#apprentice theo

That is, until Ozy and his friends, after so many years, finally returned. They came with more friends this time, who hailed from even farther lands and had never seen this rough layout of ancient lagoons and coral rock.

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One after the other, Khleo and Theo jumped off the edge of the tallest rock. The sounds Theo made seesawed between bursts of boisterous laughter and raucous whoops as she cannonballed into the warm basin of liquid turquoise. 

Kipling, Vehanoush and Taro were keeping to themselves off by the entrance to the sea caves. Kip had them working on a project that she, when probed by Khleo, said was a secret and that no peeking whatsoever was allowed until they were finished.

Ozy and Bakri were hanging out in the shallows, right between the leaping rock and the entrance to the sea caves. Thanks to the ruins and the rocks, there was enough disrupted sunlight to create a warm, dappled umbrella of shade. 

Ozy was supposed to be helping Bakri ease into some deeper water to practice swimming, but the latter was more preoccupied by the faded glyphs on the broken limestone. The harder Bakri looked, the more he noticed a circular pattern forming. 

Before he could comment on it, Ozy pointed to a ring of glyphs and said, “Grey mages have always traveled the Doors in teams of three. The Elders sometimes referred to it as the cadre.”

Bakri studied the depictions a bit. Then he asked, “Why three?”

The beads in Ozy’s locs whispered as he bent closer towards the rock and dragged his finger from one glyph to the next. “Three roles. Three specific functions. First you have the locksmith. Then the architect. And finally, the support flex.” He straightened up. “They can be powerful forces to be reckoned with on their own, but together…”

There was someone calling Ozy’s name from off to the right. The grey mage’s entire demeanor changed as he waved to where Kipling was sitting with Vehanoush.

Ozy and Bakri waded over near the entrance of the sea caves. Normally, Bakri would have hesitated at the sensation of the water level rising up his back, but he was preoccupied by the glyphs shimmering in and out of focus along the walls. And by the sheer wonder in this blend of tropical waters and forgotten history.

Once they reached Kip and Vehanoush, it was hard to listen to what they had to say over the exclamatory echoes of Khleo and Theo hurling themselves off the rocks in the distance.

“We can go somewhere quieter,” Kip said as she spread out the project she and Vehanoush had been working on: friendship bracelets made from cowrie shells and dark twine. It didn’t surprise Bakri that Vehanoush had seemed to master the technique even though this was their first go at it.

“There’s a lagoon not far from here called the Enchanted Pool. The water is so clear that you can see all the way to the very bottom.”

Vehanoush’s eyes lit up at Kipling’s description. Ozy started nodding enthusiastically with every word. Just as Bakri was coming around to the idea of visiting waters deeper than the ones they were standing in, Vehanoush caught his attention with the bracelet they had made special for him. 

While she tied it around Bakri’s wrist and he was quietly admiring the smoothness of the shells, Ozy called out for Khleo and Theo. The grey mage’s voice bounced against the arching walls of limestone like a powerful bell. Despite this, they got no reply from the two cliff divers. Nor could they hear them splashing in the water.

Once again Bakri was being pulled in another direction. Though he didn’t mind. He waded through the shallow water with Vehanoush, keeping close to the sandbars while Ozy and Kip pushed into slightly deeper waters so that they could swim to the spot where they last heard their friends. 

Vehanoush showed Bakri the friendship bracelets they had made for Theo, as well as the other members of Bakri’s team, Heîv, Sevak, and Abisoghom.

Soon they wandered out from under the shade of the rocks and entered into sunnier waters. It appeared that Khleo and Theo had left their playground and instead sought refuge on another exposed shelf. Khleo was lying on her stomach, her arms folded under her head. 

Theo had taken advantage of Khleo’s lower back, resting her cheek just left of Khleo’s spine with her body facing away from the approaching group. Kip and Ozy both chuckled at the army of small conch shells slowly working their way up the rock and over Theo’s legs and hips. 

“They played so hard, they wore themselves out,” Bakri noted, smiling softly as he bent to pry a conch shell off of Theo’s ankle.

A soft ripple of noise came from where Khleo’s head was. “I’m up. Just resting my eyes.”

Theo interrupted them with a yawn and added, “Yes well, I’m definitely fast asleep.”

As soon as Kip said something about having a surprise for the two of them, they were both very suddenly upright and holding out their hands for Kip to drop gifts into. 

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The six visitors sat in a row on the reef, their legs dangling over the water. A shifting array of brown skin glistened with salt and tiny sand crystals under the midday sun. Kip and Vehanoush tied everyone’s bracelets on for them. Theo celebrated the loudest, laughing and positively delighting at the way her cowrie shells clicked and snapped the more she flicked her wrist.

Bakri asked Ozy to finish telling him about the glyphs and what they stood for. He wanted to know about those three roles that each door lord cadre fulfilled. And if those same roles applied to Ozy, Kip and Khleo – then how exactly? 

