Judge Not - Chapter 16: Misdirection (fg oral)

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Chapter 16: Misdirection

Before moving on to start waking Kacy, I checked in on those practicing with their sparks. Abby, Molly, Uni, and May were still at it, the others resting after exhausting themselves earlier that day. Abby looked haggard, honestly. She'd been pressing herself for days, working with each survivor to help them learn about the spark. For someone who had only very recently learned about such things herself, her ability to teach the others was wholly extraordinary. She grinned at me wearily as I poked my head into the study where the four were seated in chairs near a low fire in the hearth.

It seemed that Uni was progressing faster than anyone, her ability to manipulate massive objects becoming quite precise and deliberate. She'd gotten much quicker at pulling the strings, changing an apple into something the mass of a car without changing the size or observable properties. Taking a bite out of that massive apple, I knew, would be much more like sinking teeth into a boulder than a crispy fruit. The practice would pay off, I hoped, should we find ways to use her powers in the future.

May and Molly were coming along, though Molly's power was still a little less precise. It was almost impossible for her to practice. It was like sitting in a parked car and pretending to turn corners with the steering wheel, turning the tires fully but not actually changing the direction of the vehicle. I had made sure she knew not to actually apply her time-centric abilities, too much still unknown, and I'd placed a governor, of sorts, on her spark's access to reality, leaving her more in a simulator of reality than anything else.

I wanted to be there when I took off that governor, but for now, just having her hands practiced on the controls was good enough.

May's alchemical transitions were something of a mixed bag. Some changes she made left the original object a puddle of tar and liquid rather than anything discernible, such as when she altered just a few molecules in the structure of a cup. I knew this would come in handy, but we were some ways from figuring out how best to utilize what she could do. I let them know I was proud of them. Just before I blinked myself to Kacy's room, Abby walked over and led me into a hallway.

"So... Kacy?"

I nodded.

"Strange, huh?"

"Yeah... She's twelve, Abby..."

"Keisha is thirteen..."

I nodded again, "But Keisha was not a virgin when Dad was with her, so... that seems to matter to me... Kacy... Kacy's a virgin. What she and Dad did is lost from her experiences..."

Abby looked down at her hands a moment, "So... what are you going to do?"

"Honestly not sure..."

"Anything I can do? Want me to come along?"

Shaking my head, I rested a hand on Abby's shoulder and said, "Not now, no... I'll figure it out. Just... not really sure how to do this the right way..."

"Worried she might not consent?"

"Worried she might not know how..."

"Quinn had her consent..."

"My Dad's situation and this one are quite different, don't you think?" I asked.

Abby shrugged, "Maybe so... I'll be here... If I can help in any way..."

"I'll call for you. Thanks, Abby. Love you," I told her, embracing her a moment. She smiled and nodded, stepping back, and I blinked away.

- - -

I sat a long time watching the girl slumber. She was pretty, a little plump but cute, brown hair which I'd brushed out some days earlier and let rest down the sides of her head and over her shoulders. Kacy's body was covered to her neck by a blanket. A thought briefly crossed my mind about whether I could make love with her, in some way, while she remained unaware, whether that would be enough to unbind the spark. But I flushed the thought away immediately. It was rape, no matter what eventual positives might come from freeing that binding. I simply would not take advantage of the girl's body without permission.

So how to go about things, I wondered. I had experience with the other survivors. I knew what had helped to ease them into the truth of things. What hadn't. Ways to prove what I said was true, and more importantly, how to gain the consent I felt I needed to make love with each. I wasn't wholly sure that Kacy could give me the consent I had to have. Dad's version of things, in the loop, was easier to understand. Even at twelve, the way things had gone in the hot tub had made it progress naturally, a curious girl and an attractive man paying attention to her. Creepy, yes, but the girl had enjoyed the experience and I felt certain she'd had no regrets in the short time between mating with my father and the reset of the loop.

Another idea came to me, and I wasn't as quick to dismiss it. I could recreate the hot tub, the swimming area, the unlocked room, change my appearance to that of my Dad and place Kacy in the same situation as she'd known in the time loop. If I could sooth her reaction to the empty hole in her memories since coming to my realm, she might accept that she was actually in the hot tub, with my father, and things might well proceed with consent.

