This file is a part of Elf Sternberg's Collected Works on ASSTR.  The
complete archive of Elf's work can be found on his website at:

http://www.drizzle.com/~elf

The author can be contacted at:

mailto:elf@drizzle.com

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Aimee', Chapter 9

"Master Darynn, please be brought forward."

Darynn rose to his feet and allowed his to colleagues to lead him into
the moon-shaped circle that was the petition floor for the main
council of Mages. Around him sat his thirteen peers, each of whom had
heard testimony from himself, Bethsany, and Aimee', as well as
additional testimony from several of Bethsany's girls and two of
Teltirray's servants. Still, he had to admit, the council saw things
differently from most people and he didn't know what their decision
would ultimately be.

From the center of the council, Talen Silisto leaned over and looked
down at him. "Master Darynn, the court has reviewed its findings and
considered your testimony. While it would normally be outrageous for a
mage of your standing to defy the wishes of a fellow mage and teach
that mage's student something other than what was requested, we find
in your case that you taught Aimee' precisely according to the wishes
of Teltirray as best as you, yourself, could interpret. If Aimee'
sought additional learning from you and your library, as long as her
demanded studies did not suffer in the process, that is the mark of a
good student, and you, sir, are to be rewarded as a good nurturer of
that student." Master Silisto smiled, and Darynn grinned back. "This
court finds you innocent of any wrongdoing. Would you please be
returned to your chair?"

"I would, sir."

"Aimee', please be brought forward."

Aimee stood and, like Darynn before, allowed herself to be led to the
center of the circle. Darynn watched the hold of her head and found
himself admiring the strength she was showing, as well as the
nervousness locked into her shoulders. She looked up at Mage Silisto,
the hood of her cloak thrown back.

Mage Silisto examined her carefully. "Apprentice Aimee', the court has
examined your conduct and your testimony, as well as that of your
teachers and those who know you, and we can find no evidence of
wrongdoing. As a mage, Teltirray had few peers, and in his speciality
he had none. As a man, however, Teltirray was more monster than human
being, and with your revelations and those contained in his journals,
we hereby remove his name from our ranks as an honored member."

"Also, this court has examined Teltirray's last moments in detail.
Without formality, this ruling will probably face challenge, but we
rule that you and Teltirray engaged in duel, one that he unfairly
skewed in his favor, and that you are therefore to be benefitted in
the manner of one who has won duel. In the presence of a Will or Deed
of Estate, you are entitled to half of Teltirray's estate holdings.
Without such a document, you are entitled to all." Aimee's mouth
dropped open, and Darynn followed suit, stunned by the generosity of
the ruling. Talen Silisto slapped his palm on the wood of the table
for silence, and when he got it, he turned to another standing there.
"Ricar, is there such a document?"

"No such document will be found," Ricar stated evenly.

"Is there such a document," Silisto repeated. Darynn wondered at why
Silisto needed to repeat it.

Ricar stared at the mage, anger written across his mouth. Then,
slowly, he smiled. "Master Silisto, I submit to you that no such Will
or Deed can be found."

Satisfied, Silisto turned back to Aimee'. "You are now the holder of
the title to Teltirray's estates. This is the ruling of this mage's
court." Silisto slapped his hand upon the table. "Recorder, let it be
known that Master Darynn has been cleared of all charges. That
Apprentice Aimee' has been, as well. That the court rules in the duel
of Aimee' and Teltirray, that Aimee' is the living victor. And
finally, that the Council of Mages grants Aimee' a white card
admission to the College, to reside with Master Darynn-- " An uproar
started in the audience. Darynn looked stunned, but most of them were
beginning to applaud!

Silisto banged his hand on the table. "ORDER! I will have order in
here!" He took a deep breath. "To reside with Master Darynn, who has
been neglecting his duties as a mentor for far too long recently,
until such time as she earned the title of Mage."
  _________________________________________________________________

The smell of her hair bothered him. He wasn't sure why, or even in
what way, it bothered him, but it did. He tried not to listen to his
feeling, but they would not go away merely from wishing. "Sir?" she
asked gently.

"Aimee'?"

"I wanted to ask you... you said once, just eight months ago, that you
were prepared to love me." She turned around, slipping her arms into
his cloak and holding him close. Surprised, he looked down at the top
of her head, inhaling the soft smell of her hair again. "Would you...
are you ready now?"

"I..." He stood, flustered, then finally smiled. "I think so, Aimee'."
Much to even his surprise, he felt his erection growing under her
influence. As he reflected on her touch, he realized that Bethsany and
her girls still held no interest at all for him. Instead, Aimee'
challenged him, excited him, because of her talents, her magic. And he
wanted to indulge himself in her spirit and her body.

