The wind was cold and strong, causing Felitïa’s robe to ripple against her legs and chest, yet somehow not appeasing the need for air. Felitïa breathed rapidly, but still didn’t feel like she was getting enough. Both Miana and Zandrue insisted she would get used to it—they weren’t going high enough to be dangerous—but that certainly seemed to be taking its time.

There was a large rock beside the road, so she grabbed hold of it to help steady herself as she reached the top of the latest hill. “I need to rest.” Once on flatter ground, she sat down with her back against the rock, and continued to breathe heavily.

Borisin’s front legs appeared in front of her, and then his back legs as he hopped onto the flat ground and continued forward.

“You’ve been spending too much time sitting around the palace in Quorge,” Zandrue said, climbing up beside Felitïa. “You’re out of shape.” She was breathing heavily too, but nowhere near as heavily as Felitïa.

“You’re hardly one to talk,” Felitïa said. “You spent most of the last six months at the Royal Palace.”

“Yes, but it’s bigger, with much larger grounds. It takes longer to walk anywhere.” Zandrue laughed and slid down to sit beside Felitïa. “So I still got lots of exercise.”

Miana reached the top of the hill and stared down at Felitïa and Zandrue disapprovingly. “It’s been an hour at most since we last stopped to rest.” They were not noticeably breathing heavily. They weren’t even breaking a sweat. They held out a hand and Felitïa took it.

Borisin snorted. And you were worried this would be too difficult for me.

Actually, that was Miana who was worried. I just passed it on.

Borisin snorted again. Whatever.

Miana glanced at Borisin while they helped Felitïa stand. “Is he saying something?”

“Just denigrating me, as usual,” Felitïa said.

No, I usually denigrate Rudiger, but he’s not here, so you’ll have to do instead.

Felitïa rolled her eyes.

Miana let go of Felitïa’s hand and turned to Borisin. “Why won’t you talk to me?”

Tell them talking to one of you is bad enough.

Felitïa put an arm around Miana and told them.

Miana glared at Borisin. “You’re lucky you’re not part of my crew. I don’t take well to such attitude.”

Oh, you’d be blessed to have me on your crew.

Felitïa sighed, and took a moment to survey her surroundings. It was stunning.

To be fair, the view had often been stunning over the last week of travel. She had never even seen mountains in the distance before coming to Singea, never mind up close. The towering mounds of land that sometimes even blocked the sun were awe-inspiring. Green trees blanketed the lower slopes while snow covered the tops.

But this time was a little different. Ahead of them was another mountain, not as tall as the others, with a flattened top rather than the more conical, rounded tops of the other mountains. It was also considerably wider than the other mountains, enough so that if it rose to a point like them, it would have towered above them all. It was still far off, so scale was difficult to judge, but it was definitely very big.

“Is that…?” Felitïa began.

“Dvang, yes,” Miana said.

Their destination. Or close to it, rather.

On the first few days after leaving Miana’s grandmother’s home, they had travelled past several small towns and villages. Felitïa had remained outside them while Miana and Zandrue had gone in to try to find where they needed to go. Finding monasteries in Singea was not difficult. Even the smallest village had at least one. Many of them even contained sacred artefacts, but none of those were a magical sword.

It was only when they reached Silda, the largest city in Singea, that Miana and Zandrue had had their first bit of luck. They had learned from a Delam monk there about a monastery that sat on the slopes of an unnamed mountain beside Dvang, the “Volcano of Power”. Using the information the monk gave them, they were able to find maps to this monastery, and they had all set out north into the Gangchag mountain range.

They had been travelling through the mountains for a week now, following this same road, up, down, and around. They had passed a few other villages, where they had confirmed they were going the right way.

And now, they were finally getting close.

“Where’s our destination?” Felitïa asked.

Zandrue pulled out one of their maps from Borisin’s saddle bags, unrolling it and surveying the scene. She pointed to the mountain just right of Dvang. “There, I think. This road will take us round that way.” She pointed to the left.

Felitïa pointed where Zandrue was pointing. “That way? Not right?”

Zandrue gave a forced laugh. “Yep. It goes through a town I can’t read the name of, where we can find another road that will take us directly to the monastery. Round and about, like everything else here.”

Felitïa sighed. This road twisted and turned all over the place. In their week of travel in the mountains, they couldn’t have gone more than twenty miles directly towards their destination. “How long?”

“At a guess, we should make the town by nightfall or early tomorrow,” Zandrue said. “Then two or three more days to the monastery.”