But that didn't sit well with me. It would be a lie. Coercive. Manipulative. Rapey. I'd done nothing like that with the others, and Kacy deserved to be treated no less honestly. Frustrated with my situation, I shelved the idea along with all the others I'd considered. I supposed I just needed to start the conversation.

I slowly woke Kacey as I knelt down beside the bed. The girl groaned lightly a moment, rolling her head groggily. Her eyes flickered open, but for a long few seconds, she just stared at the ceiling and breathed deeply. I waited for her to notice me.

She did a moment later but didn't recoil in fear. "Who are you?" she asked with a light voice.

"I'm Tera... Nice to finally meet you, Kacy..."

The girl looked around, moving little, then said, "This isn't my room..."

"No... this is my room. My bedroom." Not exactly true, but I'd fashioned Kacy's room much like the others, modeled after my real bedroom back on Earth. "Feel okay?"

She narrowed her eyes and moved her arms out from under the blanket, stretching them, "I think so... Is this a dream? It feels weird..."

"Not a dream, no," I said as calmly as possible, "but not quite what you expect, either... you're safe, okay?" While I watched her search for an answer, I began to gently probe her spark.

"Okay... what's happening? I feel... different..."

"Different how?"

"Like," Kacy pursed her lips, "umm..."

It took a few seconds to realize that reality itself warped. The rules were changed, muddled, mixed up, invalidated. Surreal didn't begin to describe it, something like going from laying comfortably on the soft grass of the sanctuary to being submerged in a vortex of drowsy, densely-packed bees. Static and motion. So shocking that I had trouble connecting to thoughts or senses. On instinct, I used my connection to Kacy's spark to stop whatever she was doing, catching my breath and making the girl jerk up in the bed, her eyes wide. "What happened?"

"Shh..." I said, my mind racing. I'd been able to identify the general nature of each spark before, other than Molly's originally. Kacy's, I thought, held a defensive mechanism, a way to anticipate threats and prepare for them before any offensive probe could be launched. It wasn't so much time related as being able to take all the countless clues in reality and add them up to determine the most likely risks and vulnerabilities and to protect those as quickly as possible.

None of what I expected Kacy's spark to do included bending and twisting reality itself. It went beyond mere physical changes. It was like the very medium of existence could be wrapped by her will, by the spark. I couldn't even fully understand what had been done in that moment.

More shocking, I found, was that Kacy had been able to use the spark without it being unbound and unlocked. I held fast my grip on her power, scared that she might accidentally cause a terrible outcome just by fiddling with the controls.

"What... uh... what did you feel... when you woke? What was different?"

Kacy looked more fearful than before, but she managed to answer me rather clearly, "Like I could change the world. Like... like I was controlling a dream while dreaming it..."

"Can you do that normally? Control your dreams?"

She shook her head, "No... never... well... maybe once or twice, but not like this... What's going on?"

"I'm trying to figure that out." When I saw the girl starting to panic, I sent her a soothing calm and said, "Everything's fine, I just need to figure this out, okay? You're safe..."

"Where's Mommy? I want to see her..."

I offered a white lie, "She's okay, she's safe. You'll see her soon, okay?"

The girl nodded but didn't reply. I sent a thought to Theresa, Come to me in thirty seconds. I told Kacy, "A good friend of mine is going to come keep you company a moment, okay?"

Kacy narrowed her eyes, "Is this like a hospital? Am I sick?"

"Not sick. I need your help, Kacy. You're really important, okay? What you did... moments ago... You can help me save the world."

"That sounds silly..."

"Believe me, I know... But I promise I'll explain, okay? You're safe. My friend is on her way."

Theresa appeared and I sent her a brief synopsis, just telling her to keep Kacy calm and occupied, that I hadn't explained what was going on, and that something had happened which needed my attention. Theresa acknowledged and began to introduce herself to Kacy. I blinked to where Tristan was working in his shop.

"What is it?" he asked. "What was that?"

"You felt it..."

"Everyone felt it."

"Jesus..."

"Something you did?" Tristan said as he turned and crossed his arms, frightened, the short, wide man looking older than he had weeks earlier. I supposed I was not doing much better myself.

Shaking my head, I told him, "No, it was Kacy." I explained what had happened, how the girl had somehow controlled her spark, that it wasn't doing what I'd expected, and that she'd managed to fundamentally change, even if only briefly, the nature of reality itself.

"Are we safe here, Tristan?"