While Vehanoush and Theo were excited to hear about this too, Khleo reminded everybody how hungry they all were. So Ozy’s explanations would have to wait until they got some lunch. The three newcomers pouted, but agreed that it was definitely time to eat and hydrate a little.

Ozy reminded his new friends that they would have plenty of time to learn about the Doors. He promised Bakri that he would show him more glyphs in the sea caves. As well as the monastery where he grew up alongside Kip and Khleo.

He would show them everything worth seeing. He promised them.

Ozy really wanted his new friends to have that chance to see whatever they had their heart set on.

The tiger in question appeared relaxed enough to be unbothered by it, but still. Khlee was only supposed to be doing a quick scan of the menagerie for any litter that may have been left by careless masquerade guests. To protect both the animals and the guests, the menagerie was strictly off limits. But the event managers dispatched Khlee and other trained staff anyway to make sure that no one did anything stupid.

Khlee watched the beautiful stranger play with the yawning white tiger and couldn’t decide if what they were seeing was stupid or completely professional.

They weren’t watching for long before the stranger called them over, asking for a hand. Her name was Theo and she was, to Khlee’s profound relief, an actual gamekeeper and palace veterinarian. 

Like Khlee, she was attending this event while balancing the tightrope of work and play. Khlee had agreed to help Theo with her work, not expecting one with so much presence and effervescence to, again so very casually, ask if Khlee wanted to stay and play with her for a while.

As Khlee chased their dark-haired companion through a brightly-lit maze of cream-colored beasts and wild growth, they understood that she was much like them. Free in the body, connected in nature, and… and damn was she fast!

“Oof!”

But Khlee had proven that she could be the faster one.

The barhand had the gamekeeper pinned down over the threshold of a freshly cleaned stable. They took in her features more now that her mask had come off in the chase. With parted lips and shifting dark eyes, they soaked up the planes of Theo’s face, the softness of her lips, the way her short dark hair coiffed around her ears.

The barhand could watch her all day honestly.

“Now what?” 

Theo’s question came through as a low chuckle, breaking Khlee from her study and making her suddenly quite aware of the building excitement where they were both connected. 

“Now,” Khlee rasped with a grin, “you have a choice. I can stay like this, holding you down while I ride you,” she bucked her hips for good measure, “until you can’t take it anymore… or.”

They gave Theo the second option, to which the gamekeeper replied with a pout, “You’re making me choose? You’re mean.”

Spurned by the cheek in Theo’s glinting dark eyes, Khlee dropped swiftly, coming to a stop barely above Theo’s lips. But the gamekeeper didn’t tremble or flinch. She didn’t even so much as hold her breath. Her floating energy was nothing Khlee had ever sensed in a person before. 

The barhand didn’t have an answer for what it was and that frustrated the hell out of them. But it excited them too.

They tighten their grip around Theo’s wrists.

“No. I’m not.” They said right before sweeping a warm tongue from the deep turn of Theo’s jaw to the very top of her hairline, not bothering to avoid her eye socket.

Theo made a delighted, musical sound and practically begged Khlee to do it again.

The barhand grunted a negative before ducking their head to the right. Caging Theo’s ear between their teeth, they breathed, “Take back what you said. About me being mean.”

Theo softened her voice. “Did I say you were mean? Generous – that’s what I meant.”

Khlee purred deeply into her neck.

“That’s what you are, Khlee.” Theo inhaled, her voice threatening to crack a moan. “Especially with your tongue.”

Khlee took their time dragging out their purr-laced kisses and occasional licks before humming, “So you’ve made your choice? You want my tongue, huh.”

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The only regret Theo had going forward was not being able to fully see Khlee sinking their catlike face in the swell of her ass.

Theo had been instructed to remain quiet and with her palms against the hay – away from her breasts and definitely away from her throbbing, leaking clit. Theo dug her fingers in the stable straw, trying to create a satisfying anchor while Khlee’s strong hands spread her wide, massaging her into a pliant unfolding.

Then Khlee shut their eyes and turned their senses inward, using their tongue to stroke up every raw flavor. They grazed until Theo was wet and soft enough for them to apply their teeth. Theo’s moans came out stunted and at times garbled thanks to Khlee’s self-induced trance.

Still, the barhand was practiced enough to know when to stop and check on their partner. To redirect when Theo had forgotten that she wasn’t allowed to fondle her own breasts or squirm to create more friction than was necessary.

Khlee only had to threaten to stop once, but after that, it was such bliss. Blissful silence – or rather, as blissfully silent as one could get with nature going on all around them.

Khlee von Heine excelled at taking her time and taking in as much of Theo’s inner world as she could. She didn’t rush a single moment and she savored every reaction. Yes, they had to get back to work soon. True, their time was precious, but since Theo was being so good for them – tasting so good to them – when it came to time…