Chapter 19

Falling with style, Re-union, Status

Edited by: Old Fart

Kal stepped out of the tunnel from the storeroom to see Felli standing a few paces away. She was gazing out the cave entrance watching a couple of large birds gliding along the stiff mountain breezes. She turned to look at him and blushed furiously as he stepped up next to her.

“A little late for that after what you just saw,” he said watching one of the birds tuck its wings and dive out of sight.

Felli blushed even harder “The blue lady and I talked some this morning, she was telling me there’s more to keeping a man happy than just...” she motioned towards her bottom half with a wing. “If Rone changes his mind I want to be able to make him happy any way I can.”

“What if the only way to make him happy is to let him go back to his wife?” Kal asked.

The harpy’s face fell, “I ... I don’t think I can do that mister ... umm ... what’s your name again?”

Kal sighed, “My name is Kal, I’m a mage from Rone’s town,” he almost added ‘remember?’ but thought better of it, she obviously didn’t. “Why couldn’t you?” he asked.

Her eyes shined like he was on the verge of tears, “It gets so terribly lonely up here. I don’t want to live alone anymore. I didn’t know that Rone had a wife until we got back here, or I would have found someone else. Once he was here with me I just couldn’t take him back, no matter how much he begged. Mister Kal, I think I’d be happy if he kept sleeping in the corner instead of with me, just as long as he stayed,” she said looking up at him as a lone teardrop ran down her cheek.

“Let’s go talk to Rone, see if we can come up with a solution. No more deals or trades like yesterday. I’ll give you both the idea I was thinking of and you can decide if it’s worth one of your eggs.”

Felli’s expression changed to one of mild confusion, “Why?”

“I realized yesterday that even though my intentions were good I was being an ass because I was mostly trying to get what I wanted. It didn’t feel good to me and Ikuno was pissed at me for it. So, today I’m going to not worry about what I want and just try to help you and Rone. If my actions are worth one of your eggs, then good for me. If not, perhaps we can come to a different arrangement.”

“That doesn’t sound much like the man who threatened to steal Rone away.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Felli. Until he tells me otherwise he will still be rescued in a few days by my rock golem friend.” He turned her towards the tunnel leading to her nest, “let’s see if we can come up with a better solution.”

Her face went from shocked and angry to accepting as he spoke. As they were about to enter the tunnel to her nest she looked up at him, “Who’s Ikuno?”

“It won’t work,” said Rone despondently as he sat across the stone table from Kal. Instead of resting on her perch Felli was standing next to Rone while he absentmindedly ran his hand down her back.

“Why not?” asked Kal. “I’m sure that you could make Marda see how useful having Felli around could be.”

“Marda isn’t the problem, Kal. It’s her sister, she’s supposed to be coming back soon to take over the healing and midwifing as well as set up a small church here in town. Even if I were to convince Marda, Master Jurien and Lady Nina to accept this, her sister never would. Marda told me the church already has issues with apothecaries, calling their remedies ‘heathen magic’ and saying the only true healing comes from servants of the goddess. That didn’t settle too well with her since she plans on following in Lady Nina’s footsteps.”

Kal rested his arms on the table in front of him, the church was coming to Telsin. This didn’t bode well. “Any idea why they decided to set up a church here? The capitol has never cared a whit about our little town as long as they got their taxes.”

“Marda’s sister, Elta I think her name is, told her about a group of knights coming through last year and suggesting they keep an eye on this area. According to Lady Nina, when they found out Elta was from Telsin they began hurrying her through her training. Who better to keep an eye on things than one of the town’s own. No offense intended, Kal, but with you suddenly becoming a mage not long after this supposedly happened along with your blue lady friend, I can’t help but wonder if you were the reason for that.”

Kal groaned an put his forehead on the cold stone table, bouncing it a few times in irritation. Felli was so wrapped up in Rone running his hands down her back she missed the conversation and was wondering if the young wizard was sick.

“I wish I could say you were wrong Rone, but I’m pretty sure Ikuno and I know exactly which knights you are talking about,” said Kal raising his head up.

“It’s really too bad,” said Rone running his hands through Felli’s hair, “even without her magic, her eyesight alone would be a huge help to Marda and her parents.”