He shrugged, concerned, "No idea. No one of any measure will have missed that effect. It happened everywhere all at once. Whether the source can be pinpointed... I don't know... Best to secure this place as best you can. Do it now. Whatever you can do."

- - -

I did everything I could think of to protect my realm, adding layers of misdirection and misinformation into the illusion of its existence. A being would need to know the realm existed and find its location in the sanctuary to get that far, but I hoped my hastily-erected false trails would keep anyone from actually locating me or Kacy or any of us. I felt Caracus probing for my attention, surely concerned about what he'd felt, as well, but I ignored him, bolstering the protections on the inside of the realm, adding multiple redundant alarms, traps, and escape routes should we be compromised. Every one, even the weariest spark-holders were awake and ready to respond to my orders. Dad and Abby joined me back at Tristan's workshop.

"I've done what I can do..." I said to those gathers. "What does it mean, Tristan?"

He looked at the small trinket he'd been tempering in a chemical bath and told us, "I have no idea. I've never felt anything quite like that before. I don't even know where to begin."

"Then there's no real choice. I have to start testing it immediately."

"And you need to break the binding and her access to it," he added. "She puts everything... literally everything... in danger. That much is clear. She could unmake reality's most fundamental properties without a thought... What she did was... unpleasant..."

I nodded, no disagreement from me. "I'll go to her now."

- - -

The girl and Theresa were both seated on the bed, the woman assuring Kacy that everything was fine. Kacy, clearly, was not convinced given the frightened look on her face.

"Hey," I offered, sitting beside Theresa and facing the preteen, "doing okay?"

"I dunno..." Kacy replied, lips trembling. "What is happening to me?"

"Well... it's a long story. You deserve to hear all of it, okay?"

"Okay..."

I pushed to Theresa a request to tell the girl everything, leaving it up to the woman to decide how best to do so. I shut out the conversation which followed and began to probe and peel back the many layers now obvious in the spark Kacy held.

It was nothing like the others. Clearly, there were disguises of sorts, misdirections, my earlier understanding of what it would do nothing but a mask. I had to be very careful in my examination, finding traps and triggers, not sure exactly what consequences it might deliver if I tripped one. Whatever the essence had done with this spark, it had carefully protected it from anything but the most determined and deliberate inspection.

I'm sure a couple of hours passed. Kacy and Theresa moved around a bit, and my body followed without a thought from me. Not that I needed to be so close to probe and investigate, but I didn't want the girl out of my sight. I didn't even bother to try to determine what Theresa was saying or how it was affecting Kacy. It was taking more and more of my energy to maintain a tight grip around her ability to access the spark. It was like the spark itself was resisting my bindings.

Layers unraveled, one false trail after another, elaborate attempts at defining for me a power other than the one Kacy had display were frustrating me and slowing me down. I pushed the essence for information, dissecting it, the soul of the fallen god showing no resistance, yet no sense of the spark's purpose easily retrieved.

Caracus continued to pound against my mind, but I didn't stop to reply to him. I was focused, strangling Kacy's urgent attempts to take the controls back. It wasn't intentional, I knew, the girl having no conscious desire to get my hands off the throttle. But the intensity was growing, and I started to struggle to hang on.

Tera! Tristan managed to force into my awareness.

What?! I thought-yelled back. Don't distract me!

Caracus is insistent that you must speak with him right now.

Why?

He thinks he has a clue.

"I'll... be right back..." I said in a monotone, distant voice, wrapping a tight bind around the controls of Kacy's spark, as tight as possible without completely strangling it, enough to buy me a few minutes away. I blinked to where I knew Caracus to be.

- - -

"Foolish girl!" he yelled before I'd even processed the details of the drab grey mist which surrounded me and Caracus. "She's going to destroy everything!"

I didn't ponder exactly where in his realm we were or why we were there in particular. "What do you mean?"

"Can you not feel the way everything trembles? How, right now, every being in existence is trying to understand what is going on and failing to do so?"

"I don't understand, Caracus. What is her spark doing?!"

I really didn't like the dark shadows now showing in the being's dark-orange eyes. "Trying to become the Creator."

"What?"

"This power, whatever it is, is held nowhere, Tera. Nowhere, do you understand? Only the Creator possesses this ability. It is so fundamental, what was done, that no other being could do such a thing."

"What Creator? Is this another god?"

