Another week went by and a lot was completed. The clearing surrounding the hut was expanded. Now it had a small garden which grew tubers inside the forest soil. The smokehouse was smoking the meat of two boars.

The elves did as they said. They helped with hunting and cooking. They helped to make soap and sort the herbs. They even helped to gather herbs. Guardian trusted them enough to show the patches where the plants grew.

The elf woman would gather vegetables and herbs. She would also tend the garden or process herbs into pastes. What proved extremely useful was that she knew how to weave using plants. She made some woven mats for sleeping from flexible sticks and soft bark ribbons. Ana also made baskets to store the plants.

The elf man cut, smoked and cooked the meat. He was responsible for the meals. He would run errands to town if they needed to sell or buy something small. He was trusted with money because when he left his sister would stay, and she was carefully watch by Guardian. If he ran away with money his sister would suffer. Ell however, did not even have such ideas. The elf has also made some arrows to be used for hunting and he would train Aiu how to use the bow, she was getting better.

Currently Aiu was making her way to the stream. Then she was almost there she noticed the two elves were there as well, they were naked. She though that they were bathing; it was normal for the family to bath together. She and her guardian did that. Aiu was ready to leave the elves alone and come back later. She would join in if it was only Ana. However just before she was to turn away something picked her interest.

She was curious what Ana was doing. She was crouched and she was doing something to the Ell. Aiu sneaked closer and observed the two from a better angle; she was hiding behind a tree.

At first she thought that Ana was helping to clean Ell’s body. However that couldn’t be it. She was not just using her hands but her mouth as well. Aiu looked more closely and saw elf’s head rocking back and forth, her hands were holding Ell’s private parts.

‘It looks like she is sucking it. Why does she do that?’ And then it dinged inside her head. The elves where being naughty.

‘Aren’t they a brother and a sister? How indecent.’ She was not disgusted, she was intrigued instead. She has never observed an actual act like this.

Ana started sucking harder and faster, taking it deeper inside her mouth.

‘It looks like Ell really enjoys this. Ana too.’

Aiu was feeling hot and bothered down there. She put her hand under her dress and started to work with her fingers, touching herself while peeking at the elves.

Ana released the prisoner of her mouth with the pop and it sprayed thick liquid on her chest. Ell made a grunt of pleasure.

‘How interesting. Is he done?’ Aiu was expecting more. She was rubbing herself and wanted to let out a moan too.

Ana brushed her chest with her fingers scooping some of the liquid and licking it from her fingers with gusto.

‘Does I taste that good? I want to try something like that.’

She washed the rest of it from her body with water. The pair put their clothes on and went on their way. Their ritual was done.

Aiu was not done at all. She still felt very hot and aroused. She remained hidden for couple more minutes until she finished herself.

Her fingers were slick and sticky. She ran down to the stream to wash herself, this was what she planned to do to begin with. However, even though her body was calm now, her mind was not.

‘I want to do something like that too.’ She kept thinking.

🐢 🐢 🐢 🐢 🐢 🐢 🐢 🐢 🐢 🐢 🐢 🐢 🐢 🐢

Once she got back to the hut everyone was making preparations for a trip. Their goal was to go deeper into the forest so that they can harvest herbs, the closer patches were all harvested. They also wanted and to hunt some animals. This was meant as a short trip as it will start raining again in two or three days.

They packed their supplies and tools into sacks which they carried on their back. Aiu was luckier since she had a big leather backpack for that task. It was more comfortable than a saggy sack.

For first half of the day they were walking through the forest, going deeper. They would stop and harvest useful plants whenever they have found some.

Second half was dedicated to finding some prey, their goal was to hunt some dear for their precious meat and pelts.

The group dipped their arrows in the flasks of poison extracted from the Corpse Serpent. Their master was sniffing their tracks and droppings.

“The smell is fresh. They are nearby, we are sneaking from here.” He whispered.

His words were true, they have sneaked upon a band of dears, good twelve of them. The trio readied their poison arrows, and then let it loose. All three of them hit their targets.

