Interconnected: Spliced Souls

“So Ms. Dineria already knows about…” Srassa was to my left, letting hot springs wash away her exhaustion and tiredness.    

“Yep. She does,” I replied, leaning back a little more.  I couldn’t help but steal a small peek at her breasts and blush at her cute smile. 

“So that means she’s bathed with you before us?” Momo added.   

“Yep. She walked in during the first night. We had a chance to talk about things, and I learned she valued her sexuality and loved her body. But why won’t you join us, captain? You’re the only one who’s wearing her robe.”  

“The water’s too hot. It takes me a little bit to get my courage up. Why? Do you wanna see me naked that badly?”  

My dick grew an inch. It was already erect, but the size increase pushed it above the water’s surface.   

“Hehe. Doesn’t it seem counterintuitive for other people’s thoughts to control it?”  

“I can override it. But since I’m pretty fine with it, I'll let you two do it. I know you won’t think of anything crazy and make it two feet long or something ridiculous…”  

“Haha… Yeah, I—I definitely won’t do anything like that.”  

Momo turned away and looked up, prompting Srassa to ask if something was wrong.    

“AARG! Okay, I can’t keep it in.” Momo whipped off her robe and walked to Srassa. She sat on her knees and held Srassa's hands, causing the noble to flinch in partial apprehension. “Srassa, I got something I need to confess… It’s about after we had that party… I… Umm… I kinda overheard you playing with yourself! And… I saw… it.” 

“… Eeehhhhhhhhh?!?!?!” Slowly, Srassa’s face… Well, it turned the same hue as a tomato. She almost started crying out of sheer embarrassment. “But that means—you saw the stuffed animal—and the table—and—?!”  

Momo bit her lips and said she saw all of it. “Please forgive me! I know I’m a bad friend and teacher! I didn’t mean to invade your privacy. I…don’t have any excuses… And it’s not just you. I spied on Servy. I knew she had a penis before we went to the dungeon. I’m really sorry. Like super sorry.”  

“…”  

“…”  

“…” 

Srassa took her hands from Momo and covered her face. She screamed, but it was a quiet scream. It wasn't loud or unsettling. Our naked singi knew she had fucked up. Maybe she was regretting getting this off her chest. “Ms. Momo?”  

Srassa’s voice was muffled. Momo turned away. “Yes.”  

“I…forgive you. Umm… I’m…not mad. I just thought I had my door locked.” Srassa uncovered her face. “But it’s so embarrassing… Umm… Ms. Momo, can you turn around?”  

Momo shuffled slowly. She found it hard to look down, but she met Srassa’s smiling face. Suddenly, the noble launched at her instructor, wrapping her in a hug.   

“Wha—Mmmph!!!” I wasn’t prepared for the deep kiss that followed. It looked like Momo had the strength sucked out of her from Srassa’s deep show of affection. A thick line of spit connected their lips.   

“I’ve kissed Servy, but I haven’t kissed you. Ms. Momo, I’m…feeling hot… I’m getting the same itch again…” Srassa’s voice made it sound like she was in heat. She squirmed.   

“There’s something we can do… It isn’t sex, but it could help. Here, sit on the edge, okay?”  

“Umm… O—okay.” Srassa obliged. When asked to spread her legs, she did it slowly. Momo kneeled and used her fingers to rub Srassa’s crotch.   

“You’re very pretty down here,” she whispered. Her cheeks were flushed, and her tail slithered through the water. She leaned closer and sniffed.   

“Don’t smell it… It’s…”  

“It’s tantalizing. And I bet it tastes even better…”  

“Ahhh~~~ Ms. Momo, wait—You’re doing it—aaahhh~~~” Srassa arched her back when Momo licked Srassa. She rubbed her hands around her thighs and moaned.   

I stood and watched the scene before me. It was hot, but I didn’t want to be left out. So, I sat beside Srassa and kissed her neck. Her healthy bosom was right there for the groping.   

