Archive of Our Own

Hrefna had long had a crush on Sondas. Even though some of the other Nords she knew didn't like dark elves and thought they should keep to their own kind, she spent enough time in Sondas' care that she knew he was really nice and pretty handsome as Dunmer went, and she just loved him so much. She loved his voice and his ruby eyes and his cute, knotted beard and the braids in his hair. He taught her a lot of things and never seemed to get mad at her even when she asked too many questions or had the occasional tantrum. She loved it when he hugged her and kissed her hair, but she really wished he would kiss her on the lips like he did Miss Miranja.

Oh, she was so jealous of Miss Miranja. Miss Miranja was so pretty and so nice, and she always had some kind of treat for her whenever she came to visit, but mostly she spent time with Sondas. If she visited in the evening around dinner time, she and Sondas walked along the river and held hands, and sometimes they even hugged and kissed when they thought no one was looking, and the way they looked at each other hurt her feelings. Sondas would never look at her that way, even if she was a grown-up woman, she just knew it. Her breasts were beginning to swell, and she knew from her mother’s limited guidance that her menses would begin soon and she would officially enter womanhood, but she still, grudgingly and just barely, accepted that Sondas would always see her as just a kid.

One day, Miss Miranja showed up in the middle of the afternoon with her friend Talvas, and they had horses! Talvas had a pretty horse that was so dark brown it was almost black, but Miss Miranja’s horse stole the show! It was a skeleton horse with a purple-blue glow, and its mane and tail looked like magic fire. Miss Miranja told her his name was Arvak, and she took her for a little ride after Mama grudgingly agreed to let Hrefna on the creepy, otherworldly horse. Miranja had to stay on the horse or he would disappear, so Talvas lifted Hrefna into the saddle in front of Miss Miranja. Hrefna had ridden in horse-drawn carriages a few times, but she’d never actually ridden on a horse, and she was in love right away.

And Miss Miranja had brought Hrefna so many gifts! There was a journal, a fancy metal quill, a bottle of ink, a watercolor palette, an assortment of paintbrushes, and a bound book of blank paper she could paint pictures on. Miss Miranja said she had been waiting on her parents to send those things from Cyrodiil, and Hrefna thought that made them more exotic, coming from another province as they had. Miranja had written little inscriptions in the front of both the journal and the painting book, telling her that journaling and creating things always helped her feel better when she was down and helped her sort things out and see them more clearly, and that she hoped these things would help Hrefna, too.

Hrefna was overjoyed to have something fun to do, and she begged her mother to let her sit and write in her new journal and paint for the rest of the day instead of helping in the mine. Mama resisted for a little while, but Sondas came out of the mine just then, and he talked Mama into giving Hrefna her way just this once. But before Hrefna could thank him, his eyes had already turned toward Miss Miranja, and the way his eyes shone when he smiled at Miss Miranja gave Hrefna's heart a twist.

Sondas and Miss Miranja greeted each other and Sondas took both of Miranja's hands and kissed them. How romantic! Hrefna could tell just by the way they stood and the way they looked at each other that they wanted to do more than just hold hands. Hrefna tried not to stare, and instead she sat down near the campfire with her new journal and started thinking about what she wanted to write in it. Still, she watched them out of the corner of her eye until Sondas announced that he needed to get back to work and kissed Miss Miranja's hand one more time before going back into the mine.

It was strange; Hrefna's envy vied with some other feeling she couldn't quite identify. Yes, her heart ached, but she also had butterflies in her stomach, and an ache between her legs that didn't actually hurt, but felt kind of good, especially if she squirmed a little in her seat.

Miss Miranja and Talvas sat on the riverbank fishing because they were going to stay for dinner and they wanted to contribute. Also, Miss Miranja said she was trying to catch certain kinds of fish for an Argonian guy in Riften, and she needed to try all different places and even fish in different weather to find the kinds of fish she needed. It was kind of like a test, she said.

Before trying her hand at painting, Hrefna wanted to write her first entry in her new journal. She lay on her belly in her tent with the book, ink, and quill, feeling a sense of contentment as she listened to the sounds of nature, and the fire, and Miranja and Talvas talking companionably.

Miss Miranja is visiting Darkwater Crossing today. She brout her frend Talvas and a beutiful horse she let me ride with her. She gave me this jurnel, and stuff to paint pictures with. I heard her tell Ma once that she’s okward with kids, but I think she’s great. She’s nice and pretty and she can even sing good and play music. She taugt me how to play a song on the flute she gave me last year. I always thout thanes were boring and stuffy but Miranja is fun. I’m just jellous that Sondas seems in love with her. I love Sondas and I want to merry him some day, but I’m afraid he mite merry Miss Miranja first. She gets to kiss him and hug him and hold his hand.

But she was having trouble concentrating on what she wanted to write, because even as far away as they were, she could hear a little of what Miss Miranja and Talvas were talking about. She heard Sondas’ name, so her ears perked up and she strained to hear them over the sounds of the wind, the campfire, the river, and the dragon roaring in the distance to the north.

"Do you think Sondas would go for that?" Talvas was asking.

"No, Talvas, I really think Sondas … old-fashioned one-on-one lovemaking. I agree … fantastic, but … strait-laced. Of course, I've never … asked him if he'd ever … group sex. But I guess it doesn't hurt to ask. Would you mind if I … alone with him tonight, though? I'll make it up to you."

