Akila and Leya: Ch. 02

"I'm nnn-ot uh Pr-pur..pruvurt..." Leya has trouble enunciating, his tongue is slogging through a quagmire of thick mucilage with every word. Peeling itself off the roof of his mouth only to find it stuck to the bottom.

"You should swallow your food before you talk, Leya." Akila gibes and leya swallows hard again.

"Itsh -oo shthick." Leya seems embarrassed. Akila kneels down infront of him.

"Here, let me help you." She leans in close and sticks her tongue in his mouth, salivating into it like a hungry animal. Leyas cock is hard as steel and burning with desire. It twitches frantically, begging for a release that Leya is far too modest to ever ask Akila to provide. She swabs the gummy cum off his cheeks and the roof of his mouth with her tongue, kneading it into a gooey ball and sucking it into her mouth. She pulls her lips from his, her own cum now smeared around them, then spits the ball of goo out into her palm.

She looks down at the glutinous mass melting in her palm and then up at Leya, a devilish glint in her eye.

"W-what are you going to do wi-"

She immediately slaps her hand around Leya's erection, splattering cum and saliva across his lap. She twists her hand around his knob and pumps her fist up and down his shaft relentlessly. Akila's jizz and saliva mixing together and slathering along his cock is an equally intimate as it is perverse sensation, and far more than Leya can possibly handle. He instantaneously erupts in a white hot orgasm. He howls in shock at the pleasure. Streams of jism squeeze out from between Akilas fingers and fly through the air wildly like confetti string. His pupils dilate widely and his mind boils in pleasure. His eyes roll into the back of his head and his legs shake as his howl wanes into a mindless moan.

His body slowly goes limp and begins to fall off the bed. Without even pausing her creamy assault, she wraps her other arm around his waist, catching him before he falls. His torso droops backwards like a tango dancer being dipped by their partner, his arms fall slack and his head tilts back. Cum drools off his face and pools onto the floor. Akila sucks and bites his nipples, shoulders and neck. The only part of him still fully conscious is his agonized cock as Akila continues to mercilessly inflict an unrelenting orgasm upon it. Minutes go by before Leyas roiling orgasm begins to simmer and cool and his cock succumbs to exhaustion and goes as limp and unconscious as Leya himself.

Akila gently lays Leyas body on the floor, his arms and legs twitch erratically and his tongue lolls out of his mouth, groaning and drooling onto the ground. He starts to wet himself, urinating over his stomach and chest.

"Oh Leya..." She says with pity and second hand embarrassment at the sight of him ignobly pissing himself. She kneels down and grabs his hand, lifting it up to her lips she kisses the back of it consolingly.

"What will I do with you, Leya? You're too sensitive for your own good. Too sensitive to the suffering of others and too sensitive to your own pleasure. How tragic." She muses. His arm twitches and his hand leaps out her grasp and falls onto the floor.

"Maybe it's my fault, I go too far with you. But I can't help myself. You submit to me so eagerly, so completely. It feels incredible holding your helpless Caelyrion body in my hands. You corrupt me with your nature." She knows Leya is in no state to understand anything she is saying, let alone remember it.

"You make me want to dominate you so completely! I want to mark you like an animal! I want to fuck you until you cry!" She shouts and then closes her eyes, takes a breath and calms herself down. "...And then I want to cradle you in my arms as you fall asleep between my breasts..."

She picks him up and places him on the bed. Then she grabs a towel from the bathroom and wipes clean both of their faces.

"What am I going to do, Leya? Asair is dying, I will be made empress any day now. What should be his funeral, will be my coronation as empress of Sumanita. And still, you are what occupies my mind." She looks around the room appraising it's worth and smiling.

"This will be my private place where I can come to enjoy you in secret, my illicit Caelyrion flower..." Akila leans in and kisses him on the cheek, she lingers for a long time before pulling away. Leyas eyelids slowly open and his eyes focus on her face.

"...Akila?..." He says weakly.

"I have to go now, Leya. I'll be back soon."

Leya reaches out for her and holds her hand in his frail grip.

"...Don't go..."

Akila takes his hand and places it on his chest.

"Sleep well, Leya.