“How so? Also, what do you know about her magic? I meant to ask her outside, but we got to talking about more important things,” he said indicating the two of them.

“A lot of their potions and such they have to go hunting for out in the woods. If she could remember what she is looking for then her eyesight and ability to fly would be an enormous help with gathering plants and herbs. Concerning her magic, she seems to be able to make things lighter when she holds onto it.”

“Her ‘hands’ too?” indicating the small claws at the final wing joint.

Rone nodded, “More than that,” he then turned to the harpy, “Felli? Could you give Master Kal a hug?”

“Only if you promise to do that some more,” she said smiling at him and pushing her head into his hand.

Rone nodded and Kal stood as Felli walked over to him. He felt the difference the moment her wings wrapped around his body. The constant pressure that he never noticed on his knees and ankles suddenly disappeared as his body became extremely light, making him feel like he was about to fall over or float away. As she released him he couldn’t help but wonder how nice it would have been to have her around when the tree fell on the young man last winter. A quick estimate made him think that with her standing on the log, two or three men could have accomplished the same feat as he had with his strength rune. Kal chuckled as he sat down finding it amusing that natural abilities like Felli’s and Gerda’s were sometimes so powerful compared to his own. He had spent weeks working on the feather fall rune, that still burned far too much energy, just to make himself lighter while Felli could do the same without any effort just by holding onto him.

Rone gave him a quizzical look, “What’s so funny?”

Kal smiled, “Imagine felling a tree for firewood then having Felli stand on it as you put it up on your shoulder and carry the entire tree back to the house.”

Rone blinked a few times before looking down at the harpy beside him, “That would be handy, unfortunately, it still doesn’t help us. I won’t put my in-laws on bad terms with the church any more than they already are, drawing the church’s ire can get you killed. I will not take that chance, I’m sorry.”

Kal’s heart broke for Felli as he saw the deep sadness in her eyes as she looked up at Rone. “I understand,” she said slowly nodding, “I have one request: spend the night with me in the nest.” She saw the look on his face and hurried on, “You don’t have to do anything! You can even keep your clothes on! I just want to spend our last night with your arms around me. Tomorrow, after I’ve laid my egg and given it to Kal, I will take you home,” she said blinking rapidly to fight back the tears as Rone accepted her offer and drew her into his arms.

“Felli,” said Kal, “I really didn’t do anything, my whole idea was a wash.”

She smiled across the table at him, “I know, but you did try to help, and you were nice about it this time. Besides, I can just take a couple of extra rabbits or a small boar and be right back to normal in a couple of days.”

Rone’s stomach chose that moment to growl, the noise seeming very loud in the stone room. He looked down then gave Felli and Kal a sheepish smile, “Sorry, haven’t had breakfast yet.”

Kal gave him a questioning look.

“Felli hasn’t been out hunting yet, she was doing something with your og ... oni earlier instead.”

Kal had a sudden idea, “Rone how far away is your farm?”

“A few miles, Felli says she can see it from here, but I can’t make anything out but trees,” said the man, the harpy next to him making a chirping noise in agreement.

“Is your larder stocked?” Kal said with a smile.

“This will not end well if Marda is at home, we should just wait until Felli brings something back,” said Rone, frowning at the kneeling wizard.

“I don’t know why, but I’m certain that Marda is in Telsin with her parents right now. I wish I understood how I know this, but I’d just about bet my life that it’s true,” as Kal made the statement the feeling faded, he chose to not share that with the scowling man. Instead, he focused on cutting two slits with his belt knife just above the bottom hem of his cloak large enough to slip the front half of his boots through.

As Kal was getting his cloak the rest of the way on, backwards, a bleary-eyed Ikuno emerged from the storeroom tunnel.

“I didn’t expect to see you up,” said Kal. “You’ve only been asleep for a couple of hours.”

“Someone is so excited about going ‘flying’ that it woke me up,” she stifled a yawn then took a good look at the young mage with his modified travel cloak on backwards. “You look like a green flying squirrel.”