Hrefna knew the word sex, and even knew a little about it. She knew it was how people made babies, and that it was supposed to be reserved for married people, but she didn't know much more than that. Her mother seemed embarrassed just to tell her what she had, but Hrefna was getting near the age when her menses would start, and Ma felt she should know before she was old enough to make babies herself. But what did Miss Miranja mean by group sex? Was that even allowed? Did that mean that Miss Miranja wanted to make babies with both Talvas and Sondas? She was confused, but she didn't dare ask anyone about it.

“You sure I couldn't … invisibility potions … nearby and watch? I do love … you being pleasured by someone else … I'm not involved.”

“I suppose I couldn't stop you … really wanted to,” Miss Miranja replied, shoving against him with her shoulder playfully. “Do you want to … good hiding place before dinner? I can tell you exactly where Sondas and I … go. I'm thinking a nice midnight moonlight swim … love on the bank past the bridge … little falls.” She turned her head and looked toward the trees along this side of the river, and she must have felt Hrefna watching her because she turned her head even more and met her eyes and smiled.

Hrefna's face got hot and she bent her head toward her journal. The ink on her quill had dried while she had been busy eavesdropping. She peeked back at Miss Miranja to see if she had gotten up to come give her a talking to, but she and Talvas were just packing up their fishing supplies and getting ready to clean the fish. They stopped talking while they worked, but Miss Miranja was humming a pretty tune to herself that Hrefna had never heard before.

I just heard her tell her frend Talvas something about sex and she said Sondases name. I know sex makes babies, but I heard Talvas say something about plezure. Does that mean sex feels good? Also, I think she’s already been trying to make a baby with Talvas because of the way they were talking, and there not merried. But Miss Miranja said she wanted to be alone with Sondas tonigt and Talvas said he wanted to sneak and watch them. I’m so curius to know what they do together when they are alone. I’ve seen them go into the mine before after evryone was done working for the day. I want to try to stay up and sneak and watch them myself. One time I went to Windhelm with Mama and Anneke for supplies, and Mama let me explore while they talked to the merchants. I heard some older girls talking in a little corner by some kind of muzeum. One girl said a man has something like a sossage between his legs that goes in between a woman’s legs to plant a seed inside her. She said she saw it when she left her room to get more water and her parents were getting ready to make a baby in front of the fireplace. But she said it was a people seed, not a plant seed. Don’t tell anyone I said this but I want to see Sondases sossage and see where he puts it if he wants to plant a seed inside Miss Miranja. I don’t know egzakly how they get sossages or seeds inside a person, but Ma says when a seed takes root inside a woman’s belly it gets really big. She showed me the strech marks she got when her belly got big with me inside it. I want to hug and kiss with Sondas but I woudn’t want him to plant a seed in me cuz that woud make my belly big and I don’t know how the baby woud come out but I think it woud hurt really bad. Having a baby must be scary. But it sounds like doing the thing that makes a baby is fun and feels good, so I hope I can stay awake tonight and find out.

Miss Miranja had stopped humming, and it sounded like her footsteps were coming closer to Hrefna’s tent. Hrefna quickly closed her journal, put the stopper in her ink bottle, and got up to get water from the water barrel to clean her quill.

“Hey, Hrefna,” Miss Miranja called. She was carrying a bucket full of cleaned fish.

Hrefna stopped and turned to look at her. “Yes’m?”

“We caught some carp and brook bass that we can have for supper. You’re not tired of fish, are you?”

“No, ma’am,” Hrefna said politely.

“Well, we have plenty, but if you want a little break from fish, Talvas shot a deer earlier and we have some venison that we plan to cook tonight, too. Do you have some fat or butter we can use when we bake the fish?”

“I think Verner and Anneke have butter inside the house. Do you want it right now?”

“Yes, please. The miners are starting to come out and the sun will be going down soon. Seems like a good time to get dinner started, while everyone’s getting washed up.”

Sondas came out of the mine as Hrefna started toward the house, and she cast glances over her shoulder as she walked, not sure if she was hoping to see them do something romantic or hoping they would stay away from each other. Her feelings were so conflicted. She couldn’t have put it into the right words, but she wanted to live vicariously through Miranja by watching her and Sondas loving on each other, and at the same time, she didn’t want Sondas to keep falling more in love with Miranja because she wanted his love to herself. She didn’t quite know how to deal with the grown-up feelings she was starting to have.

She was both relieved and disappointed when she came back out with the butter and saw that Sondas was sitting on one side of the campfire talking to Derkeethus and Miranja sat on the other side with Talvas, turning the cut-up chunks of venison on the spit while she waited for the fish to bake in the pot she’d covered with hot coals. Mama and Anneke were preparing vegetables to go with the meat, and when everyone was done washing they passed a bottle of wine around and filled their tankards. Everyone seemed a little more high-spirited than usual because they had company. Even the guards were lingering near the campfire more than they were doing their patrols.

Hrefna got to squeeze in between Derkeethus and Sondas during dinner, and her leg was touching Sondas’, which gave Hrefna that mysterious and delightful ache between her legs again. She had the overpowering urge to beg to sit in his lap and rub herself on his leg, but she didn’t dare.

Sondas looked askance at her. “You’re awfully fidgety tonight, Hrefna. Are you that excited to have company?”

Hrefna pounced on that excuse for her squirming, telling Sondas while she picked at her dinner about how much she loved the gifts Miss Miranja had brought, and that she’d already written a little in her new journal and painted one picture in the art book while dinner had been cooking. “It’s a Dunmer prince and a Nord princess,” she told him, wondering if he would get the point. “They’re in love and holding hands. I can show you after dinner.”

