A few hours later Kal’s eyes slowly opened. He was still in the same position he had drifted off which seemed odd until he noticed that his arms were being supported by aradelle’s vines, keeping them wrapped around her as he napped.

Aradelle snuggled into his chest as she felt him wake up, “Welcome back sleepyhead.”

Kal smiled down at her, “I could get used to waking up like this.”

The alarune nodded, “Me too, especially you get like this every time you wake up,” she said rubbing her inner thighs against the cloth of his trousers covering his erection.

Kal laughed, “Much as I would like to give you credit for that, it’s a sign I need to take care of some other business,” he said lifting her off him and swinging his legs over the side of her bulb to put his boots back on.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Nature is calling, I’ll be back in a minute,” said Kal giving her a kiss on the cheek and jogging out to the edge of the clearing.

Kal noticed that the temperature was dropping quickly now that the sun had disappeared behind the trees, that was probably what had woken him up. This early in the season it wasn’t unheard of to wake up to frost in the mornings even though the days were nice and warm. He was curious what Aradelle had planned for the night since Ikuno had been insistent that he wouldn’t be needing a bedroll.

Aradelle was giving him a strange look as he came back, “Why on earth did you go out way out there instead of doing that here?” she said waving at the ground in front of her.

Kal blushed, “Well, honestly it would have felt like I was pissing on you.”

Aradelle made a motion like she was rolling her eyes, it was hard to tell without irises’ or pupils. “Being fucked by a man who is lust-crazed comes with all sorts of issues, some worse than others. Since you will be spending the night with me and I’m sure you neither want to get dressed every time or go running about in the cold just use this instead,” an opening appeared on the end of one of her vines that looked just large enough for him to fit his penis in.

Kal raised an eyebrow, “Really?”

Aradelle nodded, “To me, it’s really nothing more than another source of water, and if it makes life easier for you…” the alarune shrugged unconcernedly.

“Sometimes I need to remind myself that you are a plant and see things very differently than I do,” said Kal as he sat on the side of her bulb and kicked his boots off once again.

“Bring them inside,” Aradelle said, “if it frosts you don’t want your clothes covered in it.”

Kal looked at the flower’s basin behind him and gave her a curious look, there had been many times so far the floor of her flower had been covered in nectar from their more intimate activities. Sighing he decided to trust the alarune and grabbed his boots. Aradelle pantomimed taking clothes off so he began to mimic her, folding everything up and laying everything in a neat pile with his vambraces on top.

The almost imperceptible breeze turned biting on his exposed skin as the temperature continued to drop. Within seconds he was holding back the urge to shiver.

“Step on those like last time,” said Aradelle laying her two vines at his feet. They wrapped around his feet and ankles like earlier as Aradelle wrapped her arms around him and molded herself to his body. The strong fibrous vines again lifted him up but only enough to bring him and Aradelle over to the middle of her flower.

The center of her flower opened up beneath them, Aradelle hugged Kal tighter and began breathing quicker as they descended. Kal had put his arms around her for support as she lifted him but now embraced her back in response to her odd behavior. As his head passed through the opening, Kal looked down at Aradelle in surprise as the binding magic formed around them and snapped into place almost immediately.

They stopped in midair as Aradelle gasped and stared up at him, “I can feel you,” she said in awe. She turned her head in the direction of the shack, “Ikuno and Bea too!” Staring off to the south and down into the ground she exclaimed, “That must be Gerda!” Forgetting for a moment that the golem was very far away she pulled a hand away from Kal and waved for a second before her expression turned to one of embarrassment and she hugged him tightly again.

Kal was focusing intently on his bonds with each of the women and had to laugh when a strong almost audible feeling of ‘Welcome!’ came from Ikuno and Bea, but more amusing was that he was certain Gerda had stopped wherever she was and actually waved back at ‘Dell.

Kal turned her head back towards him, “Welcome, Aradelle,” he said before kissing her tenderly.

When Kal pulled back she was grinning from ear to ear with tears in her eyes. Kal had at least learned enough about women to not ask questions in moments like this. Even though he had the experience of finding out he was going to be a father to draw on, he still didn’t completely understand the whole ‘crying because you are happy’ thing women seemed to do so often.

Aradelle lowered them down the rest of the way into her ‘belly’ as she had called it. Kal looked up and watched as her petals and protective leaves closed over the top of them, blocking out the quickly fading light from outside. Drawing a quick rune he summoned a small orb to illuminate his surroundings, just in time to see the opening above him shrinking down to a small hole.