Rone spoke up, “I told him this wasn’t necessary that Felli would go hunting later and I would eat then, however, he seems insistent on getting some breakfast for us all.”

Ikuno chuckled and shook her head, “There you would be wrong. This little trip is absolutely necessary, but it has nothing to do with food. It’s necessary because Kal has so much fun gliding about last night that he wants to do it again.”

Rone looked sharply at Kal, the young wizard gave him a sheepish smile in return, “She’s mostly right, although, we are going to get food and bring it back.”

Rone’s stomach growled again, Kal couldn’t hear it over the wind but Ikuno’s sharp ears picked it up, “From the sound of your belly I think you’d best be happy with that and not worry about Kal’s lack of altruism.”

Rone had no clue what all-true-ism was but he agreed that he might need to be more concerned with his empty stomach. While he’d had a larger meal than usual last night with Kal and Ikuno’s help, this morning his gut was complaining constantly, and he was starting to get hunger pangs.

Kal waved at Felli who was out enjoying herself, drifting about on the mountain breezes as Kal got ready. Rone flinched away from her flapping wings as she landed right next to him. She quickly snuck her head under his arm to cuddle up against his side. Rone’s annoyed expression quickly softened as he gently hugged her to him, the harpy making a contented cooing noise.

“Ready to go?” Kal asked her, holding his mask out from his face. Giving Rone a final nuzzle Felli stepped up behind the wizard, with a small crouch she hopped up onto his shoulders. Her wings pounded the air until she managed to lift them both and start moving forward. The harpy then made her way towards a nearby updraft that would take them nearly to the peak.

As they caught the updraft and began gaining altitude the harpy’s cave quickly became an indistinguishable dot on the mountainside. Felli had warned Kal that the updrafts ran up the sides of the mountain, however, Kal was still unprepared for how close they needed to be, at times he was certain she was going to scrape his nose on the rock in front of them. As they neared the peak Felli began pumping her wings again. There was a terrifying moment for Kal as they transitioned between the calmer wind blocked by the mountain and the blustery prevailing winds coming from the west that swirled around the tall peak. Once they rose above the turbulence Felli and Kal glided along for a bit, the harpy using the oncoming wind to rise higher and only needing to beat her wings occasionally. Kal took note that while they were gradually gaining altitude they were also being pushed back east. By his calculations, it wouldn’t be long before Telsin would be directly south of them.

The view was breathtaking with the mountain range stretching off into the distance in front of him and massive forests to either side, occasionally cut through by a stream or road. Kal knew at that moment, even if it was that last thing he accomplished as a runesmith, he would finish the flight rune so he could experience this on his own.

After a couple of minutes, Felli banked sharply to the south then leveled out, pumping her wings to gain speed until Kal was nearly prone beneath her. She looked down at Kal and his eyes widened in momentary surprise as she blinked, from the insides of her eyes and without moving her eyelids. Dismissing it as a harpy thing, he nodded back up at her before she let go. The feeling of lightness in his body disappeared as soon as he was free of her talons. He only fell for a moment before spreading out his arms and legs, his cloak catching air almost immediately. After taking a second to adjust, he angled towards the break in the forest to the south that he assumed to be Telsin. A second later the harpy flew in front of him and angled slightly off to the right. Peering ahead of her with his eyes squinted against the wind he could make out a couple of smaller areas that were clear of trees and looked to have fields in them. He guessed that they were his grandparent’s old farm with Rone’s next to it.

Kal reveled in the feeling of being airborne under his own power, at least as close as he could get for now. He was also pleased with how the addition of the slits for his feet was working, feeling like he had much more control than he did last night. As an added bonus he felt like he was falling slower, though it was hard to be certain since his first experience had been after dark when judging distances is more difficult.

Felli was having a wonderful time, banking into him then popping herself upward as she folded her wings, doing a number of spins as she sailed over the top of him only to catch herself with a flare of her wings on the other side. It had been a very long time since she had been able to fly with someone else. Kal was nowhere near as agile as the harpy in the air but still tried to have some fun, turning sharply only to come careening back into her.