“It’s certainly not a short trip, is it?”

“Presumably, they want to discourage too many visitors. I mean, why else put your monastery right beside a massive volcano?”

“Dvang is inactive,” Miana said. “It hasn’t erupted in centuries.”

“And I’m relying on it continuing to not erupt for as long as we’re there. Let’s get going so it has as little time to change as possible.” Zandrue folded the map back up and stuffed it into the saddlebags.

Not far ahead, the road did indeed curve to the left, after which it began a slow descent into a valley alongside the mountain they had just come around. Within an hour or so, they began to lose sight of Dvang again as the foothills between it and the valley blocked it. Overall, going down was easier than the earlier climb, though there were place where they needed to be careful of their footing as loose dirt and stones on the road slid out beneath them.

On one occasion, as they were passing over such a delicate area, a shiver of anxiety ran through Felitïa again. The walls of the Room turned to diamond, and she slipped, nearly tumbling down the road.

Luckily, Miana caught her. “Are you all right?”

Felitïa took a few deep breaths and nodded. It took only a thought to turn the diamond walls back into just-walls.

“Another anxiety shiver?”

Felitïa nodded again. “I’ll be fine.” She still had no idea what was causing them, but they were happening much less frequently now. It had been nearly two days since the last one.

“I really don’t like these shivers,” Miana said.

“I’ll be fine. Trust me.”

Miana stared at her with raised eyebrows. Doubt flowed from them, but also concern. Then resigned acceptance. “Fine, if you say so.”

Felitïa looked them in the eyes, and tried to give them a comforting look. They really did have incredible eyes—such an intense grey. She could understand why Meleng and others cowed under their stare.

With enough effort, Felitïa would cow too, though they didn’t actually want that. They wanted Felitïa’s respect, not subservience. And her body. They wanted Felitïa’s body too, but they were getting that fairly regularly.

They looked back into Felitïa’s eyes and saw their own eyes as well. Brown and grey eyes superimposed. What an incredible sight and feeling!

Felitïa separated her mind from Miana’s briefly. Shit, I fell into your head again.

I don’t mind. I rather like it.

Wind blew through their hair and clothes. They were on the deck of a ship—the Lustrous Rose? Yes, the Lustrous Rose, but with the showroom of Elderaan’s shop where the main mast should be. Etiënne superimposed with Elderaan stood nearby, watching Miana/Felitïa. Etiënne/Elderaan had saved their lives, taken them both in when they’d had nowhere else to.

Something like this happened every time their minds joined. Memories blended together into some kind of hybrid.

Gods, I love this!

It wasn’t clear which of them had thought that. Miana? Maybe. Probably both of them.

This was happening more often, too. Their minds blended whenever they had sex, of course, but it was happening more often other times as well. Felitïa was getting better at not falling into other people’s minds. She’d only had a couple instances with Zandrue over the last week. But as she got better at staying out of Zandrue’s mind, she was getting worse staying out of Miana’s. Perhaps it was because she was frequently closer to Miana, often within touching distance—if they weren’t already touching each other anyway. Or maybe it was because Miana enjoyed it. Or maybe it was just the lust they felt for each other.

Does it matter?

Yes. No. I don’t know. Maybe it didn’t matter. Being joined was an exhilarating feeling.

I love watching me through your eyes, seeing myself fuck you senseless.

A wave washed over the memory of the Lustrous Rose/Elderaan’s Mystic Palace, replacing it with last night, when Miana had fucked her senseless. Of course, that was true the other way round as well.

Felitïa saw herself grinning widely, and then the smell of horse breath overwhelmed then both as Borisin pushed his head between the two of them.

All right, you two. Break it up.

Felitïa pulled herself out of Miana’s head and back into her own. She stumbled back at a push from Borisin.

I saw that look from Rudiger and Izel more than I cared for. I don’t need it from you two as well. Not in the middle of the day. I have to put up with the two of you enough at night as it is.

Hey, we’re always very quiet, Felitïa said.

Borisin snorted. With actual noise, maybe, but psychically? Telepaths back in Arnor can probably hear you.

Felitïa’s cheeks warmed, and she tried to look to Miana, but Borisin blocked them from view. Oh fuck.

Yeah, calm it down with that. Let’s keep moving. Borisin strode ahead with a whinny.

Miana looked at her. “Are you all right? You look a little…”

“I just learned something. I’ll…uh…I’ll tell you later.” She hurried ahead, trying to hide her embarrassment from Miana.

