Chapter 3: Meeting Elayna
He'd introduced himself. She'd been polite, and Cait had immediately berated herself for giving the idiot the idea. Because he'd quickly taken simple politeness as an invitation, an invitation to a way too lengthy conversation. He was currently launching himself into what she could only describe as a very sad and poor attempt at wooing both her and Elayna.
Can’t this guy take a hint? Cait had been having an incredible time teasing and getting to know the extremely adorable little fun-sized Elf. Until the most average-looking Human boy she’d ever laid her eyes upon, tried his damnedest to keep himself in the conversation which she was trying to hold with Elayna alone.
Nearly the only reason she was even talking with him to begin with was so that she wouldn’t come off as rude in front of the guileless little Elf, Cait had decided she liked the Elf ever since she first saw her. The other reason she wasn’t telling him to fuck right off was because she already knew exactly who he was. The Archduke governing the West Province, Matheos Hardwick, was this very plain and annoying William Hardwick's, father.
Caitlynn herself was but a humble fourth daughter to a minor viscountess, governing a village numbering not even a thousand in the East Province, so while William's father was governing the lands completely opposite to where she lived, he was still the son of an archduke.
And Matheos wasn’t only an archduke.
Matheos was also a notoriously famed hammer-wielding warrior—a Grandmaster. The second highest combat rank there was. The title of Grandmaster meant something specific: fighters, all of them. Pure warriors, hybrid mana-users who strengthened their bodies or their weapons, monks who put it all through their fists. Archmages were the spellcasting equivalent to a Grandmaster. No blades or weapons, no swinging of their fists, just pure magic.
And you could count every living holder in the empire of the two titles combined on two hands. In an empire of over eight hundred million people.
You put effort into learning these names, if you had a brain, Caitlynn had a brain. You also learned not just the titleholders, but their family names too. A Grandmaster's blood was still a Grandmaster's blood, diluted or not, the blood running in their veins had proved to always mean something, historically.
So, while William Hardwick might be the most aggressively average person she'd met today, his father was someone capable of reducing a smaller city to ruins and rubble before breakfast if he felt like it.
That sadly meant that it didn't feel appropriate for Cait to tell him to fuck off. And by the saints did she want to tell him that.
“I seem to recall that there aren’t many Cat-kin at the academy,” William said, and he quickly put on a face as if to say, ‘I don’t mean it like that!’ and although Caitlynn knew it wasn’t racism, she understood perfectly well that it was just something equally stupid.
The conversation had drifted exactly where she'd expected it to. Origins and families. Families. Origins. The usual game of Who—Are—Your—Parents!
“Obviously I’m not trying to belittle you or to imply that you’re not a fit for the academy” He added in a quick and panicked voice.
Phah! Elayna’s fat ass you’re not.
While she feigned ignorance and showed no signs of having taken offence, Cait was painting a vivid picture in her mind of how good it would feel to punch his boring face in. Which, to be fair, Cait thought. Would probably succeed in at least making it more interesting while not making it any less attractive.
“I’m just wondering what great and prestigious—”
“My mother’s a viscountess.” She interrupted flatly, staring with a blank expression at William’s now slowly crumbling one. She was truly hoping that now, upon hearing that her status barely surpassed that of a barons or baroness’, that he would finally lose interest and let her continue her conversation with the little lavender-haired cutie in front of her, or at least that he’d start to show some of his true colors.
“A-ah, I see," he said, and looked down briefly before looking up, and Cait could see the gears turning quickly in his head. "Still… I imagine it requires a great deal of care, governing on such a personal level, overseeing smaller lands and villages and so.”
Cait sighed internally. I suppose he’s doing a decent job in managing to keep his face straight... At least that face is doing something right... Almost, right. She'd caught the flash of a look across his face, brief but obvious, the kind of look that very clearly said "oh, so just a viscountess" without saying it out loud before the mental reset kicked in and his poorly practiced smile came back.
It probably helped Cait that Elayna was standing here, between them. She looks so clueless and unbothered by all of this, showing no reaction or maybe just failing to know why a reaction would even be warranted... Does she even know how low a viscountess ranks?
“So, you’ll inherit her title and lands after her?”