In the last minute or so, before needing to seriously think about braking and landing, he began playing a game of chase with Felli that she got a little too involved in. Each time she flitted to one side or the other Kal would quickly pull up right behind her smiling behind his mask at their little game. Without warning the harpy began gradually slowing, her tail feathers pulled to the side showing him her rear entrance and sex just beneath it. Kal had an odd sense of relief seeing the two openings, a small part of him had been worried that with as much as she looked like a bird, that area would be the same and only have the single entrance/exit as other avians. Felli looked back at Kal with unmistakable lust in her eyes until she noticed who was behind her and flushed bright red with embarrassment before dodging off to the side. Kal chose not to follow this time.

As they came gliding over the treetops into the area of Rone’s farmhouse all thoughts of Felli’s actions a moment ago fled. Kal dipped down as he cleared the trees then pulled up hard, climbing into the air a bit as his cloak pressed tightly against his arms and legs, slowing him down dramatically. As he stalled in the air his feather fall rune came to life letting him drift down to earth slowly a dozen paces or so away from the four people standing beside two horses in front of the farmhouse, only one of which looked happy to see him. A moment later he was buffeted by air as Felli landed behind him hiding from the other humans behind his larger frame.

Kal took the time they walked towards him to step out of the loops in the bottom of his cloak and turn it back around as well as letting his breathing mask rest around his neck. He felt the harpy behind him grip his cloak and look out timidly at Rone’s family.

Perra rushed up to Kal and threw her arms around him as they got close pulling him in for a kiss. As she pulled away she affixed him with a hard stare. “We need to talk,” she said in a tone that brooked no argument, then moved back to stand with Master Jurien, Lady Nina, and Marda.

Kal held up his hands as if in surrender, “Felli has already agreed to return Rone tom...”

“We know,” interrupted Marda.

Kal sputtered for a moment at the completely unexpected response. “What? How?”

Marda and her parents all looked over at Perra. Seeing their looks, she again stared at Kal, “That’s why we need to talk.”

“Felli? Come here please,” said Marda. The terrified harpy began to move around Kal until he put out a hand stopping her. Marda frowned at him, “I won’t hurt her, Master Kal.”

“She kidnapped your husband, you have every reason in the world to hate her, forgive me if I don’t take you at your word.”

“If it suits you better then. I promise no harm will come to her, I only wish ta speak with the girl.”

Kal slowly put his arm down and looked down at Felli.

“She’s Rone’s wife?” she asked. Kal nodded.

Felli stepped out from around Kal and took a tentative step forward. With her next step, her shoulders shook with a sob. Midway between Kal and Marda, the harpy dropped to her knees, “I’M SORRYYY!” she wailed as she covered her face with her wings. “I was so lonely! And I wanted a chick so bad! I didn’t know he had a wife and you’re so pretty, no wonder he wants to come back to you. Once he was there I just couldn’t let him go even if he wouldn’t sleep with me. Please forgive me!”

Kal and the rest of the humans just stared at the sobbing girl. He had half expected a reaction like with Ikuno, certainly not this. Perra was glaring at him like he was somehow responsible for the harpy’s current state.

Marda was actually the first to recover from her shock and knelt down next to Felli, “Hush dear we know ya were going to bring him back.” Marda drew the harpy into a hug, “and we know how much it hurt ya to let him go.”

Kal snapped a questioning look at Perra who just mouthed the word ‘later’ before her attention returned to the two kneeling on the ground.

“We were thinking of a way ta make everyone happy, however, we need to have Rone here to discuss it. Would ya please bring him back home?”

Felli sniffed, “he was going to sleep with me tonight too,” she said sadly.

Marda drew back with a scowl.

Kal piped in, “Clothes on, no funny business. She just wanted a cuddle before she brought him back.” Kal quickly sifted through their conversations for any other pitfalls that might unintentionally damage the positive direction this seemed to be going. Thankfully he came up empty.

Marda appeared to accept his explanation and turned back to Felli, “Bring Rone home please.”

“Yes ma’am,” said Felli, still looking downhearted. She stood and turned towards the distant mountain peak. Kal stepped out of her way as she spread her wings and jumped into the air, pumping hard to gain elevation and speed.

