Gwen stepped off the path and pushed through the ferns until she found a spot behind a cluster of bracken thick enough to shield her from the road. She glanced back once. Foulfang was a vague green shape thirty paces away, hood pulled down, pretending very hard to be interested in a tree.Good enough.She looked down at herself and sighed.The problem with the huntress armor was not that it was revealing. She had made her peace with that, more or less, somewhere between the longhouse and the second mile of walking. The problem with the huntress armor was that it was complicated.The belt-skirt was held on by a wide brass clasp at the front and secured with two diagonal leather straps that crossed over the tops of her hips and buckled at the small of her back. Under those were two more narrow straps — one on each outer thigh — that kept the scaled thigh-panels from swinging. The segmented tail was bracketed to the belt itself at a third point in the back. The wing-panels hung off the belt on their own short brass swivels. Altogether, if she wanted to get the front of the belt-skirt out of the way enough to squat properly, she needed to loosen — she counted in her head — at minimum the thigh-straps on both sides, and the left diagonal back-strap. Otherwise the entire assembly rode too stiffly on her hips to lift cleanly.She started with the left thigh-strap. The buckle was small and her hands were cold."Light's sake," she muttered, fumbling at it.The buckle gave. She moved to the right thigh-strap. That one was tighter — she had pulled it too snug this morning against the chafing — and she had to work the leather through the buckle twice to get enough slack. Her bladder, which had been merely uncomfortable for the last two miles, was now urgent. She had left this too long.She bent at the waist to reach the left diagonal back-strap, which forced her to arch and twist to get at her own spine — not easy in rigid scaled armor with wing-panels hanging off the back. The buckle there was behind her left kidney and she had to do it by feel. Her fingers slipped. She swore under her breath.Second try. Slipped again.Third try. The strap loosened.She straightened up, grabbed the front of the belt-skirt with both hands, and lifted the whole scaled assembly up and forward — wings, tail-bracket, thigh-panels and all. The weight was not insignificant. The inner edges of the scales scraped against her bare thighs as she hauled it clear.The cool air hit everything immediately.She squatted. The tail dragged across the moss behind her heels. The wing-panels fell forward against her forearms where she was still holding the belt-skirt up. She had to keep holding it. If she let go, the whole scaled front would drop back down between her thighs and she would be pissing straight into the inside of her own armor.Whoever designed this, she thought tightly, was not a woman. Or if she was, she never had to piss in the field.She looked straight ahead at an oak tree. She tried to relax.Nothing.She waited.Nothing.Her thighs were already beginning to ache from the squat. The belt-skirt was heavy in her arms. Her bladder screamed at her.Come on.She adjusted her grip on the scaled front, tried to shift her weight, and realized with a flash of frustration that she had buckled the diagonal back-strap so tightly this morning — and loosened it so sloppily — that the belt was still pressing on the wrong part of her pelvis. She was holding her own body at a subtle angle that would not let her relax.She shifted again. The wing-panels fell open wider. The tail rattled against a root.Come on.Still nothing.She shifted a third time — and that was when warm breath ghosted across the back of her bare neck."Oh, paladin," a voice purred at her ear. "Having trouble?"Gwen's eyes snapped open. Every muscle in her body locked — including, to her immediate and horrifying dismay, the ones she had just spent two full minutes trying to coax open.Kalyssa was directly behind her. Close enough that Gwen could feel the warmth of the drow's body through the open back of her armor. A lock of dark hair brushed her shoulder blade as Kalyssa leaned fractionally closer."I was watching from the tree line," the drow murmured, amused. "My goodness, the engineering involved. Three straps? Four? And you still have to hold the whole thing up with your hands like a bridesmaid in a puddle." A soft, genuinely amused laugh at her ear. "If I'd known your armor was this much work, I'd