<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="bbc_u"><strong>23rd of March, 1570 Anno Domini. <br/>10th Hour; Londinium</strong> </span></span><br/><br/><br/>Tehr stifled a yawn as left the gates to the royal palace and began walking his horse Blondie back towards Hewthorne Hall.  Yesterday was a Woden's day, which meant that he'd spent the night with the queen in the palace.  As the Prince Consort to Queen Elizabeth, he'd settled into a rather standard schedule of spending usually two nights a week in the queen's bedchambers with her.  Of course he was tired this morning because not only had the queen been rather voracious last night, but this morning he'd been ambushed inside the palace.  As the queen dismissed him and went about her royal routine, he'd prepared to leave for home at eighth bell.  But the guard captain Lilian had surprised him in the hall and taken him back to her chambers.  There she'd enjoyed his body for nearly two hours before he finally begged off, feeling almost unable to continue the passions she desired.<br/><br/>Most nights that he spent in the palace, the Queen took great joy in their physical congress, though she did value him as an adviser as well, and he found that some nights they would be up late into the dark winter night discussing the issues that faced her as the Queen.  While she'd officially been the Queen of Britannia for many years now, her official rule had been recognized when her forces had defeated her half sister, the bloody Mary, Queen of the Scots, less than three years ago.  Bloody Mary now sat imprisoned in a castle in Scotland under the guard of William Douglas in his castle, Loch Leven.  Apparently even in exile and imprisonment however, Mary continued to plot.  The Queen's agents had found a small group that had been trying to raise support to free Mary and usurp the Queen's rule.  In a quiet and uncharacteristic brutal move, the Queen had all of the identified members of the group put to death under treason.  It wasn't an action that was known well outside of the walls of the palace, but Tehr supported Elizabeth in it, knowing that her rule was still young and she couldn't weather constant threats to her throne.<br/><br/>Of course the group might not have had the gall to attempt, even in secret, such a meeting if it hadn't been for the Pope.  Pope Pius the fifth, the head of the entire church of the one god, seated upon a throne of gold in Italia, had decried the violence against the members of the church in Britannia.  He'd called for Elizabeth to follow the example of her predecessors and adopt the church of the one god as the official religion of Britannia.  When she'd refused, he had branded her a heretic and said that any member of the church of the one god need not follow her law, and that the laws and wishes of the one god usurped her rule.  It had been a wonderful three weeks of peace between his speech, made on Christmas day, and the day that the pope commanded all members of the church ignore the Queen's edicts and laws.  Three weeks in the dead of winter, when for a moment the kingdom saw peace and followers of the one god and pagans got along in peace and harmony.  But it couldn't last, and thanks to the Pope's edict the church began to agitate again.  They knew they were still vastly weakened, and the influx of new priests and nuns into the country were watched by the much larger base of pagans in Britannia with a hawklike gaze.  So far they had not openly opposed the queen, but the harsh feelings had returned.  This time however, the people were wary of the church's ways, and the horrors that had been exposed only a few months ago had not been forgotten, nor would they be for several lifetimes.  So the Queen found difficulty from the church, but nothing overly complicated.<br/><br/>More pressing however was the calls from foreign diplomats to her for help.  The civil war being fought in Espania was getting intense.  The feints and parries between the two factions that had happened during the cold winter months had exploded with the onset of the warmer spring weather.  Entire towns had been reportedly slaughtered, with each side blaming the other for such atrocities.  There had been several dusky skinned, coal haired diplomats appearing in court lately, pleading for Brittania to aid them.  Most often were the Loyalist nobles, whose holdings primarily came from the northern half of Espania, were seen in Britannia, where the revolutionists were seen less often, as they controlled much of the south, and looked to countries like Italia for aid.  Difficult as it may be, Tehr had so far avoided temptation to bed one of the dusky skinned beauties, the daughters of noblemen, who were staying in the palace.  He couldn't help but wonder if the queen's insistence on him only staying in the palace a few nights a week was specifically so that he did not find his hands roaming to such beauties, and involving Britannia in foreign matters.<br/><br/>The roads opened between Londinium and Wales were acting as a boon during this time.  Due in large part to the elven clan Caelor as well as House Wynt, a large number of lightweight, finely made, elvish arms and armor were now making their way to the queen's guard as well as the troops she desired equipped.  The queen's guard still bore their rather revealing leather armor, but to the trained eye, it now bore a slightly more stylish cut and flair.  