I was standing outside the hut, basking in the morning sunlight and taking in its energy until I could feel my mana pool straining at the edges. I felt a lot more confident after my discussion with Lubus, according to him I should be able to regain mana rapidly as long as I was in direct sunlight. I hadn’t tried this during direct combat before, but it should be doable if I could invoke the same sense of focus I was in now. That was the main advantage of us elementalists as Lubus called me and anyone else who drew power from their affinity, of course, we struggled in environments where our element wasn’t present. For me, that would be at night or underground I supposed, although I had still been able to draw some power from the rocks and soil that had been baked in the suns rays all day and from the moon. The sun had nothing to do with the moon in my mind, but I suppose that heavenly body must also bathe in the suns rays. Normal mages and wizards regenerated their mana pools naturally if at a slower pace, but they didn’t have to worry about their environment constantly. Lubus also assured me that he would be there to help me, he had learned a couple of things while inside the core. Although he could only perceive things until a certain distance from my body, he could basically move mana with his mind now, command it.

“First hunter, it’s true, you’re back,” came a voice from behind me, speaking my native language. I turned around to see Lezuz standing at the entrance, looking at me as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. She slowly made her way towards me but hesitated when she noticed she could move on her tail without pain. “I thought you a dream at first, it seemed too good to be true,” there was awe in her voice now as she brought her tail up to examine her newly grown scales. “You trounced them, even resisted the cold that has brought so many of us low,” her voice hitched as she laid a hand on my cheek as if to reassure herself she didn't imagine things. “It’s true then, what you said last night? I mean I saw you throw fire at them, will you punish the goblins?” The dam keeping her emotions at bay finally broke, and she threw her arms around my shoulders and cried into my neck with great heaving sobs.

“Yes sister, I spoke true, I have learned many useful things back on the mainland, one of them being the fire you saw me use.” Lezuz shook in my arms as I stroked her back making soothing sounds. This was a new thing for me, Naga wasn’t supposed to act like this, we didn’t lose. We had never faced anything that could bring us to this state before, we had always been the scariest thing on this island. That such week monsters like the goblins could bring this about was if anything even more infuriating. I promised myself again that the goblins would pay for what they had done, the naga would get back on top of the food chain, we would not only live but thrive. Lezuz had stopped shaking, and I brought her to arm's length, tears were still running down her cheeks, I brought up my fingers and dried them as best I could. Our eyes met, and I smiled at her gently, her eyes seemed glued to mine with an intensity I recognized, but this wasn’t the right time for that. “Dry your tears little sister, and still your hunger. I’ll gladly lie with you when we are back in safety, I’ll need your help if we are going to make it back to the home cave. Why don’t you start by telling me what happened here while I was gone.” Lezuz shook herself at my slight rebuke and looked away from me in shame.

“I’m sorry, First hunter, it’s just that,” I interrupted her by placing the tip of my tail under her chin and lifting her face to meet my eyes.

“Call me Eshanai, or sister, and don’t ever be ashamed of your desires,” she took comfort in my words and seemed to steel herself for what she needed to say next.

“I would not be ashamed of such things normally it is more the reason for my need that I feel ashamed. I guess I wanted to forget or remember what sex used to be like, to not watch my body do things against my will with me being unable to do anything about it. I just wanted a taste of the joy, the sheer passion I used to feel, and if I would be able to come back to that someday.” The sheer anguish in her eyes struck me, Lezuz was still hurting, and I could do something about it. It was still early morning, we should have a little time before Lilian woke up. I brought her in for a hug again and held her close as I asked her as gently as I could.

“Will you tell me what happened to you?” She spoke slowly at first but once she started the words flowed out of her like she needed to get them out. All the while I held her close and tried to soothe her. She had been captured in one of the goblins earlier raids on the home cave. She had been on guard duty when they had swooped in, fought with ice and bow, it seemed their main objective had been to take prisoners for when the goblins had enough they retreated back to their own caves. They covered their retreat with ice traps, making pursuit almost impossible. Lezuz was one of the ones who had been captured, and as soon as they were brought to the goblins caves on the other side of bone tip mountain, all prisoners had been put under the control of a red crystal, turning them into slaves.