“Nope. I’ve got three siblings and I'm the youngest, so I won't inherit shit. But I don’t really lose out on a whole lot, since the only thing inheriting the Stormborn name would ever get me is a small plot of land and a village numbering a good several hundred”.
With a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, William replied, “I-is that so, t-then perhaps I can see why you would not be so interested in inheriting, but—”
“D-Diana Stormborn?!” Elayna shouted, butting into the conversation. “Is she your sister!?”
Cait wasn’t ready for Elayna to grab her hand. Elayna wrapped both of her small ones around one of hers. The little Elf was looking up at her with huge, amber eyes that were practically sparkling.
She wasn’t ready, because after Cait had caught her staring earlier, the cute little Elf had endured Cait’s relentless teasing for a good bit and had eventually abandoned words altogether in favor of tiny, soft non-verbal sounds. Right up until Diana's name had come up in the conversation.
“Hm? Diana? Yeah, she’s my sister. Why?” ...Have they met? Cait wondered.
“I’ve seen her fight—I mean, I've seen her spar with many skilled Sword Masters, she’s so extremely skilled with the sword despite her age, and her control over mana is extraordinary! ☆And she’s incredibly beautiful as well! She’s most definitely an amazing person☆! I’ve admired her ever since I first saw her!” Caitlynn could’ve sworn she now saw actual stars dancing around in the Elf’s golden eyes.
Hm?
Realizing what Elayna had just said, Cait sensed an opportunity.
The Elf obviously idolized her sister Diana. Diana, who looked exactly like Cait. Exactly, like Cait. They had the same face, same eyes, same height, same body, same everything right down to the way they ended up standing when they weren't thinking about it.
The only difference, the single thing that let people tell them apart at a glance, was the hair. Just the hair.
“Oh right, guess I haven’t thought about that for a minute.” Cait said absentmindedly.
Huh, she thought. She’d honestly kind of forgotten about her oldest sister almost being a master at an age where most people weren’t even remotely close.
“Yes yes," she continued. "It's likely that she’s to become a master in the next couple of years.” She said while brushing the topic aside with a lazy wave of her hand.
She kept her voice dismissive, intent on skipping the topic entirely, much more interested in the opportunity that had just landed in her lap.
Leaning down she took the Elf’s small hands with her free one in a tight hold, and she caught the moment Elayna glanced down and realized they were now tightly holding hands.
Before she had a chance to pull away, Cait had already drawn her in, bringing her face close to Elayna’s, her feline eyes soft with delight.
Elayna tilted her head, looking up at her with those big, amber eyes, looking like she wasn’t sure what was going on.
“You know…” she murmured, voice light with amusement, “While I don’t mind compliments.” She leaned in even further, wanting Elayna to feel her breath. "I’ve already seen the way you look at me.”
A soft, but purposefully breathy laugh slipped out of Caitlynn.
“And your staring was ~aaaany~thing but moral you little voyeur~”
Elayna’s eyes widened, her thoughts now very clearly tripping over themselves.
“U-uuhm, I—I wasn’t — I mean, I was just—”
Her gaze flickered up to Caitlynn and seemed to only now finally realize the uncanny resemblance between Cait and Diana. Her gaze dropped, cheeks and long ears reddening mightily at the realization.
“…W-well uhm," Elayna muttered quietly. "You are just... Y-you’re both just—just too pretty,” she finished, almost too quiet to hear.
Almost.
Aaaaaw~ she’s like a little blushing maiden talking to her first crush... Wait. Cait’s thoughts halted abruptly. Wait, is that what this is... It is, isn’t it? Only question is... Is it me or is it Diana?
Deciding to not care about that for now. Cait was having a lot of fun teasing the short, fat-assed Elf. She felt slightly impish and decided to give the blushing Elf something more to appreciate, she tugged her bodice slightly and leaned forward with arms pressed together.
“Mm~ is that a problem?”
She tilted her head innocently to the side, her eyes wide and innocent—like she didn’t know exactly what she was doing to the little Elf.
“Me being too prett~ty?” Cait said, emphasizing the syllables.
She could see Elayna working very hard to keep her eyes from falling lower than her face.