Looking around, Kal watched as the two vines unwrapped from around his feet and retracted into places over where the floor met the bowed sides of the circular chamber. The floor itself had a little bit of give beneath his feet but was also noticeably warm. This answered the question as to why he wouldn’t need a bedroll, but he did wonder how comfortable things would be when it came time to sleep without one. Kal ran his fingers over the smooth greenish-brown inside of the hollow, getting giggles from Aradelle like she was being tickled. If he had to guess he could just about lay on the floor and have his head touch one side while his feet touched the other, were it not for the vines that made up the bottom half of Aradelle’s legs being attached to the middle. Upon closer inspection, there was probably enough room between them in one direction he could lay down.

Seeing where he was looking Aradelle bent down, “This is the mouth I was talking about earlier,” a small slit opened up and Kal summoned the orb over, half expecting to see a tongue and teeth rimming the inside like her vines did out in the clearing instead just seeing a smooth, if slightly bumpy channel that undulated slightly as she ran her finger around the edge.

“No teeth?” he asked.

Aradelle smiled, “As I said earlier I don’t eat like that, the only thing I’ve had in there doesn’t require teeth.” She said putting one finger on her mouth and another just above her sex then tracing lines down her body and each one of her legs until the tips of the fingers met over the slit.

“So, no matter where I come it ends up in your… stomach?”

Aradelle giggled and gave him a quick peck on the lips, “Until you give Eludora a sister it does.”

The alarune suddenly began acting nervous, “Um… Kal? I had something special that I wanted you to do tonight, but if you don’t want to that’s okay! I mean it is kind of a strange request, so I wouldn’t really blame you if you said no, and if things went wrong you might get mad at me…” the alarune was wringing her hands with anxiety.

“‘Dell, settle down,” he said stopping her, “you need to actually ask me before I can say yes or no.”

Aradelle hesitantly reached behind her back and Kal heard the sound of flipping pages again. When she brought her hand forward she was holding a tiny jar.

“This is some of Bea’s dust. Kal,” she took a shuddering breath, “will you feed me tonight? Feed me and completely fill me up?”

Kal took the tiny jar, knowing just how potent it was, there could be enough to last days if doled out in small quantities. He looked from the jar to the slit in the floor, Kal gave her a questioning look, “You want me to…” he said giving the slit a meaningful glance.

“No, no, no, you don’t have to actually put it in there just… ummm… when you come, pull out and do it in that mouth, not this one,” she said pointing to her face.

Holding up the jar he said, “Bea’s dust is to make sure I feed you lots?”

Aradelle gave a breathy “Yes!” She was obviously getting very turned on by the idea.

Kal looked down at his groin where his prick was now standing proudly. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one. The things he did for his women.

Handing the jar back to Aradelle he said, “If that’s what you want then okay, I’m in.”

Aradelle squealed and threw her arms around him kissing Kal all over his face. She leaned back and began undoing the lid from the jar but stopped when Kal put his hands on her hips and pulled her towards him nudging her sex with the head of his cock. She looked up at him with a curious expression but opened her legs obediently. Kal and Aradelle both moaned as he slid into her tight pussy and began slowly working his prick in and out.

“I wanted to feel you without the extra help first,” he said nodding towards the jar. “Whenever you are ready ‘Dell.”

She locked her legs behind his back driving Kal deep inside her and stopping him for a moment. Once she had the lid off she explained, “Bea said the lust effect is less intense but lasts longer if eaten instead of inhaled. Your… production, will take longer to get to it’s maximum but will stay there longer as well.” She held the jar up to his mouth.

“Wait a second,” he pointed upwards, “open up for a moment.”

Pulling the jar away and giving him another curious look, she did as he asked. Kal drew the rune for his telekinesis cantrip and a moment later his bracer with the healing rune floated down and onto his arm before the laces tied themselves.

“Just in case,” he said smiling and opened his mouth for Aradelle.

She grinned in return and tapped a small amount of the dust out onto his tongue before unwrapping her legs from his waist. Once free Kal immediately began to slowly stroke in and out of the alarune’s tight pussy. She had passed the jar off to one of her vines after replacing the lid and now wrapped her arms around Kal’ neck delighting in the feel of his hard cock pushing into her depths over and over.

There was a strange flutter across Kal’s mind that he guessed was the lust effect from the dust but the compatibility enchantment shut it down almost immediately. Soon after he felt the sensitivity of his dick increase and his scrotum start to fill far beyond normal.

