by K. Aten
Olivienne sighed at her mother’s words and collapsed back into the chair. “I’m afraid that’s impossible, maman. She merely has to look away and I miss her. Any distance would be too great.”
Chapter Nineteen
CASTELLAN AND OLIVIENNE were busy for the next two oors after the meeting with the task force. They had to speak with Lt. Savon and Lt. Madlin, then the entire Shield Corp unit as a whole. Tosh wanted to get the team squared away on assignment rotations and training exercises for the weke that she would be in Scola on Instrucia Island. Even though their morning was filled with serious business and preparation, neither woman could help stealing little looks and touches when they thought no one was watching. As a result, there was a building tension between them, a rising emotion that had been turned lose with the admission of their mutual feelings for each other. They made it back to the residence a little past thirteen hundred, after lunching with the team lieutenants.
As soon as the front door of the Connate’s residence shut behind them, they stopped and just stared at one another. Olivienne was the first to break the silence. “Tell me again.”
Castellan knew exactly what she was asking and took a step closer. “I’ve gone and fallen in love with you.”
The Connate smiled. “Again.”
Another step closer, until they were nearly touching. “My Royal Sovereign Connate Olivienne Dracore, I’ve fallen in love with you.”
This time Olivienne’s voice was a whisper. “Again.”
Castellan pressed close and took Olivienne into her arms. “I love you.” Then to prevent more requests, she sealed her love with a kiss.
Their kisses didn’t end in the foyer of Olivienne’s residence. They continued down the hallways and around corners until they came to Tosh’s suite of rooms. Before they could go through the door, Olivienne pulled them to a stop. “Do you have any more meetings or commitments todae?”
The officer gave her a perplexed look. “No, not until the railer leaves in the morn. Why?”
Olivienne gave her a wicked smile. “Because you’re mine for the next eighteen oors.”
That smile turned into something infinitely more tender with Castellan’s response. “I certainly hope you’ll want me longer than that.”
The Connate reached up to caress Tosh’s cheek. “Well, Commander, we’ll just have to see when your time is up now, won’t we?”
“Vixen! You minx, you, you...infuriating tease!” Laughing, Castellan picked up the other woman and swiftly carried her into the suite, not stopping at all until they arrived at her private bedroom. There she gently placed Olivienne in the center of the bed and began removing her own officer’s kit and accessories while the Connate apported her own boots off her feet.
“You know I could just—” Olivienne waved her fingers through the air in the vague direction of the officer’s clothing to indicate the use of her apportation but Tosh just shook her head.
“Not todae, I want to take my time with you.”
Olivienne was curious about Tosh’s motive but she didn’t disagree with her words. “Yeah? Why is that?”
Tosh smiled and finished undressing then crawled up on the bed to kneel over Olivienne, where she lay propped on her elbows. With deliberately slow movements, she unclasped the Connate’s soft white shirt. Tosh spoke while her strong fingers were kept busy with their task. “Because I’ve gone and fallen in love with you and I plan on spending the next eighteen oors showing you exactly how much you mean to me.” When Olivienne’s shirt was spread wide open, Castellan leaned over and deposited a series of kisses along the cleavage that showed at the top of the sovereign’s bosair before reaching around beneath her shirt and removing the strip of material. Even as Olivienne’s respiration increased with her arousal, Castellan moved farther down the bed so she could reach the fasteners of Olivienne’s trousers. Once they were open, she deposited a kiss at the last bit of skin where it disappeared beneath the fabric of the Connate’s unders. Tosh hooked a thumb beneath each side then gazed beseechingly up at her lover.
With a flushed face and parted lips, Olivienne could only stare down the length of her own body at the woman that had taken her life by storm. Nothing in Olivienne’s past could have prepared her for the depth of emotion she felt whilst gazing into those pale blue eyes. “Would you like my help, Commander?”