She stands up and walks away, Leya reaches out for her again but his strength slowly fades and his hand goes limp and eyelids grow heavy, hearing only the door shut behind her as he succumbs to sleep once more.

Back down at the bar Akila approaches Nassir.

"You got yourself a nice little Caelyrion prize there. Enjoy yourself? Have a nice 'conversation', did you?" Nassir teases.

"Very nice." Akila sits down at the bar and sighs in satisfaction. Nassir slides her an ale.

"With the peace treaty signed I've been thinking of partaking in some 'cultural exchange' myself, for the inn. Novelty goes a long way in the brothel business. You sure he wouldn't want to make a little extra money on the side?"

"No." Akila says firmly. "It's not like that Nass, he's not some harlot or a fling I picked up for a fun weekend."

"You're courting a Caelyrion?"

"He's from Sumanita, and so what if I am?" Akila askes accusingly.

"To each there own, I'm not one to judge. Besides, we're all friends now anyways... Other people though..."

"I know. A'peris said the same thing. That's why I need him to be here, out of sight."

"I bet he said it in a lot more words." Nassir adds sarcastically. "What's the point though, Ak? I mean, I'm happy to oblige, sisters for life and all, but why is he worth all this trouble to you?"

"He saved my life, Nass." Nassir leans back in surprise.

"That little thing? He couldn't scare a butterfly."

"That little thing sat next to me for 12 hours straight, breathing life into my lungs when they were paralyzed from a poisoned arrow head."

Nassir chugs back a glass of ale and shakes her head in disbelief.

"He's got some spunk in him then, huh?"

Akila grins wrly. "A little more now." They share a hearty laugh.

"But seriously, it's more than that. He's... special to me. That's why I need somebody I trust to look after him. He's too niave, Nass. I need you to keep him away from trouble." Akila motions at their surroundings with her mug. "And keep trouble away from him. Please."

Nassir drops all snark and sarcasm, her face goes stoney and serious. She slaps her fist against her breast firmly in salute.

"I'll take care of him like he was my own kin. Sisters in arms. Sisters forever. I won't let even a lecherous stare assail him."

"Not even your own? I know that wandering eye of yours isn't the one you lost." Akila jokes.

"You know, I'd say I'm one for the ladies but that lad has a way of confusing my sensibilities."

Akila shakes her head and laughs.

"Yeah, me too."

Nassir pours two shots of sumanitian whiskey and pushes one across the table to Akila.

"Cheers! To Leya!" Nassir says.

"To friends." Akila adds, they both knock back the shot and try to look unbothered.

"You winced! I saw it. Still can't handle your whiskey."

"I winced?! You looked like you just sucked on a lemon wedge!" They chide eachother, trading friendly insults for a while before Akila realizes the time and bids Nassir goodbye.

She heads back to the palace. A'peris is waiting for her in the courtyard when she arrives, looking even more dour and serious than usual.

"Yes, A'peris?"

"It is time, Akila. He doesn't have long left. He is waiting for you in his chambers." Akila's expression becomes alarmed and she wordlessly races off to Emperor Asair's chambers.

She bursts into the room and sees him laying in bed surrounded by healers, priests, friends and servants. All tending to him in their own way.

"Young lady..." He reaches out for her.

Akila clasps his hand in hers and kneels at his bedside, her eyes watering.

"...Old man." She holds his hand close to her heart. "How are you feeling?"

"Old." Asair laughs weakly and Akila smiles at him warmly. He's as close to a father figure as she has had.

"I had some tea the other day and thought of you." Akila says.

"Aaah...what tea?"

"Leya." His eyes grow wide in surprise and then relax again.

"Rare...and sweet."

"And gentle." Akila adds and Asair nods in agreement.

"I understand now, old man. About how when you drink it in it becomes a part of you. It's gentleness, it's delicacy, it's... compassion. You feel the world through its perspective and Its nature changes your own."

"Yeess... and you, it.... Whatever you imbibe, imbibes you also." Asair smiles knowingly. Tears fall down Akilas cheek. She sniffs and wipes her face with her forearm, her demeanor becoming more serious.

"You have to get better Asair, I'm not ready, I've never been ready."

