Tehr inwardly groaned as Christina lounged backwards in her knickers and a simple cloth about her breasts.  Tehr could swear he caught a flash of darkness on her knickers, a slight damp spot there at the very nexus of her sex that spoke of her arousal.  That combined with the peaked hard nubs of her nipples showing through the cloth on her chest told him that his sister was at least slightly aroused.  His cock throbbed again and he tried to will his own erection away, quite unsuccessfully.<br/><br/>He startled a little when she mentioned keeping things in the family, and wondered if she was again teasing him.  She'd done that in the past, joke and kid about bedding him, even though she knew such a thing would be the height of impropriety.  His brain went into overdrive trying to analyze what she meant about mother knowing when things were being hid from her.  They'd been children practically when they'd gone through their experimental phase.  Well, technically they were adults of course, it being about five years ago.  According to the law of the land, a girl was officially a woman on her sixteenth naming day.  So Christina had been a woman for all intents and purposes, and he was almost two years older.<br/><br/>He'd always been led to believe that his uncle, his father's brother, hadn't ever told his parents what he'd seen Tina and Tehr doing.  But Tina's words chilled him slightly.  Their mother was one of the smartest and shrewdest women he'd ever known.  Correction, people he'd ever known, her gender had nothing to do with it.  Could it be possible that she suspected Tehr and Tina were being indiscreet with each other?  They did used to sneak off to the woods together a lot, and certainly she'd know that.  Likewise, Tehr often looked like the cat that ate the canary now after a rousing romp in the sack, certainly his face when he was younger was even less schooled in hiding his satisfaction.  Could it be that their mother perhaps even sent their uncle to find them?  It would prevent a layer of shame on the family if a beloved uncle decided to help 'keep the secret' as opposed to having to scold or punish them herself.<br/><br/>But if that was true, and that's what Christina's words hinted at, what did all of it mean?  Especially when combined with her earlier comment about 'wanting to enjoy things now that she was away from mom's watchful eyes.'  Could it be that his sister secretly still yearned for him?  It was obvious that he was still aroused by her physical beauty, that much was clear by the erection tenting his trews.  Then again, maybe he was simply reading too much into it.  He already had his plate more than full with trying to satisfy the queen, a halfling noblewoman, three servants who were all quite energetic, and now he owed a small debt to Lilian, who'd expressed interest in him in the past.  None of whom, with the exception of the queen, would make acceptable wives.  His mother would not approve.  Then again, as Christina had mentioned... mother wasn't here.   No, she was several days away at their home.  Even more there was nearly zero chance she'd be able to come visit.  Running the family home would take all of her time and several days on the road to check in on her children was not possible.<br/><br/>Tehr was so lost in his own thoughts that he'd only half listened to his sister's comments about the halflings.  Had he been paying closer attention he may have been more shocked by her words, but he was lost in his own thoughts until she mentioned the bandits.  Then his attention was fully on his sister.  Her description of the way her mother handled the situation made him smile.  She was a lively and vivacious woman, still quite attractive and vital considering she had just celebrated her fiftieth name day before he left for Londinium.<br/><br/>Tehr was concerned about bandits on their ancestral lands, but there wasn't much he could do about it from Londinium.  Though he did ponder it for a moment and then say, "I think that it's not too worth worrying about Tina.  I've started the contract signings with the consortium of families that will beginning mining soon.  Once the last document is signed and filed with the kingdom assayer, then the bandits will be the consortium's problem, not ours.  They'll have to provide security for their mines on our land, for their caravans, for their own people.  It will allow mother to pull back on the gold spent on guards."<br/><br/>He paused, and this line of thought finally took his mind off the way his sister was sitting, the arousal she was showing, and the painful erection in his pants.  "However, It might be worth considering forming a small band to travel home and root out the bandits.  If I took a few highly skilled mercenaries, like Tera, and we decimated the bandits, it would show that the Wynt household will take no encroachment on our territory.  Stories of this would of course make their way to court and would be applied to us personally, not just our house."  He pondered it for a short while, wondering if Emily d'Ravos or one of her knights would be interested in undertaking such a task.  The pay would be nothing to a noblewoman, but the glory would likely make up for it.  