Sondas smiled kindly. “I would enjoy seeing your creativity,” he told her sincerely. He patted her leg briefly and went back to eating. She wished he would keep his big, warm hand on her leg, but then again, there were a lot of people around, and people might think Sondas was a pervert even if Hrefna wanted him to touch her. There were things you didn’t do in public even with other adults, to say nothing of children. And Sondas wasn’t a pervert, anyway. She was glad because she knew he would never hurt her or do anything questionable to her, but she was also disappointed because she just really wanted to kiss him. She was busy thinking of ways to make Sondas see her as more grown-up when he set his empty plate on the ground next to the bench and addressed her.

“All right, little flower, if you’re finished playing with your dinner, let’s see this painting you’ve made.”

That was another thing Hrefna loved about Sondas: he called her pretty nicknames. Sometimes little flower, sometimes honeybee or butterfly, sometimes princess, sometimes sunshine. It made her feel special. Bursting with excitement, she fetched her art book and showed Sondas her painting. The other men had moved off toward the house to sit on the edge of the porch and talk and drink and relax, and the women were busy cleaning up after dinner, so it was just her and Sondas sitting on the bench now. Even so, she pressed close to him, using her picture as an excuse.

Sondas looked at it for a long moment, nodding and smiling a small, almost sad smile. By the hair and the clothing, it was pretty obvious that she had painted herself and Sondas. Finally, he said, “You show promise as an artist. Keep at it and maybe you’ll be famous one day.”

“Do you know who it is?” she asked him, quietly and more subdued. She waited nervously for his answer as he considered how to reply, and by the time he spoke she realized she was holding her breath, and she sucked in a big lungful of air.

“It’s obviously a lovely young Nord princess with her dream man,” Sondas said gently. “She’s a free-spirited, loving young woman who has the ability to look past people’s appearances and judge them by their hearts and deeds. She’s smart and intuitive and capable of making her own educated decisions about things. I’m sure she’d be a wonderful catch for that remarkably handsome Dunmer prince there, if she was a little older or he was a little younger. Something tells me it’s just a passing fancy and she’ll find a prince more her own age before too long.”

Hrefna’s tender young heart broke a little more, and she frowned at the ground with tears in her eyes. “Yeah, and the prince is probably going to marry some beautiful queen with dark hair and green eyes who’s even more amazing than the stupid little ugly princess.”

Speaking of the beautiful green-eyed queen, Miss Miranja had finished helping with the cleaning up and had retrieved from the house the lute she had left here for when she was able to have a leisurely visit and spend some time entertaining everyone. She was beginning to tune it, and Hrefna knew that soon everyone, including Sondas, would be focusing on Miranja.

Sondas lifted Hrefna’s chin to make her look at him but she kept her eyes to the side, frowning. “Listen, dearheart,” he began gently, quietly. “That prince thinks the princess is a fantastic person who will be an amazing woman someday – maybe even as amazing as that queen you mentioned. He’s very flattered that she thinks so highly of him. But the prince is too old to be able to romance such a young girl. He’d probably be ridden out of town on a rail just for thinking about it, because such a thing is frowned upon, and for good reason. There are things that grown-ups do with each other that would harm a juvenile. Do you understand, little princess?”

“You mean sex, don’t you?” Hrefna asked even more quietly, her voice almost a whisper.

“I do,” Sondas confirmed. “It’s part of a normal, healthy, grownup relationship. But I don’t want to overstep my bounds and tell you more than your mother thinks you should know. It’s not my place. But you’ll understand when you’re older, when you start having those kinds of feelings.”

“I’m already having those kinds of feelings, Sondas, and I don’t know what to do about them.”

“Have you ever thought about talking to Miranja? I think you need to hear these things from another female. Miranja is much less reserved than your mother, and she could probably explain things better than your mother. Don’t tell your mother I said that, okay?” He smiled conspiratorially at her, and she finally looked up into his gentle, understanding face and smiled back halfheartedly.

“I kind of don’t want to talk to Miss Miranja because I… I’m secretly jealous of her,” Hrefna confessed, cheeks burning. “She’s so perfect, and she gets to hold hands with you and hug you and kiss you.”

“Maybe she could give you some tips on how to wear makeup or do your hair or what clothes to wear if you want to attract a boy’s attention. I keep telling your mother she should move to the city or at least send you to stay with a trusted friend or family member in the city, so you’re not so isolated and you can be around other kids your age. I know it must be hard for you to be the only child here.”

Miss Miranja had begun to play ‘Tale of the Tongues,’ the song she'd been humming earlier, and Sondas glanced over at her with that look of admiration that Hrefna wished he would bestow upon her. Miranja met his gaze and smiled as she kept singing. But Sondas was sensitive to Hrefna’s feelings, and turned back to her to finish their conversation. “How about if I talk to Miranja, and ask her to talk to your mother and see if your mother would be willing to let her give you the talk? Who knows? It might even help you be less jealous of her if you spend some one-on-one time with her.”

“I guess that would be okay,” Hrefna allowed with a sigh of resignation.

Sondas pulled her in for a solid, comforting hug, and Hrefna reveled in it, breathing in the rocky, metallic scent of his clothes. He kissed her hair for a brief, tender moment, and that moment of feeling Sondas’ love salved her heart.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Sondas smiled, releasing her and stroking her hair back from her face, “you’re my favorite girl.”

“I guess I can deal with that,” Hrefna replied with a little smile, feeling somewhat more cheerful.