Vines, leaves, and flowers could often be seen if one looked close enough at the tooling cut into the leather, a sign that some of the non human races of the kingdom took as an excellent sign, even if they weren't elves themselves.  The halflings of House Ravos had found a much greater role than they'd claimed in previous decades, due in part to Tehr's sponsorship of the house as trustworthy as well as fierce.  During the snowy months when roads might be snowed in, their outriders on lightly armored war hounds, were able to keep the roads clear of bandits, especially north of Londinium between the capital and the halfling lands.  There were even rumors circulating that Emily d'Ravos might jump order of succession over her older sisters and take House Ravos's head when her parents finally decided to step down.  Though such a thing was years, if not decades away, the halfling woman was now a known face in court.  The rumors of her private tea with the prince consort once a week did nothing but enhance her station further, though she remained very closed lipped about any such activities.<br/><br/>Activities that had gotten quite carnal in nature, not that anyone else needed to know that.  Often times, those once a week tea had turned into private mini orgies.  With Emily riding Tehr until she was satiated, and Christina often taking her own pleasure from Alex ir'Hesfal, in her male form of course.  A few times they'd even called in a servant or two to join the two couples, with Angelique gladly joining in on any debauchery, Heidi likewise though with a bit less gusto, and even Sarah Applemane once or twice, though she was much more shy and hesitant.  Sarah often took her days off at the House Ravos compound, enjoying the time around fellow halflings, and Emily d'Ravos never had anything but pleasant words for the shy, curvy, fire haired maid.  Tehr suspected however, that she'd found a halfling lover, for while she occasionally roused him from bed with a warm wet mouth, it was not as often as he'd like, and her shyness had seemed to have grown.  Tehr bore her no ill will however, and she was very fond of the other member of their home.  Christina d'Caelor, the beautiful elven maiden that enchanted Tehr had come to be a part of their home.<br/><br/>The duke Caelor, her father, had entrusted her to his care when he'd left to lead elvish forces across the channel.  At first Tehr had thought it strange but had come to realize why the man had done so.  Tehr had proved himself to be able to hold his oath not to force his desires upon Rosalyn.  Further it continued to cement the alliance between Caelor and Wynt.  In addition Rosalyn desired to stay in Londinium, and it was far safer for her to be in Hewthorne Hall then living out of an inn, or even as a guest of the palace.  Not that the palace was unsecured, but the insinuation between the elven people and the Queen would have been much greater had the duke asked the Queen to protect his daughter than a nobleman he liked and trusted.  Politically it was safer for Rosalyn at Hewthorne Hall than at the palace.  Tehr did not mind at all, and enjoyed the divinely beautiful elf living under his roof.  She'd taken to the solarium and gardens with a passion that seemed to be stereotypical of her race, and one that he was glad to have.  For while he enjoyed a natural environment, and his sister Christina was a fair hand at such things, neither of them was any where near as suited to coaxing beautiful life from plants the way the elven woman was.  Tehr also appreciated that Rosalyn, as one of the few people who knew his apprentice Alex ir'Hesfal's secret, lived with them which kept the secret close.<br/><br/>Alex ir'Hesfal, his apprentice had been taking to 'his' studies as a primal mage with a ferocity and passion.  But the secret that very few knew is that Alex ir'Hesfal was actually born Alexandria d'Hesfal.  She was a changeling woman, a race capable of adopting nearly any humanoid form.  But Alexandria prefered the form of a waifish and feminine man, the man Alex ir'Hesfal was all that anyone in Londinium knew, save of course Christina, Rosalyn, and Tehr.  The ability to shift forms and genders meant that Alex/Alexandria had quickly become a rather useful lover to Christina, who delighted in asking Alexandria to take the form of whatever suited her fancy.  Including sometimes a third gender, bearing the form of a woman, but with a stiff cock rising from above her honeyed sex.  More than a few times Christina had the stiff cock inside of her as Tehr knelt between both of their legs, his manhood plunging into Alexandria's slick pussy as the three of them committed their incestuous passion.<br/><br/>Of course, it also took the pressure off Tehr to make sure that his sister had her carnal desires satisfied.  While she still snuck into his bedroom occasionally at night when the house was asleep, it was far less often thyen before they'd met the changeling.  Which of course took some of the pressure off their incestuous secret being revealed.  Already too many knew or suspected for his tastes. Alexandria d'Hesfal, Angelique Hlaford, and of course Emily d'Ravos all knew that Christina and Tehr were, or at least had been, closer than a brother and sister ought to be.  Tehr didn't know if Rosalyn d'Caelor knew or not, she hinted, but never explained, maddening in her mystery.  