"You've always been ready... Your strength, it's not what you think... it comes from your heart and your head...." He points a shaky finger at her chest and head respectively. "....not your muscles..."

"My strength is on the battlefield! It's left there when I leave and awaits my return. I am weak in this palace."

"No!" Asair blurts like a stern father. "You have left your mark on the battlefield.... and it has left its mark on you... but your sisters in arms do not follow you because you can fight... they follow you because you can lead. Your heart... your loyalty... your intelligence. That is what inspires them.... as it will our people."

"Leave the battlefield behind, Akila... let the weapons rust, the dead rest...." Asair chuckles kindly. "... Leya tea... how poetic." He squeezes her hand and advises;

"Drink more tea..."

Asair turns his head away from Akila, she sees his chest rising and falling slower and more shallow with each passing breath.

"Asair? Asair?!" Akila calls out to him desperately but he is too far to be reached. "Don't leave! I still need you!"

His chest falls one last time and remains still. She feels his hand grow cold in hers and she lowers her head. Tears drip from her cheeks, each one a cherished memory of her friend and mentor, the great poet Emperor, Asair Mumahete. One after another the people around her begin to break into soft sobs. Their tears, like rainfall, drip sparsely at first then slowly swell into a downpour of sorrow.

She rests his hand on his chest and stands up, walking silently out of the room. Leaving the rest of the mourners to their grief.

Outside, A'peris greets her.

"I am sorry for your loss Akila, it is all of our loss, I feel it as well."

Akilas sadness turns bitter and hostile. She thinks of that beggar woman from earlier and wonders; would Asair have taken that coin from her? Of course not. He would have had tea with her. He would have ignored A'peris and his cold pragmatism and offered her warmth instead.

"You know, A'peris, if our most treasured and valuable currency can't be used to help the people who need it the most, within our own walls. How valuable is it, really?"

"It does help them, Akila. It helps them by bolstering a strong economy and political concord with our neighbors and allies."

"Explain that to the starving, elderly beggar who's hands our guards took that coin out of. To think, we'd take- steal! From Sumanitian peasents to avoid the judgment of Cealyrion royalty? And you say this is to avoid weakness!? I don't remember worrying about their judgment when I was killing their sons and daughters on the battlefield, A'peris."

"Times have changed. For the better. There's no more killing. I know it may seem cruel, but the larger implications must ultimately take precedent over the individual plight of Sumanitians."

"That all makes perfect sense, A'peris. You always make perfect sense."

"Thank you, my Empress."

"Tomorrow I want a single Regiis Mynt distributed throughout the poorer districts to every beggars bowl, every person waiting hungry in a soup line, every shivering homeless. The maimed, the sick and the old."

"What?! Akila, that is the opposite of what I advised! Have you not understood a word I have said?"

"Let the Caelyrion dignitaries, nobles and tourists- whos opinions you hold in such high regard- see what we truly value in Sumanita. Our people. We will call it Asair's gift. His fairwell kiss to his people. The sumanitians in the very heart of our empire who suffer the most and benefit the least from our 'pragmatic' and 'noble' decision making."

"That would be a mistake, Akila."

"I disagree. As my first official act as Empress of the Sumanitian empire I'm proud to honor one of the greatest leaders this empire has ever seen by naming this act of generosity after him." She emphasizes 'Empress' to make it clear to A'peris that her decision is final and unimpeachale."

"Of course, my Empress."

A'peris bows and leaves.

Akila wanders melancholic through the halls of the palace, seeing memories of Asair everywhere, until she reaches the throne room. She stares at the Cracked throne. She looks at the fracture that splits down the back of the throne. It traces a line like a bolt of lightning frozen in time in the white carrara marble. She approaches the throne and runs her finger down the crack, an act she is sure almost every leader in Sumanitian history has done at least once.

She hopes they have left some residue of wisdom on it for her to absorb. She sits on the throne, it is cold and hard, and she knows there is none. One previous Emperor has left an imprint on her, at least. Every memory of Asair is a lesson for her to study. Strength to overcome a challenge, or wisdom to navigate the future.

She thinks of the final words he spoke to her and pictures Leyas face in her mind.

"Drink more tea."