“Ready for your first meal?” he asked Aradelle.

The alarune looked up at him and let out a breathy moan as a small climax ran through her, squeezing his prick and forcing Kal to think of runes and numbers and diagrams to stave off his own orgasm. Aradelle slid off him with a groan of disappointment from both of them and got down on her hands and knees with her pussy right over top of the mouth below. Kal positioned himself behind her and pushed home.

With him already being on edge all he had to do was relax and slide in and out of Aradelle’s sex a few more times before pulling out quickly and pointing his dick at the slit below. Cumming into the hole in the floor wasn’t terribly exciting though it did feel extremely good as ropes upon ropes of cum flew out the end of his cock into Aradelle’s lower mouth. More interesting, and even just slightly disturbing was Aradelle’s reaction. She had flopped over onto the floor in front of him, if it weren’t for her eyes occasionally blinking he would think she was unconscious, even stranger was how her outline would occasionally fray, like she couldn’t keep her avatar completely together, and how it would snap back in place with the sound of flipping pages through a book.

The alarune finally came to about a minute after Kal stopped cumming. With a groan, her form solidified, and she pushed herself up so she was sitting back on her knees.

“More please,” she begged shaking her ass at him.

Kal had a doubtful look on his face, “Are you sure ‘Dell? I’ve never seen you act like that.”

Before she could answer Kal got a strong push from Ikuno and Bea ‘Do it!’ Kal focused on ‘Dell and quickly realized if she were doing any better than she felt right now she’d be glowing.

Kal put one hand on her shoulder to keep her in this position and used the other to collect some nectar from her dripping pussy and liberally coat her back door with it, making Aradelle jerk and moan at the touch. Taking his cock in hand he pressed it against the alarune’s tight rear, the plant girl’s moans turning into shrieks of pleasure as the head slowly passed through her sphincter. The tightness of Aradelle’s ass felt amazing to Kal as he continued to inch forward. When he was buried completely inside her the alarune reached back and grabbed his arm.

“Stay,” she said as she began to rhythmically squeeze him. She pulled forward until only the head was still in her bottom then collected some more of her nectar and slathered his shaft with it before pushing back until he was completely sheathed once again. She did this a couple more times until Kal told her his balls were ready again.

“Fuck me Kal, Fuck my ass hard,” she begged him in a voice filled with desire.

Kal did exactly as she asked, taking hold of her hips and driving up into her rear fast and hard. As Kal got close he reached around and vibrated Aradelle’s clit with two fingers. The moment he felt her squeeze down on him as she climaxed he pulled out and began filling her lower mouth again with semen.

Aradelle went to pieces, almost in the literal sense. Where before her form had started to fray, the excess stimulation made her body drift apart to the point Kal could make out all of the tiny interlocking petals that made up her avatar. With a gust of displaced air, her body snapped back together only to start slowly drifting apart again. Kal was reminded of the fact that he was indeed having sex with a plant and its avatar by the display. As Aradelle’s orgasm subsided her body snapped together one last time, but it looked strange to Kal until her form frayed again and she was back to her normal self.

As Kal’s dust-extended climax finally faded Aradelle turned to look at him, “One, or the other. Not both, it’s too much.”

Kal smiled, “What would you like to do until I’m ready again?”

Aradelle smiled back before coating her bottom with nectar again and shaking her ass at him.

“As you wish.”

------

Either they unknowingly used far too much of Bea’s dust or Bea vastly understated its effectiveness and duration, but it was hours later that Kal’s erection started to finally droop.

Kal did end up making use of Aradelle’s lower mouth, not out desire but out of sheer exhaustion. It allowed him to feed her while just lying on the floor, often while getting a drink from the alarune in an attempt to fend off dehydration. All in all, it wasn’t bad, the constant massage and suction was enough to do the trick, multiple times, but didn’t hold a candle to the passionate blowjobs given by Aradelle’s avatar.

Aradelle, on the other hand, was thrilled by the experience, claiming that there was something primal and exciting about having his dick in there even though it didn’t give her the same type of pleasure as being in her pussy or ass. When he asked about her reaction to when he came in her lower mouth she just got a euphoric look on her face and said she couldn’t describe it. Aradelle did end up getting her wish and he managed to completely fill up her ‘stomach’ before the dust wore off, the alarune making a burping noise while covering her mouth before telling him he could pull out.

