Leaving Karand, Part 1
Several hours outside of Valenca, Sirene and Julia casually walked down a road. They were nearly a week from the nearest port, and so Sirene was planning a route that would let them rest at an inn every day. In response to this, Julia was already complaining.
"Why can't you just use your time stop to take us right to this Port Nautitus?" Julia moaned.
"Because it's not a time stop, Julia." Sirene said, whistling as they walked down the road. They were on the edge of a meadow, with a slightly menacing forest on the other side. "It merely slows down the flow of time. I can't cross a continent in an instant with it."
"Well that's no fun." Julia said with a pout.
"Reality rarely is." Sirene said with a laugh. "You're lucky though, you'll only experience half the days."
"A fair point!" Julia admitted. "I do wish I could speak with Tanya directly, though."
"That's why we're heading for the Eternal Library." Sirene explained. This much was true, it had knowledge that had been outright illegal in the Republic. However, she also had to get out of reach of the Shadow Court. Natsuki sniffed out the spell in mere hours and he would have undone it, and separated her from her Mistress.
"Oh?"
"I'm hoping to find... illegal knowledge there." Sirene said with a mischievous grin.
---
Several hours and 3 changes of form later, Sirene and Julia were at the first inn of the journey out of Karand. A plain building on the side of the road, it wasn't even near any other settlements, and stood alone next to a field. Sitting in the dining area, Julia grimaced at the bowl of stew placed in front of her.
"Don't look at it like that." Sirene said, forgoing any table manners and just picking up the bowl and drinking the stew right out of the bowl.
"What even is this meat?" Julia asked, staring at it.
"Just eat it, lily-liver." Sirene said, burping.
After the dinner which Julia ate under protest, Sirene and Julia retired to the room Sirene had purchased for the night. Julia was dismayed when Sirene opened the door and there was only one bed.
"I had kind of been hoping for my own bed, you know." Julia said.
Sirene smirked. She couldn't wait to be snuggled up against her Mistress, and hoped she wanted to play in the morning. She could already see Tanya's naked body in her mind, and had to keep herself from making it obvious as to why there was only one bed.
"Ahem." Sirene said, clearing her throat. "It draws less suspicion if I'm renting single bed rooms."
"How so?" Julia demanded, hands on her hips.
"You don't get it?" Sirene asked, raising an eyebrow. "From the outside, it makes us look like lovers." Sirene didn't dare tell Julia what occurred earlier that day with Tanya, but she remembered Tanya's promise that they would be lovers for as long as Sirene wished.
"L-l-lovers?" Julia stammered, turning bright red. "Well you are beautiful but-"
Sirene put a finger on Julia's lips. "Shhh. I'm very flattered you see me like that, but you can't even keep the same form for a full day. How can I get to know you if you can't even get to know you?"
Julia sat on the edge of the bed and pondered Sirene's words while Sirene undressed. She noticed Sirene didn't seem to mind if Julia looked, and even winked and made some poses. It made her even more confused, and she opted to just go to bed.
Sirene was downright giddy when she came back from using the tub outside and saw Tanya fast asleep in the bed. Her mistress, finally. After undressing, she carefully slid into the bed so as to not wake Tanya, and snuggled up against her. She loved her mistress, and would do anything to please her. Her last thoughts as she fell asleep was how she wanted to be with Tanya forever.
---
Tanya blinked. Wherever she was, it was morning. After feeling light movement beneath the covers, she lifted them up a bit to see Sirene snuggled up against her, fast asleep. She smiled wickedly at the sight, the order to be her lover was having the intended effect. The most powerful mage on Karand was all hers, at least for the moment. She was starting to wonder if she should ever let her go, but dismissed that thought quickly. That was the path of evil, and would lead her to the same kind of end as the Baroness. As she thought about next plans, she felt movement beneath the covers. Ah well, needs must.