Caracus shook his head, "No. I don't know what or who it is. All I know was there was a beginning, at least to the fundamental aspects of reality. All gods operate within those rules, those frameworks, but whatever or whoever set the rules in stone, that is the Creator. No one should be able to do what was done. No one."

I was confused, unable to comprehend the depth of the issue. "But it was just her spark. She didn't even know what she's doing. How can the spark do such a thing?"

He shook his head again, "I'm no longer convinced the child holds a spark at all."

"What do you mean?"

"I think..." he paused, meeting my eyes directly, "that the essence you hold has been seeking something more powerful than the strength of the gods. I think it means to master reality itself..."

"But how could it create the tool to do that? How could it hide something so powerful?"

"Can you not see the truth?" he said evenly. "Can you not see the simplicity?"

Caracus sent me a thought, a map mixed with a moving picture, a general idea of the fundamental nature of powers as we knew them, showing how, no matter the extraordinary differences between them, they all played by the same rules, sharing logic and pathways and possibilities which were mathematically consistent and, with enough points of data, predictable.

But what Kacy held was a power to change the underlying rules, the fundamental math. A tick in one direction and electrons would no longer orbit atoms. A twist along a different axis might cause the minimal possible length of anything to change. But it was even more basic than that. I had no framework to work with, no way of really grasping what Kacy's spark could manipulate. I didn't need to, though, to understand how dangerous this was, beyond Daedalus or The Paladin or the fallen god. This threat was more like sitting on a universe-sized star mere seconds from collapsing into supernova. She would destroy everything.

"What do I do?" I growled, growing anxious and doing my best to hold my fears at bay, somewhat succeeding.

"Put her back into slumber. Make her sleep. The spark only reacted once she was awoken, yes?"

I thought about it a moment, feeling the binding I'd put around Kacy's controls beginning to slip. I shook my head, "No... It's too late for that. It won't matter if she's asleep. It's not her conscious mind doing it."

"Then I can think of only one solution."

The impression of his thought made me feel sick. "No. I'm not killing her, Caracus. No way."

"Kill one and save all. There is no choice, and you can feel that we're running out of time, yes? Kill the girl!"

Reality itself began to twitch.

I blinked back to Kacy, and pressed my hold tighter around her controls. The girl was in Theresa's arms, the woman rocking her and looking very concerned. "She's not well!" Theresa pleaded.

"I know, I'm working on it."

Kacy's eyes were closed, the girl moaning lightly as if she had a stomach ache. My grip tightened but was not going to last much longer. I thought about Caracus' demand. What choice was there? We were seconds away from the spark being freed and out of control. I started to push my will into something I knew would haunt me the rest of my life, reaching to snuff out Kacy's life.

- - -

The nothing nowhere place was more densely hollow than the first time I'd experienced it. More painful. More like drowning and burning and rotting all at once. It lasted longer, if such a place experienced the normal passing of time. I was inside myself, but not, beyond myself, but whole. No thought rushed into my mind, nothing except for a silent scream and an intense desire to stop experiencing anything.

- - -

Gone. The pain was gone. I was on a bed. It was so clear, suddenly, what I'd missed, what had caused the rapid spiral about to end in the murder of a young girl. I froze my efforts, panted, my eyes tightly closed.

Opening them again, I was alone with Kacy, the girl only watching me with fear, sitting upright on the bed.

I started to laugh. I couldn't stop a moment, even when the girl asked what was going on for a third or fourth time. "It's okay," I replied finally, my chest hurting from laughing so long, "everything is okay..."

"What's going on?!"

"You, dear girl, are safe. We're all safe now. It was a close one, though..."

- - -

A short time later, I explained to Tristan, Dad, and Abby what had happened. Theresa was in with Kacy, beginning to tell her what was going on. As I had quickly come to expect, the warping of reality I'd felt so fundamentally had been noticed by no one else. No one. I hadn't called Theresa to join me with Kacy in a panic. I'd not gone to see Caracus. All of it, I had realized, was in my head. Except the part where I was a heartbeat away from killing Kacy.

"The spark's misdirection is the trap. The traps are misdirections. Stepping around them only lets the spark do what it is designed to do."

"What is that exactly?" Dad breathed.

"Replace reality in a conscious being. I was convinced, wholly, that it was real. So much so that I didn't bother to examine things closely. I was so focused on the spark, on dissecting it, on stopping it, that I didn't see the differences."