^O^O^O^O^O^

Mama had gone to sleep almost as soon as her head had hit the pillow, but Hrefna had so much on her mind she couldn’t sleep. She was keeping her ears perked for any sound of someone crawling out of their tent, but so far all she’d heard were the crackle of the low campfire and the occasional hushed conversations of the guards when they passed each other. Miranja and Talvas had pitched their tent in the little nook between the rocks to the southwest of the miners’ camp, so she probably wouldn’t hear them if they got up, but Sondas’ tent was right next to hers and Mama’s.

Just when she had gotten too sleepy and she had started to do that touch-and-go thing where she would catch herself dozing every few moments and snap herself awake, she thought she heard the soft brush of clothing against the tent canvas and the sound of the tent flap falling back into place. A thrill ran through her body, waking her completely once again. She waited a few moments before daring to sit up and moving to peek out the front tent flap, and she just barely saw Sondas’ back as he disappeared into the trees to the west of camp.

After determining that there were no guards looking her way, she quietly slipped out and hurried to the shadows down by the riverbank to look for Miss Miranja. She couldn’t see anything, but she was too afraid to go into the woods where Sondas had gone; it was too close to the patrolling guards, and Sondas might see or hear her, too. She tiptoed through the soft, muddy earth along the riverbank, holding her breath as she passed Miss Miranja’s tent and quickening her steps until she could move back away from the riverbank into the trees. Once in the trees, however, she had to tread very slowly and carefully to make sure she didn’t snap any twigs. She thought she’d never find Sondas and Miss Miranja, but as it happened, they had met each other at the end of the bridge and were still standing there, holding each other and talking. She crouched low behind the closest tree and strained her ears to listen.

“… over Skyrim and even visited Solstheim,” Miss Miranja was saying, “and I’ve met many men and women alike who are eager to marry me. It’s almost embarrassing; I’m not sure whether they want me because I’m the famous Dragonborn or if they really appreciate who I am. Suffice it to say you’re one of the top contenders, sweetheart, but if I’m being honest, I would prefer to marry someone I can take adventuring with me. I’d want to spend every possible moment with my love, and I wouldn’t want to have a lonely spouse waiting for me at home for weeks at a time. It wouldn’t be fair.”

Oh, no! They were talking about marriage! Just as she had suspected. Hrefna’s heart started pounding as she held her breath in anticipation of the outcome of this conversation.

“My beauty,” Sondas replied, stroking Miss Miranja’s cheek ever so tenderly, “I’ve spent so long unattached that I don’t think it would be that much different.”

Hrefna’s heart sank a little at that.

“Then again, knowing that I had a lovely wife out there risking her life, and having to wait long periods just to see her for maybe a day or two, might actually be worse than not having anyone at all. I’m not sure I could stand the yearning. Even now, knowing you’re not mine alone, my heart aches waiting for your visits.”

“Oh, Sondas,” Miss Miranja breathed, stroking his face in return. “It’s so hard to choose one person when I love so many for different reasons. I wish I could be with you all. Forgive me; I don’t mean to string you along.”

“I'm a big boy. Whatever you decide, I’ll respect your decision,” Sondas told her. “I hope that we can at least remain friends when all is said and done.”

“Count on it, my sweet. Now that I’ve come to know you, there would be a great void in my life if you weren’t there to fill it. You’re a treasure to me.”

“And you to me,” Sondas smiled. “By the way, your playing tonight was delightful.”

“Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it.” They kissed a long kiss, and Hrefna saw Sondas' hands slide down to squeeze Miranja's bum. Hrefna felt that ache between her legs again.

“There’s something I need to tell you, though,” Sondas said, pulling away and taking Miss Miranja’s hand to go sit on the wall of the bridge together. Once they were comfortably situated, Sondas continued.

“I’ve suspected for a while now, but I just got confirmation this evening: our Hrefna has a terrible crush on me, and while she loves you to bits, she’s rather jealous of you because of our romantic involvement.”

“Confirmation? What do you mean?”

“She used the art book you gave her to paint a picture of her and me together, like a prince and princess. We had a little talk, and I explained to her about grown-up love, but I know Tormir hasn’t given her all the details because she’s uncomfortable. I thought perhaps you could talk to Tormir and see if she’d allow you to give Hrefna the rest of ‘the talk.’”

Hrefna was a little indignant that Sondas had told Miss Miranja about her crush. Somehow, she hadn’t expected it to be a jumping-off point for him to ask Miss Miranja about the sex talk.

“I don’t know, Sondas,” Miss Miranja squirmed. “I mean, I can remember my own first crush and my curiosity about sex, but I don’t think I’d feel right talking to someone else’s child about it. If Tormir is that reserved when it comes to sex, I wouldn’t want her to get upset with me if I told Hrefna what a wonderful blessing it is and how it’s one of the best ways to show someone you love them by sharing pleasure with them. My views on sex don’t seem to align with a lot of people’s views. My views on pleasure and the enjoyment of life in general don’t align with a lot of people’s views. At least, not in Skyrim. They’re so serious here, although maybe not quite as serious as the Dunmer.” She smiled apologetically at Sondas. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Sondas said amiably. “I’m a Dunmer who’s spent my entire life in Skyrim, so either way I’m probably too serious.”

“Not so much when you’re with me,” Miranja smiled coyly.

“I guess you bring out the young man in me,” Sondas grinned back, pulling her in for another long, sweet kiss. This time his hands went to her breasts.

Miranja was flushed and panting when she pulled away. “Oh, Sondas, you know just the right amount of pushiness to light a fire in my belly.”

“If you’re on fire, then how about that swim? I’d love to see you get wet – in more ways than one.”