Ellonwar whistled loudly, this was a signal for his Master. The big man emerged from the bushes and started running towards the fleeing deer. They were quick but he was quicker. Once close enough he swiped with his clawed hand injuring the dear and making it tumble. He pounced on it, grabbed its neck and snapped it.

The other three dears did not run far either; the poison was quick to act. Their bodies seized, the wounds where the arrows have stuck were fizzing. The poison was corrosive and had paralysing properties. The animals were alive but suffering. Their legs were bound together with rope and they were left like that for now.

“Good job guys.” He praised the youngsters.

“Are we making a camp here?” Aiu inquired.

“No, a bit further.” He said while gutting the dear he had just killed. This will serve as their dinner.

They cut the young tree which was used as a stick to hoist all three dears. The two elves held the front of it on their shoulders, while their master took other end with his left hand. His right hand was clutching the carcass of the one he has slain before.

They travelled like that until the sun started to set. The poison wore off, the dear were injured but alive, they tried to move but couldn’t, they were bound tightly with ropes. This was cruel but they needed their meat fresh.

They stopped and started to assemble the camp. The elves have taken unusually long to gather the firewood, but when they came back they came with plenty of it.

The fire was started and cuts of venison were grilling on a stick for the trio to eat. The girl’s guardian was devouring the rest of the venison raw. Elves seemed slightly disgusted by that. It was the first time they saw him eat raw meat like that.

Group finished their meal, put extra wood in fire and set their mats for sleep.

Ana and Ell were lying together, embracing one another.

“Guardian can I sleep with you?”

Ana looked at Aiu suspiciously, her eyes were narrowed. She was judging her decisions.

“Are you cold?” Guardian asked.

“Yes.” She lied. There was fire going and she had her cape and boar pelt.

“I do not mind then.” He shuffled making some space.

Aiu moved her stuff next to him and pressed her body awfully close to his.

The night was uneventful. The forest was full of night creatures but none of them approached the camp. They were afraid of fire and the huge black monster who was guarding it.

With the first light of morning they took their stuff and proceeded towards home. Aiu did not know how elves Guardian knew where they were going. If she was alone, she would have been lost long time ago.

They reached their home and stored the herbs and processed the meat. Aiu used her skills to skin the animals while Ana cut their meat into small strips. Ell was taking care of the smoke house. They have finished other small chores around the hut and went back to forest. Their goal was the same as the last time.

They were deep inside the forest gathering the herbs. Aiu was guiding the siblings towards the herbs she needed, it was only her who had the Locate skill. Her guardian was further away plucking the bark from the special tree, Tannin it was called. They needed it for one of the recipes she have learned from the book. It made special solution which was used in leather tanning process.

Suddenly something rustled in nearby bushes. Aiu turned to look towards the sound. A big black bear was running towards her. She was unarmed and caught by surprise, her bow was still on her back. However, she was quick to act and instead of grabbing her bow, like the elves did, she reached for the flask of poison. The bear was ready to bite her head of, but then the flask smashed in its face. A trick she learned from her guardian. Aiu shielded her head not to get a dose of the same poison.

For paralysis to take the effect it would need to enter the blood stream, but still she had to be careful as it was corrosive. It was burning the bears face and its eyes. The bear swung his claw missing Aiu entirely who crouched and rolled away from the bear.

Elves had their bows ready and shot the arrows hastily. It hit the bear in a chest and on its side. Animal panicked as it was in pain and blinded, it ran away.

“Get him!” Aiu shouted. She was angry. The bear had tried to kill her, she could not let him go.

The elves ran chasing the bear.

She stood up, brushed the dirt from her dress and was about to run; but another bear roared. The roar was coming from her side. It was a mistake not to wear predator repellent, they tough they don’t need it since Guardian was with them. Also, he himself hated the smell and did not want to hang out with smelly people.

She turned to look at its direction, the bear was already running towards her. She was out of options. Aiu ran towards a rough direction there her step-father should be, hoping that the bear will not catch her.

She had no time to turn around, she just ran in a straight line. She saw her guardian running towards her. Aiu could feel hot breath coming from behind her, bear was about to bite her shoulder. Her guardian leaped in the air just in time, kicking the bear in its nose and breaking it; his kick barely avoided Aiu.

