The tides of pleasure shaking me recede but Celyz' inhalations grow no less intense. In fact, she starts expelling air in big waves to focus on breathing me in, which is to my delight as it proves she's taking everything she can out of me.

I start carefully using my teeth to handle her tendrils, estimating that she isn't as sensitive to pleasure and pain coming from touch than humans are so she might benefit from a stronger pressure.

She pushes back with ardor so I apply even more strength, squeezing her appendages as they navigate my bites to play with my tongue. I use my hand to caress those of her tendrils that I haven't yet taken care of with the lips she so enjoys.

“Hir, hyr.” Celyz breathes roughly.

She fervently grasps at my breast before sending that appendage past my lips, which brings the count to five and fills my mouth to the brim. I soon feel the first four she sent recede to exchange place with four others who have been sliding around my limbs and body.

I work harder for her as my pleasure recedes but doesn't fade entirely as I experience deep satisfaction in granting this to Celyz no matter my rising exhaustion or my sore jaw and tongue. I breathe in with difficulty, having been short on air for a while.

She keeps sending tendril after tendril inside my mouth, running me ragged but no longer sending five at a time which allows me to take care of each of her branches, licking and playing with them using my saliva.

Our bodies speak to each other with their reactions, a connection that feels deeper than those words would achieve at this moment. Celyz' breaths grow more abrupt as I keep getting wet despite coming already.

She never stops blowing on my sensitive bud and petals despite not focusing on me, giving me the occasional deep aftershocks of acute, almost painful, felicity crashing into me like unexpected waves.

It has more to do with Celyz' state of seemingly having lost herself in me than the sensations she's giving me. Her tendrils are enjoyable but too numerous and active for me to truly enjoy their touch, especially since they avoid my sensitive areas.

She suddenly shoves a tendril in my mouth, taking it against Leomi's will. I bite down on it, resisting to remain true to my word but I don't use enough strength to hurt my Oak as I've already established with my Lady that threatening or hurting Celyz is unacceptable.

I feel that she's being so abrupt because she's getting close to a climax of her own so I redouble my efforts. Celyz navigates my front teeth and molars with vigor, making use of the tight space for herself as well as she has the rest of my body while I wrap my tongue around it. A sugary flavor brushes my tongue and nose.

“Hry, rhhhr.” She groans ardently.

Celyz suddenly rises up, standing on her rooted toes with her tail swinging so wildly it scrapes the ground. Her tendril penetrates deeper into my mouth, past my uvula. I do my best to repress my gagging reflex.

Her other appendages' movements as they swirl over my body grow wider and stronger, causing me some actual pain as she squeezes my body with her tendrils, hurting my thighs, waist, and neck. Celyz suddenly slows down and pulls the fertile appendage out of my mouth.

“Lhet yfoursehlf gho!” I hurriedly tell her as she does.

I care none about the state I'll be in at the end of her climax even though I can tell she'll break bones if she keeps going, in fact I wish she would as I would revel the harsh agony for myself if it occurred for her pleasure.

“Break me.” I ask of her, desperate to feel the extent of her love and experience a physical wrecking to match my heart's state.

She doesn't listen, she lowers herself and starts leaning forward. Six of her tendrils pull away as we fall, hitting the ground with thumps. She gently lies me down on the ground and starts running her tendrils over my body, leaving even more of her viscous fluid on my skin, mostly concentrated on my forearm and hand.

“Are you trying to get me pregnant?” I ask, gasping.

She responds in the affirmative by behaving even more beastly, pushing her ovaloid head between my thighs until it rests a mere hair away from my folds to inhale deeply, breathing my odor in while her tendrils wrap around my fingers to stroke them.

An icy spike stabs my chest as one of her tendrils falls upon my breast while another stabs my lower stomach by merely caressing it. Celyz keeps gently caressing me, easing me through the pain until it disappointingly recedes under her touch.

“Rhyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” She blares, her chest rising up.

I witness her making use of her rooted toes and tendrils to rise from her almost horizontal position over me to a fully vertical one, once again standing on their tips with her legs fully extended.

Celyz deploys her tendrils around her trunk like magnificent branches as a huge tremor goes through her, making her rubbery brown skin bristle. I rest there, utterly exhausted and in awe of having succeeded in giving her what I could despite wavering in my resolve to keep it about her at times since she lovingly kept making it about us.

“My oak.” I sigh.

She angles her ovaloid head down towards me. A moment passes as she studies me. She uproots her right foot and folds four of her conical toes to extend one out that she places over my drenched sex, grains of earth mixing in with my flower's dew.

I experience a blissful well-being from her possessive touch that feels neither like pleasure nor pain. It doesn't quite last as I soon feel a harsh agony take over, which I enjoy no less.

Celyz does not allow it to continue. She pulls her root away from my folds and lets herself fall like a logged tree next to me, producing a loud thunk as she lands on her side. She starts gently curling my hair with her tendrils as we lie under the sun and beneath the cold wind.