Miss Miranja gave Sondas a playful shove, and led Sondas further down the river to the north of the bridge, where the short falls were. Hrefna followed at a careful distance, glancing around for guards or, possibly, Talvas, although if Talvas had used an invisibility potion, she wasn’t quite sure if she would see him at all. When they stopped at the place where Miss Miranja had already spread a fur for Sondas and herself to lie on, at a little grassy area close to the water, Hrefna found a reasonably comfortable place at the top of the sloping riverbank and lay flat on her belly, peering through the scrub grass at the scene below.

Sondas and Miss Miranja stripped completely nude and waded into the chilly water. The river was shallow here. Hrefna was a little frustrated because from her vantage point at the top of the bank, Sondas’ back was toward her and she couldn’t see his front. But she knew that if she was patient and waited until they came out of the water, he would be facing her then. Miss Miranja, however, went into the water first and then turned to coax Sondas in with her, and Hrefna saw her ample breasts and rosy nipples and the thatch of dark hair where her thighs met. To Hrefna’s eyes, she looked like a statue of the Divine Dibella that a merchant had had for sale when he passed through Darkwater Crossing last Sun’s Height. Mama had been scandalized by that. Hrefna had bathed with her mother plenty of times, and of course, she’d seen the statue, and she knew what a grown woman’s body looked like. But unlike Mama, Miss Miranja had never given birth to a child and her body was still smooth and unmarked – except for the scar down her left cheek, which did nothing to detract from her beauty, especially since she covered it with green face paint that matched her eyes. Hrefna couldn’t wait to be grown and to have such lovely curves.

“It’s cold.” Sondas’ voice carried back over his shoulder toward Hrefna.

“Then hurry up and get out here and let’s warm each other up,” Miss Miranja smiled, but even from here, Hrefna could tell that she was shivering a bit. “The sooner you adjust to it, the better.”

Sondas waded further out until, like Miss Miranja, he was up to his thighs in the rushing water, reaching out to cup Miss Miranja’s breasts in his hands. The butterflies swarmed up in Hrefna’s belly at this. Oh, how she wished to have breasts like that, and to have Sondas touch them and caress them as he was doing to Miss Miranja.

They stood kissing and touching for a few moments, then suddenly, Miss Miranja grabbed Sondas by his arms and let herself fall backward into the water, pulling Sondas with her. They both hit the water with a shriek, submerged for a moment, then came back up sputtering, shivering, and laughing.

“Now we’re properly wet,” Miss Miranja declared, crossing her arms over her chest and rubbing her goosefleshy arms.

“And now you’re going to have to coax my willie back out to play,” Sondas chastised in mock anger. His tone changed, however, when he said, “But I see that your lovely rosebuds are reaching out to me already…” He bent over to put his face at eye level with Miss Miranja’s breasts and suckled each of her nipples in turn as Miss Miranja closed her eyes and sighed in pleasure, holding his head in both hands with her fingers buried in his wet hair.

Hrefna had to stifle a gasp at that. The ache between her legs had become stronger than ever, and she put her hand down there to try to rub it away as she would a sore muscle or a bug bite. But touching herself there just made the ache stronger and sweeter.

“Okay, I’m sorry, I guess the swim was not such a good idea. But at least your mouth is still warm,” Miss Miranja said in a low, husky voice, coaxing him to stand up and reaching down between them to touch the mysterious unseen part between Sondas’ legs.

“And your hands are not,” Sondas protested, flinching his hips away from her.

“But I bet my mouth is still as warm as yours…” Miss Miranja smiled naughtily and dropped to her knees in the water, her face now hidden behind Sondas. Hrefna couldn’t see what was happening, but she was able to add two and two when Sondas moaned and held Miss Miranja’s head as she had done to him a moment ago. When Miss Miranja’s head started moving fore and aft, Hrefna’s eyes widened, and she stared so long and hard that the breeze dried her eyes out and she had to blink a few times to moisten them again. She closed her gaping mouth and squinted to try to see better.

Miss Miranja’s hands came up and grabbed Sondas' thighs just under his butt cheeks, and she started moving her head faster. Hrefna could hear sucking noises now, and Sondas breathing harder and faster, and then suddenly he was pushing Miss Miranja back – gently, of course – and it looked like he was holding himself as if he had to pee.

“That was close,” he panted. “Let’s go lie down and finish up there.”

“Sure thing, love,” Miss Miranja smiled, and Sondas took her hand and helped her stand.

They walked back to shore with their arms around each other, and Hrefna saw it plain as day in the bright light of the double moons. It was as long as her foot and as big around as the handle of a pickaxe, standing out before him like a dagger would stick out in his hand. She had occasionally seen Sondas without his shirt when he got hot and sweaty from working, and she had admired his shining muscles, but she’d never seen anything below his waist except his feet. She always had to go into Verner and Anneke's house while the men bathed in the river. Once again, Hrefna stared with her mouth agape, wondering if he was really going to put something that big into Miss Miranja – and how.

“How about we warm you up a bit down there?” Sondas said suggestively with a naughty smile.

“I’ll never say no to your delicious oral attentions,” Miss Miranja replied, her smile a mirror of his.

“I’ll never say no to your delicious flower,” Sondas replied, and Hrefna was confused for a moment. When Miss Miranja lay down on the fur and Sondas lay down below her and put his face between Miss Miranja’s legs, she understood – sort of. She wasn’t sure why Sondas would call that part of a woman a flower, but she had never really seen it herself. It was hard to look at your own crotch, and she certainly hadn’t looked at anyone else’s before! But it was plain that Sondas was doing to Miss Miranja more-or-less what she had done to him, and Miss Miranja was definitely enjoying it.

