Taelah had to admit that not five minutes in she was already enjoying her husband’s attentions. This was clearly a place made just for her, acres and acres of different flowers and plants and trees, ranging from the mundane to the magical, not completely overgrown but not quite tamed either. It was obvious that some care had gone into it, which was nice to see especially on the heels of their vows. Part of her wanted to detour from the stone-brick path out into the grass and flowers, but she reminded herself there would be time for that later.

It still felt very strange, not quite real, to be married to Blue. That Ansae character was exceedingly odd, but she had to admit the dragon – a dragon! – had the gravitas to make it feel like it was a binding thing, rather than an indulgence by Blue. Some part of her felt entirely off-balance walking into the house by herself, when she should have had a husband by her side, or more traditionally carrying her across the threshold. At the same time, she could actually feel Blue's presence there. Ever since the Bargain she could feel his attention, subtly for the most part but far more intensely once she’d walked into his core room. It was just a vague sense of being watched and something a little more, but somehow it was reassuring rather than disconcerting.

She stepped inside, the cabin light and airy and open, with tables and chairs and an open door through which she could see a very large bed. It was nice to see this was meant as an actual dwelling place, and she took a moment to run her fingers across the smooth wood of the table and the cool, polished granite of the counters. Then she stopped, clasping her hands together.

“I’m actually kind of nervous,” she admitted to Blue’s presence. “It’s not like I don’t know how things go, but I never really thought about it applying to me.” She took a deep breath and turned to the bedroom. “I’d rather consummate this now before I have any more time for nerves.” She stepped into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Then she stopped, feeling a little bit awkward, because she wasn’t exactly sure how to proceed. Even if Blue was all around her, and she could sense his attention, it wasn’t like he had a body for her to touch.

She almost jumped as she was proven wrong, a black tendril as thick as her wrist rising from the floor and wrapping about her waist, then sliding up higher and splitting off. One segment went along her arm, smaller tendrils tangling with her fingers, while the other one cupped her cheek, surprisingly soft and warm against her skin. The very sight was quite strange, but he felt soothing against her skin, and the physical warmth came with something else.

The vague presence and attention that she’d been feeling on the edge of her perceptions snapped into clarity, not nearly as vast and unknowable as it had first seemed. Instead the feelings coming through were surprisingly personal and personable, a sense of warmth and amusement and desire, her actual husband suddenly made real. It made her more and less nervous at the same time, the actual concept of Blue less overwhelming but far more personal.

The brush along her cheek lingered on her freckles there and she got the distinct impression that Blue very specifically liked those, which for some reason made her blush. She’d been expecting far more salacious thoughts, so the very frank and innocent ones slipped right past her defenses. Not that she should have defenses with her husband, but she couldn’t change her habits right away. To deflect from that she put her other hand on the tendril cupping her cheek, running her fingers along it while the other one twined about her fingers. It wasn’t exactly like holding hands, and actually was very far different, but it had some of the same intent.

Blue tickled the inside of her wrist, his warmth working up her arm bit by bit, while the one she was playing with pressed closer, fitting into the curve of her neck. The coil looped around her waist tightened ever so slightly, and she couldn’t help but jump despite the feelings she was getting from Blue. Sensing her mood he stopped instantly, letting her get used to the idea of the black tendrils as him, and not some strange and terrible thing. For a moment he didn’t do more than hold her and she let out a breath, appreciating that Blue was willing to take it slow, let her ease into things. Especially since he could probably make as many of those tendrils as he wanted.

He let her pull on the tendril that was stroking her cheek, lifting it to her lips and kissing it gently. At first, she worried that would be awkward, but she could tell that Blue enjoyed it even if he didn’t have a mouth himself. Daringly, she even started to nibble and lick at the soft, warm tip, which he really liked, and he reciprocated by splitting smaller tendrils off the one pressed against her neck to slide under the collar of her dress, sending them along her shoulders and her collarbone in a sort of all-encompassing embrace. Then one slid down between her breasts, sliding all the way down to her belly, and she giggled and put her hand over it, feeling its softness between her dress and her skin.

“Impatient, are we?” She smiled, then gasped as Blue replied with a flash of thought, some vague impressions of everything he could do to her without even taking off her dress. That was the sort of lascivious thought she’d had in mind before, and even half-expecting it, the idea kindled a heat deep inside her. “Oh. Maybe, maybe take it a little slow. We have time.”