“My love.” Celyz utters in a deeply affectionate resounding voice. “I made a mess of you.” She adds apologetically.

“I'm all sticky.” I acknowledge, shivering from feeling so good and dirty. The viscous liquid she coated me with is transparent with pale brown small clouds within. “I love it because I love you.” I tell her.

“Rhy...” Celyz squeals. “I dared not hope this would be the surprise.” She admits with incredulity.

“Did it make you happy?” I ask, worried.

“More than I am able to express in words or pheromones, it was worth the wait and more.” My oak replies dreamily. “I almost lost control of myself.”

“I noticed.” I grunt. “Never felt better about feeling this sore, you have incredible endurance.”

“I wanted to enjoy you as long as I could.” Celyz replies in a shy voice.

My heart melts at her sweet reply and at the tremor of embarrassment that goes through the tendrils weaving through my long hair. I reach out to her belly to start caressing it, appreciating her crisscrossing string-like muscles.

“I feel so foolish for doubting our compatibility.” Celyz mutters.

“I doubted too, we aren't of the same species so I think it was unavoidable.” I tell her, grinning. “Still can't believe you got me without touching me... and then you just, declared yourself over me.” I almost lose my voice from emotion at the memory of her laying a root on my flower. She came very close to threatening to plunge it inside me, destroying us.

“You are twisting me, and I love it.” Celyz tells me in a difficult voice. “I can't express the pride I feel for being worthy of you.”

“You? Worthy of me?” I exclaim with a chuckle, thinking it's some kind of joke.

“I know you have no idea. What a being you could have become had we not intervened in your life at your detriment.” Celyz sighs.

“I would have kept being a squeamish girl frightened by Nobility's shadowy threats.” I reply, baffled of her much too high opinion of me. “I resent the idea it all was to my detriment, many suffered more than me and by my hand.”

“Shhh.” Celyz whispers, softly brushing my hair.

She sends streams of flow to the fires burning around us, being as thoughtful as ever. I pout at her diversion but don't complain, turning my back to her before sliding against her.

We don't need to communicate to express what we expect of each other. Celyz wraps her tendrils around my waist, providing me her comfort while using a single branch to guide my hand over her thigh to rest on the side of her tail.

We lie there together for a while in a silence filled with tender caresses. My heart rate refuses to slow down and I remain lightheaded as I savor the remnants of her musky, acrid, and sugary taste.

Yet, as time goes by and my departure approaches, her hold on me grows tighter and tighter while her appendages move to secure my wrist, elbow, thighs, and calves.

“Celyz.” I warn her, feeling like the exquisite restraint is starting to smother me.

“I refuse to let you go.” Celyz replies, pulling me deeper into her hold, compressing my lungs.

“Hg.” I croak.

I experience chest pains that soon fade away as I start seeing red and feel a rush of adrenaline. I try to pull my arm away to reach for my sword which lies a couple of meters away but the dozen branches wrapped around my body don't let me.

“I could claim you through right of conquest.” Celyz proclaims in a whisper.

“I... kh.” I cough.

“The Empire might even make it official in treaty, you classify as a drone to them when you could rise above them all with a single arm among us.” Celyz murmurs in a vibrating voice.

“Huc.” I choke for air. “Rrrah!” I manage to growl out.

“Hyyiiiii.” Celyz cries out in a long whine.

She releases my chest and swipes all her tendrils away, falling to her back with her reversed knees touching the ground. She starts making sobbing sounds, each tearing through my anger until none remains.

I take a quick breath and turn over to mount her. I sit on her trunk, repressing grating coughs. I reach out to caress the side of her face to try to comfort her, anguished that our wonderful moment ended so abruptly.

“Celyz.” I call out.

“I'm so sorry.” She replies, bringing her tendrils between me and her trunk.

I take hold of the flower circlet I gave her and shift it just slightly to tell her that her moment of panic doesn't change anything, which is likely both reassuring and tragic for her while it merely hurts me inside.

“It's alright, I'm fine, we're fine.” I whisper.

“Rh.” She groans in distress, making weak attempts at pushing me away.

“We're forever Celyz, whether we're together or not.” I tell her.

I feel terrible about wielding the fact like this when I'd hoped she would be satisfied and able to move on from me, even if that would have hurt me a lot. I take hold of one of her tendrils' tips, planning to make her uncover her trunk.

“Ih.” She squeals.

“Is it sensitive?” I ask, worried.

“Ys.” Celyz mutters, sounding quite similar to Cetyz. “I overdid it.”

I take great care to be gentle as I pick up her appendages and set them over my shoulders to uncover her truck. Once I've done so with all, I lie the left side of my chest against her torso and rest my cheek on her neck.

We remain as is for only a short while because Celyz starts shaking. She curves her tendrils and curves them to push herself back up to her feet, forcing me to get off. I do what I can to help her, which isn't much because of her considerable weight.

“Go, Jessica.” Celyz tells me in a crushingly sad voice. “I have ruined this.”