Rather than answer, Castellan used her tongue to trace along the skin exposed by the open trousers, ever so often nibbling or kissing little bits on her path from left to right. Finally Olivienne could stand it no more and she lifted her hips to aid Castellan’s quest in undressing her. Tosh slid everything off all at once and laughed. She placed her right hand flat against Olivienne’s abdomen. “Are we getting impatient, Connate Dracore?”
Olivienne grabbed that hand with her own and pushed it slowly toward the area she wanted it most. “No, my love. I throb for you and my will is that you will show me this love you promised sooner rather than later.” Both women moaned when Tosh’s fingers met the moist lips of Olivienne’s labia. Her clitoris was already hard and distended and Tosh brought her other hand to play. She held the Connate’s gaze as she gently caressed both sides of the sensitive bundle of nerves with the pad of each thumb. Olivienne whimpered and her eyes rolled back with pleasure but Castellan’s weight had settled over her lower legs, preventing the prone woman from writhing like she wanted to. “Please, Castellan!”
The officer responded to that plea by removing her hands and sliding even lower on the bed. Olivienne parted her legs to let Castellan settle in and shivered when the other woman blew across her throbbing flesh. “Slowly, ’Vienne. Patience is a virtue.”
The Connate shivered when those teasing lips came in to kiss a bit more of her moist flesh. “I’m not feeling very virtuous right now.”
Pale twinkling eyes took in the trembling body below her. Olivienne’s skin was flushed and carried a sheen of sweat. Her breasts were bared with hardened nipples where the shirt had pulled apart to expose them. And her eyes were shut tight as she quivered with every kiss. “I could talk you through it if you like—”
Violet eyes popped open. “No more talking!” And following her sovereign’s orders, Tosh didn’t do any more talking, at least right away.
They made love to each other, with lips whispering words that each had never promised to another. And their eyes made promises that had never once whispered from their lips in all their past dalliances. Olivienne thought of it as a new adventure of sorts, one she had never come across before. And Tosh willingly and pleasurably gave the Connate something rare and precious, her future. Oors of loving left them spent and half-starved so they raided the kitchen pantry and raced back to the bedroom. Then once their commonplace hunger had been assuaged, Olivienne and Castellan made love again.
Sometime near evening meal they finally lay together, basking in the aftermath of their immense passion, reveling in the connection of heart they had found. The room was awash with the smell of sex and light from the suns slanted lazily through the curtain over Tosh’s west facing window. Silence reigned but Castellan’s imminent departure had Olivienne’s mind turning at a rapid pace. The Connate startled her lover when her soft voice cut through the dim room.
“What do you think of this theory that your channel ratings are changing?”
Castellan glanced over to where Olivienne lay pressed against her side. It was nearly eighteen hundred oors and they were sweat-covered and completely done-in at last. In the cool air of her room, Castellan considered the question. “I’m not really sure what to think. We all go through the same tests when our powers emerge and once our ratings are established, it’s been assumed that is the level we’ll be for the rest of our lives.”
Olivienne traced a scar on the shoulder closest to her head. “What was your telekinetic exam like?”
The commander blew out a sigh. “Probably much the same as any of your hard channels. In the beginning they tested me for strength, starting with the heaviest
weights first then working my way down until I found one I could lift. I was fifteen and so amazed that I could move something the size of a moto!”
“Yeah, I’ll admit that my pyrokinesis scared me at first. It is both destructive and beautiful in a way.”
They laughed at the wonders of youth then Tosh continued the explanation of her testing. “Once they established my strength level, then they tested for distance in order to factor the true rating.” She smiled at Olivienne, whose dark hair fanned across the pillow next to her head. “My maman was so surprised when I not only tested for two level six channels, but that I had three more high to middling channels to boot. My soft channels were a little different. They gave me a series of puzzles and tests to gauge if I had the intuition channel and—oh! The first time I heard someone talk in my head it was strange. I was one of the younger ones to experience telepathy, maybe because my mother is so strong.”