The tendrils shifted slightly, letting her lean into them, immensely strong despite how soft they were and how small most of them had become. The one cupping her face tickled her lips again and she smiled, kissing it once more as Blue held her, his warmth pressed against her bare skin. He stroked at her belly for a while, helping stoke the heat there, then additional tendrils slid out to cup her breasts, like fingers sliding under her clothes. They caressed her bare flesh, making her shiver from the feel of him teasing her, the touches soft and slow.

She relaxed into her husband’s embrace, inhaling the slight scent of vanilla as she pressed kisses along the tendril at her lips. The feel of his emotions made things less strange than they might have been. Instead of some creepy and unknowable thing groping her, she could directly experience that he was an actual person, and one that was enjoying her reactions as he teased her.

Taelah moaned quietly as he squeezed her breasts, finding them unexpectedly sensitive, Blue’s skin silken smooth against hers. He caressed her until her nipples were perked and hard, then began to squeeze and tug them, gently but hard enough to send jolts of pleasure through her. She squeezed the tendrils tangled with her fingers, gripping him as he played with her, slowly making her more needy. In fact, she was starting to wiggle in his grip, feeling the wetness between her legs.

Her eyes flew open in surprise as she felt Blue slide up her thighs, under her dress, and peel away her underclothes to expose her. A reminder that he had as many appendages as he wanted. Then he slid upward to touch her directly and she whimpered at the feel of his smooth, hot flesh against her sensitive lips. Softly, smoothly, he caressed her folds, spreading her sex to tease her more thoroughly, and she slumped against his hold.

“Ohh, mmm…” She made incoherent noises, dazed as much by the feel of his touch as the enjoyment that he had from playing with her, feeling his pleasure at stroking her sex. He didn’t even slide into her yet, just playing with her breasts while rubbing her pussy, taking special care to wrap a few thin tendrils around her swelling clit and giving her an even more intimate massage. With all that she didn’t last long, her hands gripping his tendrils and squeezing as she arched under his care, trembling as she came from his attentions.

He wanted to give her even more, ready to continue on and really make her moan, and she wanted it too. But where the spirit was willing, the flesh was far too sensitive, and his stroking came to a stop as his touch became so intense it was painful. Puffing and panting as she recovered from her orgasm, she patted the tendril that still rubbed against her lips.

“Just…” Taelah took a breath. “Need a little bit to recover.” She felt his disappointment, but it was just a flash and then he released her, the tendrils sliding away. It made her totter slightly, as she went shaky-legged to the bed, leaning on the bedpost to catch her breath. If that was what he could do while she had clothes on, what could he do if she took them off? Feeling a little daring as well as for the more mundane reason that she didn’t want to get her clothes dirty, she finished stripping, folding her clothes and placing them on the bureau to stand in her bare skin. Even if it wasn’t as sharp as when he was touching her, she could feel his appreciation as she walked around naked, stepping back into the kitchen for some water. Instead she found there was a pitcher of juice waiting for her, perfectly chilled and wrought of solid glass, straight out of a noble’s palace. The surroundings changed temperature even as she walked, becoming perfectly comfortable before she could even start to think about being cold.

“Thank you,” she said, and poured juice into the accompanying extravagant glass tumbler, sitting down on a smooth, comfortable wooden seat and kicking her legs as she drank. Then she winced and stopped. She was definitely still in the mood, that wasn’t going anywhere, but she needed to give herself a bit of time before she could indulge in any more marital exertion.

Her eyes roamed over the kitchen as she drank, enjoying the warm colors of the wood and the bright light and brilliant flowers visible through enormous panes of glass, things that under other circumstances would cost a ransom. Slipping off of the chair, she made her way, somewhat gingerly, to the windows to look out at the garden. Now that some of her anxiety was out of the way, she had more time to appreciate the sheer scope of what he’d made for her. It was still inside one of his chambers, but there were just acres of rolling, sun-kissed field. An actual sun, though clearly a fake one, more pleasing than the flat light of the farming chambers.

Taelah finished the glass and set it on the counter, feeling that she was maybe up to a little more adventure. This time when she entered the bedroom she stretched out on the bed, looking up and around as if she could locate where he was watching her from.

“Don’t just tease me this time, Blue,” she said with a smile, and the black tendrils slid out from around the bed to wrap over her. His presence clarified once again as he wrapped around her breasts, and she put her hands over the warm black flesh covering her nipples. He was already playing with her, despite her warning, and she spread her legs invitingly as another tendril coiled up her thigh.