Tristan sipped tea, "And what gave it away?"

I admitted for the first time the nothing nowhere place, the pain. "I don't know what's going on when that happens, but in going there, I felt the mask. I was pulled from reality itself, not from the spark's illusion of it in my mind. Coming back, I saw the edges of the illusion and pulled the strings which crashed it down. I nearly killed her."

"Jesus Christ..." Dad hissed.

"Why would the spark lead you down that path?" Tristan mused. "A dead shell is no good for one of the sparks, that seems obvious."

"I don't think it picks an endpoint. It uses possibilities of future outcomes and combines that with my memories and knowledge to present branches and choices, those growing more and more desperate and extreme very quickly. I doubt there was an intention to commit suicide, but, for whatever reason, it used my fear of failure and my understanding that everything rests on our success to push me right to the most extreme sort of decision I could face."

The silence which greeted me was heavy.

Tristan spoke next after pondering things a moment. "So... the spark itself is a trap. A being too eager to take it, to know it, will be driven, in a manner, quite mad, before it can learn what the spark does."

I nodded, "I think that's it, yes."

"How will she ever be taught to control it then?" Abby asked.

I pursed my lips and shook my head, "I don't think she has to. It's not like the others, there's no controls, only the spark itself. Only an observer can access it, and I'm fairly confident the host of that spark will be prevented from accessing it by design."

"Can you be sure of that?" queried Abby. "That's a rather big assumption."

"I'll test her, to be sure. But I can feel that it is true, somehow. The spark's access points are external to its host, unlike all the others."

"What of this nothing place you describe?" Tristan asked. "I do not like it one bit..."

I shook my head and replied, "I don't know. I have no way to probe that one... It just happens. I expect it will happen again."

Tristan said, "It's a bad sign, regardless. I fear it is a sign of something going wrong with you..."

"I can't worry about that right now, Tristan. Too many other problems."

"Put it off long and you may find it too late to understand..."

"I'm aware. I'm doing my best."

His voice was more gentle when he said, "I know. I know..."

Dad breathed out a moment, then wondered, "Will you continue to sever the link with Kacy's spark as you'd planned?"

Nodding, I replied, "I have to, for the same reasons as the others. It's still connected to me in a way which creates vulnerability."

"Do you think she'll consent?" Abby asked evenly.

"I hope she can..."

- - -

Before I returned to Kacy, I did the things I'd done in the illusion to add layers of protections and defense to the realm. Even without the threat I'd been made to believe existed, it made sense what I'd done. It took some energy to maintain, but I felt little strain and locked the new energies in place before blinking myself to Kacy's bedside.

She and Theresa were drinking cups of cold milk and munching on cookies, crumbs all over the blankets still held over Kacy's lower half. Theresa offered me a weary smile.

I sat gently and asked, "How you doing, Kacy?"

She shook her head, clearly overwhelmed, "I dunno..."

"Feel okay? Other than all the crazy things Theresa's told you so far?"

She nodded woodenly, "I guess. Is she for real?"

I nodded in return, "As real as can be."

Theresa cleared her throat and said, "I've given her a pretty solid base, Tera, but we haven't gotten to the part about her spark yet..."

"Ah," I replied, "the trickiest bit."

Instead of waiting for me to pick up the narrative, Theresa pushed on, "See, Kacy... this power that Tera possesses, it kind of planted seeds in people. Seeds of power. You hold one of these yourself."

"Me?" the girl said, mouth agape.

"You, yes."

"I don't feel anything..."

I replied, "That's okay, you won't."

Theresa narrowed her eyes at me a bit but didn't comment. She continued, "And it has a connection to Tera's power. She has to do something about that, it makes her vulnerable."

"What, like cut it out?"

"Not exactly," the woman said, stroking Kacy's arm slowly, "but the connection needs to be removed."

"Is it safe?"

Theresa nodded and assured the girl, "Completely. It just takes an... unusual... tool to do so..."

"Like scissors?"

Chuckling gently, Theresa replied, "No... no, something much more pleasant and enjoyable..."

"So what then?"

Theresa glanced my way a moment, then said, "Tera needs to make love with you..."

Kacy wrinkled her brow, "Huh? Like, doin' it?"

I nodded and said, "Exactly like doing it..."

"But why?"

"Not really all that sure, honestly," I told the girl, "but that's what it takes..."

Kacy looked a little scared, "Are you gonna hurt me?"

