The next morning, Tano woke up with a sense of anticipation instead of dread. The ache in his penis was pleasant rather than painful, and quickly turned to pleasure when he started touching himself. His pleasure quickly ran its course, and when it was over Tano was astonished by how clear-headed he felt.

Curious to see how long-lasting the effects would be, he thought about Eldreth's breasts, and the look of desire on her face as she'd sucked her finger at him. There was the curious feeling of emotional arousal without any physical change, as though his member wanted to harden but couldn't manage it just then.

Fortified with the knowledge that he could master these urges, Tano went to Eldreth's.

Eldreth waved when he walked in. "Hello, Tano!"

"I'm afraid I don't have time to stay for breakfast this morning," he said awkwardly when he reached the front of the line.

"Do you want a scone to go, then?"

"Yes. Please."

Eldreth extracted a scone from the case and wrapped it in waxed paper. "You know, I didn't see you leave last night."

"Duty called," he lied stiffly. "I hope you had a good time with your friends."

"I did," Eldreth responded, looking pleased.

Tano blushed when her hand brushed his as she took his payment. "I'm sorry for running off the other day. I'm... When I was away..."

Eldreth shook her head. "I heard about what happened," she said quietly.

Tano couldn't help showing his dismay.

"Sorry." Eldreth gave a rueful half-smile. "But the shifter Commander of the City Watch siding against his own people and getting cursed by a god isn't the sort of tale adventurers can keep to themselves. It was all over town as soon as you got back."

Dammit. So that's how Karchak had known. "Yes. Well. It's all been... a lot to adjust to."

"I'm sure it is," Eldreth said kindly.

The door opened as several people came in behind him. "Perhaps I'll see you tomorrow?"

Eldreth smiled. "Tomorrow, then. Have a good day."

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

That morning, Tano actually managed to focus on his job.

In the afternoon, he went out to prowl the markets, which took him past the stall of an exotic fruit vendor he'd passed a hundred times without ever paying attention to their wares. Today, however, a bright yellow fruit caught his eye.

"Excuse me. Can you tell me what this is?"

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

After making his purchase, Tano went straight to The Drunken Lord.

Karchak was taking advantage of the post-lunch lull to clean the bar. He smiled smugly when he saw Tano come in. "You lasted longer than I thought you would."

Tano smiled brightly as he took a seat at the bar. "Oh, I'm not here for that."

Karchak's eyes narrowed. "Then what--"

Tano pulled the yellow fruit out of his jacket pocket and held it up for Karchak to see. "I found something in the market you might be interested in," he said as he opened the yellow peel. "It's called a banana." He kept his eyes on Karchak's as he slowly wrapped his lips around the pale inner fruit, bit off the tip, and chewed.

Karchak wasn't smiling anymore. When Tano grinned devilishly and licked a stripe up the underside, he actually whimpered.
Tano winked jauntily and got off his stool. "Good day to you."

He walked away laughing.

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

The next day, Tano found himself doing a strange dance as he fumbled through the steps of possible courtship with Eldreth and definitely-not-courtship with Karchak.

Eldreth's was busier than usual, which meant Eldreth wasn't able to do more than engage in a bit of flirtation before Tano had to move on.
Tano dropped in on Karchak's immediately afterward (he liked to keep his visits unpredictable) and was delighted to see the smugglers he'd been after for weeks just settling into a negotiation. The bastards had been stealing sacred cultural relics from immigrants and refugees and selling them to asshole art collectors, and Tano had been trying to catch them in the middle of a deal for weeks.

Not wanting to tip them off, he snuck into an unoccupied room, dropped out the window into the alley behind the tavern, and jogged to the nearest Watch station to get reinforcements. Ten minutes later, Tano and several other officers burst into the tavern and arrested the smugglers, who were kind enough to have brought a sample of their stolen merchandise with them.

Karchak, of course, was all wounded innocence. "I would have turned them in if I'd known."

Tano growled. He knew Karchak was involved, even if he couldn't prove it.

Karchak smiled and suggestively fondled the neck of the wine bottle he was holding. "Offer's still open," he murmured.

With a snort, Tano returned to his officers and joined them in hauling the thieves in.

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

Tano found himself considering Karchak's... invitation off and on throughout the afternoon. While he in no way felt the level of urgency that had driven him into Karchak's store room in the first place, he couldn't deny that he was tempted.

However, when it came to open offers for sex, Eldreth's was far more tempting.

Tano went to Eldreth's just before closing, and found her wiping down the tables.

"Tano!" Eldreth blinked in surprise. "We're just about to close."

"I know," Tano replied awkwardly. "I was hoping we could... talk."

"Of course!" Eldreth turned to the woman behind the counter - a slender woman of mixed elvish ancestry with silver hair and copper skin. "Do you mind finishing up, Adelaine?"

The other woman waved her off. "Not a problem. Just lock the door, please."

