“I want more,” Lara begged, and Kaliq complied, covering her body with his, entering her, moving upon her while she clung to him, her nails raking down his long back. Harder and harder he thrust. Her legs wrapped about his torso. Deeper and deeper he pressed his manroot into her burning flesh until she was sobbing with a desire that threatened to overwhelm her. And then as suddenly as the storm began, it crested and subsided, leaving Lara weak, her beautiful face tearstained, her body at last satisfied. Turning her head she saw that the other princes and their women were now as fully engaged as they had but recently been. Lothair lay near them on his back, a dark-haired girl with strong thighs riding him vigorously, her eyes closed with her bliss.

“Now,” Kaliq said softly, “you are beginning to learn and understand passion, and there is much more, my love. Much, much more.”

“But can I survive it?” she teased him.

“You are half faerie, Lara, and none have a greater capacity for passion than those with faerie blood,” he told her.

“I am exhausted,” she said to him.

“Then sleep, my love,” he told her.

“Here?”

“Everyone will,” he told her. “And come the morning we will all go to the baths and refresh each other.” He held the cup of wine to her lips. “Drink, and you will rest.”

“What is in the cup?” she demanded of him.

“Sleep,” he said with a smile, and she drank, finding he had spoken the truth.

When she awoke the golden light of day was filling the skies outside of the banqueting hall, and the others about her were beginning to stir. Kaliq was already awake, and rising, he led them all to the baths as he had said. Everyone was naked, and Lara thought how beautiful the bodies around her were. They washed each other in the floor basins, each prince with his partner. Then they entered the bathing pool, lounging and chattering about the fine feast of the previous evening, and Kaliq’s hospitality.

“I hope,” Lothair said to Lara, “that your enjoyment was as complete as mine. I can see you are young, and have little experience, but your faerie blood rose to the occasion. Thank you for sharing yourself with me, Lara.”

She smiled at him and kissed his cheek, not knowing what else to say. As each couple departed the bathing pool and left the bath, they found servants with their garments awaiting them.

“I must see my guests off,” Kaliq told her. “Go back to your apartments, and I will join you for the morning meal. Ah, here is Noss to escort you.”

“Was it a wonderful feast?” Noss asked as they walked along together.

“I have never attended one like it,” Lara admitted.

“What is it like?” Noss wanted to know.

“What is what like?”

“Not being a virgin,” Noss said.

“How old are you?” Lara demanded.

“Twelve, almost thirteen.”

“There is time enough for you to know such things, but now is not that time, Noss,” Lara told her. “I will tell you when the time is right, I promise.”

True to his word, Kaliq joined Lara for the first meal of the day.

When they had finished eating, Noss cleared the remnants away, and left them together. With a smile, Kaliq disrobed again, inviting Lara to do the same. They lay together naked on her bed, caressing each other and kissing. Neither of them, it seemed, could get enough of the other. He drank from her lips like a bee gathering honey. Her fingers brushed over his lean, hard body, exploring it in a leisurely fashion.

“I have never before,” she said softly, “enjoyed learning a man’s body.”

He smiled at her. “I am flattered then to be the recipient of your curiosity.”

“You tease me,” she cried. “Do not! You know not what I suffered at the hands of the Foresters. To be used as a vessel by them, to feel desire but at the same time revulsion for them both was horrific.”

“Ah, Lara,” he reassured her, “if I tease you it is because I care for you. Put away all thoughts of the Foresters, and let me love you. Know that you are safe in my care. I will let nothing happen to you, my beautiful one.” He kissed her gently. “Come now and let us take pleasure in one another, for we are both ready.” He lifted her up, and sheathed himself in her lovely body, groaning as he felt the walls of her passage enclosing him with heated desire.

“Ahh,” she sighed, taking him into herself as deeply as he could go. “Shall the mare ride the stallion?” she taunted.

“If it pleases her,” he said, smiling into her green eyes.

“Nay,” she surprised him by answering. “This time I would be mastered by you, my lord Kaliq. Make me forget! Make me feel safe in your arms!”

Rolling them over so she now lay beneath him, he began to thrust himself within her excited body. Slowly, slowly at first, making her whimper, making her want more. Then his tempo began to increase, and his manroot flashed swiftly back and forth, back and forth until Lara was sobbing with her pleasure, crying out with the satisfaction he could give her. She clung to him, her body weak and replete with the gratification he had so sweetly given her. Lara opened her eyes. “I wanted you to have pleasure, too,” she said.

“I did,” he assured her. “The look on your face alone almost brought me to a crisis before my time, but my will is strong. We finished together, I swear it,” he promised, smiling down into her face. “But now, my love, the day is well begun, and there is much to do. Come, and we will bathe again in your own little bath.” He arose from the bed, drawing her up with him, and together they did as he suggested. Then he left her, saying, “Today you begin your education, for that is the other part of my task with you. Master Bashkar will come shortly to begin your lessons.”

“What have I to learn that you cannot teach me?” she asked him.

“You must learn about Hetar and its history. Not gossip and old wives’ tales, but the truth. What do you know of the Outlands, for instance?”

“That it is a wild place of uncivilized men,” she answered him.

“And how did it get that way when the rest of Hetar is so urbane and right?”

“I don’t know,” Lara admitted.

“Master Bashkar will teach you. Can you read and write at all?”

Lara nodded. “Some, and I know enough about numbers not to be cheated by the butcher or the baker.”

“It’s a start then,” he said, “but there is much more for you, Lara. I can teach you passion, and about those who inhabit Hetar, but Master Bashkar will teach you everything else. Trust me. You must know as much as you can before you leave me.”

“You said you would see that I met my grandmother,” Lara reminded him.

“I always keep my promises,” he told her.

