Elegy for a Star

“Time to get up,” Gwen said with a light nudge of her foot against Tess’ thigh.

Tess’ eyes opened, slowly at first, until it dawned on her what had happened and where she was. She expected to be covered in cum and have to explain herself to Gwendolyn, but she was clean. Spotless, even.

“I, uh..” Tess started.

Gwen waited a moment, but wasn’t patient enough for Tess to gather her thoughts, “You figure things out alright, last night?”

“Huh?” Tess was still confused as to what had actually happened last night. When did she fall asleep? Had Miri talked to her more after that?

Gwen sighed and explained, “I mean.. With your dick. Did you figure out how to calm it down?”

“Oh,” Tess had to stop herself from bringing up Miri, if only from the excitement that came with remembering their encounter, “Yeah, I think so.” The looked between her legs to see those thick, long inches now lying down against her thigh. 

There was another pause, and Gwen turned about to go to her belongings, muttering, “Good.” She looked as though she were about to say something else, but thought better of it. Tess was curious, but didn’t want to pry.

“So…” Tess started, placing her hands atop her lap for what scrap of modesty she could provide herself.

Gwen went to pack her belongings. It looked like she’d begun doing so a while ago. The sleep sack was all rolled up, the broken longsword was wrapped up and bound against the pack. Judging by the swipe marks going through the fiery ritual circle that Gwen had made last night, she must have gathered up the reagents she’d used. All that was left now was some burnt wood chips.

“So?” Gwen replied, “You need to get dressed. I set some things aside for you.” Gwendolyn gestured to a short stack of clothing beside Tess, “Try them on.”

The clothes that Gwen provided turned out to be a wool coat with a simple, white cotton shirt underneath. Some cotton pants meant that she was going to be freezing below the waist, but she could only expect so much from Gwen’s spare clothing. Her undergarments, at least, looked warmer than most. Britches down to mid thigh and a small shirt with built-in cups. Luckily however, she had a nice, warm pair of leather-and-fur boots.

Tess tried on the clothes, finding the britches and pants to fit well, but the bra and shirt to be a bit small. It should’ve been obvious that this would happen. Gwen had a lovely bust, but it was an average size; not too big, not too small. Tess was a few sizes past average, though. Her chest provided more than a handful. There was no way she was going to fit into it. She handed the cupped shirt back to Gwendolyn.

“I have bandage wraps,” Gwendolyn offered, “We could wrap up your chest for support.” Tess was touched by her concern. The angry and tough facade seemed to slip for a moment, showing a compassionate and sympathetic face.

Tess wouldn’t turn that face down for anything, “That would help. Thanks.”

“Hold this end to the side of your chest,” Gwendolyn explained, holding the spool of medical cloth out in front of her. Tess took the end of it and squeezed it just under the armpit while the silver-haired warrior maneuvered around her, dragging more of the ribbon out to cover Tess’ chest. She overlapped the end and kept it tight, starting just above Tess’ small, dusty pink nipples.

Tess felt a heat burning between her legs, realizing that the britches she was now wearing were starting to bulge outward. She shifted a little in her position while Gwen kept wrapping her up. With the process halfway done, Tess only looked even more stacked than she was, with the way her breasts swelled just slightly at the edge of the tape, above it and below it. Gwen’s work was a bit slower now, and Tess wondered if she might be distracted, or if that was just Tess’ wishful thinking due to the blood rushing from her head.

Once the wrapping had gone just above the bottom of Tess’ ribcage, she felt nice and secure. The tightness of it wasn’t the most comfortable, but at least she wouldn’t need to worry about chafing.

“Really?” Gwen sighed.

Tess looked up and was about to ask, but she noticed Gwen looking down at her ‘gift.’ It strained against the britches, making an obvious bulge. “What can I say,” Tess started with a joke, trying to keep the mood light, “It likes you.”

Tess had never seen someone roll their eyes harder than Gwen did after that line.

“It’s not that bad itself,” The warrior replied, much to Tess’ surprise.

“What?” She was dumbfounded that Gwendolyn would say something kind about her ‘perversion,’ a word that Gwen called it just yesterday.

Gwen shrugged, hefting up her pack, “It’s.. big. You’re well endowed.” Tess looked surprised still, staring at Gwendolyn like she’d just grew a third eye. Gwen added, “And that is all that I meant. Come now, we need to move.”

Tess was speechless all the way out of the cellar, until they climbed to the surface above. The world looked colorless and dim, with a blanket of snow as far as the eye could see as its backdrop. “What happened?” Tess asked, only for Gwendolyn to point to the sky. Tess spotted an inky splotch deep beyond the atmosphere, and the sun beginning to peek out from behind it.

“Thyr is moving out from behind the Black Sun, so it’ll warm up soon. Which is good for us, since neither of us have the gear to survive another eclipse,” Gwen explained, much to Tess’ wonderment. Accompanying the partial eclipse in the sky were massive moons, three in all, that appeared far closer than the eclipse did. Tess remembered these; There were five in all. One of them, a stark white orb, was so close it looked like a cannon could fire its payload upon the moon's surface. Tess could almost remember it’s name, but ultimately it evaded her.

“The name of it.. that moon ahead, what is its name?” She asked.

“Kalyke,” Gwendolyn answered. “There is Elara and that one is Proteus,” the silver haired woman pointed to the rust colored moon and the yellow moon respectively. “Umbriel and Janus are on the far side for now,” she added, “Or behind the other three, possibly. Who knows? The Black Sun changes their paths as it moves.”

Tess stumbled, nearly getting a face full of snow before she redirected her attention to the path ahead. She took a deep breath and trudged on. Marching through snow was never easy, and this was no exception. In no time at all, her thighs burned, her feet ached, and she wondered how Gwen was doing this so easily. Or at least making it look easy.

In an effort to distract herself, Tess spoke, “So where are we headed?” It was probably a question she should have asked earlier, but the hopelessness of her situation made her dependent upon Gwen, so where else was there to go but where the warrior went? Wherever that was.

“Hastenburgh,” was the swordswoman’s reply, “That will leave you with some ability to earn coin and eventually to travel wherever you wish to go from there.”

That left a bad taste in Tess’ mouth. She didn’t want to leave Gwen’s side. Gwen was the only person that saw what happened to her. She needed the silver haired woman to vouch for her when she proves to know nothing about the way things are. She decided to not react aggressively, which would only damage the situation. “What about you?” Tess asked with a soft voice.

“What?”

Tess had to repeat herself over the sound of boots crunching snow. This time she was loud, and not so meek as before.

“Oh,” Gwendolyn replied simply, “I’m going to join the Expeditionary Corps. It is my purpose.” She took a deep breath and turned around to face Tess, “I’m going to fight the Black Sun.”