“N-no! B-but your teasing is the... problem...?” Elayna said, and Cait could see that the little cutie had maybe started to realize her real feelings about her teasing.
She wanted to let the Elf simmer these thoughts for a little while, so she let go of Elayna’s hand and stood straight and instead let her eyes do the rest of the teasing. She ran them over the fidgety, bottom-heavy little thing, letting her eyes linger far too long on her blessed rear for Elayna’s comfort.
Somewhere to her left, William cleared his throat quietly.
Right. That guy.
She'd almost forgotten he was still there.
Somewhere in the last minute William had apparently given up. She couldn't blame him exactly. She'd essentially forgotten he actually existed the moment Elayna had grabbed her hand.
He was still there, technically. Practiced smile, eyes not really participating. She spared him a brief glance but quickly returned her full attention to the lavender-haired disaster currently turning an impressive shade of red in front of her.
Cait felt something warm settle in her chest at the sight — something very pleased and happy but not exactly kind.
She knew this was someone she'd have to take her time with. She didn’t want to rush things.
She just didn’t know if she had the patience or self-control not to.
And William Hardwick could wait. He would learn, eventually, that Caitlynn's attention was not something you could insert yourself into uninvited and walk away from unharmed.
But that was a lesson for another day. For now, she'd leave him with just the ego damage.
Right now her attention was on the cute Elf in front of her.
Elayna looked like she was working something out. Standing there with a small furrow between her brows, cheeks still very pink, something turning over behind those big, bright, amber eyes.
Cait raised a hopeful eyebrow and waited.
Figure it out, sweetling. At your own pace. Preferably soon.
She could be patient. She was very good at patient. Patience was very good to her in turn. But self-control was something considerably harder when a pretty little thing such as Elayna was standing right there in front of her, looking so delicate and easy to ruin.
Before Elayna could open her mouth a loud voice cut through everything.
“Everyone! Quiet and listen up!” shouted a deep and rumbling voice. Cait turned around and saw that it belonged to a tall, imposing Orc with legs and arms both thicker than her waist. He looked very much like the typical war-seasoned veteran, he had a bald head full of scars, thick untamed beard which was sprouting a few grey hairs, and stood with his back ramrod straight. “The classes have now been fully established, and we shall momentarily go into the Great Hall to begin your opening ceremony! Before that, some of the ground rules of the Academy!”
He proceeded to list the rules quickly. No unsanctioned combat outside designated training areas. No discharge of offensive magic within dormitory or classroom buildings, and so on.
Cait barely listened. She'd read them in the admissions packet. Most people here probably had.
She confirmed her suspicion as she looked around and saw that most of the students were not really paying attention. Not even Elayna, Cait noticed with a small smile, then realized that the little innocent Elf had almost certainly studied even the ground rules rigorously and probably knew them better than the Orc currently shouting them.
William, and Cait wasn't surprised, was standing there with the focused expression of someone taking serious mental notes of everything being said.
Elayna now found herself standing close behind Caitlynn, close enough that she noticed something she’d somehow failed to notice until now, something that made her forget all her previous problems and conflicting thoughts.
She has a tail! she thought with glee. And it looks so fluffy!
Watching it stand upright, swaying gently in front of her. Elayna wanted very, very much to touch and feel it. Her hand had already unconsciously started drifting towards it, and when she noticed what she was doing and realized that what she was about to do would be wrong, she grabbed her wrist and told herself that she should stop.
But she didn’t want to stop, she wanted to at least put a finger on it.
The tail had suddenly begun to quiver and tremble sporadically before she could brush it with her finger, she wondered what would cause such a sudden change. Tails were uncontrollable and often betrayed their owners' emotions. So, Elayna glanced up to see what Caitlynn was doing or looking at, only to lock eyes with her instead, seeing her vertical slits slowly dilating as wide and consuming as a black hole. Momentarily enchanting the Elf.
“Go ahead, you can touch it sweetie~” she said, looking like a cat that had got all the damn cream. “You don’t have to act like you don’t want to” Cait added with a large grin.
Something finally snapped inside Elayna, having been the victim of relentless teasing for the last ten minutes or so, she decided she wouldn’t let Caitlynn have it her way any longer.
