12. Berne #2
The girls nodded, though Ingrid looked a bit grumpy, and held out their tiny hands to shake Sirin's.
''It really is lovely to meet you,'' she said. ''And I have no favorite girls at the moment. Would you two be interested in the job?''
The girls giggled as he spotted Catrin behind them, tying up their rowboat.
She jogged over, waving to Sirin. ''It's nice to meet you!
I came by yesterday, but you were asleep.
I'm Catrin,'' she said with a wave. '' I was hoping you both might consider joining us for supper tonight.
Mom and Dad can come too, so you can meet all of us! '' Catrin looked at Sirin hopefully.
''If we don't have any other plans…—'' Sirin looked at Berne.
''No, we don't. What should we bring?'' he asked, though he mouthed ''Honey cakes,'' at the same moment she said it aloud.
They chatted with Catrin and the girls for a while, but Berne stiffened when he spotted Gunna approaching. Catrin raised her eyebrows cheekily. ''Oh, gosh, I just remembered we need to go talk to Mrs. Swensen about her order! Look at the time, have a great day you lovebirds!'' she said.
Berne frowned as she scurried away, herding the girls before her as they blew kisses around her legs.
He turned to Sirin to reassure her. With Gunna walking straight for them, Sirin was sure to feel nervous.
Instead, when he looked down at her, Sirin's eyes were alight with glee and she was smiling maniacally.
''Are you alright?'' he asked under his breath. ''You look a wee bit deranged. I know Gunna can be intimidating but—''
''Berne, dear,'' Sirin whispered between the clenched teeth of her smile, ''this woman couldn't scare me if she tried. Don't worry about me. I love this shit. Your job is to keep a straight face and look supportive. Deal?''
''Uh, if you say so,'' he answered skeptically. Berne was positively fascinated with his new mate. She was constantly surprising him and he chuckled at the thought he had felt he'd known her after watching her for a week. Something told him he wouldn't really know her for years.
''Ah, here is our hasty bear and his wily researcher,'' Gunna said as she approached. She held her thin hands clasped in front of her, her head snapping between them with sharp movements.
''Hello, Head Councillor, lovely day, isn't it? How can we help you? Berne has been showing me around your lovely village,'' Sirin said.
''Indeed,'' Gunna replied. ''I have come to inform you that you can expect instruction daily from just after noon until five o'clock.
We expect you to complete the entire curriculum for our schooling system, and only once it's done will you'll be assigned a workspace.
2 Further, the council will schedule a meeting where we can discuss the direction of your research and guidelines for any writings you complete. ''
Berne looked between the two women. If it were him, he'd be swatting the ground with his paws in defense.
He was nearly ready to do so for Sirin. He acknowledged he was already popping his jaw, which Gunna noticed, and shot him a quelling look.
He lowered his head into his shoulders in deference.
He'd stood up to Gunna a great deal over the last few days, and it seemed she wasn't going to stand for more.
Berne looked to Sirin, who was watching the exchange with a puzzled look. It occurred to him his new wife wasn't used to people communicating in postures like this. He'd need to show her. She squeezed his hand and turned back to Gunna.
''Sounds lovely. I look forward to learning the curriculum and seeing the space.
I have at least one individual interested in assisting in my research.
Please let me know if you think of anyone else.
Further, I have a bit of money in the currency of the Compact; is there any way of changing that over?
I would like to be able to pay the individuals working for me, thank you! '' Sirin said sweetly.
Gunna blinked and Berne suppressed a chuckle.
No, his wife didn't need his help at all, it seemed.
Gunna cleared her throat. ''Actually, we use the same currency.
Our Lady established it across Timonde prior to her slumber, so the value may be different than what you expect, but it should work fine.
Our outrunners have spent ours with little trouble at outposts in the past.'' Gunna straightened her shoulders and cocked her head.
''I do believe that will be all, thank you Mr. and Mrs. Brodersen-Agbuya.
Good day.'' Gunna nodded curtly and strode away from them.
Berne turned to Sirin, wide-eyed. She'd handled Gunna better than he ever had, though she'd never been caught pilfering from Gunna's berry bushes.
Sirin smiled up at him, her joy spread across her face. After a moment, she widened her eyes in surprise and bit her lip. Dear Lady, she was the prettiest thing he had ever seen.
That one small motion shot straight through him, reminding him of private nibbles and her looking up at him through her lashes.
He breathed in through his nose. The middle of town, right next to one of the most heavily traveled canals, was not the place to get a hard-on.
No matter how gorgeous or sexy she was when she was demanding.
Sirin went onto her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.
''You know, you can use lunula to deal with that, Mr. Brodersen-Agbuya,'' she whispered as she grasped his cock through his pants.
Berne could feel a blush color his cheeks and he let out some sort of ridiculous sound as she squeezed.
''It's like you people spend so much of your energy and lunula on shifting that you forget everything else you can do with it. ''
Berne nodded, like the idiot he was. He wasn't practiced at using lunula in such ways, or consciously at all.
So much of how he used lunula was instinctual that he almost never thought to use it consciously.
Berne's shoulders tensed, and he looked around to see if anyone was watching them.
They were in public, but it seemed for the moment no one was staring at them, at him.
He closed his eyes and drew in a shuddering breath when he saw they were completely alone, her hand stroking his arm.
''There,'' she whispered. ''Imagine your body is a river, the whole thing connected to the Spine.
Each vein is a tributary connecting you to the magic that runs through you.
Visualize it, feel it coursing through you.
All over your body, it's working to make changes, to keep you healthy.
I want you to follow the branch that leads to your penis. ''
For a moment, the clinical use of the word startled Berne; he almost never called it that. But, he could see she used it intentionally, clinically, so he could focus.
When she spoke again, he could feel the smile in her voice. ''Have you found it?'' He nodded as he located it. He had never before thought of it in this way; it had always been part of who he was, but picturing it this way was smooth, easy.
''I want you to direct some of that stream to leave.
You should be able to tell the amount,'' she whispered.
And sure enough, he could feel the amount of blood he needed for normal functioning, and the extra blood that engorged him.
He wasn't sure, at first, how he should ''direct'' it, but like so much of how he currently used it, the lunula seemed to respond to his gentle suggestion to move that amount of blood out of his cock.
''That's so, so good,'' Sirin said, and he could swear she was trying to be sexy.
Her voice was lowered, only for him, and there was a rasp to it he had only heard in the bedroom.
A second later, she grabbed at his cock again and the blood tried to rush back.
''Ah, ah, ah. Keep it out of there. You can do this, just shunt it somewhere else, it doesn't need to be there right now. ''
She punctuated her phrases with tugs, making stemming the flow of blood back into his cock damn near impossible.
''Lass,'' he grunted, ''I don't ken how you think I am gonna manage it with you yanking on the thing like you're trying to harvest a damn carrot.''
Sirin giggled but gave him a firm tug, milking a grunt out of him before releasing him.
He didn't know if he felt grateful or disappointed, but surely it was both.
She gave him one last pat, and finally he felt like he was able to return things to normal.
This woman is going to kill me, but I just might die happily. 3