Hrefna was still rubbing herself, and it felt so, so good. She wondered why she’d never done it before, but the occasional twinges she’d felt before hadn’t been strong enough or lasted long enough to warrant rubbing at it. Now, though…

When her secret place suddenly exploded with the most powerful pleasure she’d ever felt, Hrefna had to bite her fist and hold her breath to keep from crying out. Great Divines! Or, as Miss Miranja would probably say, holy hagravens! She could hardly see for a few moments because her eyes went out of focus and it seemed she was seeing stars. Now she understood why grownups liked sex, but she still didn’t understand why Ma didn’t want her to know about it, or why that amazing feeling had to be reserved for grownups. She would give anything to feel that every single day! She wanted to write in her journal about it, but that would have to wait until tomorrow. Right now she wanted to watch whatever else her handsome prince Sondas did with the beautiful queen Miranja.

It was only a matter of moments before Miss Miranja cried out, bucking her hips. Sondas moved with her, keeping his face in place. Unlike Hrefna, Miss Miranja was not concerned about anyone hearing her; she assumed that she and Sondas were completely alone and far enough from camp that the sounds of nature and the campfire would be the only things the residents at the mine would hear, even if they were awake to hear it.

“Oh, Sondas,” Miss Miranja panted as she returned to her self. “You’re so damned good at that. Thank you for that fantastic treat.”

“I could say the same to you,” Sondas told her as he moved up to rest on his elbows on top of her and kiss her sensuously. “But you know me; I have to make sure you’re satisfied first, and then maybe please you again a time or three.” He smiled at her for a moment, then kissed her mouth again before moving on to nibble her earlobe and kiss her neck.

Hrefna was overcome with longing. How badly she wanted to be kissed and touched like that. If it felt so good to bring herself to that explosion of pleasure, how much better might it feel if someone she loved and desired did it for her? She really needed to hurry up and grow up so she could partake in such activity – if not with Sondas, then with some other handsome young man. But first she would have to actually meet said handsome young man. It was so rare for her to go to the city, and when she did, she was too shy to let any of the boys catch her even looking in their direction. Being the only child at Darkwater Crossing was lonely sometimes. Being around only grownups had made her less able to relate to other children, and in some ways she was already more mature than her city counterparts. She knew the older girls in the city thought about and talked about sex from what she’d overheard in Windhelm, but she wondered if girls her own age ever thought about it.

Sondas’ voice pulled her back from her thoughts. “I’m going to go mad if I wait any longer,” he told Miss Miranja.

“By all means, go ahead, then,” Miss Miranja replied, a touch of amusement in her voice. “I’m certainly not stopping you, so don’t torture yourself. I’ve been waiting all night to have you inside me.”

This was the moment Hrefna had been waiting for. Everything else up to now was bonus information, but what she really wanted to know was how Sondas was going to get that sausage thing inside of Miss Miranja. To her disappointment, she couldn’t actually see it happening. Sondas reached down between them for a moment, then pulled his hand away as he pushed forward with his hips between Miss Miranja’s legs, and they both moaned and sighed with pleasure as they began moving together. Miss Miranja pulled Sondas down against her so she could kiss him and bite his neck and wrap her arms around him, and all Hrefna could really see was Sondas’ backside working. She found it arousing just seeing the fluid, sinuous motion of their coupling and hearing their moans, groans, and whimpers. She could make out some of what they murmured to each other, things like how good the other person felt, and sometimes naughty things like the F word. She thought she heard Miss Miranja say the word “cock,” and she wondered why she would be talking about a chicken at a time like this.

They moved a little faster and a little faster still, until Hrefna could hear the sound of their skin slapping together. Their movements became less fluid and more jerky, and their breathing became harsh and irregular. Suddenly, Sondas groaned, “Gods, Miranja, here it comes, come with me…”

“Oh, yes,” Miss Miranja answered, gasping and panting, “fill me up, Sondas. Give it all to me.” She wrapped her legs around Sondas’ legs and pulled his butt toward her with clutching hands. Sondas groaned and pushed his hips against Miss Miranja’s, holding himself there for a moment before pulling back and repeating the movement. Miss Miranja groaned, too, keeping hold of Sondas’ backside and pushing her hips back against him. She cried out Sondas’ name, and she almost sounded like she was either crying or about to cry. She told him she loved him, and Sondas told her that he loved her, too. Once again, Hrefna felt that twinge of jealousy; she knew that Sondas loved her, too, but not the same way he loved Miss Miranja.

They lay still for a little while, kissing, murmuring, stroking each other’s hair, then Sondas moved to lie next to Miss Miranja. Hrefna could see Sondas’ “sausage” when he lay on his back, but it was suddenly much smaller and no longer standing out from his body. Why did it change? And had he somehow put a seed into Miss Miranja when she said “fill me up?” More questions to add to the list – but could she ask Miss Miranja? Would Miss Miranja know that she had spied on them if she asked about it, and would she be angry if she knew?

Miss Miranja had turned on her side and put her leg over Sondas’ leg, and Sondas had put his arm around Miss Miranja and pulled her close, playing with her hair.

“I surely wish you would accept my proposal. I could certainly use a lot more of your loving,” Sondas said.

“Sondas, sweetheart, the temptation is great, and I have no doubt you’d be a wonderful husband and even a good father someday, but I’m still not ready to settle down.”