Tehr thought she did, as evidenced by a story she told about the elvish people being pansexual, and often choosing to physically love anyone they wished, stressing the word anyone.<br/><br/>It was with that thought in his mind that Tehr, leading his faithful steed Blondie and enjoying the walk through the cool spring morning air, came finally to the gates of Hewthorne Hall.  There a royal guardsman stood at the gate, and unlocked it to let him in with a smile and nod.  Tehr recognized the man's face, but couldn't think of his name, so instead greeted him formally,<strong>"Thank you good sir.  Any news this morning?"</strong><br/><br/><strong>"Aye Master Tehr," </strong>The man said with a thick scottish brogue,<strong>"Yon Lady d'Caelor ha' returned frahm 'er trip sir."</strong><br/><br/>Tehr's eyes widened.  She'd left a little over a week ago, traveling back home for some important elvish festival that commemorated the birth of spring on the twentieth of the month.  She's promised that she'd be back before his birthday, on the first day of April, but he hadn't known when she'd be back.  He felt his heart skip a beat at the news.  He looked towards the house as the name of the guardsman came to his mind, "<strong>Excellent thank you James, she's in the house then?"</strong><br/><br/>The scottish guardsman locked the gate behind him and shook his head,<strong>"Iffn it pleases ya m'lord, ya can call me Jimmy.  My da was James an I never cared for it.  But no, she went to tha gardens ta 'welcome spring' to tha house as she said."</strong><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">NSFW image - Rosalyn in the garden</div><div class="spoiler_body">  (http://i.imgur.com/mN6XpEp.jpg)  </div></div><br/><br/>Tehr thanked the guardsman and walked a little quicker, aided in part by the new magical boots he'd received recently from the queen, towards the stables.  He handed the reigns off to the older halfling that worked as his groom,<strong>"Mister Oakbarrel,</strong>" he said bowing to the elder halfling who answered with a slight grunt and bow of his head.<strong> "Blondie spent the night relaxing in the stables, and didn't have to carry anything back from the palace other than my quarterstaff, so I doubt she needs to be rubbed down.  Of course I trust your judgement in all things in terms of her care."</strong><br/><br/>The elder halfling took the reigns and muttered something quietly under his breath, but Tehr didn't mind.  The groomsman was grumpy on the outside, but had a heart of gold.  Plus he took excellent care of not only the stables but also the bunkhouse that he lived in with several guardsmen above the stables.  Excellent service allowed for a little bit of leeway in formality, at least that's what Tehr thought.  Plus he was too eager to see the elven woman.  Despite the months that he'd known her, he'd kept true to his word to her father that he wouldn't lay an ungentlemanly hand on her without her expressed consent.  While there had been flirting and hints of attraction, he'd not yet been given the sign from her that she wished for more than a deep friendship.  But even that, he missed while she'd been gone.  So he hurried over to the gardens and frozen in his tracks.<br/><br/>There, platinum blonde hair whirling about, lithe body dancing, flawlessly smooth skin glowing in the morning light, he saw her.  He saw all of her, as she danced among the flowers and bushes, not a stitch of clothing on her body that was somehow slight and petite, but also buxom.  Her skin like cream glistened with pale rose nipples atop heaving breasts, her eyes, lined with Kohl, closed and her perfect mouth opened as a song of elvish words floated from it like the breeze on a warm day.<br/><br/>Tehr felt his heart freeze again as he looked upon her naked beauty.  It wasn't even the first time he'd seen her skyclad, as Christina and she had done so a few times in the autumn before the weather turned too cold.  But never had he gotten more than a fleeting glance.  Plus the way she moved only seemed to accentuate her feminine perfection.  He didn't know the elvish song she sang, but it etched itself into his brain like a red hot brand, and only when the song ended and her dance brought her to her knees on the soft green grass was he able to move again.  He cleared his throat and she turned to look at him.  And lo, did his world shatter once again as she smiled at him, looking over her shoulder at him and meeting his gaze.  She reached for a nearby gown of white and pulled it to her,<strong>"Master Tehr it is good to see you again."</strong>She spoke as if her nudity meant nothing, but slid the dress over her head, standing and approaching to embrace him in a hug before giggling musically,<strong>"Why, Tehr, for me?"</strong><br/><br/>She stepped back and looked down at his crotch, which sported a rigid and sudden erection that pressed outwards beneath the silken trousers he wore.  Her smile teasing but not taunting as she adjusted the white dress slightly over her otherwise naked body.  Tehr stammered and bowed, remembering his vow to behave himself around her.<strong>"Apologies m'lady, I was simply stunned by your beauty."  </strong>Then quickly gesturing to the house he asked,<strong>"I've not eaten breakfast yet this morning, would you join me and tell me news of your homeland?" </strong>He prayed quietly that if he switched topics, the sudden erection might fade.