I reached out a hand slowly and took the girl's, stroking her fingers, "Never, no, I won't hurt you. And I won't force you, either... is has to be what you want to do..."

She glanced to her lap and was silent a while. "I dunno anything about that stuff..."

"We can help you learn..."

"What if I don't want to...?"

"Then you won't be made to. I promise..."

Kacy sat in silence another moment, then said, "Do I haffa decide right now?"

I shook my head and stroked her fingers, "No... We do have to be... quicker than I wish... but you can have some time to think about it and ask questions..." Changing the subject, I asked, "Still hungry? Anything you want, you can have it."

Kacy shrugged, then said, "No... Do I have to stay here? Can I see Mommy?"

"You don't have to stay in this room, no," I replied carefully, "I can't take you to your Mommy just now, though."

The girl frowned then shrugged wearily, "I want a bath..."

Instead of blinking her there, I walked with her and Theresa to the hastily-added room that offered a luxurious, deep tub full of steaming water and a thick layer of bubbles. I told her, "Take your time. Towels are right here," I said, pointing to a stool next to the bath, "and clean clothes underneath. Take your time. We'll wait just outside..."

- - -

Theresa and I whispered together a couple of moments, hearing the occasional gentle splash coming from the bathroom. "Think this is going to go your way?" the woman asked me.

"Meaning she'll consent?" I shrugged, "I have no idea... I won't force her, though... it's hard to see any of this as anything other than coercive..."

"I see that, too," said Theresa quietly, "but we're all walking some fine lines right now..."

"To say the least..."

"Tristan thinks you should be more firm with her. He's worried about this taking too long."

"Tristan can shove it right now," I said, tensing lightly, "I won't rape the girl..."

"That's not what he meant, you know..."

I stretched and calmed myself, "I know... I just don't want this to be rushed. She has to be comfortable with it, Theresa..."

She bit her lip a moment, then whispered, "But if things get more... urgent?"

"Worry about that then..."

Theresa didn't continue to debate the issue we both hoped we would never face, our conversation instead broken by a call from the bathroom, "Tera?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you come here?"

I left Theresa and stepped into the bathroom. The girl was submerged up to her neck, fluffy bubbles covering her below. "Everything okay?"

"Mmm-hmm, I just wanna ask you something..."

I stepped closer and knelt down nearby.

"Like, um, doin' it and all... Like... is it hard to do? Or does it hurt? Like, I thought it was, like, boys and girls and stuff, too..."

I smiled and sat back on my butt, crossing my legs in front of me. "Hard to do? Not at all. Sometimes it can hurt a little, but not bad, if your lover is careful... And girls can do it with each other just as surely as with boys. Just different, that's all."

"What's it like?"

"Making love?"

"Uh-huh..."

I smiled more broadly, "Lovely. Enjoyable. Like the most amazing thing in the world."

"So you've done it a lot?"

"Not as much as others, but, yeah..."

"With boys and girls?" the girl asked, face flushed. I wasn't sure if it was the heat of the water or the subject matter which was tinting the girl's tanned flesh.

"Yes, both."

"So... like, what happens?"

"Well... it's different each time, and with different people. But," I told her, "in general it is loving and gentle, touching special places with lips and fingers, penetrating special places, lovely licking and caressing..." I was growing wet just thinking about how to describe sex. "And when you really get into it, you can have an orgasm, which is intense and full of pleasure, like a rush of wonderful sensations..."

"That sounds cool..."

"It is, believe me..."

"You make it sound kinda fun."

"It is."

"But why me?"

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Why would you want to be with me? Like, I dunno much, really, but... like, do you like me?"

I smiled, "Yeah, I do."

She definitely blushed then. "Oh."

"Weird that someone likes you?"

"Yeah, I kinda had a boyfriend kinda, kinda, but we never kissed or anything..."

"Well, that's okay. You should only kiss someone you want to, and only if they want to..."

"I know," Kacy said, "I think I wanted to, but I dunno... But you wanna kiss me, then?"

I smiled again, "I do." It wasn't a lie. To be fair, I had no romantic feelings for Kacy and I was using her obvious connection of the two to ease her towards the decision she simply had to make. "I'm thinking about it right now."

Her eyes watched mine just a second, then she grinned with embarrassment. "Oh..."

"I won't rush, okay? I know this is all weird."