“She’s liking this, Servy,” Momo said, her gorgeous eyes looking up at us from between Srassa’s crotch. The blond-haired noble squirmed and tried to close her legs.   

“Don’t try to fight it…” I licked her neck and moved to sucking her nipples. “Let’s feel good together, okay?”   

When Srassa reached a hand to my penis…  

It was on.   

She jerked me off, using too much strength at first, but she understood the pressure of my sucking and adjusted her grip accordingly. I sealed her passionate voice with my lips and felt her tongue dart into my mouth when she climaxed. 

“Mmmmphhhhhh!!!!!!” I glanced at Momo from the corner of my eyes, and her face was wet from Srassa’s squirting. But she never stopped licking and used her hands to rub her friend’s inner thighs.  

“Ahhh…” Srassa went quiet and meek. I moved back from the kiss and hugged her close against me because she was about to fall back. Momo immediately sat on her other side and wrapped her arms around Srassa’s waist.  

We stayed in a friendly, post-orgasmic state until Srassa’s reason returned. 

She was still in a daze, of course, but her hands went to her and Momo’s pussies. “I guess this means your switch has been flipped… Mine has too…” Momo panted and looked totally cute with how reddened her cheeks were. “Umm… We…can go further than this, I mean. If you really wanna—”  

“I do! I wanna go as far as I can! I…can’t stop the feeling in my stomach… It’s like an itch I can’t scratch…” Srassa looked at me with her blushing cheeks. Her eyes darted to my erection, and she mentioned it must’ve been painful because nothing had shot out.   

She slowly moved her right hand up and down while stimulating Momo. I licked Srassa’s cheeks and joined Momo in fingering our friend.   

The hot spring was hot, but the lewd scene playing out was hotter. We ceased speaking and used our emotions and moans to communicate. Even after Srassa and Momo had climaxed, our fingers didn’t stop.   

When I was close, Srassa… She immediately took my penis in her mouth when she leaned over. Her hot tongue… I didn’t expect it, and I pumped it into her. It was more than she expected, but she swallowed as much. Her face was so beautiful—so enchantingly alluring that, with semen slipping through her lips, she was so exceptionally gorgeous. I held my hands out for her to spit the rest onto, but she shook her head and forced it down.   

“It’s always so sweet… It’s just…” Srassa couldn't finish her words because she was distracted by a throbbing in her crotch. She looked at my penis… And I knew she wanted me to stick it in.   

I was harder than I had ever been before. It felt like I was about to go crazy.   

But having sex with Srassa… It would cause a ton of problems. Even this much… If what we had already shared reached her father... Momo and I would probably face the gallows. 

I wouldn’t let that happen, of course.  

But… 

Srassa knew it. She knew it, yet she couldn’t deny the feelings she felt. Her yearnings… She leaned close and hugged me, admitting that she had masturbated for the first time to the thought of me. It had happened after the party.   

“I know it’s a difficult situation. I wish I could help you,” whispered Momo. She hugged Srassa and rubbed her stomach, her fingers descending to her moistened peach between her thighs.    

Srassa cried into my chest, and all we could do was support her because what could we do?  

She could act on her feelings and potentially destroy her life. She’d be called a whore and cast out from her family.   

Granted, we didn’t know if her father would go that far, but it wasn’t worth risking.   

On the flip side, she could deny her feelings. Srassa could kill and bury them in the deepest reaches of her heart.   

A third option…  

If and when Srassa was married off to some man, Momo and I could still have a relationship with her. It would mean she would cheat on her spouse, but if the marriage was loveless... Did it matter?  

And if Srassa was closer to us than her husband, couldn’t I…  

If she wanted to be a mother, I could impregnate her. It only required thought and permission from both parties.  

But that would mean her having sex with someone she didn’t love to cover it up.   

What the hell am I talking about? Impregnation? Do I even want to have children? Would they be immortal? Does Srassa…? My head’s in a tumble… I need to calm down. 

But having her be cooped in a mansion, wasting away her life like a bird trapped in a cage when she’d much prefer to fight with her friends?  

