Callie's Heroes

PART 1: HAPPY MIDSUMMER, YOUR ROYAL HIGH PRINCELYNESS

Two things were immediately apparent to Vanis when he awoke the next morning. First, he had a really bad hangover. His head was swirling with a steady, dull pain, the kind that lets you know it's not planning on going away any time soon, and you'd just better damn well get used to it being there for a while. The second thing he realized is that he wasn't completely sure where he was for the moment, because he definitely wasn't lying on his comparatively-comfortable bunk.

Opening his eyes, the somewhat blurry vision cleared, bringing into focus the early morning light filtering through a canopy of leaves far overhead. As he struggled to sit up, a bit of a happy moan came from his left as he lightly jostled a very naked Juniper. Even asleep, there was a happy smile on her pale-green face as she rested her head on her arm, which then stretched out to touch some tree roots. The roots and the hand seemed to meld into one where they touched, and you could feel a sense of the Dryad's oneness with the world around them, her duties as the forest's warden seeming to wash out and fill the world. She was beautiful.

Roughly rubbing his face and then lightly slapping himself awake, Vanis stood with a quiet groan, his hair flopping lazily over his eyes. It wasn't very long, but was long enough to normally keep tied back with a knot of string in a foreshortened ponytail. Apparently the string used to do so had come undone and fallen off sometime during the night. He really needed to get it cropped short, despite the unspoken expectation of royalty having a full head of hair. It was a stupid and impractical thing, especially given he was a soldier at present, and he made a mental note to do so as soon as all the visitors left. The Legate had a practical head of hair that required minimal maintenance and cutting only a few times per year, for example, so maybe that was a good alternative appearance.

Vanis felt the world wasn't spinning too badly, and took a tentative step forward, carefully stepping around Juniper. The world was mostly in focus now, and as he staggered a few steps from the semi-shadows into the sunlight, the morning rays immediately warmed his body. His naked body! Instinctively he looked around for his clothing, not seeing them for the moment. Well, this could become quite awkward, depending on where exactly he was, and if he could find said clothing.

Vanis took in the area around him, and that momentary concern ebbed as slivers of recognition came to him. About one-hundred meters away, down a very gentle incline from where he was standing, flowed a slow river. To his left and right were increasingly dense trees, turning this into an isolated, secluded clearing. Now expecting it, he turned around to see the giant heartwood tree towering over him, Juniper curled up at its base, green skin set off against the brown bark. He'd only ever seen the tree once during the daylight, on that day of the mission to seal the rifts and deal with the elementals, and even then for only a few seconds during the initial teleportation-travel to their destination. When they'd returned, and spent a few hours here, it was dark and everything was glowing with bioluminescent light. As a result, he hadn't been able to appreciate the daytime beauty of this perfect place.

Obviously, they had come here under Juniper's power sometime last night after they had left the party. Or maybe the party had come to an end and then they'd come here? Honestly, his memory following Callie's music seemed to become increasingly fuzzy as the wine and celebration had finally overtaken him. Thinking back to the evening before filled him with a warm feeling, though.

He suspected most of the audience didn't really appreciate it like he did, but he recalled the emotions that had poured off of Callie while she'd been playing and singing. He was able to identify so many feelings that had been entwined into her Inspiring Melody skill: sadness at missing her old world and parents, happiness at her new one and new friends, an excited giddiness as she took command of the stage to play for the first time to such a large group, and, of course, her ever-blossoming love for Pixyl. That was the power of that skill. It could leave deep, lasting impressions to those that were open to receiving them.

Walking further into the lush glade, Vanis came to where the makeshift 'fire' circle had been created. Little evidence remained of their visit days previous, save a few downed tree trunks that Tazrok had carried in from the surrounding woods to act as makeshift seating around the warming ball of light summoned by Maugra. It had been an important conversation and debriefing from the fight they'd had only hours earlier, and bestowed some important lessons on all the recruits, most importantly, him. He'd been such a failure of a leader that day, or at least, in the end. Even though the senior officers had helped give him some context and guidance regarding his lack of practical experience, it still did little to ease the guilt he felt about his overthinking and abysmal performance under pressure. Thankfully, Callie had been there, with her mind unclouded by the years of dry, academic learning he'd had, to use her instincts to pull a victory from what very well could have been a defeat, or at least a retreat.

