A Love So Deep: Chapter 24 (Patreon)

I gaze down over the most incredible library I’d ever seen then over to Ellerie.  “What!?”  I guffaw.

“You like it!”  She giggles.  “You can come here anytime you want.  Nobody will see you from the outside.  This is the best place for learning.”  Pointing to one of the grassy ledges she says.  “Let’s go there.”

Letting Ellerie tug me along with her the pair of us descend in a slow circle around the tree.  Seeing at how impressed I was she wanted to give me a good look around before we settled into one spot.  My eyes wide with wonder I watch the little glowing jellies glide by.  When you were up close you could almost see right through them.  As we swoop close to one of the great tree’s branches I very much want to reach out to touch it.

“Go ahead.”  Ellerie says, seeing my interest.  “Nothing in here is dangerous.  At most you might get a little poke.”

“Ohhhh.”  I smile as I let my palm and fingers flit through the silky soft white blooms and tickling deep blue fronds.  Now that we were closer I could make out that what I thought was hard bark looked more a skin akin to supple leather.  Here and there I could scars from where branches had been expertly removed and within I could make out a dense foam like interior.  As the branch moves easily to my careful touch I realize that this towering plant wasn’t nearly as sturdy as it first appeared.  I doubted it could even hold its weight if brought up to the surface and out into the air, to say nothing of what a stiff breeze might do to it.  The trimmed branch also told me that its resemblance to a manicured bonzai was not accidental.  This was as much a work of art as a piece of natural beauty.

“The tree was already here.”  Ellerie explains.  “But the rest is Zuko’s doing, with a little help from Draevys.  The plants and stuff I mean.  The big guy is a real softy with plants and animals…well, when he’s not eating.  Ha!”  She then hurries to say.  “Don’t worry!  He won’t eat you.”  She switches me from one hand to the other and glides closer to the wall, allowing my to reach out to touch the licking tendrils of a large anemone.  “He was from the Corana Wilds.  He used to be a prince if you can believe it, a minor one though.  The youngest of his brood.  He was a ranger.  Hunting, living off the wilds.  Before the Swarm.”  She says sadly.  “He’s never lost his love of nature.”

Zuko?  That big sharky brute was a prince?  No, used to be a prince.  Interesting.  And it sounded like he used to live ‘off the grid’, so to speak.  Wonder what brought him to the city.  Daera perhaps?  He was crazy about her.  And what was this Swarm?  I seem to recall the Mistress mentioning it once but I couldn’t recall precisely.  I’d heard and seen a lot this past day, much of it while I was too overwhelmed to process.

We soon reach the outcropping.  With a little pull she lets go and lets me drift the rest of the way to land lightly on my bare feet among the smooth supple grass and super soft earth beneath.  The ledge was about halfway between floor and ceiling with a great view not only of the whole room but the sights beyond the window.  Where the ledge met the wall was a line of shelves behind a veritable cornucopia of sea plants and a few critters that had the freedom to creep over plant and book alike.  Moving a star fish from where she sat Ellerie comes to rest and sets the Grumplepud on the ground in front of her.  The bright toy almost looked like it belonged among the prismatic colors of the natural creatures.

I stand a moment just taking it all in and really savoring how good the water felt here.  I was breathing easier in here, not as easy as air but a little less labored than in the rest of the complex and each deep breath felt as if it cleansed me from the inside out.  After exploring our shelf a bit then looking down over the lip I eventually come back to kneel to sink into the grass and ground in front of Ellerie.  I loved this place, but I loved the idea of being able to speak with my new housemates even more.  Being mute was getting more frustrating with each passing hour.  I give her a hard nod, showing I was ready and eager to learn.

“Great!”  She says with a rather mysterious looking smile on her face.  Straightening up and holding up a finger like some know-it-all teacher Ellerie begins.  “Intelligence!  Determination!  Perseverance!   Put these nasty things out of your mind, you won’t be needing them.”

I tilt my head.  Did I just hear that right?

“Teaching is all about motivation.”  She says.  “Rewards and punishments.  There is no better way to learn than to WANT to learn.  Encouragement comes in many forms, for both teacher and pupil.  Trust me, I’m the best teacher I know.”

I am trying, and failing, to hide a smile at Ellerie’s pompous teacher act.

“Mistress says I’m not supposed to pressure you about sex, so I won’t.  Even though I REAAAALLY wanna do it with you.  Stheera said you were soooo good!  Hmmm!”  She bites her lips and grins impishly.  “I’m not allowed to touch you…in that way…until I get permission.  He he he.”  The tips of her tentacles and the short tendrils atop her head all curl inward and her curvy little hips wiggle back and forth as she whispers, as if sharing some deep secret.  “I think you’re sexy!”

Shaking my head I cannot help but laugh.  She was so hard to take seriously even when she was trying to come onto me, if that is even what she was doing here.  She was acting so silly it was hard to tell.  Mistress warned me this might be coming but I hadn’t expected it this quickly or this bluntly.

“BUT!”  She says dramatically, her tentacles popping out straight as she hopped a few inches off the ground only to float back down again.  “Mistress didn’t mention anything about touching myself.  Ha ha!”

“What?”  I can’t stop laughing.  “What are you talking about?”

“Sooooo, to encourage myself to be a good teacher I will punish myself when you can’t do something and reward myself when you do good.  That way I’ll get better and better and you’ll learn more and more.”

A teacher using rewards and punishments on themself?  And with the way she was talking about how sexy I was I could imagine the direction that this so called discipline might go.  If this was anybody else I would have thought this might be another cultural difference, but in this case I knew this hair-brained scheme was pure Ellerie.

“Ellerie.  You are nuts.”  I chuckle.  “Please, don’t ever change.”

She clacks her teeth and clicks her tongue to make noises back at me then says.  “Good idea, huh?  I’ve never actually taught before but…I think I might be a natural at this teaching stuff.  This idea’s pretty clever you gotta admit.”

“Never taught before?  I thought you said you were the best teacher you knew.”  I quip through my giggles.

“Huh?”

“Never mind.”  I then pat my chest, wondering what I was supposed to be doing during all of this punishment and reward.  She catches my meaning.  “You?  You watch and listen to me and learn to talk.”  Her colors swirl, the pinks and blues blending together into a blushing violet.  “And maybe I’ll watch you too, he he he, if you wanna encourage yourself…I don’t mind.”  She bats her eyes then makes a loud farting raspberry with her plump lips and protruding tongue then quickly hides her face with both hands and two tentacles before peeking back out between a couple of fingers to see my reaction.  “But I can close my eyes if you want.”

“Where on this Earth did the Mistress find you?”  I marvel.  “Could you be more precious?”

She pops her lips to make sound like me.  “I wish I knew what you were saying.  But soon I will!”  She titters.  “How about it?  Can I be your teacher?”

I nod yes even as I laugh at the young octopus woman.  It was IMPOSSIBLE not to be happy around this girl.  I understood why Mistress Nwyne was so protective of this adorable sweetheart.  I’d only known her a day and I swear I’d give my life for her already.  On a purely educational level she was surely going to be the worst teacher I’d ever had, but I already knew she would be the funnest!

Chapter 25