“I don’t like this,” said Master Jurien, “Elta’s going ta have fits if she finds out she has a bird for a niece. She may bring da Order down on our heads.”

“Not if she doesn’t find out, father,” Marda said as she watched the harpy disappear off into the distance. “Besides I don’t think you are giving her enough credit, she was raised by you, same as I was.”

“You were smart enough ta not go running off after some passing cleric either,” said Nina. “One who would forget you exist as soon as he walked into da capitol an’ didn’t need what was between your legs anymore.”

“No, instead I met a man who seems to have had a harpy fall in love with him. If I know my husband, he must have fallen in love with her at least a little bit if he were to agree to a night with her, even if it’s just ‘cuddling,’” replied Marda, looking to Kal for confirmation.

Kal shrugged, “Love? I’m not sure about that. What I can tell you is that he has come to care about her over the last few days. I’m partially at fault for that.” Kal proceeded to tell them about Rone’s reaction to how harpies eat eggs that aren’t viable as well as the explanation of why they do that. “Before that,” he continued, “Rone just saw Felli as a monster.”

“I can’t blame him,” said Jurien, “I’d likely see her da same way if you hadn’t just explained it ta me.” The three women next to him nodded in agreement.

“Do you mind me asking what brought all of this about?” asked Kal. Looking over at Marda he said, “I thought you might come around eventually, but I must say you are taking this far better than I expected, as are you two,” he said indicating Jurien and Nina.

All three of them looked over at Perra who blushed slightly under their gaze. “It might have had ta do with Lady Perra starting to cry and telling us da harpy was bringing him back, though it was breaking the poor thing’s heart ta do it,” said Marda.

Kal looked over at her, “How on earth did you know that?”

Perra sighed, “It seems like I’ve been able to feel your stronger emotions over the last few days.” She tugged the neckline of her dress down to reveal her pendant, “Your mother thinks it might have something to do with this.”

While Perra and the others’ presence there at the farm, along with her reaction to something that was happening to him far away, was really evidence enough that she was telling the truth, Kal couldn’t help but be a bit skeptical and his face showed it.

“Fine,” said Perra in a huff, “If you don’t believe me then just think of something you feel strongly about and see if I can’t tell what it is.”

Kal gave her a mischievous smile and closed his eyes. He imagined the morning before he left and when she offered her bottom to him if he came back safe. He then changed the image so after he finished teasing her with his tongue he stood up and placed his hard cock at her back entrance and slowly started pushing forward flooding her body with pleasure.

“KAL! STOP IT!” she yelled, gasping. Perra’s face burned with a mixture of embarrassment and desire as her hands went to her backside checking to see that there wasn’t actually something about to penetrate her back there.

Jurien chuckled, “Oh ho! A man after my own tastes,” he said winking at Kal. A moment later Nina backhanded him across the shoulder, which only caused him to laugh harder. Marda rolled her eyes at her parent’s antics, even so, Kal thought he could see a faint blush in her cheeks as well.

Across his bonds with Ikuno, Bea, and Aradelle he got the equivalent of ‘Woo Hoo!’ whereas Gerda’s response was more one of curiosity. He sent back that he was just trying something and that wasn’t actually happening only to get three ‘Awww’s of disappointment. Gerda, on the other hand, still seemed curious.

Perra stared at him intently, “Was that the girls?” Kal nodded.

“Girls?” asked Marda.

Perra looked over at her, “You think sharing with one harpy is bad?” she held up her hand with four fingers extended.

“Four women?” asked Marda looking at Kal with surprise.

“Four others. Five, if you include Perra.”

Marda and Nina were both giving him a look of appraisal while Jurien’s expression was a mix of being impressed and pity. “Five women,” said the apothecary, “I do my best ta keep up with one.”

Marda cleared her throat, “Two.”

Jurien and Nina both stared wide-eyed at their daughter.

“Oh, come off it, you two. Your liking of Kahrin’s arse is well enough known about town, father. Mother, you seem ta forget ta be quiet when Kahrin comes to get her gondas weed. Plenty of people have walked by the shop and heard you three in there, only to see Kahrin walk out a bit later. Did you never think to have her stop by later that night?”