He caressed her hair slowly, and her hands stroked his back, his
fingertips arousing the skin and causing his muscles to tense up
almost painfully. "Come with me, Aimee'," he said. She smiled and took
his hand. He led her to the bedroom. "Sit."

She sat. He sat opposite her, his hands folded in his lap. "I feel...
uncomfortable. I have no idea where to begin with you. And, more
honestly, I am frightened of you."

"If you do not wish, sir..."

"No, I have no desire to go back on my pledge. Aimee', this may sound
odd, but while I love you, and I feel lust for you, and at my age I
should have the wisdom to understand what I feel in here, I do not."
He tapped himself on the chest to emphasize his words. "Men... Men are
easy, compared to you."

"You taught me, many months ago, not to be afraid of what I wanted or
what someone else asked of me. If I could do it, and I wanted, I
should." She smiled. "I learned that lesson very well." She rose and
removed her cloak, tossing it onto the chair by the bed. "This room
has so much magic in it. I can feel it when I breathe."

"Yes," Darynn replied. "I have had many men in this room, and cast
many more spells." He grinned. "Shall we perform one, tonight?"

She stopped, surprised. "You would do that with me?"

"It would seem the natural course of action. You are an apprentice. I
am the mage. I am supposed to teach you things. Why don't I show you,
by example, a kind of scrying I'm familiar with?"

"Please, sir!" she smiled. Darynn reached out and pulled her close,
pushing up the cuff on her left sleeve, exposing her wrist. He knew
she was watching as he lowered his head and kissed her wrist, gently.
The taste of her skin was unlike anything he had ever tasted. It was
salty, like the skin of men, but it was a different quality from any
salt or sweat he had known with men. He could not even begin to place
the differences.

She stood, silently, while he reached out and untied the bows that
held her tunic closed in the front. He admired the smooth flawlessness
of her body as he exposed it, inch by inch. Her breasts, still
growing, were already large mounds projecting away from her body, each
nipple pointing away from the other. He quietly cursed himself. For a
sex mage, he had damned little vocabulary to describe the beauty of a
woman's body. And he did find her beautiful. Her beauty was bound in
the way she breathed, in the way her chest rose and fell with the
excitement that was building between them as student and teacher,
friend and lover, and he hated to admit... man to woman. The raw flux
of power between two loving men was one thing he appreciated. Yet the
strange flux of power, filtered by the differences in the sexes, made
for a kind of magic he had never known.

As he pushed her shirt down off her back and she shook her hair to
free it from where it had become caught in the shirtcollar, he ceased
cursing himself and smiled. He took her cheeks in his hands, lifted
her mouth slightly, and kissed her. And then he laughed.

"Sir?"

"Oh, Aimee', what I have been thinking in the past few minutes is just
not fit. Are you ready to share the weaknesses of an old man?"

"If they are yours, sir, I will always be ready."

"Very well." He rose and slowly led her to the bedside, encouraging
her to get in. She lay down on the covers and, together, they worked
off her breeches. "Aimee', I have been considering what a fool I have
been for denying myself the special kind of magic that happens not
between two men, but between a man and a woman. And then I realized
how few people ever learn of the love between man and woman, even when
they are made to learn that." He shook his head. "You are the first
woman I have loved since my mother, and you may be the last. It is
not... It is not that I have discovered women, Aimee'. It is just that
I have discovered you."

She smiled and reached up, pulling him down beside her. "Sir, one
thing I have not yet had the pleasure of is one of my own kind. But I
dearly wish it. I wish to learn."

"I am afraid I shall have to send you to a specialist for that," he
mused, laughing. "That sort of thing is beyond my understanding."

"Yes, sir," she replied, grinning. "Remove your clothing, already!"

"I have to prepare for the spell, first. Wait here." Darynn rose and
left the room. He walked down the corridor to his magickal pantry,
recovered the items he required, and returned. Aimee' was idly
stroking her skin, scratching or self-pleasuring, he couldn't tell,
and she smiled as he walked in. "I waited."

"I see," he replied. "Come, apprentice. Help me arrange this spell. I
will need this powder dripped into the groove on the floor that
encircles the bed, and I will need these candles inset into the
holders at points 1, 21, 41, 61, and 81. Clear?"

"Yes, sir. Is there any need to care for the colors?"

"Good question, apprentice. No, not this time."

"Yes, sir." He watched, somewhat detached at the beauty of her body
but thrilled with the eagerness in her soul, as she placed the candles
down and began the slow and rather dull task of encircling the bed
with the mix he had given her. He stripped off the plain blanket and
put in its place a large, blue comforter onto which were sewn magical
runes and sigils. "Aimee'?"