The bear got shunned, its face was smashed beyond recognition. The impacting force was quite big since both of them were running towards one another, not to talk about the heavy masses of their bodies. It hurt more to get hit by a flying boulder than a flying pebble, even if the pebble flew five times faster than a boulder. Now imagine getting hit by a flying creature who was as big as a bear.

The bear was alive, he turned his back forgetting that he was still in a fight. It whined and sprayed blood from its face. The guardian jumped on its back mounting it. Guardian’s arms wrapped around bear’s neck, choking it to death.

“This… Was… Close...” the girl said in between her pants.

There was a flash of lighting and then a sound of thunder. The sky poured huge amounts of water suddenly.

“This timing, this is bad.” Aiu complained.

The rain was getting heavy and they were far from their hut.

“Where are the elves?”

“Chasing another bear.”

“You got attacked by two bears?”

“Yes. The first one got blinded and ran away. I sent elves to get him, but then this one showed himself.”

“This is troublesome.”

“What should we do, wait for elves to come back or look for them.”

“We do not know where they ran do we… And it will be hard to find their tracks or scent. It is raining. We will wait.”

They went where Aiu got ambushed by the bear. She tried to shout for the elves but her voice was muffled by the noise of rain and occasional thunder.

“They are not coming back.” Guardian concluded.

“I hope they are ok.”

“You said the bear was blinded by you, they should be fine. They are elves they know how to survive in a forest.”

Only the first half of the sentence was true. The sibling elves were the city elves and knew little about survival in a forest“

“Go get the baskets with tree bark and herbs the elves left. We are going home.”

Aiu gathered the baskets. There were a lot of stuff so some of it was tied to the sides of the Guardian. He also carried the bear corpse on his back. The bear leaked blood on him, but he did not care, it rained anyways.

It took them three hours to reach their hut. The rain was still very heavy.

Aiu checked the smokehouse making sure it is still all right. The moist weather will affect their smoked meat.

She was very tired but she knew there just too much work to stop and rest. She used Skin on a bear to get its hide. She almost passed out from that. Her head got heavy and her mind hazy. The bigger the animal was the more energy it required for the skin skill. She stumbled and fell on her but.

“Wooouuu, my head is spinning.”

“Do not stand straight away or you might passout.”

She sat there in a puddle of water clutching the bears pelt. He masterfully gutted it and started to separate fat from the meat. Aiu did not rest for long and joined him. They cut the bear up and stored its meat inside a barrel of brine and sealed it.

By the time this was done it was pitch dark. The room was illuminated only by a small fire which heated a water pot.

“Achoooo.” Aiu sneezed taking her soaked cloak and dress off. Her boots were full of water too.

“Do you mind?” She asked hopefully while pointing at the steaming pot of water. This was a good chance to do this as the elves were not here.

“I have worked hard and I have not been rewarded like this for almost two weeks”

“If this is what you want.”

He took the pot of steaming water out of the fire. Put some herb extract, and a drop of fragrant oil in it. He soaked a warm cloth in and put it on the back of Aiu. It was warm and nice, but not what she wanted.

“Scrub my skin like the last time.”

“But you are not dirty.” He intended only to keep her warm changing the steaming cloth then it got cold.

“Please. It felt so nice, I want to feel nice again.”

“If this is what you want.”

He took the cloth and started to wipe her hands arms. He brushed up and down whipping her skin. He splashed some water on her so she does not get too cold, keeping her body warm and steamy. He brushed past her neck and skin. He looked at her face while he rubbed her back, making small circular motions.

‘She is looking oddly at me’ he made an observation. “Is this how you like it?”

“Mhm.” Was all she said.

He moved his hand to the front part of her body. And started wiping her chest. His hand was big enough to completely cower it. He made delicate motions with his hand brushing her belly and chest. Her cheeks became red and she was biting her lip.

He looked at her face once more. ‘Am I too rough?’ he thought, stopping momentarily what he was doing.

“Don’t stop. This part need to be rubbed few more times.” She pointed at her chest.