Eldreth left her rag on the counter, then turned to Tano with a bright smile. "Do you want to walk me back to my apartment?"

"I would like that."

Once they were out in the street, Tano awkwardly offered her his arm, and her face lit up with delight as she took it. "So what did you want to talk about?"

Tano's heart started beating faster. "I've only been human for a few days, so I hope it's not unforgivably blunt if I say directly that... that I'm attracted to you. I get the feeling you want to be. Ah. Intimate. And I'm... I'm very... interested, if that's the case." He spoke falteringly, with lots of stops and starts, and was tremendously grateful when Eldreth didn't interrupt him or laugh as Karchak would have done.

"You're very sweet," she surprised him by saying. "And I like not beating around the bush, so in the spirit of rudely blunt honesty..." She tilted her head, her honey-golden eyes twinkling with mischief. "By 'intimate', can I assume that you mean sex?"

Tano's ears burned, and Eldreth laughed, though not cruelly. "Yes," he managed. "But I'm afraid I don't know how, or if I'll be any good."

Eldreth was grinning nearly ear-to-ear, completely unbothered by his admission. "You don't need to worry about that," she said firmly. "I had a permanent contraceptive charm done years ago, by the way. I can show you the tattoo when we're at my place."

Tano blinked, realizing that he had overlooked that important consideration. "Thank you for telling me," he said gravely.

It didn't take long to get to Eldreth's apartment, which was only a few blocks from the cafe. She was renting the entire top floor of a former merchant's townhouse that had been converted to separate flats. "Sorry about the stairs," she said as she led him up the two flights to her rooms. "It's good exercise, though. Keeps my butt looking nice." The last was delivered with a flirtatious wink over her shoulder at Tano.
Eldreth's apartment, while still modest, was much larger than Tano's. The large window in the sitting room was surrounded by a small jungle of plants, and the furniture appeared to be a mix of original furnishings and second-hand pieces. Somehow the overall effect was harmonious, rather than chaotic.

Eldreth turned the gas lights on to low, then closed the cheerful yellow drapes, before coming back to Tano, who - unsure of what to do with himself - had remained by the door after he'd removed his boots. Eldreth's eyes were on a level with his own (which was strange, he wasn't used to people being able to look him in the eye comfortably), and there was no trace of teasing or frivolity in her gaze as she wrapped her arms around his waist, slotting her body against his as neatly as if it had been designed to fit there.

Tano blushed, already feeling out of his depth. "Wh-what do I do with my hands?"

Eldreth tilted her head forward so that her lips were almost touching his as she answered. "You can start by putting them on my hips."

Tano lifted his hands to her hips and closed his eyes as Eldreth's mouth moved against his. When she probed at his lips with her tongue, he parted them instinctively, and she licked into his mouth with a small breathy noise of enjoyment. He did his best to copy her movements, which earned another pleased noise from Eldreth as she pressed herself even more tightly against him.

Tano was throbbing with arousal by the time she broke the kiss.

"I've... I've never kissed anyone before," Tano said self-consciously.

Eldreth smiled. "I'm happy I could be your first." She gave him another brief but intense kiss before asking, "do you want to be naked with me?"

"Yes," Tano said quickly, answering before she'd even finished asking the question.

She laughed, and things became a bit of a scramble. Eldreth helped him unbutton his jacket, working the buttons up from the bottom as he worked down from the top before they got tangled up briefly as both of them tried to remove his shirt.

Once he was shirtless, Eldreth kicked out of her smallclothes while Tano fumbled ineffectually with the ties on the front of her dress. She had to help him loosen them before Tano could push the dress off her shoulders to puddle on the floor. She shucked her chest wrap impatiently, causing her breasts to fall free, and tossed it to the side.

Tano was entranced at the sight of her nudity. Her breasts were large without being so heavy that they sagged, and were perfectly proportioned to balance shoulders and arms that were nearly a match for Karchak's (though they lacked his definition). And her waist, while far from slender, drew in pleasingly before the swell of her sensuously large hips and thighs.

Eldreth smiled sweetly. "Like what you see?" she asked, glancing down significantly at Tano's erection.

"Yes," he groaned. "Gods, yes."

When his fingers were too clumsy with desire to manage his belt, Eldreth helped him out of it, then pulled off his pants and smalls in one fluid movement.

Again, he couldn't help but think of Karchak. Tano had been nearly fully clothed during his encounter with Karchak, who had confined his attentions to only Tano's cock. Whereas here he was with Eldreth, fully naked and feeling somehow less vulnerable as her golden eyes ranged all over his body.

"Very nice," she murmured before he could ask.

Tano groaned as she skimmed her fingers lightly along his length, then stroked him slowly.

Eldreth's eyes went wide. "Fuck, that's so hot."

