Aidan

The Realms

Unknown date (day 3)

Early morning

Mistvale Highlands, en route to Ceallach Macht

Aidan woke to the rattle of metal on metal and the sounds of a frustrated woman. He groaned, rolled over, and brought his arms up over his head to try to block out the sounds, without success. After what felt like half an hour but was probably more like half a minute, he sat up and looked over to where Brighid was struggling to put her armor back on.

She noticed him almost immediately and pleaded with him, "Will you please help me with this? It is one thing to get into my armor at home where I have tools to aid me and an entirely different thing to do it alone in the wild." She looked so frustrated and, oddly, helpless that Aidan accepted without thinking about the fact that he had been too tired and wet to get dressed before he fell asleep the night before. It was only when Brighid's eyes dipped down and stared at his crotch that he realized he was naked.

He blushed and just barely restrained himself from covering himself with his hand, then said with as much grace as he could muster, "Give me just a moment to get my own clothes on, please."

Brighid chortled and replied, "Oh, no need to do that on my account. I was enjoying the show. You know, I apologize for calling that a dagger last night; I was frustrated and taking it out on you, and I am sure the cold water did not help matters." She paused for just a moment, then smirked and said, "It is more of a shortsword than a dagger, I suppose."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, furball. If you're going to make fun of me, see if I scrub your back for you again!" He pulled his pants on first, then worked his way into his shirt. "Besides, you also called it a sword last night."

Brighid scrunched her face up into a parody of confusion. "Did I? I do not seem to recall that. You ... did not think I was referring to that," she gestured at his pants, "did you? My goodness, you do think highly of yourself!" She grinned at him, knowing she had him beat.

Aidan accepted his defeat with a grumble and walked over to where the centaur stood surrounded by bits and pieces of armor. She had managed to work her way into her chain mail and had one strap fastened on her breastplate, but that was about it. She turned around and had him finish tying up the breastplate, then showed him how the rest of her armor and padding went on. It took the pair of them longer than it had taken her alone at her house, but Aidan figured that was mostly just that he needed to be shown how to do everything.

He also took secret enjoyment out of directly touching her with her permission and under his own control. The only time he got anywhere close to a sensitive area was when he attached the rear plate of her barding; it went over her tail, then he had to reach into the hole at the back and gently pull her tail up and out. He didn't see or touch anything untoward, however, and proceeded to the next bit of plating. No, what he enjoyed was the sensation of her fur, short and coarse but surprisingly soft, against his fingers, and the powerful muscles under that fur.

He found himself wanting to spend time just running his hands over her back, flanks, and rump, but restrained himself. Regardless of how the previous night ended, he felt that would be too much intimacy for either of them. He was also a little uncomfortable with his feelings for someone who was, after all, part horse. Aidan resolved to log out of the game that night and spend some time in the real world. The game operated under time compression, so despite being the third day in in-game time, it wouldn't be Saturday yet, but he did need to feed and water his real body in addition to this one, and he could use some time away from this world to reorder his thoughts.

Once he finished with her armor, Brighid helped Aidan into his, a much quicker and more straightforward affair. He could have done it on his own but was hardly going to turn down having a beautiful woman help him dress. Once they were both prepared to leave, Brighid pulled out two of the trail rations and handed one to him. "Eat up, I know you did not eat last night, and you are going to need the energy for today."

He couldn't dispute her logic, so as they started their journey, Aidan unwrapped the package. It contained a piece of hard bread, a slab of salted meat, and a thick slice of cheese, plus a double handful of nuts and dried fruit. It wasn't the most appetizing thing he had ever eaten, and it took him quite a while to gnaw his way through the bread, but it certainly was filling.

Once they both had finished their breakfasts, Brighid and Aidan passed some time with small talk. They traded stories of their childhood. Aidan learned that Brighid did not know who her father was, having been raised by Ailis alone. Brighid laughed uproariously when Aidan described pranks his sister used to play on him and his parents. In return, she told him stories from when she was learning blacksmithing; some of the stories were funny, but she took pride in her job and had a great deal of respect for her late teacher.

Eventually, the small talk wound down, and around noon, Aidan decided to ask some slightly more sensitive questions. "So, Brighid, I have some more questions, if you would deign to answer?"

"I do not know..." She said, looking sideways at him. "You did not end up pampering me last night, after all." The edges of her lips were turned up, so Aidan decided to play along.

"How about if I promise to pamper you tonight?"

"Hmmm, but pampering tonight is inherently less valuable than pampering last night; what if you were to perish during our walk today? Then I would have provided a service for no payment at all!"

"True, true," Aidan mused, "although I have no plans to die this day or any other. Besides, isn't part of your job to deliver me alive to Ceallach Macht?"

"Details, details," dismissed Brighid breezily. "The point is that you are trying to get me to do something for you with only a tenuous promise of doing something in the future. A thing which you were supposed to have already done, I might add!"

"A fair point," Aidan conceded, "although I would like to point out that it was you who stopped me before I could carry out the pampering. Still, I am a man of my word, and tonight you will be pampered; what additional payment would milady ask for her services?"

"Hmmm," mused the redhead, eyeing him up and down. "I suppose I did play some small part in it. Very well, I shall let you off lightly, some extra pampering tonight to make up for your dereliction of duty. Do not shirk again, however, or you may find my prices rising more steeply!" She shook a finger at him.

"Of course, milady, I would never dream of such a thing." He gave her a half-bow and launched into his questions. "First question: What are you willing to tell me about centaurs in general and the Starchasers in specific? After last night, it is, ah, rather clear that I need to learn more about your culture."