"Almost done, sir," she said.

"Join me when you are."

He knelt on the bed, naked, as she joined him. "Now, cross your legs,
close your eyes, and hold out your hands."

She did as she was told. He looked at her, naked, vulnerable... and
yet, he knew that if he were to arouse her anger, she would prove a
challenge, possibly a mortal one. Unlike Teltirray, even if he did not
see all of it, he knew the source of her power and he respected it. He
reached over, doused the oil lamp, and settled himself before her,
taking her hands in his. He closed his eyes.

Slowly, he began chanting, swaying back and forth, feeling the power
that was already heavily invested into this room even when no magick
was being performed. His soul reached out, examined everything. His
hands moved up her arms, and she mirrored his movements, until his
forehead touched hers. Their hands roamed, and slowly he felt her open
herself to him. For the first time, he sensed her hidden heart, which
she had kept protected from Teltirray for all these past months. Her
mouth began to move, although no sounds came out. He could hear her
breath shaped into words and knew that those words were echoes of his
own. She was losing herself to the spell, and that was as it should
be.

His hand caressed her breasts, and hers stroked the hardened muscles
of his chest. Beneath her soft teats he could feel the strength she
had earned through Teltirray's unfortunate "ministrations." He worried
that he was being inept, or too rough, to the delicate flesh of her
body, but she never said a word other than the whispered spell of
scrying they worked together.

His mouth touched her shoulder as they leaned together, and her voice
suddenly took form. She took over the speaking of the spell, as his
mouth explored her soft skin. Once more he was fascinated with a
taste, a texture, a sensation utterly unlike that of any man or boy he
had ever enjoyed. He pressed her down to the bed, feeling her body
underneath his own. His skin came to life with every inch pressed to
inch, and the mana flowed about them in torrents Darynn had shared so
few times in his life. His mouth found her nipples. They were not so
unlike men's, perhaps a little larger than most men he had been with,
but not the largest. He learned to appreciate the feel of her breasts,
the wonder and excitement inherent in them. He was fascinated, yet the
spell called him on. There was more to do. He kissed her belly. In his
mind, the spell wove on and on, and in his ears Aimee' chanted
flawlessly words she had not known an hour before. His mouth trailed
down to her sex.

The scent was... distracting. Interesting. Nothing to write Thomas
about. He lowered his lips to her furred mound, slowly extending his
tongue, tentatively tasting her flesh. The words to the spell came a
little more breathlessly from her throat. He pulled his head back
slightly and looked down, taking in the sight, comparing the pink
flesh the color inside a seashell before him with what he knew in his
head. He licked where he thought her clit should be, tasting at it.
Her legs spread slowly wider, and a small moan ran in the undercurrent
of her chant. He looked up and her face showed how lost she was in the
magic and the pleasure of power.

He licked at her harder. His jaw was experienced enough with the taste
of men, but she was proving difficult to follow. He grinned to
himself... his problem was that the target was so small!

He was apparently doing enough, for her chanting changed in pitch and
timbre as she approached her orgasm. He decided to let the spell rise
with her. They didn't have to be joined at the hips to make this work;
he had succeeded many times while sucking seed.

He allowed her to continue weaving the spell; he fed it to her mind
even as his mouth fed on the taste and feel of her cunt. He licked
with enthusiasm, appreciating the way she responded so fully. It was
different from men (he couldn't stop making the comparison), but he
had no trouble recognizing it. He pressed his mouth against her cunt,
licking her harder. He lay against the bedspread and felt his erection
pressing against the rough cloth. Her orgasm was growing; he could
feel it in her legs and see it in her heart. She growled underneath
the chanted her spell, and he could hear the thickness in her voice
that heralded the loss of control. Her voice grew louder as the
muscles in her legs trembled and shook. He changed to course of spell
from its rotating-growing phase to the outward-seeking phase, and she
screamed as she came, the magickal words shouted from her mouth as a
cruder lover would shout obscenities.

His vision blinked momentarily, and when he looked again the sky had
opened up above his head and the world turned below him. Only one moon
was in sight, but it was clearer and more radiant than he had seen it
in many a year. He turned around slowly, and Aimee' floated besides
him. Her eyes were closed and her chest was heaving, one hand over her
breasts as if to feel the air entering and escaping. "Aimee'," he
said. "Apprentice."

"Sir?" she asked, blinking slowly and opening her eyes.