Maybe it was the situation, but I couldn’t find a suitable answer to this crisis. Perhaps the best option was to offer my services to Harold. If an enemy needed killing, no one could end lives better than me.   

We could always run away with her…   

Perhaps that was the best answer? We’d be chased by one of the most socially and economically powerful men in all of Inith.  

But there was another concern.   

Love.   

Could it blossom so quickly as it had presumably had for Srassa?  

The situation was too complex for me to solve. For any of us to solve, really.   

Srassa stopped her tears and apologized, but Momo and I reassured her she never needed to be sorry about her feelings. We washed our bodies, dried with my ring, put on our robes, and returned to our room. We'd always slept close together since we arrived, but it felt different tonight. Srassa and Momo were facing each other, and I was behind our darling noble with my arms around her stomach.   

We remained like that until my friends fell asleep, and I went to my soul world to converse with Albert and Itarr, who were resting near the bloody fountain. The ship I absorbed was floating near the island.    

He confirmed what Srassa had said about noble women and their virginities. He had this disgusted expression about it. 

Itarr didn’t know why the nobility would marry their sons and daughters to other families and expect them to produce children when intimacy wasn’t there. She wondered why they didn’t allow them to marry for love.  

“It’s a complex web of political maneuvering and power struggles. Everyone wishes to have more, and the best way to establish relationships is with children. It’s a game to them. Even someone like Harold has managed to play it for the last twenty years. I partially thought Srassa would be freed from this farce, but evidently, it wasn’t the case.”  

“Then what can I do?”   

“It depends on Harold. It’s unfathomable for a man like him to let his only daughter do as she wished for a decade, let alone allow her to join Warden without a powerful bodyguard to keep her safe. Momo may be skilled, but she’s a kitten in a world of lions. I found it alarming he wouldn’t have chosen someone more powerful to take on the same role. There must be an ulterior motive, yet I know not what it is.”   

“So, you’re saying Harold should’ve refused Srassa when she asked to join Warden or train with that kobold?”  

“That’s right. It’s even stranger that only a few knew her existence—almost like her birth was a mistake. Only a handful of people know her last name—including me.” 

“What if she was an accident? And he sent her away for a decade to buy time to raise his political power?”  

Albert nodded and said Harold was in a position to demand a lot. He was King Lando’s trusted advisor and overseer of Lando’s Nail, so people would probably make backhanded deals and pull a ton of strings for him to get her hand in marriage.   

But would he do that?  

What if Srassa was a boy? Perhaps lesser powerful nobles would’ve desired a son. But with Harold’s position, maybe a daughter was more valuable.  

And how could he have had the foresight to organize this nearly two decades ago? What if he had fucked up 11 years into this plan? Assuming, of course, he was following one?  

It was a swirling mess, and my mind was rattled and exhausted, and it only got better when Itarr grabbed my hand. She led me into the tower, which had changed for the better. It was still dark and gloomy, and it had little in the way of décor, but it looked better. Her room had changed locations, though, since it had swapped hallways.   

But it looked the same. Itarr closed the door and stripped her clothes.   

I did the same and smiled. We walked to the bed, and my goddess comforted me all night.   

---

Dineria was right when she said the day after returning from the dungeon would be lazy. We stayed in bed until lunch, lounged around, and rested until the moon had started to take its place in the sky, then got dressed because Dineria had plans. 

She took us out for a night on the town, and we ate at her favorite spots, which served food from the Enkami Shogunate—a country to the far east. Eating raw fish was an experience, but the real star was the noodles. They were cooked in a sweet, spicy broth and topped with pork, eggs, seaweed, and green onions.    

Then she dragged us to the markets near the docks. It was loads of fun, and we enjoyed trying on the different clothes they had for sale.    

And that goddamn rat bastard Lieutenant Fisher Jin was paying for all of it. I purposely ordered and bought the most expensive shit I could find, then stared at him in the eye. That other dickbag Arnold laughed and said I was bleeding him dry.   

I was glad we hadn’t run into them that much. We would get to ‘know’ each other on the way home.    