"Yeah, for sure..."

"More questions?"

She shook her head, "Just thinking."

"I'll leave you to enjoy your bath. Call me when you need me, okay?"

"Okay."

- - -

Abby and I walked along one of the hedge-walled paths in the broader sanctuary, holding hands like we did when we were Kacy's age. It had been innocent then, just an enjoyable physical bond shared between two great friends. Now, of course, things had changed in many ways for us, one of the more traditional of which was that we'd shared intimacy. That knowledge only made it even more enjoyable to hold my best friend's hand as we talked over our situation. Dad and Tristan were trailing behind some ways.

"Assuming you and Kacy are together at some point, what next?"

"We find Fenya."

"Where we you start?"

"I think I can recreate how my visions of Dad in the loop worked. I think I can watch anonymously when Fenya was banished, and then find other events where a being was banished, hopefully by The Paladin. Looking for patterns. There's a key, a hash, some signature, some commonalities, which I hope will give me a way to find how to locate Caracus' lover."

"Just you going?"

I shrugged, "Hadn't planned to bring anyone, but... I always like company."

"I'll go, if that's okay."

I smiled, "I'd like that."

We walked quietly a few dozen steps, passing a brick-walled chamber full of cuckoo clocks and smoke, some sort of lounge, empty but full of charisma. Further on, we heard whistling and saw a creature of some sort ahead. I'd felt the presence since arriving in the sanctuary, but felt no maliciousness, and it seemed like the being wished to be left alone despite the delightful tune it was whistling. We slowed a while and turned down a different path, the light tones drifting off into nothing.

Tera? Theresa called to me.

Yes?

Kacy is asking for you.

I let the others know quickly before blinking back to the girl.

- - -

Kacy had changed into the leggings and lose shirt I'd left for her, kicking her feet off the edge of the bed. Theresa smiled at me and excused herself without explanation.

"Looking for me?" I asked.

The girl was blushing deeply, smiling nervously. "So... I was thinkin'...

She paused and I squatted down in front of her.

The girl continued, "Will you, like, show me how?"

"How to kiss?"

She nodded, looking away.

"I'd love to..."

Moving next to her, she giggled when I put an arm around her shoulder, gentle and soft, stroking her bare flesh below the arm of the shirt. "Turn towards me," I said lightly.

She did and I smiled at her. Kacy smiled back.

The girl was nervous from first contact. We kept our lips together a moment, then I pulled back, "Now for a little more," I said, "open your lips a little and move them with mine..."

We connected once more and I found myself wrapping around the pretty preteen, my arms embracing her as our chests came together, my modest tits against her small developing ones. She let me lead her, lips together, hers moving more freely after we broke a couple of times to giggle together. She was clearly nervous but enjoying herself. "Exciting?" I asked looking into her shining eyes.

"Uh-huh... are you?"

"For sure."

More lovely kisses shared and soon I was guiding her onto her back. I carefully straddled her body, my knees beside her, leaning down to share her lips again. I didn't want to push too far too fast, but it was hard to resist the urge to slide my hands down Kacy's body to explore the intimate parts between her thighs.

One at a time, I brought her hands to my head, showing her how to caress me, then I did the same, running my fingers through her lovely brown hair, her trembling lightly, giggling even as we kissed. "Feel good?" I asked her.

"Yeah..."

We stayed like that for some time, and I was dripping wet with arousal. How far the girl might go right then, I had no idea. It didn't stop my cunt from drooling into my underwear.

"Can I ask you something?" she said, panting heavily.

"Always."

"What's yours look like?"

"My what?"

"You know," Kacy blushed, giggling, "your private place..."

I giggled with her. "Wanna see it?"

She nodded and I rolled off of her, feeling literally like a kid, nervous myself for some reason. I pulled off the leggings I wore and then rolled down my panties. I smelled myself almost immediately, my pussy warm and swollen with anticipation. Guiding the girl between my legs, I spread myself wide and let the preteen look at my cunt directly.

For several seconds she looked without reaction, a serious smile on her face, nerves showing in her rosy cheeks, but she didn't look away. "It doesn't look like mine really," Kacy told me.

I was in my natural state, unshaven, my coppery-orange pubes curling around my light flesh, my labia moist and slippery, opened slightly to her eyes. "I bet it's not all that different."

"Well, like, mine isn't like that at all... Yours is really hairy." She giggled.