Zandrue approached her while they walked. “Can we talk?”

“Sure.”

Zandrue glanced about furtively and then spoke quietly. “It’s about you and Miana. Do you really think it’s a good idea to be doing what you’re doing?

Felitïa eyed her. “You’re one to talk. Need I remind you of what you and Drummor used to get up to while I was in the room?”

Zandrue chuckled. “No, and I’m not talking about the sex. I’m honestly happy for you. It’s the other thing that has me concerned. The taking up residence in their head.”

“They’re okay with it. I don’t do it without permission. At least not purposely.”

“I know, but can you be sure it’s really safe?”

“Everything’s been fine.”

“So far.”

“Look, Zandrue, I know you don’t like having that happen to you, but Miana’s their own person. They can make their own decisions.”

“Yes, Felitïa, I know that, but how can you be sure there aren’t any long-term effects? Can you really be sure you’re not damaging their mind in some way. You have no idea what you’re doing.”

Felitïa sighed. “I can’t be sure, but Miana knows the risk. They’re okay with it.”

“They might be, but will you be if you harm them?”

“Fuck you, Zandrue. We’ll manage, all right?”

Zandrue nodded, but frowned. “All right.” Concern tinged with frustration flowed from her, and she turned away. She caught up with Borisin and mounted him. Then the two of them rode ahead.

* * * * *

The stars were bright tonight. There was no sign of the moon. It was likely hidden behind the mountains, so the sky was particularly dark. Shivering in the cold, Felitïa tried to identify some of the constellations. Unfortunately, she didn’t really know the constellations very well. Meleng probably knew them better. She had identified the Bowl, but that was an easy one.

From beside her came waves of joy from Miana’s sleeping form. Someone was having a good dream. Good for them. Felitïa had tried to sleep, but couldn’t. She was pointlessly worried.

She and Miana had had sex again, and everything was just fine. There had been no problems—well, apart from Borisin yelling at her to keep it down. But everything else had gone fine. Hers and Miana’s minds had blended, and then separated afterwards with no ill effect.

She’d had a lot of time over the past week to think about how the whole mind blending worked, and why she didn’t have to worry about destroying Miana’s mind. She didn’t know for certain, but so much of what she did with her telepathy was instinctive. Mikranasta had provided some guidance, but in the end, it still came down to Felitïa’s instincts. And instinctively, she didn’t want to harm Miana. So she didn’t. Her subconscious mind didn’t allow it. It made sense.

Of course, she didn’t want to harm Zandrue either, and that hadn’t gone so well. But that had been early on, when she’d first come into her full powers. She’d gotten better since then, and it hadn’t happened again. She’d slept close to Zandrue numerous times and there had never been a problem. Not a major one. Once or twice, she’d fallen briefly into Zandrue’s mind during the trip, but she’d always pulled herself out promptly.

There was nothing to worry about. Miana would be fine.

So why was she worried?

Because Zandrue had been right. She didn’t know if there might be long-term consequences. What if every time their minds blended, she was damaging Miana’s slightly? Could it be, the damage was so small, one time was negligible and would never be noticed, but over multiple times, it added up until it became a problem?

She couldn’t shake the possibility. She should talk to Miana, tell them they needed to stop doing this—at least until she knew for sure it was safe.

But she didn’t want to.

Was that selfish of her?

With a sigh, she lay down beside Miana and snuggled up close. Maybe there was another option.

Miana stirred and rolled over to face Felitïa, putting their arms around her. They stared into Felitïa’s eyes, and lust rose around them. “More?” They pulled Felitïa’s face close and kissed her.

Felitïa leaned into the kiss for a moment, but then pulled back. “Not right now.”

Disappointment flooded from Miana, and they released their grip on Felitïa’s head.

Felitïa stroked their face. “I need to be sure of something. Do you mind if I enter here?” She tapped Miana’s forehead.

Miana’s lips spread slowly into a grin. “Go for it.”

“Lie back.”

Miana did as asked. “Should I close my eyes?”

“Up to you.” Felitïa lay beside them. “I’m going to enter your mind, but not blend with it. At least, that’s the plan. Are you all right with that?”

“Of course, though I’d prefer blending.”

“Another time.” Felitïa took Miana’s hand. “Physical contact helps, I think. Or…” She let go. “It might help too much. I’m not really sure.”

Miana grasped Felitïa’s hand. “I like the contact.”