have caught you an hour ago. While you were still walking.""Go away.""Mm. No." Kalyssa crouched behind her with fluid slowness. Gwen felt her settle — one knee on the moss beside her boot, close, the heat of her body radiating against Gwen's exposed back. "Two days I've followed you. Three streams. One waterskin. Your bladder must be screaming. And here you are with your armor half off and nothing is happening." Pleased. "Is it me, paladin? Am I in your head?"Gwen did not answer. Her arms were beginning to burn."I think I am. How charming. The holy warrior of the Light can disarm an ogre and behead a rogue orc, but put a drow at her back and she can't even piss.""Move. Away.""Won't work. If I step back, you'll know I'm watching. If I leave, you'll wonder. I could be behind any fern." Kalyssa's mouth was close enough that her breath was warm on the shell of Gwen's ear. "Your bladder knows I'm here, paladin. It's not letting go until we come to an arrangement."Gwen closed her eyes and tried very hard to relax.Nothing."There, you see?" Pleased. "You're going to hurt yourself if you keep holding it. The walk to the human lines is long. You'll cramp up. You'll have to squat again in two hours and it will be worse then than it is now." A pause. "Let me help you.""Absolutely not.""I haven't even said how.""Still no.""Mmh. I'll explain anyway. I stay exactly where I am — no hands, no mouth, no contact — and I just talk to you. Words have remarkable power over the body, paladin. A voice at the right tone, saying the right things, can coax almost anything loose. I've done it before. Many times. Breeding rituals. Novice initiations. Nervous young priestesses on their first altar.""Stop talking.""Oh, but talking is the help. That's the whole offer. I stay exactly where I am — no hands, no mouth, no contact — and I just talk to you. Quietly. Patiently. The way I'd coax a scared young acolyte. And your body will remember how to let go. It's very effective. It's almost therapeutic."Gwen said nothing. Her thighs were shaking now. Her arms were on fire. Her bladder was a steady hot ache."You can say no," Kalyssa murmured. "Of course you can. Stand up with your bladder still full. Rebuckle those lovely complicated straps. Walk back to the path and try again in an hour behind a different bush. Maybe I'll be there. Maybe I won't. Maybe you'll manage. Maybe you won't. Or you can let me help, and have this over with, and walk out of here with an empty bladder and one fewer thing to worry about for the next ten days."A very long silence.Gwen's jaw worked."If I say yes," she said, very quietly, "and you touch me, I will kill you. Altar or no altar. Goddess or no goddess.""I believe you.""Hands where I can see them."Kalyssa obediently raised both gloved hands and rested them, palms up, on her own knees. Gwen could see them out of the corner of her eye."Talk," Gwen said, through her teeth."Mmh. Good girl." The drow's voice dropped to something low and almost lullaby-soft. "Close your eyes for me, paladin. You don't have to — but it'll help. Think about nothing. Think about the weight of the armor. Think about how long you've been holding this. Think about how much easier you'll feel when it's gone."Gwen did not close her eyes. But she did not open them either."It's alright," Kalyssa murmured. "You've done this a thousand times. Your body knows how. The only thing in the way is you. Breathe out. Let your shoulders drop. There."Gwen's shoulders did, treacherously, drop a fraction."Good. Now — think of the weight inside you. All that pressure. Heavy. Warm. Just let it be heavy for a moment. Don't fight it. Don't hold it. Just feel it, paladin. Feel how much of it there is."Something in Gwen's stomach shifted, despite herself."There," Kalyssa said softly, with genuine pleasure. "You just felt it. Didn't you. That's the first step. Now — imagine letting go. Not doing it. Just imagining. Imagine how good the relief will feel. How heavy you've been carrying this. How quickly it could all be gone."A tiny, traitorous relaxation shuddered through Gwen's thighs, but her holy discipline held. The pressure was agonizing, but she clamped down tightly. Not a single drop fell. She was balanced on a razor's edge."Mmh. Still fighting it," Kalyssa purred, a wicked smile in her voice. "Such a stubborn paladin. Let me help you with that final push."And then Gwen felt it.One gloved hand, sliding firmly onto the bare curve of her right ass cheek