“They did things to us, started by tearing away our scales so we couldn’t move properly. We could do nothing about it, their voices were always in our heads telling us to obey, impossible to shut out.” She took a deep breath then, and a tighter grip around me before she continued. “It was around that time that the forest changed, new powerful monsters appeared, the trees and plants grew at a ridiculous pace. Travel through the jungle grew difficult, even with the goblins ice and their new slave's raids on the home cave grew too difficult. I was lucky in that I didn’t have to fight my own people, but soon the goblins attentions turned to us, their slaves. Sex was supposed to be this beautiful, amazing thing filled with happiness, and it was, until the goblins twisted it into something darker. I always felt excited when I knew my partner was stronger than me, but the goblins were weak, and yet they forced us to lay on our backs and let them do whatever they wished. There was no pleasure in it only pain, the only way I could endure was the thought that you would return, and here you are.” She broke down again after that, crying against my chest.

I recognized what Lezuz was talking about, the way excitement boiled up in me when someone stronger took me to their bed. It was sometimes a bit violent, but that was part of the fun, and it was always pleasurable. What the goblins had done was unthinkable before the coming of magic, a mage was more powerful then a normal Naga if not physically, and it would be great to lay with one as I had done with Lubus. The goblins had taken it a step beyond that though, making slaves of us, forcing us to watch as our bodies obeyed their orders, taking away our choice entirely. Those petty little monsters would wish they’d never been borne when I was done with them, but that was for later, there was a problem right in front of me I could help solve right now.

“I’m sorry Lezuz, I did not know what you had gone through. If it helps you forget I will gladly have sex with you, we have little time, and we will have to be quiet. I have a guest that needs her sleep,” She looked up at me with gratitude in her eyes which quickly turned to confusion.

“Oh, can’t she joins us? I’m eager to talk to this guest from the mainland you have brought,”

“People on the mainland are very particular when it comes to sex, besides my guest is in an infant state and not finished growing. We would be taking advantage of her when she can’t put up a proper defense yet,” Lezuz nodded seriously at that as if she could understand on some level.

“Mainlanders must be weird, I think I can manage to be quiet, don’t want to attract any monsters anyway. But don’t hold back on my account, or it’ll be no fun.” I smiled at that, I had no intention of going easy on her. Our wrestling predictably started with me on top, Lezuz put up a good fight but she was young, and I had much more experience at this sort of thing. I wrapped myself around her limbs and pressed them to the ground, I brought both her hands above her head so I could keep her tied more effectively, freeing up more of my tail to deal with her own tail that was making attempts to free herself. She was strong for a young one, I was stronger, but there were other ways to keep her contained more pleasurable ways. Every time she tried to make a move I would run my tongue up her stomach, around her breasts and nipples, and up her neck, all the while avoiding her nether region. She squirmed in frustration, and I locked my lips to hers in a feverish kiss that she gladly returned. Her eyes were glazed over with lust as our kiss ended, and I leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“What do you want me to do to you?” I asked, tickling her ear with my tongue. Lezuz was panting now lost in lust, struggling to form words. “Say it.”

“I want, I want you to fuck me,” she managed finally, and I rose up and smiled down at her.

“Good girl,” I said before I brought the end of my tail to bear on her nether regions, she was very wet, so I slid in easily. It was not like Lubus little tail, but mine was more flexible, I had missed this a lot I realized suddenly and redoubled my efforts to bring the squirming girl pleasure. While my tail worked on her nether regions my mouth feasted on her upper body, both her nipples got plenty of attention, and she begged me to kiss her which I gladly did.

After having let Lezuz take a turn to be on top, we laid cuddled together in the shade under the hut, it was still morning, but the sun was higher over the horizon now. Lezuz told me more about what had happened on the island, she didn’t know much about the home cave since she had been taken early, but she did know a lot about the goblins and the new monsters that had appeared. I listened intently as she told me about living plants and the huge beasts that roamed the jungle, trying to commit as much information to memory as I could. You never knew what would be the thing that saved you in a fight.