She pushed him backward onto the couch and sat astride him the way Karchak had, but that was where the comparison ended. For one, her couch was much more comfortable than sitting on the floor and leaning against a hard crate. And again, they were naked rather than clothed, and the places where she pressed against him - her thighs, her butt, her breasts - were warm, and so incredibly soft.

The look in her eyes was intense as she tipped forward to kiss him again, and this time Tano was able to reciprocate less clumsily, his lingering anxiety fading in the face of her obvious enthusiasm. Eldreth sighed into his mouth and started carding her fingers through his hair, which somehow felt more intimate than if she'd gone straight for his dick. After a few minutes of kissing - which Tano honestly would have been happy to do forever - he grew relaxed enough to start exploring her body with his hands, first touching her thighs, then her ass, before grazing his hands up her sides.

When he finally made contact with her breasts, Eldreth pulled away with a soft gasp, and Tano was delighted to see her neck and chest already flushed with arousal.

"What... what do you want me to do?" Tano asked, suddenly worried that he'd say or do the wrong thing and spoil the mood.

"Before I fuck you," Eldreth said, her tone matter-of-fact. "I'd like you to play with my breasts."

Tano flushed. "Play with?"

Eldreth shrugged. "Touch them. Suck on them."

He swallowed and nodded. Eldreth leaned back as Tano grabbed her breasts, which were more than a handful even for his large hands. He squeezed them experimentally, leery at first of hurting her.

"More," Eldreth moaned, throwing her head back in pleasure.

Encouraged by her reaction, Tano caught her nipples between his thumb and fore finger and squeezed harder, which made her moan even more loudly. "Can I kiss them?"

"Gods yes."

He bent his neck to pull her nipple into his mouth, sucked hard, and was rewarded with the unexpected pressure of Eldreth's palm against his now-leaking member.

"Oh gods," he gasped. "Sorry, I--"

"I want you inside me," Eldreth interrupted as she raised herself up on her knees.

Tano watched, transfixed, as her hand slipped into the verdant patch of hair between her legs to part her lower lips. Her other hand circled his erect member, positioning him so that he was at the correct angle, and then she was lowering herself onto him, engulfing him with her warm wetness. Tano gasped and clutched instinctively at her butt, and found it very pleasing to hold on to.

She rode him slowly at first, and even that was nearly more than Tano could bear. Karchak's hand had felt good, but the feeling of her wet inner walls as she slid along his length was incredible. His pleasure was further enhanced by the fact that Eldreth was fully in control. He was inside her because she wanted him there, because having him there made her feel good.

Gradually, she picked up the pace, until there was no room for thought at all. There was only the sound of their moaning, the slap of her thighs against his, and a flood of exquisite sensation.

Tano still didn't have any idea how to judge these things, but Karchak's reaction to his short fuse made him worried that Eldreth would be disappointed in him for climaxing too quickly. "I'm... oh gods, Eldreth, I can't--"

She shushed him. "Yes," she moaned, not slackening her pace at all. "You're so fucking sexy. I want you to come inside me."

So he did.

It wasn't anything like it had been with Karchak - the humiliating end of a frantic encounter meant to achieve orgasm as fast as possible. Nor was it like the pleasure he had given himself. Tano thrust up into her, feeling his balls twitch and pulse as his cock pumped ejaculate into her. Into the crevice specifically designed for that function. Humanoid reproduction.

Right. There it was again - biological imperative. The reason contraceptive charms existed.

"Oh gods," Eldreth gasped, her fingers moving furiously between her legs as she continued to drive herself down onto his cock.

Tano watched wonderingly as she cried out and clenched around him with her own orgasm, amazed that he could affect her so profoundly, that she could take just as much pleasure in his body as he had taken in hers.

When her frenzy had passed, she collapsed forward against him to rest her sweat-damp forehead against his shoulder - another point of dissimilarity. The idea of holding Karchak during their post-orgasmic euphoria had felt so wrong. But being like this, holding Eldreth as they both panted and trembled through the aftershocks of their pleasure... It felt right. Safe.

"That was..." Tano was struck by a sudden pang of anxiety. Had he been too passive? Eldreth had done all the work. "I mean. Was that... okay?"

"Oh you adorable man." Eldreth laughed tiredly as she raised her head and placed a kiss on the end of his nose. "Your first time, and you were worried about me?"

Tano shrugged, embarrassed. "It seemed courteous to ask."

Eldreth kissed him softly - a reassuring kiss without any amorous intent. "Yes, it was good. It was very, very good."

Tano's stomach chose that moment to growl loudly, and he blushed as he realized that he'd been so excited to have sex with Eldreth that he'd completely forgotten to eat dinner. "I'm sorry, I sort of... forgot to eat."

Eldreth grinned and climbed off him. "Let me get cleaned up, and we can get some dinner. And then maybe we could go again, and take our time this time?"

Tano grinned back. "I'd like that."