Master Bashkar came. He was an old man with a long white beard and long white hair. He wore a broad brimmed hat of dark felt with a point, and walked with a tall staff that had a face carved into it. “This is Llyr,” he said to Lara.

To Lara’s surprise the eyes in the face opened, and Llyr observed her closely. “She is very beautiful, but astoundingly ignorant,” Llyr pronounced.

“Your staff talks!” Lara exclaimed.

“You state the obvious,” Llyr replied. “Why would I not speak? I have eyes to observe, and a mouth, not to mention a lean half body. I need no more than that.”

“I beg your pardon,” Lara said. “I have never seen anyone like you.”

“She has manners, and that will count for something,” Llyr murmured to Master Bashkar. “Now, let us see how much she knows. Precious little, I can tell already.”

“Please sit down,” Lara invited the old man.

“Do not mind Llyr, my child,” Master Bashkar said. “He does have a tendency to speak his mind. He comes from an ash tree, and they are very frank, unlike the oaks and the maples. As for the aspen and birch, they hardly speak above a whisper.”

“Oaks are dour, and maples chatter too much,” Llyr observed.

“And the palms like those at the village oasis?” Lara asked.

“Palms are incredibly flighty creatures,” Llyr said disapprovingly.

“Enough talk about your relations,” Master Bashkar said sternly.

“I am certainly not related to a palm,” Llyr snapped, and then his eyes closed.

Lara could not help but giggle.

The old man smiled and said, “Now, child, I must find out what you know.”

For the rest of the day he sat with her, asking questions, nodding and tching. Noss brought them food at one point, gasping in surprise when Llyr demanded cheese and a mug of ale. His carved arms reached out from the staff to take the mug Noss brought. As the shadows began to lengthen over the valley, Master Bashkar finally arose.

“We have much work ahead of us, my child, and I do not know yet how much time we will have together, but never fear. We will manage. I will be back tomorrow morning at the ninth hour.” He bowed to her, and departed.

“He seems a kind old man,” Noss noted after Master Bashkar had gone.

“And wise. You must sit with me and listen so you may learn, too, Noss. Can you read or write at all?” Lara asked her.

“What use would I have for reading or writing?” Noss replied.

“Each skill you acquire makes you more valuable to your mistress,” Lara told her.

“Will you teach me?” Noss said.

“I will. We’ll start tomorrow before Master Bashkar comes,” Lara promised.

The prince came to join her, and they ate their supper in the garden. Afterwards, he made love to her, laying her upon her bed naked, and spending almost an hour just stroking and kissing her body. He rubbed her with sweet oils until her skin tingled. Then he gave her the flask of oil, and told her to rub him. Her blood grew hotter with each stroke of her palms upon his bronzed flesh, but she suddenly realized that she appreciated the subtlety of the fragrant caresses. Their joining would be thunderous, and it was. She shuddered with pure desire as he slowly slipped his manroot into her body, sighing as Kaliq pushed deep. His mouth found hers, one kiss following another until it seemed as if their kisses had neither beginning nor end. She trembled, and he withdrew slightly, to her protest.

“Nay, my love,” he told her. “You must learn to control your hunger, for only then can you control your lover.”

“I don’t want to control you,” she gasped. “I just want pleasure!”

His laughter was soft. He kissed her lips again in a tender embrace. “One day there will be a man you need to control, must control, else he destroy you. So now you practice on me, and on the other lovers you will have in your travels, Lara. You must grow stronger with the pleasure, not weaker.”

“Just this once!” she pleaded.

“No,” he said. “Now make me desire you more than you desire me, my love. Tighten the muscles of your sheath to embrace my manroot, and hold it captive so it cannot release its juices until you are ready for them. Ahhh! That’s it!”

She followed his instructions, and squeezed him hard. He groaned aloud, praising her. Lara was very surprised for she had never considered that a woman could dominate a man in such a fashion. Fascinated, she played with him for some time until he was begging her for the pleasure that fulfillment gave their bodies. “Now!” she ground out into his ear, her nails digging into his shoulders. “Now, my lord!” And she wrapped her legs about him, closed her eyes, and let the pleasure overtake their bodies.

“You are incredible, and a wonderful student,” he told her afterwards, and when he had recovered himself he arose from her bed. “Sleep now, my love. I will see you on the morrow.”

“Wait!” Lara cried, raising herself on an elbow. “What of Maeve?”

“I have sent the message. Now we must wait, and see if she will come,” he said.

“What if she does not, my lord Kaliq?” Lara asked.

“Then she does not,” he answered, “but she will. You are her only grandchild. Your mother must have loved your father very much to refuse to spawn other offspring.”

“Then why did she leave us?” Lara demanded.

“You must ask her,” Kaliq said, and then he left her.

In the weeks that followed Lara never left the palace. The village in the Desert below was almost forgotten. She studied each day with Master Bashkar, Noss by her side learning at her own pace. Each morning before the old man came she instructed Noss in her letters, and then her writing, and finally she taught her how to read. Noss was surprisingly quick. For Lara, however, learning the history of Hetar was fascinating.

She learned that there was a High Council of eight that met in the City most of the year. Two members came from the Forest, two from the Coastal Region, two from the Desert and two from the Midlands, of which the City was considered a part. The council had a single overlord. The ruler of each of the provinces would take a turn as council head, rotating every three moon cycles, and only voting to break a tied vote. It was the High Council’s duty to govern Hetar, to see that its laws were upheld, to make new laws, and to keep the Outlanders at bay and contained within their borders. The council worked with the guild heads to see that their civilization continued to run smoothly. She had lived in the City most of her life, yet she had never known of the High Council. “Why?” she asked Master Bashkar.