Tanya lay panting on the bed afterwards. She had to do her best to not pass out, as she did still need to talk with Sirene. Like where were they heading? Why had they left the Shadow Court so quickly? Lots of questions, so little time to ask them. When Sirene returned, she had breakfast, and Tanya greedily dug in.
"Hungry are we?" Sirene asked, smirking.
"Well somebody keeps trying to fuck me to death!" Tanya shout back with a half laugh. "However Sirene, I must ask. Where are we going? This obviously isn't the Court."
"Perceptive as always, Mistress." Sirene answered. "We're heading for the Eternal Library."
"Fuck me that's real too?" Tanya shouted. "Let me guess, after that we're going to the Lost Ruins of Zimmil Ma for Emperor Lazarus's library."
"Funny you should say that." Sirene said, smiling. That was in fact the third library she had in mind.
"Augh! Nevermind!" Tanya shouted, causing Sirene to laugh. "Now then, why did we leave the Court so soon?"
"Natsuki sniffed out the spell." Sirene said. "So I made a tactical decision to leave before he could undo it."
Tanya was beyond pleased. Sirene had made a conscious unordered decision to protect her own enslavement. She was completely in the grasp of Enrapture. Tanya herself had made decisions like that in the past, and at the time they had seemed perfectly logical.
"Good girl." Tanya said, causing Sirene to shudder with delight and smile. "To continue to strengthen Enrapture, I'm going to ask you questions, understood?" This of course was a lie. She just wanted answers to questions she knew Sirene would otherwise refuse to answer.
"Of course Mistress." Sirene said, nodding eagerly.
"How is it that you're immortal?"
"I'm not fated to die." Sirene said. Seeing the look of pure confusion on Tanya's face, she continued. "Every mortal has a predetermined death date. The hour of your doom is known the day you are born, but not the method."
"How convenient. I'm not a good person, in fact I've been a quite terrible person for a long time. Why didn't you just kill me?" Tanya asked, as she finished off the last of her breakfast.
"Everybody deserves a second chance. I'm not called the Hero for nothing." Sirene replied, her meal nearly finished as well. "The fact you did it under the control of this spell called Enrapture made me even more forgiving."
"You really are the Hero, aren't you?" Tanya said, smiling. "What do you think of this spell, now that you're experiencing the full effects. Tell me your true thoughts, not what I want to hear." Tanya requested, still smiling. This would be interesting. Sometimes Leona would ask her for her true thoughts, especially after gathering information. It was the only time the death hug of the spell around her mind ever let up for even a moment, so she was interested to see what trickled out from Sirene's mouth.
"It's insidious." Sirene said, her tone changing. "It warps your mind, pleasing the caster becomes your primary focus, everything else is in service to it. I lied and ran from my own salvation because you wanted me like this. If anything, it makes me feel even more pity for you, to have lived for 35 years like this."
"Two more and I'm done. Why did you want me to cast it on you to begin with?" Tanya asked, moving along. She was pleased with Sirene's answer on the effects of the spell and wanted to wrap things up.
"Frankly, I don't know why." Sirene answered, looking thoughtful. "Maybe a bit of perversion, a bit of curiosity, and a bit of assuming my Master would rescue me from any foolishness. I'll admit, she got me good."
"Indeed. Final question, can any of the Gods erase my knowledge of how to cast Enrapture? I'll never be free of the temptation to use it on someone else, even after this quest of ours is over."
"Are you sure, mistress?" Sirene asked. Tanya nodded, and so she continued. "Memories are the domain of change, you would have to gain an audience with Lady Vordea for that."
"Fuck."
"Quite." Sirene said, chuckling. "I do have some questions of my own, if that's alright."
"Go on." Tanya said. Sirene nodded, and got up.
"Tell me about the information network, we'll have to evade them the best we can."
"Leona's network of mindslaves, inserted in positions everywhere." Tanya answered. "I was once in charge of them, but I imagine my authority has been removed."
"How did you communicate with them?" Sirene asked, picking up Tanya and carrying her back to the bed.