He pressed against her sex again, this time parting the lips of her folds, and she could feel his satisfaction as he slid into her. There was a brief needle of pain, which she had expected, and Blue stopped suddenly, his concern coming through clearly. But she just urged him onward, knowing this was just something every woman had to deal with once, and he continued into her ever so slowly. It was an intensely odd feeling at first, then as Blue’s own enjoyment of feeling her around him fed into her, she began to enjoy it too.

Soon enough she began to moan and arch up at the feel of him inside her, stretching and rubbing deliciously as he filled her to perfection. Every stroke sent blazing sparks of pleasure through her, toes curling as his shaft flexed inside her and rubbed against sensitive spots that hadn’t even imagined existed. Nor did he languish in his attentions to her breasts, keeping up a slow rub and pinch that had her gasping in the space between thrusts.

This time he wasn’t as intense about stimulating her, keeping himself to merely plunging into her. But that alone was enough to make her moan, her pussy squeezing around him each time he filled her and stoked the heat within her. She didn’t need anything more than the feel of him driving into her, hot and thick inside her, and the delicious friction of his flesh against hers. Each thrust was controlled, exactly enough force to make it exciting but no more, and the very feel of how much he was holding back made her shiver and want maybe just a little bit more.

She shrieked, half-laughter and half-moan, as he read her desires and picked up the pace, driving her against the bed as he took her. With just him plunging into her and his grip about her breasts, she could feel her peak approaching. Her fingers squeezed tighter around his black flesh, the tendrils sliding between her fingers and squeezing her back as she finally came. The shuddering of her orgasm was matched by his, and she could feel him throbbing within her as hot flooded into her, surprising her and fulfilling desires she hadn’t even realized she possessed. Taelah flopped back onto the bed, sticky and sweaty and glad that Blue had stopped moving because while he felt so good inside her, just the tiny twitches from the aftershocks of her pleasure were almost too much.

“I think,” she said, stroking her fingers along one of the tendrils that had become wrapped around her waist, “we’ll just have to take it slowly. I want more of this, I really do, but I can’t do it all at once.” A sense of agreement and anticipation came back from Blue, and she smiled.

It turned out her honeymoon getaway was extremely well stocked, with hot showers, and additional clothing including a tough work dress and apron that she could tell was actually magical. She didn’t use the clothes all that much though, preferring to wander through the cottage and the fields of flowers in the nude for the most part. One reason for that was because, when else would she be able to do that? Another was that she could tell Blue enjoyed it, but the main reason was because that meant he could take her wherever and whenever the mood struck.

Sometimes he’d catch her reclining in a chair, holding her in place as he drove them both to a messy climax. Once he grabbed her while she was leaning over to pick a flower, and she’d found herself on her hands and knees, lips clamped around one shaft while another other one thoroughly ravaged her pussy. Or there’d be a more languid, gentle lovemaking as she woke in the morning, stretching out to over an hour before he’d bring her over the edge. Only once did something obviously magical happen, at the end of the first day when he’d started glowing blue inside her.

She’d never really thought about what her honeymoon might be like before, and even if she had she probably wouldn’t have come up with something quite so carnal. That didn’t mean she wasn’t enjoying herself though, especially since she was hidden away from all the worries of the world. It was just her and Blue and she liked that. Unfortunately, she knew it couldn’t last.

“I suppose I should be getting back, before you spoil me so much I don’t want to ever leave.” She smiled, patting the bedpost. Despite everything she still found it odd sometimes that Blue didn’t have a physical body outside of sex. Or rather, that everything was his physical body, though it wasn’t the same.

Taelah got a sense of amused, resigned agreement, and she patted the bed again. She showered and dressed, deliberately selecting her new dress to wear before she headed for the front door. Part of her regretted leaving the garden and the cabin, but she could come back whenever she liked, so she straightened her spine as she opened the door that stood outside, not really certain what to expect. But it just led to the cottage, and Shayma was waiting for her.

“Have a good time?” Shayma asked with a knowing smile, and Taelah blushed.

“I did,” she admitted.

“Blue actually has some things he wants to consult you about,” Shayma said. “Plus, it’s time to get your Companion upgrades.” The fox-girl shot her a curious look. “Did you know your Companion rank is higher than Iniri’s, even though you just became one?”

“No…but I am his wife. It makes sense.” Shayma laughed at that.

“I suppose it does.”