Elayna darted her hand forward. But since she hadn’t controlled the speed at which she thrust her hand, she ended up quickly and roughly grabbing it, pushing it up against Cait’s back. Her knuckles brushed against Cait’s spine and the tail seemed to be pulling slightly at the base, and she saw how Caitlynn stood herself up on her toes.
She didn’t exactly know what to expect, she’d never heard or learned how sensitive or insensitive a Cat-kin's tail was, or how any demi-humans' tail was, for that matter. So, when she felt Cait freeze up and go rigid, she thought for a second that she’d messed up. That when Cait had said ‘Touch it’ that she only meant for her to poke at it with her finger or something.
She probably didn’t have to worry about that though, as when she looked up and saw Caitlynn’s face again. She thought to herself, ahh—that’s kind of what my brother looked like as a kid, when my father gave him his very own first sword.
The intense nostalgia caused her to briefly forget her current situation.
Remembering where she was, and what she had just done, she tried to offer up a strained and uneasy smile. Hoping to be able to resolve this peacefully, Elayna let go of the tail and took a step back while raising her hands in front of her.
“U-uhm, eeeh?" she stammered like an idiot. "You didn’t really t-think you’d be able to tease me all day, d-did you? Ah-aha-ha-haaah...”
She stood quietly for a moment, hands fidgeting nervously behind her back. And not really sure where she even tried to go with this, Elayna let her hands fall down to her sides and simply stared back at Caitlynn’s now delighted gaze with her own steady gaze.
She felt proud of herself for not backing down in their staring contest.
She let down her guard though, and allowed her opponent to gain the upper hand, letting something pink and cloud-like in its softness, slither its way up her face like a snake slowly hugging its prey. Cait's tail slowly and oh so incredibly sensually curled atop her cheek. Elayna held the stare, but she wasn’t so sure her expression was so steady anymore.
Caitlynn had tucked herself with tape earlier this morning because of her choices in clothing. She knew that the academy uniform for the women consisted of some different options in clothing. The corset-like bodice sitting over the wool blouse was an easy choice.
The harder decision had been what to wear below. She laid down two options on her bed, she had needed to decide whether she would wear the pleated skirt or the tight-fitting leather pants. She wanted to show off her nice legs bare — so the skirt it was. That had felt like the right choice up until now. She was beginning to regret it.
Right as the tape had started to peel off, but not before giving her a wonderful little spa-treatment to her now sticky pubic mound and slightly glistening jewels. She felt the velvety brush of expensive fabric as she began to strain against her panties. The ‘skin-friendly’ adhesive of the tape fighting a battle it could never hope to win against the Catgirl's much stronger, slightly throbbing length.
Cait knew that with the added tightness and restrictiveness of the leather pants, she wouldn’t have had to worry about her veiny and throbbing pillar rising up in public, which was fast becoming a very likely problem for her, one she’d need to remedy. Preferably not here, in front of Elayna.
Restrain yourself woman. We're in public.
She felt her tail brush against Elayna's face and turned her eyes back down to her—
"Nnngh..." A small grunt of pleasure escaped her, as she saw the adorable shy expression on Elayna's face.
And after that she couldn't hold back a giggle, just one, light and a little breathless. She pressed her lips together hard. It didn't help much, she was having a very hard time controlling herself.
“... Haaaaahh." She sighed deeply, and looked down into Elayna's trembling eyes, "Mmm. Don’t you worry, you little thick-assed hussy, I’m not mad about the fact that you practically violated me~." she said, voice a bit breathless. "I'm kind of glad you did. After all~. I’m sure that you, me, and that amazing tushy of yours will be spending a lot of time together. ♥Elaay-yn-na~!”
"..."
Nobody had ever spoken to her like that before.
Growing up, people had always been gentle with her. There were the palace maids who tucked her in and stayed until she fell asleep. The ones who had also picked her up when she was small, while spinning her around fast with their arms outstretched, with little young Elayna laughing too hard to be able to tell them to stop. Elderly nobles who would visit and who would pinch her cheeks and call her the precious little lady and the like. She had grown up thinking this was simply what normal people were like, kind, gentle and warm.