And by that, I mean they would die by my hands. It would probably happen after we returned. Doing the deed during the trip was an option, but I didn’t want my friends or mentor to find out.    

Luckily, Momo and Srassa were too busy in their own conversation to see me stare daggers at the two soon-to-be-dead sons of bitches. I only showed my displeasure and blasted it when Dineria wasn’t around.   

I knew Fisher knew who I was. That bastard Arnold didn’t. Albert’s voice echoed in my ear and urged me to remain calmer.  My fuse would've been blown if it wasn't for him and Itarr.   

Feral was with us.  It was a joy seeing him again. He probed us for details about the dungeon, his big, large tail wagging like an excitable dog.   

Honestly, he was probably the highlight of this trip if you didn’t count the fun I shared with Momo and Srassa. He had said he had plans to adventure out of Canary for a while, so hopefully, we would run into him.   

Overall, that night was mostly fun if you disregarded my extreme hatred for those two bastards. And I was even willing to temporarily drown those yearnings to kill them for some fun in the ocean. Dineria even convinced Fisher to fork over the dupla to rent a portion of the beach between two overreaching rocks to the south.    

Momo, Srassa, Dineria, and I went to bed happy and full, yet we woke up to a disaster.    

“Awwwwww… Why…did it have to rain…? Why?! It doesn’t make sense!!! Servy, do something about the weather!” Momo looked up at the dark, ominous clouds and pointed.    

She was already wearing her swimsuit.    

“GO AWAY, RAIN!!!! GOOOO AWAYYYYY!!!” I turned to the soggy skies and shouted while the thick, fat drops smacked me in the face. “Sorry, I guess I’m not strong enough.”  

I wore my swimsuit.    

“Ms. Momo… It’s okay. We can always come back to the beach later. Let’s return to our room. We’re going to get wet.”   

Srassa was wearing her swimsuit.   

The first thing we did after waking up was put them on. In hindsight, perhaps we should’ve looked at the sky before going through the effort.  

“But we’re leaving tomorrow…” Momo pouted. She looked at the bath and groaned at the raindrops pelting it.  We returned to our room through the changing area. Our fearless captain sat on her sleeping mat and crossed her arms.   

It was cute seeing her sulk. 

“Unless you’re a powerful mage amongst powerful mages, there isn’t much anyone can do to change the weather. But yes, it's disappointing. I had so much planned for our big blowout.”  

“And it was on Fisher’s wallet, wasn’t it?”  

“Yep. There was supposed to be a grill delivered, some fruit, a bunch of meat and fish, and dessert.”  

“Awwww…” Momo whimpered. Her tail depressingly slithered on the ground like a sad snake.    

“We could kinda enjoy a day at the beach. If you consider the hot springs to be one. There’s no ocean, but it’s technically deep enough to swim in.” I was surprised my idea was given more than a moment of thought. Momo called me a genius and rushed to the bath, jumping right in after she ran through the changing room. Dineria said it was rude to swim in the bath. But she was pissed off at the weather. She didn’t even care that the cold drops were splattering us.    

She also wore her swimsuit...  

Srassa and I shared another look as our mentor joined the water-logged singi, who couldn’t swim, and smiled. She briefly touched my hand with hers, but we couldn’t remain like that in public.  

Even if Dineria had a hint as to what was going on, the feelings I shared with her had to be drowned. It was different with Momo. We could probably hold hands and even kiss in public without issues.   

But I didn’t know where Lando stood on same-sex relationships with a human and a wildkin.   

However, I learned what I needed while we swam around the bath. Gay relationships weren’t illegal, but they weren’t the most popular thing. It was the same with humans and wildkin. Not out of the question, but something looked down upon.   

Some people had reservations about that kind of stuff. I thought they were bigots because love didn’t hurt anyone as long as it was safe and moral.   

My love for Itarr was just as pure as what Harold felt for his wife.   

But since I didn’t want to sour my mood, I forced my mind to empty while teaching Momo how to swim. 