“You didn't.” I deny, reaching out to her. “You wouldn't be able to if you tried, I love you too much.”

“Hyihz.” Celyz exhales roughly. “Remember those words in a moment.” She tells me while pulling me to her trunk with her tendrils.

“I will.” I agree, laying a half-dozen quick kisses on her belly.

“You go to that woman while engaged to me according to your old customs.” She informs me, referring to Leomi without even a name and in a voice full of jealous spite.

Her words slam into me like a slap. She is making use of a custom long fallen in disuse as the use of rings has replaced flower crowns. I can't even recall anyone making use of those apart from the oldest tales.

Yet, I cannot refuse her no matter how much it hurts me to witness her grasping like this when she should be returning to her life instead of wasting time on me, instead of reinforcing my worst inclination of refusing to let go of her.

“I'm sorry.” I utter, judging my words lame and far from sufficient.

Celyz creates a complicated flow construct that looks like a slowly spinning sun-clock without a hand to project a shadow. She applies it to the heather and pansy flower circlet around her ovaloid head.

“What are you doing?” I stutter.

“Ensuring that no decay will touch your promise to me.” Celyz replies softly. “I may yet shatter it if you decide to deny me this.” She adds in a heart-wrenching voice, giving me a choice without truly asking a question that she likely cannot bring herself to speak out.

“I would never.” I affirm, pushing the sounds through my tightening throat.

“I will wait forever, then. I won't entwine with any other, human or Rykz. You will return to me before your death because forever must be renewed at least once to stand the test of time.” Celyz utters in a harsh tone but one full of affection, longing, love, and fear.

“I'll do everything I can.” I tell her, feeling tears form in my eyes. “I swear.”

“Go now, my love.” Celyz says, pushing me away from her. “Leave me, you have granted me more than I could ever wish for.”

She rises to her full height, blocking the sun and projecting a shadow down on me as she spreads her glistening tendrils out to catch the light. I feel so small, so tiny in front of her foreign silent beauty.

It makes me run to my clothes to dress up in shame for my body's inability to compete, in shame for my failure. I leave the drying sticky substance without wiping it, letting my skin absorb it in an effort to feel her love if only a little while longer.

It ends like this because I, we, was erratic as we, I, held her, allowing myself, ourselves, to receive when I, we, should have solely given. But, I can't leave her like this. We attained our goal. She isn't happy!

It was a mere hope she would be, not an objective we could control. You're so cold. It scorches me inside, as it does you, but we must keep going because she will only hurt longer if we stay.

I taste ashes as I fasten the short sword around my waist and start walking. It feels like a tear in my heart to leave the circle of blazing fire constructs but remaining is the worse choice as it would delay my reunion with Leomi and increase Celyz' plight.

Alone again for a while. I swallow my saliva and make my way back, the pain in my chest worsening. I can't help but listen to the dark cloud weighing over my mind as it whispers to me what a disaster this was for all of us, regardless of the number of us there are.

I accelerate my pace, no matter that my balance suffers from exhaustion and lack of a left arm, which remains painful even gone. I need to fix my scars now and... and return home with Father, yes, eyes on the goal.

“We're leaving!” I shout at the tent as I approach it, startling more than a few Rykz scouts in my surroundings.

“Just a moment!” Yvonne replies.

I forcefully cool myself down, thinking that it would destroy Celyz if I got myself killed by the drones she assigned to us. I stagger inside, shoving the flap aside. I find the sword-sworn using a rope to tie my liangi's case to a handcart over the supplies she likely gathered for the trip.

“Where's the chest?” I ask abruptly, pressing on the left side of my chest with my right hand to handle the stretching agony I feel underneath my ribs.

“You're really going to take that thing?” Yvonne asks carefully.

I don't respond and walk up to a piece of cloth covering rectangular shape on the ground. I kick the cover aside, finding the parasite's chest. I push it over to the handcart with my feet, struggling to find the strength but too resolved to get going to give up.

“You, um, maybe take a bath before we go?” Yvonne asks as I pass by her.

“Tonight.” I reply sharply, throwing her a glare.

“Works for me, it's just a bit of an... unusual smell.” Yvonne smiles awkwardly.

I ignore her, unwilling to deal with anything right now with the damn heartache that won't go away and after the fiasco with Celyz... Well, we are engaged. What will I tell my Lady? The truth. Ironic, considering you panicked before I could in Meria. That was you.

I shut the voices out as their debate fatigues me to help Yvonne tie the parasite's chest to the handcart. Once we're done, I sit down to take a long few moments to gasp for air.

“That it?” I ask Yvonne.

“Yes, are you sure you're in a state to travel?” She questions.

I ignore her, pushing on my knee with my right arm to rise and take a position on the other side of the cart to push. She quickly throws a few blankets over the baggage and takes hold of the handles in the front to start pulling.

We depart the abandoned Rykz camp without delay once we're out of the tent. I try to be as nice as I can be when I shut out her weak attempts at small talk, thankfully she gives up quickly and allows me to deal with my pain in silence.