"Look at what we have wrought." He reached out for her hand, and she
took it. Drawing her close, he turned her so that she looked down upon
the world. "We have left our bodies, so important to our pleasures,
behind, so that we may see this."

"Is that... that..."

"That is Earth," Darynn said slowly. "We are many miles from it's
surface."

"It's round!"

"Indeed," Darynn said. "And there are other secrets to be learned from
this height. But out bodies will not long stand the strain of
suspension like this. It is, perhaps, the strongest disadvantage of
sex magic... the tension of ecstasy, if left too long, will harm us.
And the pleasures of love make us inappropriate for combat magic." He
smiled at her. "Come, we must return."

"It is so beautiful," she sighed.

"It is," he agreed, giving it one last glance. He spoke one more word.

Aimee' screamed louder, her climax sweeping past her as attentions
returned to her body. Darynn held onto her with his strong hands,
hoping she wouldn't buck too hard and hurt his mouth or nose. Finally,
her trembling subsided. "Oh, Master Darynn."

"Apprentice Aimee'... you were most beautiful."

"Thank you," she gasped, lying down on the bed and breathing hard,
recovering her breath. "That was... the most beautiful moment of my
life."

He crawled up and lay beside her, chuckling. "It was probably one of
the most interesting of mine," he admitted. "I did not anticipate your
pleasure being so strong."

"You enjoyed it, then?"

"Oh, very much," he agreed.

She turned over onto her stomach. Darynn's eyes floated over her
buttocks, so much fuller and rounder than any boy's he had ever seen.
"Good," she said, pulling herself over his body and lowering her head
to his cock. Darynn trembled slightly as his cock slid into her mouth.
He could feel her saliva against his cock, slick and warm when it was
under her tongue, cool as it slid down his shaft. He heard his own
breath and found he was hyperventilating. She was good, and he
appreciated her talent.

She could take all of it, too, and he looked down to see her nose
pressing against his belly, his entire cock engulfed in her mouth. She
sucked on his cock so well he felt his own climax reaching for him.
"Aimee'... I'm going to come soon."

She ignored his warning, sucking harder, applying just the right kinds
of pressure to his shaft. His cock pumped a little, releasing a
droplet, his body wound tighter than a watchman's clock. A second
later, it broke though, making him shake and groan as his cock pumped
her mouth full of his come. Yet, she didn't stop! She kept sucking it
down, stroking every last drop from his shaft until he became so
sensitive. "Aimee', I beg of you... enough!"

She rose up and looked at him. Her eyes were glazed over, tears
streaking her cheeks. He recognized the signs of fighting a gag
reflex, and smiled, brushing away one of the small streams of wetness
with his thumb.

She held his hand to her cheek. "Thank you again, sir. Thank you so
much."

He smiled and pulled her close, until she lay atop him. "It is I who
should be thanking you," he sighed. "That was wonderful."

"Thank you. I tried my best."

"And you did better than many men I've been with. Which confirms a
theory of mine."

"Sir?" she asked.

"I've always thought it was passion and practice which make a good
lover, not having a similar body. There's a belief amongst inverts
that only we know how to pleasure one another. You give lie to that
belief."

She nodded, then laughed softly. "Darynn... When Teltirray was trying
to kill me, one thought that kept going through my mind was that if I
didn't kill him, I was going to miss class tomorrow."

His laughter joined hers. "Oh, Apprentice, I do love thee."

"I love you too..." She looked up into his face. "...Teacher."

They lay together for a long time, and soon Aimee' had drifted off to
sleep, turning over onto her side. Darynn rose and blew out the five
candles; most had burned down until they were just wicks lying in
puddles of wax. He did one last circuit of his home, insuring that
everything was locked down tight against the cold, winter night, then
returned to bed, one small lantern his only source of light. As he
looked down at Aimee's sleeping form, he wondered at her resiliency,
and at his own emotions.

Despite all that had happened, lust was still not in his vocabulary,
at least not for her. He would never have sought her out, and he still
had no desire to seek other women at all. Instead, he that felt he
admired her and sought to protect her. She was so strong, yet so young
and vulnerable. One day she would be a great mage, and perhaps that
was his eventual legacy. It would be the ultimate irony if his
greatest student turned out to be a woman, yet Aimee' had all the
natural talent to be the greatest of mages.

He lowered the lampwick and curled up next to her. After dark, he
thought, not all cats are grey, but sometimes it doesn't matter what
color they are.
  _________________________________________________________________

Original document is available from:
http://www.drizzle.com/~elf/aimee

Aimee
is Copyright (c) 1989-2000 Elf Mathieu Sternberg. Distribution limited
to electronic media not-for-profit use only. All other rights are reserved
to the author.