I had a dream that night about how things would've gone if it hadn't rained, but Dineria wasn't there. It was just us-- the members of Butterfly Rumble-- and a friendly goddess who shared my soul.

Even though Itarr hadn't met Momo or Srassa, the four of us ran hand in hand across the sandy beach. The whooshing waves were so pretty, and we'd sit and watch-- content with each other's presence before trying to find another scene that was more beautiful. My Skill Phone had a camera-- I didn't know why-- but I took pictures to keep them as precious memories.

After a certain point, a certain lewd singi mentioned the idea of making sexy memories...and we all went along with it... Itarr was the first. She had thrown off her bikini top, grabbed a towel, and excitedly posed with a beautiful smile. 

As soon as I took that one, Momo snatched my top and grabbed my phone. She told me to pose, and I did the first thing that came to mind.

Momo made a comment about how fluffy and soft my boobs looked. She tossed me the phone, and Itarr was creeping behind the singi to grab her in a hug...

But I suddenly woke up...

The picturesque wonderland we desired so much was cruelly snatched away...

---

“The gods of fate are cruel. They’re so very cruel…”  

“Because it’s sunny? Because there’s not a cloud in the sky? Because if we had taken one more day in the dungeon, we would’ve been swimming in the ocean and playing on the beach?”  

“Yes, yes, yes, and yes. I think this is what suffering from success feels like. You said you dreamed about us at the beach, Servy... I kinda wanted to have it be more than a dream, you know?"

"I know, captain. I know."

“This won’t be the last time you visit Waveret,” said our mentor. She looked over her backpack one last time before we checked out of the inn. We did the same while Srassa equipped her armor in the changing room.    

“But last night was fun, right?”  

“Yep. It sure was.” Momo, satisfied with her backpack and messenger bag, stood up and slung them around her back and shoulder. She tapped her sword and gave a confident thumbs up.   

I had mine in my ring, so I didn’t need to wear it. But I had the bow around my shoulders and quiver on my waist. I would get some extra practice during the trip home.   

Srassa soon emerged from the changing room. She always looked so powerful and proud in her equipment. And that armor was heavy. It was solid steel, yet she carried it around like it was weightless.   

She met my eyes and blushed.   

She was probably still embarrassed by last night. We didn’t do anything sexual, but she, Momo, and I shared an emotional moment with Dineria. She gave us a stack of papers with detailed notes she had taken during the trip. They identified our strengths, weaknesses, and areas we needed to improve.   

I had actually done the worst. The last page for me had a scribble about my ‘secret,’ and Dineria wrote it wasn’t a substitute for training. And I agreed with her with a subtle nod while I absorbed the only written proof she knew of my immortality.   

Albert kindly offered to help train me, and I would take him up on it soon enough. Besides, I’d probably need it if I was going to kill Fisher. I hadn’t seen Arnold fight, but Dineria, when I asked her to compare Canary’s top warriors, said she didn’t think Arnold stood out in any category.   

He was average in all ways.   

Fisher eclipsed him in every conceivable manner, from speed to technique, skill, raw power, and leadership potential.   

But Srassa had tearfully broken down after reading Dineria’s positive comments. She had grabbed her shield and hugged it to her chest. I had placed a hand on her shoulder and said I didn’t even see the frightened, timid girl she used to be.   

The one who could barely get through a sentence without bashfully looking away. Or the clumsy one that tripped over her feet and fell not even ten minutes after we had met.   

Srassa was tough. She was strong and skilled. She flowed well in combat and worked to support our movements. She read the flow of battle like a book and was always there. And yeah, she messed up a few times, but Momo said she had tripped over her hubris a hundred dozen times, and she still wasn’t anywhere close to her goal of becoming more powerful than her grandfather.  

Our captain had been kicked down a dozen pegs and was forced to rethink her life during her trip to Canary. And as Srassa’s first mentor, she couldn’t have been prouder of her progress.    

Yeah… That was certainly a night… One filled with tears and crying, but I think we’ve grown even closer after it. But now it’s time to leave…