Felitïa liked it too. “Okay, physical contact, it is.” She turned her head to look at Miana, who was looking straight back at her. She waited a moment, letting the image burn itself in her memory. Then she lowered the just-walls in the Room and moved into Miana’s head.

There was the sound of wind and waves, like other times she’d been in Miana’s head, but this time they weren’t on deck. They were in their cabin with Felitïa—Miana’s mental image of Felitïa—fucking. It was a crude way of describing what they were doing, but it was Miana’s word. The feelings of lust that washed over the cabin like a thick mist practically dripped the word.

Do you think of nothing else?

Miana looked up as their mental image of Felitïa faded away. Sorry. When I’m lying beside you like this, it’s hard to think of anything else. And I know you think about it a lot, too.

Felitïa’s cheeks warmed, but she tried not to let her physical body distract her. This is important. We need to be focused.

The cabin faded away, leaving just the sound of waves and wind, and Miana’s emotions spraying like surf. Even Miana’s apparent physical form faded until they were a nondescript presence. They floated close to Felitïa though, almost touching. A part of Felitïa stretched out closer, and a part of Miana also reached out, touching. They started to blend, their minds joining.

Felitïa pulled away. No. We can’t do that right now.

Sorry, I didn’t mean. I just found myself moving towards you. I… They were floating closer to Felitïa again.

Felitïa threw up a wall in front of them, and they bounced back. But only for a moment. Their presence zipped to the side, attempting to go around. Felitïa moved the wall to block again, but Miana’s presence reversed direction. They almost touched Felitïa again, but she was able to get the wall between them just in time.

I’m sorry, Miana said. I’m not doing this on purpose.

Felitïa expanded the wall and curved it, while she looked closely at Miana’s presence. It’s okay. I don’t think you’re doing it. There were tiny, practically invisible threads attached to Miana’s presence. The threads originated at Felitïa and they pulled Miana closer.

With a swipe, Felitïa severed the threads, then wrapped the wall around her in a full sphere. The threads tried to reach out for Miana again, but bounced off the wall. They kept trying though.

Interesting.

More and more threads appeared, frantically jabbing at the wall.

All right, you lot, that’s enough.

They didn’t stop, and if they continued to multiply, they were bound to break through the wall eventually. After all, they were coming from her, and she was controlling the wall. But she had to be controlling the threads as well, if not consciously. She had to get control of herself.

Miana squeezed her hand. “Felitïa, are you all right? I can feel you in my head, but I can’t see you anymore, and you aren’t responding.”

“Give me a moment.”

“All right. I just needed to know you were still there.”

Inside the wall-sphere, the threads had filled up almost the entire space. Felitïa took a deep non-breath, and cleared her thoughts. She closed her interior “eyes”—or perhaps she brought the wall in so close, it completely surrounded her presence—blocking out every sensation, even those from her physical body.

She stayed like that for… a few seconds? A few minutes? An hour or more? It was hard to tell, but probably not very long. She opened her interior eyes. The threads were sitting there, unmoving. Slowly, she began to draw them back into herself, at first just a few at a time, then more and more, getting faster until she was drawing in thousands at a time. Then they were gone.

She dropped the wall, and leapt out of Miana’s head and back into her own.

She sat up and huddled over, and pulled her legs up so her knees pressed against her chest. Shaking.

Miana put their arms around her from behind and laid their head against the back of her neck. “Are you all right?”

Felitïa shook more. “I think we have to stop for a while.”

“You mean…?”

Felitïa clutched Miana’s arms. “No more sex. For a while.”

“But I thought everything was going fine.”

“So we thought, yes.”

“What just happened?”

Felitïa took a moment to try to calm her shaking. It didn’t work very well. “I wanted to be sure I wasn’t causing lasting damage to you. I know everything has seemed to be fine, but I needed to be sure there wasn’t something tiny that would build up over time.”

“And you found something like that?”

“Not exactly. Not in you anyway. I think I’ve been damaging myself. Damage might be the wrong word, but it took everything I had to stop myself blending with you. I need better control, Miana. I need to learn how my head works, and I honestly don’t know how to do that.”

Miana drew back her hair and kissed the back of her neck. “You’ve been telling me that for a while now. I understand, and I’m willing to take the risk. You’ve been practising. You’re getting better. You’ve said as much.”

“Yes, I am getting better, but I can’t let that make me think I’ve progressed further than I actually have.”