“And your academy test for it? I assume it was no big deal for you. I remember my first time, I was not an early bloomer like you. First I felt a pressure, then a little tickle. After that a voice that was unlike my own internal voice started asking me questions.” She picked up the hand that had been tracing her scar and delicately wove their fingers together.
“What about your other channels? How do they test for enhanced awareness?”
Olivienne was blissfully happy and enjoyed just spending time talking with Castellan. There were so many things she wanted to know and she truly regretted that they’d be apart for a weke. “Believe it or not, it was an obstacle course. They made me run through, all the while slinging objects at me. There are some traps, but mostly it is designed to see how aware of your environment you are and test your reflexes. I don’t think the soft channels are as easy to pin down with a rating but the Academy has been using the same system for at least fifty rotos now, so it’s the best we have.”
Tosh shivered as her skin finally dried from their all-dae activity and she used her telekinesis to pull the coverlets up to their shoulders. Olivienne smiled and hugged her closer. Thinking back on the original question, Castellan shrugged. “As for increasing one’s strength...I know that all our channels pull from the same core capacity within us. That is the first thing we’re taught after we get our channel ratings. And the size of our capacity determines how fast we recharge. Perhaps it’s not my channel that is increasing, but my capacity. Or maybe it’s neither of those things but rather that I am recharging faster. I really have no idea and I suppose that is what the tests will tell me when I go up to Scola.”
“I heard that they sometimes have a hard time calculating channel ratings when the Psierian has multiple channels because even if your channel limit was say three thousand punds for your kinetics, you could lift that limit over an over until your capacity ran out. I heard you were lifting and pitching the armicrustes when you were dubbed the Hero of Temple Beach. How many?”
Castellan grimaced at that. “Must you use that horrific moniker?” Olivienne grinned unrepentant and Tosh thought back to the crustacean massacre that turned into a boon for the local food supply. “Hmm, only twice. They were right at the limit of my telekinesis. After that I started pitching rocks until I was forced to swing my sword.”
Olivienne turned those violet eyes up to meet Castellan’s gaze. “You strained yourself then too, right?”
“Barely. Nothing like on Mater. Though I’ll admit that when I lifted myself, along with the woman and child, out of harm’s way, I nearly passed out in the few secs after I set us down. But I soldiered on.”
The Connate caressed Tosh’s jaw and placed a kiss on the spot nearest to her. “My strong brave commander. There is no way you’d let your subordinates see you weak.”
Tosh colored slightly because she knew Olivienne’s words were true. “I have to say though, I’ve never been taken so close to my established limits until the last roto. It seems like every time I turn around I’m flinging large beasties here or there.” She laughed. “Perhaps I’m just building my mental muscles much the way your athletes build their physical ones.”
“My athletes? What exactly does that mean?”
Castellan grinned at her. “You know what that means. After all, you’re the one who preferred to dally with the slow-witted oxen in your past history of tuppin—” She was unable to finish her statement because Olivienne crawled on top of her and pinned her to the bed.
“Let’s make something clear right now, Commander Castellan Tosh. There is only one dim-witted oxen welcome in my bed now and that is you!”
Her eyes grew wide when Castellan abruptly flipped Olivienne onto her back and nestled her hips firmly against the apex of the Connate’s thighs. With a roll of her own hips, Castellan rubbed herself against the woman she had grown to love above all others. Just meens before, she thought them worn out for the evening but Olivienne’s eyes rolled back at the delicious pleasure that radiated from their joined hips. The Connate’s dark lips parted and Tosh leaned down to gently nip at the jawline just to the right of her chin. She continued kissing farther to the side as her hips moved slowly but firmly. When her own lips reached Olivienne’s ear, she whispered to her. “I am no oxen, Connate Dracore. I am a tigre searching for a feast.” Olivienne whimpered and pulled Castellan’s hips into a faster pace. “I know for a fact that you taste divine.”
Those words set off a shudder through the body on the bottom and the quiet whimper turned into a moan. “Please!”
