{Night 16: Letters}
I gently shushed Kahil as he panted, removing his eye-patch. He whined a little, burying his flushed face in the pillow. I began to hum, rubbing circles onto his back with one hand while the other kneaded his hips.
Once I was positive he was asleep, I left Uriel to watch over him.
When my mom taught me about sex, she warned me to be careful about going long, hard and rough. It was like throwing a glass up in the air. If you didn't want it to break, you had to catch it when it came down. Your partner could get sick from crashing after the high of sex like that, so you had to take care of them afterwards, cuddle and soothe them. This took them down gently from the pleasure, like catching the glass.
I groaned, stretching my arms over my head as I curled backwards. A satisfying pop made me sigh.
"Ooh, who'd you entertain this time? Kahil will be so jealous, he might not talk to you!"
I looked up as I left the house. Zaria hovered there with a wild grin.
"For your information, I just put Kahil to sleep." I replied snootily.
"Ah, I see. Hey, why does your back always make that noise after sex?" she asked, landing gracefully on the ground next to me as I started walking.
"Who knows? Maybe it's how I hold myself, and I get stiff? I think I'm too young for back-problems..." I murmured.
"Hmm, probably!"
"Aren't you the healer? Shouldn't you know?" I huffed as we walked down towards the port.
"I've only seen you in action once, Mal! Can't say for sure!" she laughed, shaking her head.
Making a point of ignoring her, I ambled into the market-place. I was heading for one place in particular, my mom's little stall. She sold spice-scented candles with glittering colorful glass embedded into them to foreigners. They really were pretty, and I tended to burn a few at night since the scent made me drowsy.
Before Zaria and I could reach the place, though, a younger Rot approached me.
"Hey, Mal!"
"S'up, ankle-biter?" I greeted, kneeling down so that he and I were eye-to-eye.
A pair of envelopes was thrust into my face. Blinking, I took them.
"A guy on a ship told me t' give ya those! Said they're real 'portant!" the kid informed me.
"Haaaah... What's this...?" I muttered, looking at the fancy seals on the letters. Sighing, I ruffled his hair. "Thanks, squirt. I hope the sucker paid ya?"
Snickering as he nodded, the kid ran off.
"Ehh, those look high-class..." Zaria commented as I examined the letters again.
"But who th' fuck's sending a Rot such fancy paper?" I huffed, starting to walk again.
Once we'd gotten to Zahara's stall and situated ourselves in the back, I opened them up. All three of us stared.
One was from the High King of the Seven Seas, Sinbad.
The other was from the Second Imperial Kou Prince, Koumei Ren.
Sindria and the Kou Empire wanted to meet me and talk business.