.
As I understand it, when Mother first arrived in Tëan Tír to assist the Fairy Queen in her work, she sent word to my staff to come to her suite for training. Her staff made sure they knew how to take care of a fairy with naiad blood, and she gave them detailed instruction on issues involving my vampire side.
Thanks to that, when I had visited, two days prior, they had been very apologetic about rushing me in the bath, not letting me soak longer. They also promised to pay more attention to managing my wardrobe, now that they understood that I really didn’t have a proper fairy’s eye for it. Especially, they would make sure I was able to overcome my crippling modesty…
I know Mother means well, but I had wanted to go scream at her when I got to that point.
Fortunately, my wardrobe that evening had been my armor, so the degree of skimpiness was a foregone conclusion. When I arrived this time, they put me in the bath with my older sister Amana, who had come to visit, the aftermath of which being Amana and the maids having great fun trying out various scandalously titillating nighties on their new life-size dress-up doll, i.e. me.
Amana tried a lot of them on as well, but Amana inherited Mother’s bust. Items tailored to fit my body become strictly NSFW on her. Not that this impediment would ever stop my sister.
During this episode, she was sharing a lot of skinship with my maids, too. I suspected she would be inviting them over to play, some evening when I wasn’t in town. Well, I guess she would be competing with Oberon for them when she did.
I was pretty worn out by the time she bid me goodnight and headed to her own suite.
As I took a pre-bedtime cup of chamomile tea dressed in what I can only describe as a mermaid line nightgown of very transparent silk chiffon, with only carefully designed ruffles barely obscuring the naughtiest parts, I noticed glances going on between the maids and forced myself not to sigh. They need to be a little bit less obvious about their intentions. Maybe growing up in Fairyland had dulled their sense of discretion. I’m pretty sure elves in the outside world aren’t so randy.
Bedtime proceeded as I expected, with the maids ‘tucking me in’ and then taking seats on the mattress around me.
I glanced around at the elven trio surrounding me, smiled slightly and tipped my head.
“I take it you aren’t quite finished with me, ladies?”
Khortys gave me a smile and said, “We were wondering what your preference was, so I will ask. Would you rather see us in our maid livery when you go to bed, or perhaps something more interesting?”
The ‘maid livery’ they referred to was Dorian in character, not unlike the attire of the ghost who had visited us the previous evening. In other words, it would not be out of place in a Chinese historical drama.
“Interesting,” I echoed, narrowing my eyes.
“Not everything in the wardrobe is tailored to fit you, Your Highness. We’re allowed to spend a certain amount of your household budget on ourselves, to costume ourselves for your amusement.”
“Costume,” I repeated. “Costume how?”
“We have outfits as fetching as the ones you tried on, tonight,” she declared, giving a coquettish smile. “We also have both Dorian and Atian party attire, and even Atian maid outfits.”
Pirkitta giggled. “If you’re not sleepy yet, we could have a little fashion show?”
All three looked eager to receive my permission. I could understand this from the two who were the elven equivalent of late teenagers, but the ostensibly fully adult Khortys looked the most hopeful of the three.
I sighed and rose back up to a sitting position. “Fine. I’ll be your audience tonight.”
All three were giggling as they scampered over to a wardrobe that I hadn’t noticed them opening before. I had assumed it was functioning as a broom closet or something else they would never open while I was present. It turned out to be chock-full of clothing.
A three-panel screen came out, to establish their dressing room, and their clothing began flying off behind it.
They first came out in cute yukatas, except for Khortys, who wore an elegant furisode kimono similar to the IT Lady’s attire. I would have been fine with stopping right there, but the trio had only just begun. Fashion shows similar to on Earth must exist on Huade in some form, because with each outfit they would sashay across the room from the screen to my bedside, then do a full turnaround before heading back.
Elven women lack the dramatic curves of fairykind, but when they began emerging in ballroom gowns, I knew that whoever was responsible for fashion design in this Castle was a certifiable genius. The designer had made full use of peekaboo slits, varying degrees of transparency and careful highlighting of different bodily areas with judicious placement of jewels and ribbons to make a slender woman as alluring as a platinum blond bombshell like Mother. The three looked ready to dazzle any number of Atian noblemen.
They emerged next in strapless lace-up corset skirts that draped to the floor, but with slits up the side, modern Dorian styles that enhanced chests, narrowed waists and kept their suitors vigilant for every seductive flash of leg. Khortys again received special treatment; hers was slit all the way up high on the hip, but was cleverly corralled with a single button at mid-thigh and a drape of beads from the opposite hip that conspired to keep it from falling too far open.
Their low-cut ‘Atian maid’ outfits with too-short skirts introduced me to the first cosplay I had seen in this world. I think. There were a few outfits back at the ‘House of Gold Leaves’ that might have also qualified. From there, the clothing progressed into boudoir wear…
…where modesty and opacity went right out the window. Fairy taste is bold and revealing, after all.