“’Vienne.” The Connate’s eyes fluttered open and her purple gaze met Tosh’s pale blue eyes. “I’m hungry.” With those words Olivienne moved her hands up to the Castellan’s shoulders and began pushing the commander farther down her body.
“I expect a thorough job, Commander.”
Tosh laughed lightly as her lips skimmed the flesh of each breast. “Yes, ser!” It would be another couple oors into evening before they had an actual meal.
WANTING TO GET to know the team of men and women that Castellan had put together, Olivienne used the next weke to speak with each and every one of them. She worked closely with Lt. Savon and his new counterpart, Lt. Madlin. She found both capable, with interesting insights about not only her protection, but her historical adventurist career as well. It was almost as if Castellan’s words alone to the team had elicited a shift in mentality that Olivienne hoped would make her own adventuring significantly easier. She spoke with each member at length about their training and goals, thus sealing their loyalty as they realized she was legitimately interested in them as individuals.
To further bond with her team, she even began drilling with them. If they surprised her with their width and breadth of knowledge, she certainly surprised them with her physical ability that was nearly on par with the men and women in those infamous black uniforms. What the Connate lacked in strength, she more than made up for in her prowess with a pistol. She bragged that she could outshoot anyone in the unit and even gloated a bit as she bested each one in turn. News of the friendly competition got back to the Queen and she showed up with her own custom pistol, putting an end to Olivienne’s bragging. No one was a better shot than Queen Olivara.
Even keeping busy as she was, the weke crawled slowly by. The two lovers got to speak via teleo in the evenings but the channel testing usually left Castellan too exhausted to talk for long. The commander was also ready for the weke to be over. The thing that Gen. Renou didn’t tell her was that after her preliminary tests to establish a new baseline on the first dae, she was run beyond her limit each dae after. The Academy employed multiple doctores with telesana so at the end of each dae she would be healed of her inevitable channel strain. But exhaustion would suck her down into a solid ten oors of sleep each night. It saddened her that most evenings she could barely manage to talk to Olivienne for ten meens. She fell asleep missing Olivienne every single night she was in the Academy city of Scola.
Both Gen. Renou and Gen. Leniste had made the trip up for her sixth dae of tests. They didn’t run nearly
as long and by thirteen hundred oors, Castellan, Gen. Renou, and Gen. Leniste all sat in the office of the Academy’s elected head. Ins. Keeley Greene was the youngest leader the Psierian institution had ever seen. At just over forty rotos, she seemed impossibly young in such a position of high responsibility. It didn’t help that the dark-haired woman was short and androgynous, lending to her youthful air. She held a stack of vellum in her hand and once the rest were seated, she made her way over to their chairs and handed each a page from the pile.
Tosh looked at the results and a single pale eyebrow rose with surprise. “Instrae Greene, surely there must be a mistake.”
The instrae shook her head and took a seat behind the desk. “I assure you, Commander Tosh, there is no mistake. Your new baseline is significantly higher than the original test when you first entered Academy. Not only that, but after pushing you to your limits a number of daes in a row, you’ve succeeded in increasing your baseline again. As such, your telekinesis has actually gone beyond our current scale of measurement. Based on the scaled weights per rating, you, Commander Tosh, are now a level 7.”
Gen. Renou looked up in shock. “How is that possible?”
“There must be a mistake!” Leniste seemed just as dumbfounded.
Keeley Greene shook her head. “There is no mistake. For the last few daes, we had one of our instructors observing Commander Tosh’s sessions. Instrae Kenton is one of the few people with the aetherkinesis channel and he reported findings most strange. Apparently every time Tosh completely drained her reserve, the aether began flowing slightly faster into her. It was as if her absorption rate increased. On top of that, when Commander Tosh was fully charged again, she held more aether in her cells than before.” She shook her head in consternation. “The reason this has never been discovered before is because we train all Psierians to conserve their channels, to moderate how much they use of their reserves. And if the training weren’t enough, there is the real consequence of channel strain to dissuade those that push the boundaries.”