This conversation again. Hrefna decided she had spied long enough, and she was starting to feel pretty tired, so she quietly got up on her hands and knees and backed away from her hiding place, not standing up until she couldn’t see Sondas and Miss Miranja. She started to walk carefully and quietly back toward camp, and when she glanced back to make sure she was still out of the line of sight, she thought she saw a strange ripple in the air about halfway down the hill to the river. It could have been a trick of the aurora or just her being tired and maybe hallucinating, but what if it was Talvas? Her blood ran cold at the idea that she might have been discovered, but the shimmery patch stayed where it was, and she picked up the pace a bit, anxious to get back to her tent undiscovered and get some sleep.

^O^O^O^O^O^

The next morning, Talvas and Miss Miranja broke down their tent and packed up all their stuff before breakfast, and Miss Miranja announced that she and Talvas would need to get going before the sun got too high. Hrefna wondered if Miss Miranja was still going to talk to her mother before she left. As she watched and waited, considering getting her journal out and writing about last night, Talvas caught her eye and gave her a conspiratorial wink. In that moment, she knew that shimmer in the air last night really had been him. Her cheeks burned and she looked away, focusing on stoking the fire back up so the grownups could make breakfast. She was worried that Talvas would give her away. She found out after breakfast that he already had – at least, he had told Miss Miranja.

Miss Miranja touched her shoulder as she was preparing to paint another picture. “Hey, little miss,” she said gently, with a smile. “How would you like to take a little walk along the river with me?”

Hrefna tried to pretend she didn’t know what Miranja had in mind. “Okay,” she said as nonchalantly as she could.

They walked a little ways down the river, and when Miss Miranja thought they were out of earshot of the camp, she said, “A little birdie told me that you might have a crush on a certain handsome man around here, and that you might have some questions about some grownup things. I talked to your mother while we were washing up the dishes after breakfast, and she admitted that she’s not very comfortable about talking to you about such things, but she knows you’re getting close to womanhood and might need to know some things. She agreed to let me answer any questions you have.”

Hrefna shrugged, still trying to be nonchalant, but her heart was pounding inside her chest. “I guess.”

“Let’s sit right here,” Miss Miranja suggested, motioning toward a shady patch of soft grass beneath the trees.

Hrefna sat down and put her knees up, pulling her skirt down over them to cover herself, then wrapped her arms around her legs. Miss Miranja sat facing her, cross-legged. She wore a scouting outfit with pants, so she didn’t have to worry about anything showing.

“Before we say anything else, I want you to know that I know you followed me and Sondas last night, and I’m not mad, okay?”

Hrefna’s eyes widened for a moment in spite of her affectations of casual indifference. “Talvas told you, didn’t he?”

Miss Miranja seemed a bit surprised at this. “Yes, how did you know?”

“I saw him there, too, sort of. It was just a shimmer because of the invisibility potion, but I know it was him. He winked at me this morning.”

Miss Miranja smiled a wry smile and nodded. “So, how much did you see? What were you hoping to see? And do you have questions?”

This was her big chance to get all the answers she needed. She hadn’t written anything down yet, so she hoped she could remember all she wanted to ask.

“Well, I’m pretty sure I saw everything you guys did,” Hrefna began hesitantly, still worried in spite of Miss Miranja’s assurance that she wasn’t angry. “Unless you did anything else after you started talking about marriage again.”

“Nope,” Miss Miranja confirmed. “We talked a little while longer and then got dressed and came back to camp. Morning comes too early.”

“Okay,” Hrefna nodded, not sure if a response was required for that. “What I was hoping to see was…” This was embarrassing. Hrefna’s face got hot and she knew she was turning red. “I wanted to see… some girls in Windhelm said that men have something like a sausage down there, and they put it inside a woman to plant a people seed. I wanted to see Sondas’ sausage, and I wanted to see how he would put it inside and plant a seed. I saw it big and standing out when you guys came out of the water. But after he put it… inside you… it was small and dangly. Why? And did he really put a seed in you? Are you going to have a baby now?”

Miranja smiled compassionately at Hrefna and moved over to give her a hug. “Okay, let’s start at the beginning. That sausage is called a penis. It gets bigger and harder when a man is aroused so that he can mate and make babies. If you had a billy goat here, you might have known that already, but chickens don’t have them. But it’s not big and hard all the time, so once Sondas’ seed came out, it went back to normal.”

“Speaking of chickens,” Hrefna interjected, “you said something about a cock last night. I just wondered why you talked about chickens when you were… you know… was your mind just wandering? Cos it looked like you were focused on what you were doing, so that just surprised me.”

To Hrefna’s surprise, Miss Miranja laughed. “Oh, sweetie, wow, umm…” Now Miss Miranja seemed kind of embarrassed herself. “You have good ears. Uh, ‘cock’ is sort of a naughty word grownups use instead of penis. It’s probably better that you say penis, at least until the day you find yourself alone with a man and make love. Sometimes grownups find it more pleasurable when they talk dirty to each other during sex. I’m sure you’ll understand when you’re older.”

Hrefna frowned, a bit mystified, but she decided to let that dirty talk thing go. But that reminded her. “I just remembered. Sondas called your secret place a flower. Is that dirty talk, too?”

“Not in my book,” Miranja smiled, and her eyes turned to the side as she smiled and remembered Sondas saying that. “I think it’s poetic and romantic. The real word is ‘vulva.’ Kind of sounds like ‘velvet.’ There are dirty words for a woman’s private parts, too, but when he said flower, he meant it as a compliment. Surely you’ve examined your own parts when you’re alone, right?”

“Yes’m,” Hrefna acknowledged shyly.

“Those little flaps are called lips, among other things, and they kind of resemble the petals of a rose. And roses are pretty, so…” She trailed off and left Hrefna to extrapolate the fact that Sondas was saying her secret place was pretty.