I smiled, "Yours will be one day..." I remembered my brief glimpse into my father's memories of being with Kacy and recalled the girl's body was just starting puberty, sparse hairs over her Mons but not much. Of course, more may have grown in over the days and weeks since the time loop stopped, but I doubted it would have much changed.

She determined to prove me wrong without me voicing my thoughts. Easily, she pulled off her leggings and underwear and scooted her butt up close to mine. To my surprise, what had been just sparse tufts of fur around her clitoral hood in Dad's memory was now a full mat of dark hairs covering her Mons and trailing down her dark-pink labia. Not a full adult coat, but a young woman's downy first hairs, signaling fully her readiness for breeding.

"Beautiful..." I breathed. Her slit was small, her hole surely incredibly tight. She was wet, obviously so, a thin sheen of glimmering slickness coating her labia as they slowly unstuck and opened just a little. "Beautiful, Kacy..."

"You like it?" She was looking between my legs again.

"Oh, yes... do you like mine?"

"Uh-huh..."

"Have you ever touched yours before?" I asked breathlessly.

"Yeah... sometimes..."

"It feels good, right?"

"Uh-huh... really good..."

"Can I touch you there?"

"Okay..."

I leaned up, keeping my legs spread and wrapping them around the girl's thighs, scooting closer so that her pussy and mine were just inches apart. My fingers slid easily along her inner thigh and down over her vulva. She shuddered and then giggled, and I felt wetness slip out of my opening and roll down over my anus, sending a shiver of my own into me.

Gently, I touched her clit, the girl responding with quiet moans, then I slipped a finger inside her hole.

My father had encountered a hymen when he'd experienced Kacy, but I felt no such thing. The girl must have busted her own cherry at some point. I didn't voice my thoughts, but I loved that there was no resistance to my penetration.

No resistance except that Kacy's vagina was very small and tightly clenching my finger. Slowly I worked her wetness onto my skin, letting my digit push further inside her. She began to rock back and forth against me as I began fingering her steadily. "Oh, Kacy... I love touching you there..."

"Mmm... Mmm... Mmm..."

I had an idea and did what felt natural. Cocking one of her legs over mine, the other below, I angled my body so that I could press our pussies together. The heat of Kacy's privates against mine was pure bliss. I arched my back with pleasure as our genitals came together. I began to ride her, sliding my slippery vulva against hers, Kacy's first hairs scratching me wonderfully, slickness coating both of our flesh.

I held one of her legs and she began to respond to my movements, her body taking over as the girl's pleasure increased. I rubbed myself, sliding, rubbing, sliding, moaning loudly. Kacy did the same, overcome with the experience, her eyes closed, her body sweating lightly, flushed and tan and flawless. I came within moments, pressing my clit against Kacy's flesh until I could take no more.

The girl hadn't cum yet, so I swung around and pushed her legs higher into the air, pushing my face between her thighs, and slipping my tongue right into Kacy's little slit.

I tasted a mix of my girl cream and hers, a delicious tart and sweet goo, slippery, erotic. Her pussy leaked juices freely, the preteen moaning as loudly as I had moments earlier. Her little clit was hard and standing out from her body. I swirled it, lapping up her juices, swirling her hard nob again and again, Kacy's button swelling against my tongue.

She writhed, jerking, rocking against me. It was almost like she fought it, fought the orgasm trying to crash down, but it was inevitable.

A long, high whine came from her throat and her body went stiff. The girl's clit shrank rapidly and I felt wetness splash against my chin. Again, again, fluids squeezed out of Kacy's vagina, light-white and creamy, bubbles of air trapped in the slippery juices. She took a long breath and moaned from somewhere deep in her throat for long, blissful seconds.

The kiss we shared after was just as wonderful as all the others, better, in one way, in that we shared the taste of her pussy as our lips moved together. I didn't bother to mention that I was multi-tasking and unbound her spark while we cuddled and relaxed.

It wasn't much of a surprise that Kacy wanted to do more very soon, and I taught her how to eat my pussy like I had for her, the girl inexperienced but willing, able to bring my orgasm rather quickly once I opened my eyes and looked down to see the pretty twelve-year old's face buried between my legs.

We relaxed again after I licked Kacy to her second orgasm. She was sore then, and so was I. Content for the moment, I pushed away the rising demands of what came next and just let the two of us enjoy her first time a little while longer.