Vanis took a few more steps into the glade, the tall grasses brushing against his naked thighs as his bare feet forged a path through them. Now, standing fully in the morning sun, Vanis looked up, his arms outstretched and eyes closed, letting the light shine upon him. It warmed him even as the cool morning breeze did the opposite, and seemed to recharge his body of the energy it was lacking. Another thought passed through his head and his pose naturally transformed. Slowly he swayed his arms, eyes still closed, as his leg swung in a lazy arc, vaguely imitating his Gnome friend's morning meditation classes. He generally didn't attend, preferring to sleep in for a bit more, and for other reasons. Those other reasons quickly became apparent as after only two moves, Vanis lost his balance, stumbling to the side before tripping over his own feet and falling to the soft ground. He was a bit of a clutz, and people didn't need to see the Prince falling on his ass to start the morning off. Or … maybe they did, in order to start the day with a good laugh.

Chuckling mentally to himself, Vanis popped his head above the grass and looked around, as if to see if anyone had witnessed his complete lack of grace. Thankfully, save for a few birds finding his antics interesting, it looked as if the secret of his face-plant was safe for now. He stood, brushing off his body, thankfully nothing bruised other than his own ego. He made a half-hearted attempt again, but after another stumble where he thankfully didn't fall, completely gave up on his dreadful attempts to do any 'Callie-Chi'. Instead, he returned to simply facing the rising sun, head raised and eyes closed, drinking in its energy some more.

After a few minutes, Vanis returned to the circle, absently brushing off the tree trunk, before sitting his bare bottom on it and sighing contentedly. He leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his legs, a smile of general contentment on his face. Down the slope, at the river's edge, a pair of wild curvax and their foal had emerged from the forest and made their way down to drink. Vanis curiously observed from the distance, one of the parents with their head always up, watching for dangers, before they switched off so the other could sip. The foal frolicked around, splashing its legs in the shallow water, before getting distracted by something and walking after it. A butterfly? Bird? If only life could be that simple.

Vanis had no idea what time it was. Certainly morning, but it felt like it might already be after breakfast. He didn't feel very hungry, though, the light throb still in his head probably driving away some of the morning pangs. There'd be plenty of snacks, and he wouldn't starve before lunch, despite his beanpole thin body. For some reason, naked and exposed to the wilds, he really noticed for the first time that he'd lost weight since arriving. It wasn't that he was 'fat' before coming here, but he'd had a bit of chub, having always struggled against gaining weight, apparently something he'd inherited from his mother, who had been a bit portly.

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Now, between meals being more-regular and much healthier, coupled with constantly walking around camp, and all the combat training, most of that initial excess had burned away. Despite that, he hadn't put on a lot of muscle, at least not like the other physical classes. This wasn't uncommon for purely-caster classes like his, as the combination of constant mana usage and the fatigue that came with it, didn't leave much energy left. He knew he should probably get back into the practice of doing daily calisthenics to tone up a little, but honestly, he hated calisthenics.

Eventually, the trio of curvax turned to leave the water's edge, walking up a well-worn path and back into the woods. Stars it was lovely here, an oasis of beauty away from the ugly and horrors of the world beyond. Part of him didn't want to go back. Not a big part, but at least a tiny one. But he had duties to the kingdom as a soldier, and duties to the same as the Prince, and duties to his friends. He couldn't walk away from them, no matter how perfect the vision in front of him was, and he wasn't going to.

So lost in staring off into really nothing, Vanis didn't notice someone silently sitting down next to him. For a long minute, neither said anything.

"Hey," a voice eventually said, the owner bumping lightly into Vanis with their shoulder. "'Morning."

"Good morning, Lena," Vanis replied, not needing to look at his friend to know who it was. Instead, he looked back momentarily, seeing Juniper still asleep, smile still on her face and arm still happily merged into the tree. Apparently Lena had somehow managed to disentangle herself without waking the Dryad.

"Soooo …" Lena innocently began, drawing the word out as her voice took on a slightly laughing, apologetic tone. "Sorry about last night. We sort of … forgot about you."

Vanis chuckled lightly, returning to watching the river. "That's fine. You two seemed to have fun."

Lena nodded, staring out at the same. "We did. Still, I do feel a little bad." She leaned to bump Vanis in a friendly way again, then stretched her naked legs out, flexing her toes and wrapping them around some of the grasses, making tiny fists and pulling them up.

"As long as she's happy," Vanis said, smiling and bumping Lena back. "Based on her noises, I'm quite certain she's happy. You, too, for that matter."

"Yeah!" Lena laughed quietly. "It's probably best we were here. That could have been a little weird if we'd been that loud back at the camp."

"That was probably her first time having a …" Vanis began, his voice trailing off with the innuendo as he waggled his eyebrows. "Well, at least with another person."

"Really? At her age?" Then she had a second thought, "Wait, you and she never …?"