"Same way as anyone else, the old fashioned way. Had to go around and talk to them. However, some of the more distant ones in Tel Hazan were directly enslaved by me." Tanya said, smiling as she sat on Sirene's lap. "I can order them to resist Leona and it'll be quite funny when the new handler arrives and gets murdered on the spot."
"So we'll have allies in the Empire." Sirene stated, to which Tanya nodded. "Which reminds me, how much can I tell your alter-ego, Julia?"
"Do not reveal anything about your Enrapture." Tanya said immediately. "She'll never trust you if she finds out. Worst case, she may figure out a way to dispel it, opening us up to danger from Leona."
"Of course." Sirene said, nodding.
"Do tell her of the danger of Leona. Explain Leona's mindslaves, the magical circle around her mansion. Ostensibly that's why we're looking for knowledge, after all." Tanya continued, humming as Sirene brushed her hair. It was nice to be pampered and she wasn't about to tell Sirene to stop. She wished her own mother had loved her this much.
"How are we going to travel? You're going to stand out like crazy." Sirene said, as she dressed Tanya. She was almost doll like with her short stature, and it was fun.
"I have a large... selection of forms I can take." Tanya said, choosing her words carefully. Sirene would be free one day and she didn't want to reveal she killed people to get these faces.
"I kind of assumed, given how often Julia switches forms." Sirene said as she kissed Tanya on the cheek.
"She what?" Tanya asked. "Tell me everything you remember about Julia. Don't leave out a single detail."
Sirene went into great detail regarding what she had observed about Julia over the 2 days she had interacted with her, and when she was finished, Tanya was outright laughing in delight.
"Something funny, Mistress?" Sirene asked as Tanya shook with laughter.
"She really is a different person from me. Such a lack of control over her spells." Tanya said, between gasps of laughter. "Allow me to show you the difference between me and her. Down please."
Sirene nodded and placed Tanya back on the floor. Tanya winked and snapped her fingers, growing in height by nearly 2 feet but otherwise looking nearly identical.
"Adult me, as it were. That short stature I'm normally in? Well, through trial and error Leona found men more willing to rape young girls." Tanya said, casually as could be. "Once they crossed the horizon of doing that with what looked like a young girl, they gave up and let her think for them."
"A sorrow trap." Sirene said, nodding. "I notice you always snap your fingers when you cast."
"Easier than speaking. I mastered Sonic Magic at a very young age, before I had even been kidnapped by the Baroness. Frankly I think Sonic Magic is why I got targeted."
Tanya snapped her fingers again and changed into a halfling woman with short red hair that barely passed her ears. "It's as easy as that. Julia seems to implicitly understand Sonic Magic, as you described her as snapping her fingers as well. What did Julia look like when you arrived last night?"
"Older elven woman, white hair." Sirene said.
"Hmmm, I got a few of those. How big?" Tanya asked, holding her hands around her chest.
"Flat as a board." Sirene said, shaking her head.
"Oh, her." Tanya said, making a face. "We'll make a change but if we don't linger nobody will notice." One more snap of her fingers, and she grew to Sirene's height. This time she was a young elven maiden with white hair and a full figured body. "Like what you see?" Tanya asked with a wink.
"As much as I'd like to stay and have sex all morning, Mistress, we do have to get going." Sirene said, her face flushing red.
"Tonight, then." Tanya said, grinning. "Hmmmm. One last question. Are you gay?"
"My love doesn't discriminate, Mistress. Male or female, I love them both." Sirene said as she put her shoes on.
Tanya pondered on Sirene's words as they left the Inn. Just as she thought, nobody noticed that the elven woman had changed shape or age, all they remembered was the hair. Everybody was too focused on the Hero of Karand, Sirene Ignitis. As they left, a man got up to follow them. Tanya noticed and tapped Sirene on the shoulder, who merely nodded in response. Once they were out of sight of the inn, Sirene and Tanya simply disappeared, leaving the man flummoxed. How was he going to report this?