Brighid nodded. "We both need to learn more about each other, I think. You also need to learn to word your questions more carefully." She grinned at Aidan. "You only asked what I was willing to answer. You did not ask any questions with real substance. Were I less of a noble and honorable lady, I could have used that against you."

"Ah, but you assume that I did not word the question that way deliberately, which I did! I know that talking about your people is going to be a more sensitive topic than talking about outsiders, and I didn't want to tread on uncertain ground. By asking what you were willing to answer, I leave it up to you to determine what you feel safe and comfortable talking about. For several reasons, I want to make sure you feel safe and comfortable around me."

"Oh?" Brighid arched one eyebrow at him. "And what might those reasons be?"

"Well, most immediately, you hold my life in your hands. If you decide that I am a spy or predator, there isn't much I could do to stop you from killing me. Even my one offensive spell is Fire Magic, which I expect will make your armor pleasantly warm inside rather than hurting you any. In addition, you have gone out of your way to help me even when, for all you knew, I was the same sort of hateful asshole human you have around here. I would be paying you back poorly if I pressed questions that made you uncomfortable. Beyond that," Aidan paused and looked at Brighid directly before continuing, "I find that I like you. You are a noble and honorable lady, and I enjoy your company. Once we got over our mutual cultural differences, I feel that we have gotten along quite well. I would like that to continue, and my curiosity isn't worth risking that."

Brighid looked momentarily taken aback by his honesty, her emerald eyes widening slightly before crinkling at the corners as she smiled broadly at him. "Well! I suppose I did ask! Soundly reasoned and rightly said; I withdraw my criticism of your question. And do not worry, I feel the same way about you. I think, given enough time, we could be good friends indeed. In that vein, I will trust your judgment. Ask what questions you will, and I will do my best to answer."

For the rest of the afternoon, Brighid fielded Aidan's questions about centaurs and the Starchasers. He found out that there were five subspecies of centaurs, although only three were present in the tribe: Plains Centaurs, Mountain Centaurs, and Moongraced Centaurs. Plains Centaurs were essentially the default and hardly a subrace at all, being both the standard half-horse half-human mix from Earth mythology and the most common by far. Mountain Centaurs made up about ten percent of the tribe and were half-mountain pony, half-dwarf hybrids like Gerwyn. Moongraced Centaurs, on the other hand, were very rare, with only Ailis and Brighid being of that particular subrace in the entire tribe. They were half-horse, half-Moon Elf, and were typically a little smaller and more slender than Plains Centaurs.

The other two subraces were Feytouched Centaurs and Grey Centaurs. Feytouched Centaurs lived mostly in deep forests and were half-deer, half-Wild Elf. Brighid actually didn't know much about Grey Centaurs other than that they lived far, far to the south, and were half-elephant and half-giant. She did say that there might be different types of centaurs she wasn't aware of, but Aidan figured if she hadn't heard of them, he wasn't likely to encounter them any time soon.

In addition to the basic information about the various subraces, Brighid told Aidan that all three local types of centaurs had more female children than males, with Moongraced Centaurs at the top end being twice as likely to be female than male. That, in turn, meant that the sexual and family dynamic among the Starchasers was very different from what Aidan was used to. With more women than men, there was less stigma attached to women openly trying to attract men, and none at all to women being sexually active. The gender ratio wasn't unbalanced enough for men to gather harems, for the most part, but it was common for them to have multiple sexual partners and even wives.

The Starchasers didn't have a nudity taboo, as Aidan discovered the previous night, and were also much less reserved about sex. People didn't fuck in the streets, but according to Brighid, it wasn't uncommon for lovers to frolic in the river outside of town near where others bathed. That all sounded good to Aidan, but what he liked less was that there was a severe sexual power imbalance between the genders. Among the Starchasers, unless a woman was exceptionally beautiful or well-connected, like Brighid was, they would likely not be pursued by men and would have to entice one into being their mate. Sometimes that meant giving a sort of dowry, and sometimes it meant becoming little more than a servant.

The tribe's men, meanwhile, had the pick of the women. All but the worst of them had little trouble finding someone to warm their beds and were frequently tangibly rewarded for it. It actually turned Aidan's stomach a little. He was a romantic at heart and believed that being someone's lover should involve real love, not just a transaction. He didn't object to one night stands or friends with benefits, but it just wasn't the same to him unless his heart was in it.

Aside from that, the Starchasers were a fairly standard medieval bartering society. Metal coins existed and were even used in the tribe, but the primary method of purchase was the exchange of goods and/or services. Coins were primarily reserved for dealing with merchants. The Council served less as a governing body and more as a Supreme Court of sorts; members of the tribe were expected to resolve their differences on their own and only bring problems to the Council if they proved incapable of independent resolution. The Council, in turn, encouraged this by providing just but unpleasant solutions to the issues brought before them. Only in matters extending beyond daily tribal life did the Council act as a more formal government -- things like the sealing of Ceallach Macht.

When asked about the tribe's name, Brighid shook her head and said, "It is from an old, old story. Supposedly, long ago, before even Ceallach Macht, we used to live as nomads in a distant land. One day, the leaders of the tribe gathered everyone up and set out on a journey to the north. They walked day after day, week after week, month after month, following a star which had been prophesied to lead them to their destiny. When the star faded from sight, they were in the Mistvale Highlands, where they carved out a territory for themselves. The other nearby tribes called them the Star-Chasers, and the name stuck, or perhaps they adopted the name themselves. Either way, we have been the Starchasers for well over a thousand years."

By that time, the sun was beginning its slow approach to the Cloudwall Mountains, and when Brighid found a suitable campsite, she halted their progress for the day.