Bringing his bracers had also been a good idea he used the healing rune multiple times as he continued to get sore, with a flash of the rune he was ready to go again.

When all was said and done for the night Aradelle made him a hammock out of vines and like earlier laid on top of him as he slept.

Kal was startled awake to a wooden knocking coming from up above. Aradelle grumbled in annoyance until she bumped into his morning wood. Positioning her sex over him she sank down on his full length slowly a few times then bounced on it a couple dozen more before letting him up. He had to say it was almost as nice as a good morning blowjob. Kal took advantage of her offer from yesterday and used the opening at the end of the vine to take care of the cause of his daily erection, then had to shoo it away as it tried to do more. Aradelle giggled at Kal as she fetched his clothes from up top since he wouldn’t have enough room to get dressed with the petals closed. Once they were ready she lifted him up while opening up her flower.

Ikuno and Bea stared at him open-mouthed, Aradelle picked Kal up with her vines and set him between them.

“Water, food, and lots of it,” the alarune told them as they continued to stare.

“No, shit,” said Ikuno as she dropped Kal’s pack and tossed him his waterskin. “We left Kal with you and you gave us back a skeleton.”

Kal paused with the waterskin almost at his lips, “What?”

“It looks like she sucked you dry, I’d say you look like a mummy but you don’t know what that is yet.”

Kal chuckled, “She pretty much did.” Kal tipped the waterskin up and the most wonderous, delicious, heaven sent, liquid came pouring across his tongue. He stopped drinking and looked at Ikuno, “What is this? it tastes amazing.”

“It’s water Kal,” said Ikuno, her voice flat

“Good tasting water. Where’d you get it?”

“From my waterfall, we filled them up yesterday when Gerda brought us home.”

“I wonder why it tastes so good?”

“Maybe because you are severely dehydrated?” she said taking his hand and holding up his arm, dehydrated or not something was wrong, his skin seemed… loose.

“I’d offer you some nectar but I think you’ve had enough for awhile,” said Aradelle from behind him. “What you really need right now is lots of water and lots of food, the nectar you drank last night will only last you so long. Your body isn’t made to live off it like Bea’s.”

For the next couple of hours, Kal drank his fill of water and ate most of the rations they had brought for both him and Ikuno. Aradelle hadn’t been kidding about the nectar only lasting so long and the crash from it left him feeling sick until the food had been eating took its place. Eventually, Bea took her leave and flew off to the west after giving a passionate kiss to each of them and reminding Kal that her mating season would be in about a month. Once Kal was looking and feeling better he and Ikuno also said their goodbyes and headed back home.

As Kal and Ikuno made their way back to the road tears of happiness ran down Aradelle’s face. Through her bond, she could sense Kal, Ikuno, and the other two. For the first time, she didn’t feel terribly lonely as they walked away.

------

As the next day dawned Aradelle had yet another visitor. Unlike yesterday’s visits, she was extremely unhappy about this creature sniffing around her flower. Peeking between a tiny crack in her wooden leaves she quickly shuffled through all her ancestors’ memories trying to match something to the strange blue-gray wolf with glowing eyes, teeth, and claws that appeared to have ghostly wisps of light rolling off of them constantly. It’s body shimmered making it hard to look at, like it was always slightly out of focus, and ghostly wisps of light rolled out of its mouth every time it bared its fangs. Aradelle frowned as she finally found a match: A spectral dire wolf or necro-wolf, undead seeker-killers with all the abilities of the dire wolf it was raised from, along with a few nasty surprises as her ancestor had found out. Once set upon a target it would continue until it was destroyed, or it's marked was dead.

The wolf walked away a few paces then turned and sat staring at Aradelle’s pod.

“Come out plant girl, I know you are awake in there,” the wolf said in a gasping disembodied voice that chilled Aradelle to her soul. Her ancestor had no memory of the necro-wolf she encountered being able to talk.

Aradelle’s flower opened and she rose up out of the center, a vine framing her on either side, “I’ve no desire to speak with you, leave here,” she threatened, wicked looking thorns sprouting from the sides of the vines next to her.

“Tell me where the blue one is, and I will happily do so,” said the wolf.

“You’re perfectly capable of finding her yourself you’ve no need for my help. Not that I would give it anyway.”

“The trail’s gone cold, disappeared into the mountainside. She spent time here,” the spectral wolf stared at the place Ikuno had been resting against Aradelle’s side. “Tell me where she is.”