"Honestly, I didn't dare," Vanis sighed. "Nether magic and Nature magic? That's a bad combination. I didn't want to risk things getting too … heated, so I kept it from becoming very physical."

"Oh," Lena said, her mind drifting back to the previous day's conversation with Xin and Callie about 'first times' as she looked back at the dozing Nymph. "Stars! I wish I'd known. I could have made it more memorable for her. I hope it was close to what she wanted it to be." Part of her was feeling guilty now.

"I suppose I didn't realize you were renadit," Vanis said, slightly changing the topic, "since you had asked me the other day to be your companion."

Lena shook her head. "Not really, at least not like Callie and Pixyl. But put enough alcohol or dreamers in me, with a pretty girl and the right mood, things sometimes happen. It's a different type of energy, that feminine energy, compared to that of males. Sometimes it's just nice to be part of it, you know? It's not what I'd want long-term, though, assuming I even wanted anything long-term."

Vanis nodded, taking in the distinction, before saying, "I'm glad it was you, Lena. It will be a happy memory for her. Thank you."

Smiling and blushing a bit at the thanks, Lena stood, walking a few steps forward, turning to face the sun as Vanis had done and spreading her arms wide as if to embrace it. Her eyes closed, Lena carefully began to replicate one of Callie's meditative moves like Vanis had, her lean muscles almost rippling under her skin. Unlike Vanis, she didn't stumble and topple to the ground.

Lena obviously didn't mind, so Vanis simply relaxed, watching his naked friend as she moved. The bright sun seemed to recharge her as it had him, a happy, contented smile on her face as she moved with almost the slow grace of a dancer. Vanis had never really noticed before, or maybe he'd made a point not to notice on purpose, but Lena was quite lovely. The bald head and three tattoos on her shoulder just added a certain … exotic badness to her appeal, but even without them, she was a sight in this moment, and looking back to when he'd met her, had been all along. He'd honestly never given Lena much of a thought, at least in an attraction sense. She was his cabinmate, a fellow soldier, and hated the nobility, so he'd felt the need for there to be a … professional distance between them. In this moment, though, that wall of separation was crumbling quite quickly.

"So, you like watching this, do you?" Lena said teasingly as she continued moving slowly through her poses, eyes still closed against the bright morning.

Noticing the effect the cool breeze was having on her body despite the sun, Vanis thought about making a flippant or deflective response, but changed his mind. Instead, he kept silent, letting his lack of words be the response of honest acknowledgement instead.

Lena went through a few more meditative movements, before relaxing and dropping her arms. She glanced at Vanis, then at the still-sleeping Juniper, before walking back to the watching prince. She put a bit of a sashay into her hips as she approached, causing Vanis to smile even wider, and she returned it. Then, she straddled his legs, using them as a makeshift chair as she sat and faced him.

With Lena's chest now perfectly at face level, Vanis was distractedly struggling to come up with something poignant to say. This was made even more difficult as she leaned forward, looking at the top of his head and brushing a hand over his hair, as if to casually dust off some remaining grass or something. This just caused her breasts to press into his face harder.

"You know, Lena, this isn't terribly fair," Vanis said, his buried voice muffled.

Lena leaned back, gasping, hand touching her chest as she feigned offense.

"This might not be the best of ideas," Vanis said. His eyes were still fixated forward in distraction though.

With her left hand, Lena lifted the Warlock's face to look up at hers. She leaned close. "Are you sure?" She kissed his lips lightly as her right hand snaked its way downwards between their bodies, quickly finding what it was looking for. Pulling her face away, Vanis's lower lip clutched momentarily in her teeth, she quietly teased, "This is telling a different story." She smiled and kissed him again, and this time Vanis returned it. "Happy Midsummer, your royal high princelyness." With no warning, Lena suddenly stood and pushed Vanis backwards and off the log. She stepped after, before falling to the ground next to him.

Not far away, Juniper quietly sat up, her hand unmelding itself as she leaned back against her ever-imposing Heartwood tree. She hadn't been sleeping for a while, and was instead listening to her friends while watching as they talked and flirted, using her mindlink with Loki hiding up above in the tree to provide her vision. Now she looked on as the two people in the world that meant the most to her moved together, entwined intimately in each other's arms.

Juniper hugged herself close, remembering how Lena had done the same, as she once again began to feel warm and tingly in ways unexpected. She cataloged the new feelings inside of her, both emotional and physical, as she watched on fascinated, finding the sight and these feelings all so strange and new, and also so welcome. As she watched more, eyes going wide, things even became a little educational! Working to stay silent, Juniper smiled in warm glee. Vanis had told her she was allowed to have more than one favorite, and surely that also meant she was allowed to have more than one love, too.