He carefully cleaned it making sure he is not rubbing too hard. He moved up and down, the cloth was pressing to her delicate breasts. He put the cloth back into the bowl, so it can soak more of the warm water, revealing her recently erect nipples. He noticed it but paid no mind, it was the body reacting to one thing or another. Like the hair would stand up then it was chilly.

“Again.” She whispered.

He repeated it once more making Aiu to release a weird muffled noise. He looked at her again, she was even more red. ‘Is she getting too hot?’ he wondered.

He moved his hand down, cloth slid left past her hips and thighs, followed by the right side of her body. Aiu parted her legs slightly by moving one of them to the side. He brushed gently her inner side of the thigh moving up, then he did the same to the other leg. To finish, he moved the cloth directly in between her legs. Aiu’s fist clenched and she breathed out heavily.

“This part…” she stopped in between the whisper. “Is very dirty. You need to brush past it few more times.” She knew that she will end up like this, and ask something naughty like that eventually. But she did not care what he will think, her mind was clouded.

He observed the cloth and indeed there was a streak of clear slick liquid on it.

He cowered his finger in cloth and rubbed around that area a few times without thinking about it too much. If it is dirty he will clean it. Unbeknown to him, it only made her ‘dirtier’. Thinking his jobs there is done he moved his hand to wipe her legs.

“No. I will tell you when it is done.” She grabbed his hand by the wrist and led it in-between her legs.

He rubbed there few more times. ‘Her behaviour has been odd ever since I started’.

Aiu’s breath got rugged and she was barely standing. She put one of her hands on him to help her balance, while still holding his other hand. It felt so good to be touched like that. Her hips twitched and she let a small moan.

He spoke suddenly. His voice was stern. She have never heard him speak in such tone before.

“Aiu! Just what you think you were trying to trick me in doing?” He realised what was happening even though it was a bit late. He was not daft, just inexperienced in human behaviour. He was tricked in pleasuring her.

He moved his arm away. Aiu struggled to keep it in-between her legs. He stood up moving away from her. She lost the support of his body, her knees bent on their own leaving her kneeling.

“Sorry.” She said all embarrassed.

“How do you explain yourself?”

“I just got… I wanted… I needed a release. Sorry.”

“You don’t need me for that. Do it alone or find a human.”

He knew that her finding human was not an option he might lose the control of her.

“No, no humans, not yet. Just do it by yourself.” He corrected himself.

Aiu was looking down, not saying a single word.

He tough for some more. Humans have more needs besides food and shelter. He failed to think about those, he needed to learn from his mistakes and be more thoughtful if he wanted to keep humans.

“Aiu if you have needs you need to sort those.” He said in his normal voice.

“I do. It just feels so much better when you touch me.” She got told off, was embarrassed but her body was still hot, she felt extremely horny.

“…” Guardian was thinking.

“And it has to be you! I want you do it!”

“What are you saying Aiu?” he was shocked. The young woman was crazy.

She stood up and slowly approached him.

“Just this time, please. It does not cost you anything. You will lose nothing.” She was trying to reason.

‘I won’t gain anything either.’ He reflected on it.

She took his hand in hers.

“Please. I will do everything you say and follow all of your commands. I will push myself even harder.”

‘Maybe something can be gained. But this feels weird.’

“Please. Just this time. It won’t take long.” She was pressing her body to his hand.

“Ok…” he gave up.

She stretched one his fingers lowering one and sticking it in between her legs. The finger was big and broad. She moved her hips grinding and rubbing herself on it. She held on his arm while trusting her body. She was panting, moving her hips as fast as she could.

He was feeling awkward and out of place, but looked at her with interest. Like one would observe an animal. He waited and let her do her thing. Her breathing was laboured, her body twitched a few times and she fell on his arm.

“Done?” he inquired.

“Y… yes.” She slumped on the floor.

His finger was covered in a sticky liquid.

Aiu crawled to his bed finding a spot to sleep. He washed his hand in warm water, stepped over her and laid to sleep where he always slept. He did not mid Aiu sleeping besides him.

She pressed her body against his and kissed his chest for goodnight. He did not feel her tender lips on his thick skin and the gesture was left unnoticed.

He was wondering what happened to the elves.

‘Will they come back tomorrow? Or will I find them dead some time later?’