He even realized that Ironna the dwarf had displayed artifacts about her home of her martial prowess, though she could likely not close up her butcher's shop on a whim.<br/><br/>What was more, there was an ancient druid ring deep on their lands.  Tehr had only had contact with the druids a few times in his life, but they had never been terribly unpleasant.  His family left much of their land wild and natural, something that the druids respected.  They did not officially recognize anyone's claim on the land, but they were smart enough to know that the Wynt house was more in line with their natural life then other houses in the kingdom.  He might be even able to enlist help from Greybeard or one of the old druid's acolytes.  Greybeard was a wizened old man who had to be somewhere in his eighth decade of life, though he still moved like a man half his age.  The old druid claimed to have disciples, though Tehr had never met a one.  Maybe however Tehr could convince the man to join him or send along a disciple to help.  After all, if the consortium had to take care of the bandits, they would destroy much of nature to do so.  Creating fire breaks and clearcutting sections of the forest to create 'safe' roads was a common practice.  If they could take out the bandits ahead of time, the scarring on the land would be minimalized to a great degree.<br/><br/>But he didn't know if he had time to do such a thing.  Certainly he had so much on his plate already.  He needed to visit the queen again in another day or two.  If he was going to be her paramour, he needed to be available to her when she desired physical intimacy.  Leaving Londinium for a week to go back home would certainly strain the budding relationship.   He'd promised Emily d'Ravos that he'd visit her homelands, and there was nothing for it, he would not break his promise to her.  Likewise he had research he wanted to do on his blue magic spells, and also he needed to start putting time in on his enchantments to create the minor magical items that would provide a huge boost in income for his family.  Income that would be needed once the renovations began on the mannor home.  Plus leaving the City for several days would give any of his opponents, like the church or house Dale to move against him.  He knew not how, nor even that they would, but if he was gone, he was blind to any incidents.<br/><br/>Still, the idea sat very well with him.  If he could take a few people, no more then 4 others besides him, they could travel swiftly.  They could arraive unannounced and find the bandits and destroy them.  He knew his ancestral lands better than probably anyone else alive.  Not as well as his father or brother would have of course, but well enough for certain."  The thought of his brother and father caused him to feel a pang of loss for a moment, but he pushed it away, determined to focus on the positives.  He'd mourned their loss, and would not dwell on it as he'd seen some people do for their whole lives.  Sorrow was an emotion, not a cloak to wrap about you and carry for the rest of your life.<br/><br/>Finally though, his erection had flagged to a much more manageable state, only semi erect, and he felt comfortable standing now.  So he stood and walked to the bar and poured himself a glass of brown liquor.  It was a gnomish burboun, expensive but smooth and sweet.  Only pouring a single finger of it, he sat back down and leaned forwards.  His elbows on his knees as he decided to ask his sister's thoughts.  She was here and could help advise him now.  He laid out his thoughts on the bandits, and his idea about going to rid the lands of them.  He wanted her thoughts.  Could she function in Londinium without him if he were to leave in a few days?   Could she begin her dual tasks of meeting and befriending Anne d'Wellington as well as beginning to oversee renovations on the Manor home?  Most of all, he wanted to know her thoughts, if it was a good idea or if it would take him from the city for too long.  Would the potential benefit outweigh the risk?<br/><br/><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">ooc</div><div class="spoiler_body">I figured that I'd sort of try to wrap up some of the loose threads that I've started in this game by getting my sister to assist me.   I hope this is ok, having her help share the burden with brother mical and with the house.  On the same note, I feel like we haven't  "D&amp;D"-ed this game very much.  I'm ok with that and have really enjoyed it, but I thought maybe your mention of the bandits might be your way of getting me back into the 'game' aspect of our story.  If that's the case, I tried to drop hints for a potential 'party' to take out the bandits.  Again, that's IF you wanted to do it that way.  It would be easy to steer the game in whatever direction you want just by Christina's response.  I'm ok with either staying in Londinium, or with taking a trip back to his home to have some bandit time.   I also left the druid thing vauge, greybeard could be too old, maybe sending along a young student, or maybe he just doesn't want to help.  In any case, I'm very easy going and will go with whatever you want.   I hope I haven't made you too uncomfortable with the whole incest angle.</div></div>