Aradelle smiled at how they accidentally confounded such a skilled hunter using Gerda’s ability to move through rock, “You’re a foolish one. I’m an alarune, I can’t move from this place, yet you think I can tell you how to find her?”

“You stink of her, far more than that of a passing acquaintance. Lover perhaps? You know where she is I can see it in your eyes,” hissed the wolf standing up. “Tell me and I’ll let you live.”

Aradelle glared at the wolf, “I would make the same offer to you if you left and never returned. Sadly, I can’t. First, because you’re already dead and second,” her thorned vines quivered menacingly on either side of her, “because you aren’t leaving here.”

The wolf growled in anger and ran at Aradelle, reaching full speed in just a couple of strides. The spectral wolf jumped at her with its claws outstretched and glowing teeth bared. Beneath it a vine burst from the ground striking the necro-wolf from below, halting its momentum and sending it flying into the air. As it fell Aradelle’s main vines retracted their thorns and twisted into a large ball. With a yelp from the wolf, the ball slammed into the side of the falling canine, sending it bouncing and skidding along the ground.

The spectral wolf jumped to its feet as soon as it came to rest only to be wrapped up by a vine from Aradelle’s second to last row. The vine bent towards Aradelle for a second then sent the wolf sailing through the air towards the edge of the clearing, but not before the wolf managed to twist around and land a bite on the vine holding it. As the wolf went flying black tendrils quickly began spreading downward from the bitten area until the razor-edged thorns from the vine next to it swiftly severed the infected creeper then picked it up and sent it airborne after the wolf.

Aradelle’s aim proved true as the undead wolf impacted the trunk of a tree barely outside her clearing then fell to the ground. Vines from Aradelle’s outer ring quickly wrapped around its neck, body, and all four legs, immobilizing it as its bones snapped and twitched unnaturally back into place from its necromantic healing.

The wolf’s eyes were drawn to the sound of the now decaying vine it had bitten falling to the ground not far away. It snarled and barked at Aradelle, “You bitch! You’ve met my kind before!”

The alarune’s vines carried the necro-wolf out as far as they could reach into the forest and away from her clearing. The wolf howling in fury the entire time as its final revenge was stolen from him.

Back in the middle of the clearing Aradelle calmly said, “Yes, I have.”

The vine around the spectral wolf’s neck coiled upward until its glowing eyes could no longer be seen and its mouth was held tightly shut. The vines holding its legs retreated leaving only the ones around its head and torso. The moment they were free the wolf brought up its back legs and scratched the plant wrapped around its torso with its glowing claws. The black tendrils only had a moment to work before Aradelle squeezed. Unable to feel pain, the necro-wolf raged up until the moment it’s head caved in and it’s body turned to pulp with a sickening crunch. Acidic ochre-colored blood burnt into the vines until they were so damaged they could no longer hold on to the wolf’s remains. A few seconds after falling to the ground the glow of its teeth and claws faded along with the magic that had sustained it.

Aradelle winced as she severed the two vines that had ended the wolf, losing the vines stung but were far better than the feeling of being eaten away by acid. She couldn’t take a chance on the effect from its claws and bite getting into her main body, the result would most certainly be deadly.

Her ancestor had managed to save herself from the decay, but only by severing a large number of her vines. Unlike Aradelle, she hadn’t known about the toxic and acidic blood, a quarter of her ancestor’s clearing had been rendered useless for almost a decade and a few months after the incident she had to cut and separate the roots beneath to prevent herself from being poisoned.

The alarune looked around for any more threats, though she hadn’t felt anything while dealing with the wolf. Aradelle was at a loss, in the twenty years she had known Ikuno nothing along these lines had happened. Now she needed to get a message to the oni and Kal as quickly as possible and had no way to do so. She sunk down into the middle of her flower and sat with her back against the side. Leaning her head back she began to weigh her options.

Before she could get very far a faint feeling materialized in the back of her mind. Three people were coming towards her one from the south, another from the southwest and the last much closer from due west. As she focused on the feelings she could make out Ikuno, Kal and Bea along with a fourth that must have been Gerda moving away from her towards Ikuno. Sighing in relief Aradelle smiled at the prospect that they were already on their way. On, that same note she suddenly realized that she had little to tell them, having killed the only source of information before finding out so much as the name of the person who sent it.

------

The man howled in anger and pain as his tie to the spectral wolf was cut. As the pain faded a maniacal grin split his face, he was getting closer.