Chapter 201: Acquainted

Thea remained unconscious on the cathedral floor.

Nectar still shone across her bare skin. Her chest rose and fell, her blue eyes remained closed as if she was unconscious. Her body was too far gone from the sex and the heat of the climax to respond to voices yet.

Kalon stood over her while Nyphara and Yildaphia remained bowed.

"She’s from my world," Kalon said. "Her name is Thea. She’s one of my women."

Nyphara rose first, calm and unsurprised that Kalon had more than one woman claimed as his own.

Her attention stayed fixed on the human girl with open acceptance.

"Then she is welcome," Nyphara said. "Any woman brought here by the Light Bringer is under the cathedral’s protection. When she wakes, we will receive her properly."

She turned to Yildaphia.

"Take her to the baths. Carefully."

Yildaphia bowed again. "Yes, Priestess."

The smaller leaf-skinned woman knelt beside Thea and lifted her with both arms under her back and knees. It was a heavy lift, but Yildaphia seemed to have a surprisingly decent strength attribute for a petite woman.

Thea stirred only weakly, head resting against Yildaphia’s shoulder, still not truly awake. Nectar smeared onto Yildaphia’s skin as she carried her away from the open floor and toward the side corridor.

Kalon watched them go, then nodded once to Nyphara before following at a distance.

...

The bath chamber was warm and sweet-smelling.

Living stone basins held pale gold water fed by the cathedral’s own nectar lines. Steam hung low over the surface.

Yildaphia lowered Thea into one of the smaller heated pools with careful hands.

The moment the hot water touched her, Thea made a soft sound in her throat, but her eyes did not open all the way yet.

Nyphara entered after them and began loosening the rest of her own outer layers for the water. Yildaphia followed her lead with quieter movements. Neither of them treated Thea’s nakedness like a problem.

Thea drifted for a little longer in the heat.

Then the sweetness of the water and the deep warmth finally pulled her all the way up.

Her blue eyes opened.

For a second she only registered heat, steam, and the fact that her body felt clean where it had been sticky before. Then full awareness landed.

She was naked in a bath.

And she was not alone.

Thea’s whole body tensed as she saw the two leaf-skinned women in the water with her. Her hands moved on reflex to cover her chest.

Then she properly saw them.

Nyphara’s heavy green breasts were fully bare in the steam, floating slightly with the waterline. Yildaphia’s smaller chest was the same, exposed without any attempt at modesty. Both women sat naturally in the bath as if nothing about it required explanation.

Thea froze, face going red.

Nyphara noticed at once and raised a calming hand.

"Do not worry," she said gently. "Among our people, the breasts are holy. Sacred. They are not hidden in shame here. They are part of the body the Mother made open to light and life." Her gold-green eyes softened. "And I am certain the Light Bringer has already shown you just how precious they are."

Thea’s blush deepened immediately.

She looked away toward the edge of the bath, clearly remembering exactly what Kalon had shown her in the cathedral, and how she had ended up on the floor covered in nectar in the first place. Her hands lowered a little, though the red stayed in her cheeks.

"...Right," she muttered.

Yildaphia poured warm water carefully over Thea’s shoulders without comment. The remaining stickiness from the nectar washed away into the gold-tinted bath. Little by little, Thea’s body loosened again under the heat, even if her embarrassment did not fully disappear.

They cleaned off in relative quiet after that.

When they were done, Nyphara had fresh soft wraps brought in for Thea. The fabric was light and green-toned, clearly local, but it covered her properly enough that her shoulders finally dropped. Kalon waited outside the bath chamber until they emerged.

...

Later, the four of them sat with tea in the cathedral pews.

The cups were carved from pale resin-wood and filled with a sweet floral drink that steamed gently in the cool interior air.

Thea sat close to Kalon, still faintly red whenever her eyes drifted toward Nyphara’s exposed chest, but no longer on the edge of panic.

She was slowly learning the absurdity of different species.

Yildaphia remained quiet and attentive.

Nyphara handled most of the ease in the room.

They talked for a long while.

Nyphara asked about Earth in broad terms, and about how Thea had come to travel with Kalon.

Thea answered, and listened carefully when the talk turned to Veylora’s customs, the Mother Tree, and why the priestesses lived as they did.

Kalon filled in only when needed. Yildaphia spoke little, but when she did it was to explain small practical things: the baths, the nectar lines, the way visitors were meant to be received.

The conversation stayed steady and strangely comfortable for a meeting between two humans and two leaf-skinned priestesses in an empty cathedral.

By the time the tea ran down, Thea’s posture had changed. She still looked out of place in the green wrap and vine-framed hall, but she no longer sat like someone waiting to be judged for being there.

Kalon eventually set his cup down.

"We should return."

Nyphara inclined her head.

"Whenever you bring her again, she will be received as she was today. We love her company."

Thea glanced at Kalon, then at the priestesses, and gave a small nod of her own.

"Thank you, truly."

Kalon took her hand, focused on the system, and initiated the return.

[Returning to Earth...]

[Adapting both bodies...]

[...]

[Transfer complete.]

They landed back in the quiet of Kalon’s top-floor apartment. City light glowed beyond the wide window.

The cathedral warmth and nectar-sweet air were gone, replaced by ordinary night and glass and distant traffic.

Thea stood still for a second longer, as if her body needed a moment to accept that she was home again.

Then she looked at Kalon, cheeks still faintly warm, and let out a long breath.