Miana kissed the side of her neck. “I understand. Believe me, I do. I know I can be…”

“Insistent? Demanding?”

“I’m not sure those are the words I’d use.”

“Sex-obsessed?”

Miana held Felitïa tighter. “Only because, with you, it’s the best I’ve ever had. By a very large margin. But yes, I’ve been a bit sex-obsessed.”

“A bit?”

“So have you.”

Felitïa groaned. “I suppose I have.”

“At any rate, I understand. But I also don’t think you should let one bad experience hold you back from progressing.”

“It’s not the only bad experience I’ve had.”

“I know.” Miana reached around and placed their hand on Felitïa’s cheek. They pulled very gently. “Face me?”

Felitïa twisted around in their arms, and put her arms around them.

“You haven’t let previous difficulties hold you back. You’ve emerged from them and gotten better. Go back in and try again.”

Felitïa stared into their eyes. Were they right? Was Zandrue? Maybe Zandrue was letting her own dislike of telepathy bias her opinions. Or maybe Miana was letting their own love of it bias their opinions. Probably both were true. So where then did the truth lie? “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Miana ran their fingers through Felitïa’s hair. “Of course you don’t, but you have to practise on someone, and I doubt you’ll find very many other willing subjects. I know what I’m getting into. I know the risks.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.”

While Miana continued to run their fingers through Felitïa’s hair, she ran hers through theirs. “I just…” Her heart pounded.

Miana tilted their head, a hint of a smile on their lips. Excitement flood from them. “Yes?”

What were they excited about? Did they know what she was about to say? She hadn’t even known she was going to say it until right now. She wasn’t even sure yet she could say it. She lowered her head, but Miana held her chin and raised her head back up.

“You were about to say?”

Every calming and focusing exercise she knew fled her mind at that point, and she shook, her heart pounding even more. “I think I’m in love with you. That’s why I can’t bear the thought I might hurt you.”

Joy flooded from Miana, and they leaned forward and kissed Felitïa. “I’ve been in your head. You think I didn’t know you felt that.”

“I didn’t know I felt it.”

Miana nodded. “Yes, I got that impression. Weird how I know your feelings better than you do. But as I’ve been in your head, you’ve been in mine. I think you know how I feel.”

“You’ve never said anything.”

“I’ve been waiting for you to figure it out.”

Tears clouded Felitïa’s vision, but she let them be. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. I’ve never said that to anyone before, so you better know it’s serious.”

Felitïa snickered. “I do.”

“Now, get back in my head and do what you were going to do. Find out if you’ve been harming me.” They leaned over and lightly bit Felitïa’s earlobe. “Don’t worry. I’ll do my best not to imagine us in a passionate embrace.”

Felitïa shivered and her heart beat even faster. She pulled away from Miana’s bite. “That’s really not helping.”

Miana chuckled, then whispered in her ear, “Just motivating you. If you find nothing wrong, there’s no reason to stop for a while.”

Felitïa kissed them quickly, then jumped into their head.

They were on the deck of the Lustrous Rose again, the sound of wind and waves around them. Miana’s emotions, as well as memories, sprayed like mist around them.

The threads reached out for Miana again, but Felitïa pulled them back. Not now, she told them, and they listened.

She spent the next few hours carefully searching every corner of Miana’s mind, going through every memory, and conscious and subconscious thought she could find. She didn’t really know what she was looking for, but nothing looked out of place.

The whole time, she talked to Miana—about their life, about her life, about their desires, and about hers. By the time the first rays of the sun began to peak over the mountains, she wasn’t sure she had ever known someone so completely, or had anyone know her so completely. Not Zandrue. Not Maneshka.

So? Results?

Felitïa smiled mentally. She had no idea if Miana could pick up on it. Nothing. Everything seems fine.

See? I told you you could do it.

You couldn’t have known I wouldn’t find anything.

You’re right. I didn’t know that. I knew you could find out. If you had found something, I would have been right behind you backing away, at least until you could find a way to fix it. But the important thing is, you met an obstacle and you overcame it.

Felitïa wrapped her physical body around Miana’s.

The lustful mist around their presences turned to heavy rain. Is this move suggesting…? Miana said.

I don’t think we have much time. Zandrue will wake up soon.

Then we should be quick.

Miana’s presence moved closer to hers. The tiny threads lashed out, and Felitïa let them. They hooked onto Miana’s presence and drew it into her own. Their minds blended in lust, and more importantly, in love.