The senior maid noticed I was less enthusiastic for these and laughed a little. She told her subordinates, “Her Highness’s Mother did say she might like a bit more mystery, due to her vampire blood. Let’s try those outfits.”
Those outfits turned out to have a goth vibe to them. Three slender beauties in black emerged from behind the folding screen and I knew they had found the right balance. Khortys wore a full-length gown with a closed collar but large, diamond-shaped windows above and below the bust and long, draping sleeves. Pirkitta had open-knit lace revealing skin from armpit to ankle, but fully opaque everywhere else. Austrydhur had a cute babydoll and a long skirt. Her neckline plunged to the navel, except for the cute bow that held it together at the bust.
Khortys’ eyes traveled to my bosom and she smiled. “Based on her reaction, I think we have found our bedtime outfits, ladies.”
Yes, I couldn’t hide anything in this outfit. I laughed with a tinge of embarrassment as the three surrounded me on my bed once again. For a bit, they contented themselves by taking turns kissing.
But then Pirkitta’s breathing grew deeper, and I had to reject that. I whispered into her ear, “No.”
She tightened her grip on my shoulder to keep me from pressing her away. “But, Your Highness…”
“I enjoyed you only two days ago. If I did it again so soon, you would definitely wind up in blood bondage.”
“But that’s what I want…” she whined.
“Your Highness, the King has made us Ladies of the Royal Suite,” Khortys told me, which I guessed was a euphemism for the king’s chosen nighttime companions. “Your concern before is no longer a problem.”
“It’s still a problem that you haven’t thought about it long enough,” I insisted firmly, somehow converting my contact with Pirkitta into a one-armed hug around her shoulders.
I looked at Austrydhur and I could hear Durandal telling me, If you have willing Servants, you need to take them. That goes double for willing healers.
That same elven healer was wriggling her body against mine, hoping to intercept me when I let go of her senior.
The voice was my memory from earlier of course. Durandal discreetly stays silent at times like this. But I firmly rejected his advice for now, on the grounds of the time elapsed.
“I’ll enjoy these two tonight, but I won’t bond with anyone. This is something I can’t take back, so you must give it a lot of careful thought before I do it.”
Pirkitta looked dissatisfied, but I gave her a kiss and said, “You need to take this seriously. Don’t any of you three have a thought about getting married someday? This could interfere with your desire to do that.”
Austrydhur giggled and told me, “Your Highness, we’re going to be royal concubines!”
“Ah…” I frowned. I had foolishly thought that might work as a trump card.
“Even so, this will affect your minds, so it’s not something you should rush into,” I insisted. “I’m going to stick to my decision, ladies.”
I certainly didn’t end the evening at that point, but I ended any further discussion of Servanthood there. At the very least, I was going to make them wait until they were actively part of Oberon’s harem before I would accept their decision.
Austrydhur managed to help me segue away from that topic rather smoothly at that point though, by gently pulling loose the bow holding the two sides of her babydoll together. Grateful for the assist, I gave her my attention first… although Khortys competed for that attention when she started making out with Pirkitta to stop her from interfering.
# # #
The following morning, on my way back to Mount Ciddan, I was unsurprised to discover that I had a hidden escort. I didn’t do anything to let them know I saw them. I was curious what would happen, so I simply let them follow as I flew directly to the little temple entrance cut into the mountainside. Little Jia had left a ledge sufficient to serve as a landing pad for me when she cut into the face of the mountain.
Commander, came Little Jia’s voice during my landing approach, Are the ones following you to be admitted?
Not for now, no.
Do you want lethal or non-lethal countermeasures?
Please keep it non-lethal for now.
As my feet touched the ground, I heard the first clap of thunder. I turned around on the porch and noticed a vortex of clouds had suddenly begun rotating above us.
Umm… I said non-lethal, I reminded her.
That’s only a visual effect, Commander. Here come the non-lethal countermeasures.
A pair of winged figures, coal black, came flying in with tridents in their grips. A lighting strike let loose at that moment …
… or rather that was my first impression. The bolt of lightning had actually come up from the mountain, and rather than terminating in the clouds, they struck the tridents, then forked from there into streamers cutting across the sky to strike my invisible pursuers.
I heard shrieks of outrage, then the fairy warriors dropped their concealment. They tried firing back at the high speed targets, but strikes again fed power through the defenders’ tridents, targeting all the fairies simultaneously.
Keep it non-lethal, okay?
Yes, Commander. As long as they don’t manage to make it to the tunnel, I shall keep it non-lethal. You can leave this to me and come inside, now.
As the black figures continued streaking back and forth, additional defenders began appearing, I smiled, turned and headed into the tunnel, listening to the the continuing thunder as I walked.
