cried, spinning and pelting out into the dining room. By the time of her arrival, everyone at the table was laughing uproariously at her surprise. Bekk didn’t care. “NeGOKsa and H’SHI’vok, and BUKKgadoe, son of FilFOlio, you DID it!” she marveled, looking her friend up and down.
The woman with the frizzy brown hair grinned and struck a vampish pose, sitting in her chair. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” she said. “I am Leeja, Jon’s cousin from Ponce. I will be taking up her duties at the Goblin Pie, tomorrow, but tonight, I will bring wicked temptations and seductions on my cousin, and make him forget that silly goblin woman. And when she returns, I will escape, and leave her with the consequences of my wickedness!”
Bekk grinned. And then, she looked at the other human woman, who seemed to be wearing a long black shirt with white runes across her chest, made for a somewhat bigger human than she was. She was older than Teej, perhaps thirtyish, but still quite fetching to Bekk’s eye, especially given the abbreviated length of the shirt. Who IS this, thought Bekk, frantically scanning the smiling woman’s face. Her eyes were a bright green, not that that was any help in identifying what goblin she had been… her hair was a soft medium brown with auburn tints and highlights in it… the second human with reddish hair that Bekk had ever seen…
“Fire spirit,” said Bekk under her breath.
The auburn-haired woman smiled sadly. “All my life, I treated the Fire Spirits like shit,” she said. “And now, at last, it turns out that I am one. It serves me right.”
“I forgive you,” said Tolla, smiling.
“…. Shuffa?” said Bekk, wonderingly. “You are Shuffa! And this one is your cousin from Ponce?” she said, laughingly, indicating Charli.
“Why, no,” said Shuffa slyly. She pointed at Oddri. “THAT one is my cousin!”
She’d timed it perfectly; both Charli and the Magician choked on their beer, and the entire table cracked up laughing.
Two tables over, Eoin Bellsong shared a goblin pie with his wife Lene. “I really don’t care about who’s sleepin’ with who around here,” he said. “None of my business anyway. But when an ogre can have a cousin from Ponce, things have officially got out of hand.”
He'd timed it perfectly. Lene choked on her beer, laughing.
************************
Hours later, in the dark of the night, Wanna rose from her bed, parched. There was a tumbler of benzwine sitting in the himikar, and Wanna heard it calling to her. Wrapping herself in a blanket, she padded out through the living room into the kitchen, opened the himikar, and drank deep of the benzwine, soothing her dry throat, and making her mindful of sleep again. She put the tumbler, still half full, back into the himikar and quietly closed the door.
That was when the sound caught her attention.
Wanna cocked and rotated her ears, and refocused. The sound came from beyond the kitchen, down the hall. What was it? It sounded familiar. She’d heard the sound before? Was that Arnuvel? No, certainly he was asleep by now…
Wanna crept down the hall, glancing out the windows, her ears focused, tracking. Was it something outside? No, the sound wasn’t coming from outside, no, it was coming from the door at the end of the hall, slightly ajar.
Arnuvel’s room.
Wanna stopped, cocked her ears to maximize her hearing and focus and wondered furiously what he was doing in there. A wet sound, repetitive, over and over, with deep regular breathing in the background…
Oh.
She remembered gripping Isho’s cock teasingly, getting him hard, and then spitting on her hand and stroking him to fullness, and beyond, teasingly refusing to allow him to touch her until he was half crazy with lust… the sound her wet fist made, stroking his cock, harder, and faster, more quickly, the glistening at the tip…
OH!
She stood frozen before Arnuvel’s door. She was seized with a terrible urge to gently push the door open, to lean in, to look--
She did not. She stood, frozen, in the hallway, as she heard him stroking away. He seemed quite excited, judging from his breathing and the speed at which he was going. What was he thinking of, she wondered? She became aware of the sudden heat at her own slit, and touched it, under the blanket, and was surprised to find herself quite moist already, as if the sound had aroused her even before she’d consciously identified it.
She listened to Arnuvel’s breathing. His mouth was closed, he was breathing through his nose, and he was stroking himself for all he was worth. He must be getting close…
Wanna inserted two fingers into herself, and slid them in deep. Her knees abruptly weakened, and almost gave way, and she caught herself before she fell, and suddenly she heard Arnuvel’s mouth open, and gasp, and take a deep breath, the wet stroking sounds coming to a crescendo…
And a soft grunt as he came. Wanna blinked hard. She knew that sound. She’d heard it so many times before. And her own breathing had become deep and ragged, without her even realizing it. She withdrew her fingers from her wet cunt, and felt its protests. It wanted attention, now.
Wanna did not open the door. She turned and walked silently back down the hall, and back into her room, where she closed the door as quietly as possible. And lost herself in a fiery erotic dream, almost immediately, as Arnuvel, unaware, rolled over and fell asleep, a scant dozen yards away.
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Back to Part One:
Ahead to Chapter 26!
Posted Jan 19, 2023, 1:10 AM UTC · edited