Then, somewhere around fourteen or fifteen, things had started happening that she hadn't quite known what to do with.
Emma, one of her personal maids that was around her age but slightly older, had been helping her dress after a bath, something she'd already done a dozen times before without incident. Elayna had been half-paying attention, thinking about something else entirely, when she dropped something on the floor and bent down to pick it up.
Elayna had noticed that Emma had gone very still behind her.
She'd stood back up and turned around.
Emma's hand had been slowly withdrawing from behind her, and her expression then was the very specific expression of someone who had just done something they couldn't take back and knew it.
"What's wrong?" Elayna had asked her, genuinely puzzled.
Emma had not answered. She had instead left the room at a supernatural speed.
Elayna had thought about it afterward, off and on, without ever arriving at a satisfying explanation. She'd asked Mira eventually, while Mira brushing her hair. And Mira had told her with the expression of someone choosing their words very carefully after reconsidering them several times, that Emma had apparently said something to the other maids. Something along the lines of: "The young lady is becoming shameless! A seductive little menace!.. A-and someone really ought to tell her!"
Elayna had found this strange and had felt deeply confused, she'd told Mira she was confused, who had then simply said to her, I know Elayna, I know. Elayna was left even more confused after that. She hadn't done anything. She'd just been standing there.
She was standing here now, years later, in a line at the most prestigious academy in the empire, with Caitlynn's voice still warm in her ear—
"That amazing tushy of yours."
...Oh.
She turned her neck around and looked specifically, deliberately, down at her butt.
Then back forward.
...It was my butt, wasn't it. The thought arrived slowly and with great certainty. That's what Emma had been touching... That's what happened. That's what she—
She stood with this for a moment.
...So it really is too big.
Not somewhat larger than average, the way she'd always vaguely thought it to be. Just simply too big. The kind of too big that apparently made maids forget themselves and run out of rooms.
Still, she didn’t understand if that was a problem or something bad.
She looked at it one more time, briefly over her shoulder.
She quickly faced forward again with her brows knitted, lips pressed into a small soft pout directed at no one, still not understanding.
She felt Cait's eyes on her and quickly looked to the side, trying to distract herself. She glanced around at the other students while struggling deeply with her own thoughts and found that a few were watching.
In the line to her right she caught William, he'd disappeared a bit after the Orc's speech. Elayna had never looked at his brooch to see which class he belonged to. He'd apparently ended up in the class standing in line next to them and was currently staring, his face had gone slightly pink. The kind of pink of someone who had overheard much more than they'd initially intended or wanted to.
He didn't notice her looking at him.
His eyes moved downward, not quickly nor casually, but with the guilty deliberateness like that of a child that was sneaking sweets in the dark, fully aware they shouldn't be but doing it anyway while also telling themselves they were being very subtle about it.
William was not being subtle at all.
He looked up and found Elayna watching him.
The pink deepened considerably. He straightened and looked away, but briefly glanced back to see if Elayna was still looking and then quickly looked away again. She’d just caught him looking and she thought that he had the look on his face of someone who knew they were guilty, but didn’t exactly or truly regret it. Kind of like how Elayna felt like when she’d gotten caught staring at Caitlynn earlier.
Elayna felt movement behind her and turned around. She saw that one of her classmates had simply turned around entirely and was now facing the wrong direction, their ears more red than what Elayna thought their natural skin color to be.
... Elayna felt guilty, somehow, causing other people to be this embarrassed over her situation. But ultimately, she mostly just felt extremely embarrassed herself.
She thought back to what Cait had just said to her and pressed her lips together, thick-assed hussy was a term she'd never heard before. She had no idea what to think of it.
But she could worry about something else for now.
She had made promises. To her father, to her mother and to Mira. They'd requested a letter. And Mira had said: The moment you arrive at the dormitories, not after dinner. And Mira would absolutely get mad if she didn't. She was going to write those letters this evening. The academy is beautiful and amazing. I've already made a friend or two. And a general description of her roommates. That sort of thing.
Whatever this was. Whatever Cait was. Elayna decided she could do without mentioning, for now.