Jurien gawped at his daughter’s remarks while Nina snorted, “Says the woman who is likely ta end up with that bird’s head between her legs as her husband has a go at the other end.”

“Maybe I will,” Marda snapped back, “it obviously runs in the blood...” the woman squeaked in surprise at her own words, “I mean ... oh, hells.” The other four laughed quietly as Marda’s face turned bright red from her accidental admission.

Kal quietly thought to himself this situation couldn’t be going better for Rone and the harpy and got a feeling of agreement coming from Perra’s direction. He looked over at her and simply nodded. “It works both ways, does it? This must explain my sudden urge yesterday to get some feathers from Felli, so I could give them to Nina.”

“Did you happen ta bring some?” asked the potion and salve maker with hope in her eyes.

“Sorry, no. I wasn’t expecting you to be here. In fact, I was certain you were all back in town at your store just before Felli and I left,” he looked over at Perra. “I’m guessing you had something to do with that?”

Perra nodded, “When I got the feeling you were coming here I let them know. Thankfully we had both the horses ready to go. Yesterday I let them know Rone was alive and have been giving them updates on him as much as I could. Marda rode out to the house this morning and woke me up, wanting to know if anything had changed. By the way, I have a bone to pick with Ikuno about her means of waking you up. I don’t need to be having dreams about body parts that I don’t have and prefer in me instead of on me.” In her annoyance, she had forgotten about the other members of her audience until the other three started laughing. Trying her best to ignore them she soldiered on, “As it was, I saddled up Bonn and rode back with her. When you decided to fly back with Felli they closed up shop and we raced you here. Just to let you know, you look like a green flying squirrel.”

Kal grinned, “Ikuno said something along those lines before I left.” Kal’s face fell, “Dammit, we need to make Felli understand she can’t speak of Ikuno.”

“One of your women, I’m assuming?” asked Jurien.

“Yes, and there’s some kind of history between her and my mother that she is absolutely insistent my mother know nothing more than her name. It’s so frustrating too, it feels like I have all of the pieces to that puzzle in front of me, I just can’t figure out how it all goes together. Anyway, since Felli has seen her she needs to know she can’t tell anyone of what Ikuno looks like. Speaking of which they should be here soon, if I’m correct about what Ikuno just sent me they left a couple of minutes ago.”

“Sent you?” asked Marda.

“It’s a magical bonding, I can get strong impressions and thoughts directed at me. I’d tell you more but the rules seem to change, as such, I’m still trying to figure it out.”

Perra came over and took Kal’s hand, “Speaking of which, I need to talk with you alone,” she said dragging him away from the others. Once she was sure the others couldn’t hear her she turned to him, “Kal, your mother had another idea about the necklace that I didn’t want to bring up in front of them. She thought it might be possible that I could have the same kind of bond with you as the others do.”

Kal was a little shocked, the thought had never occurred to him because to anyone’s knowledge it wasn’t even possible. “And you want this?” he asked.

“I won’t lie Kal, the thought scares me. Giving myself to you the way that Ikuno explained it is a big step, even then, there’s the possibility it won’t work. To answer your question, yes, I do want this. I want what all the rest of the girls have with you so I can stop feeling left out and stop being jealous of them.”

“You’re jealous?”

Perra looked down and nodded, “They have that connection with you that I don’t. It’s why I haven’t gone to see any of them with you since my birthday. Before I was outside the whole situation, now I just feel like an outsider. Mom managed to drag that out of me last night as well.”

Kal chuckled, “She’s annoyingly good at that. Did you want to try this now?”

Kal received a resounding ‘No!’ from Ikuno loud enough to bleed through and make Perra’s breath catch and tears form in her eyes at the rejection. A moment later the oni sent him an image of him and Perra standing in front of Aradelle with Ikuno on one side and Bea on the other. Gerda’s image flickered next to Ikuno’s, probably because of the low likelihood of her coming to such a gathering. Kal held the image and amplified it before pushing it towards Perra.

The young woman’s visage went from tearful to glowing as she saw what Ikuno had planned, “Okay, I can wait,” she said smiling.

“I think they are coming back!” yelled Marda from over by the farmhouse.