“You asked if Sondas planted a seed and if I’m going to have a baby. Yes, he put his seed into me, but no, I’m not going to have a baby. Sex isn’t just for making babies, but for showing love and sharing pleasure. There are certain times of the month, about halfway between menses – you do know what menses are, right?”

“Yes’m, Mama at least told me that much. But not really anything else. She just told me that I would be old enough to make a baby soon, and that my menses would be the signal that I was a woman, and that if I had sex with a boy I would get pregnant.”

“That first part is true. But you won’t make a baby every time you make love. And your mother may not want you to know about this, but I think it’s important: there are herbs you can take, and you have to take them every day, that can prevent you from making a baby. The priestesses of Dibella taught me about them, and I’ve been taking those herbs ever since I first started having sex.”

“Have you already been married, Miss Miranja?”

“Goodness, no,” Miranja replied, a mildly horrified look on her face.

“I thought grownups weren’t supposed to have sex unless they were married.”

“That’s a matter of opinion, and that belief is endorsed by certain religious or old-fashioned people, but I worship the Divines Mara and Dibella. Mara is the Divine of love, and Dibella is the Divine of beauty and life’s pleasures. It is my personal belief that love and pleasure make our hard existence much more bearable, and should be shared whenever possible. Not all love is romantic love, as you know from Sondas and your mother. There’s family love, and friendly love, and the universal love you feel for your fellow people and the creatures of the earth who help you and feed you and clothe you. And then there’s the worshipful love you might feel for the Divines.

“I do have multiple lovers, but I also love other people in different ways. I believe you should help people and bring them pleasure whenever you have the means. And that doesn’t just mean sex. It means giving them things they need if they can’t afford them, or giving them things they want – like the gifts I give you, Hrefna. I give them to you because I can, and because it brings me joy to see the joy on your face. But there are some people I feel both a mental and a physical attraction to, and most of the time, those people become my lovers. We share pleasure with each other in the same way that Sondas and I did last night, and that physical intimacy fosters our emotional intimacy and brings us closer.

“But don’t get me wrong: you don’t have to have sex with someone to feel love and closeness, but I would always recommend having a mental and emotional bond with someone before you get physically intimate. Making love is always so much better with someone you really care about.

“And maybe don’t tell your mother I said this, and it’s not for everyone, but sometimes it’s just fun to have sex just because you think someone is sexy, even if you don’t really love them. Just don’t ever expect a real relationship to come of that. Not that it couldn’t happen, I suppose, but usually it’s just a fling, just for fun, nothing more.

“Aaand I think I’ve said enough. Some people think I’m a bad person because I’m too free with my affections, but I know that I make a lot of other people happy in more ways than just sexual, and I think they’re jealous because they don’t feel like they have that freedom.”

“I love you, Miss Miranja, and I think you’re wonderful,” Hrefna squeezed in when Miranja stopped for breath.

“Thank you, sweetie. I don’t know why you kids seem to like me, but it makes me feel good. I’m not very good with kids.”

“Yes, you are,” Hrefna insisted. “At least you are with me. I wish you could stay here always.”

Miss Miranja smiled and blushed prettily, and hugged Hrefna again. “Thank you. I suppose I should at least visit more often.

“A couple last things that I want you to pay close attention to and remember forever.”

Hrefna zipped her lips and cupped her ears to show Miranja she was really listening.

“Don’t ever let a boy push you into doing anything you’re not comfortable with. If he says he’ll stop liking you if you don’t do something, then he doesn’t really like you in the first place and he doesn’t care about your feelings; he just wants to use your body for his pleasure. I had to learn that lesson the hard way, and I’d hate for you to ever experience that dirty feeling of being made an object. Boys like that, if you tell them no, they’ll turn right around and start spreading filthy rumors about you, and you’ll have to get a male mentor involved to defend your honor and put that little turd in his place.”

Hrefna giggled at Miranja’s use of the word ‘turd,’ and Miranja grinned back, but only for a second before she went serious again.

“And last: I know you just wanted information about sex, and not so much life advice, but do try to follow your heart, do what makes you happy no matter what other people say. I have a dear friend in Ivarstead who is living proof that if you’re happy and content with your lot in life, you’ll make the people around you happy just by being you. So do what it takes to make yourself happy, just as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. I’m twenty-four years old and I’m still trying to remember to consider the possible repercussions of my actions and keep from hurting other people by accident. I appreciate your admiration, but trust me, sweetheart, I’m not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. We all have our shortcomings.

“Now, do you have any more questions before Talvas and I hit the road?”

“You can tell me if I’m being too nosy, but… are you and Talvas… lovers, too?”

“I won’t lie to you. Yes, we are.”

“I think I understand now what you meant when you said something about ‘group sex’ yesterday,” Hrefna said with a mischievous grin, testing Miss Miranja’s reaction.

Miranja’s eyes got wide and her mouth fell open. “Wow, when they say little pitchers have big ears, they aren’t kidding! You weren’t supposed to hear that, young lady! I thought you were busy writing in your new journal.” She screwed up her face in mock scolding, grabbed Hrefna, pulled her close, and tickled her until she cried out for mercy.

“I can see we’re probably going to have to have another talk in the near future,” Miranja smiled as she released her.

“Thank you for being so nice about everything,” Hrefna said sincerely. “I promise I won’t spy on you again. I hope you’ll always be my friend.”

“As long as you’re still my friend, my girl,” Miranja swore, crossing her heart. They walked back to camp together holding hands, like best friends do.