Princess Laureline of Mirth, Ch. 3

It was well into the night when Aurora finally announced her satisfaction with Laureline's performance. Laureline was exhausted beyond any reasonable limit. Not only had her mouth been kept busy by pampering Aurora’s feet with an unfathomable amount of kissing and licking, but Aurora had then required that the exhausted princess get to work on pleasuring her pussy!

Naturally, Laureline had refused outright. And naturally, she was punished and cajoled by her captors until she at last surrendered and consented to worshiping Aurora’s perfect pussy. They had brought her to heel with just the right amount of verbal and physical punishment until she was shamefully lowering her face into the general's lap, crossing yet another line she couldn't have fathomed before her mother's disappearance.

But Aurora’s sex was laden with a copious amount of mana – Laureline captured notes of it upon her descent. And as soon as the princess's tongue pressed against that swollen mound, her mind went blank with pure ecstasy.

Her prior experiences couldn’t begin to compare to this new high. At first, she had tried to comfort herself with the belief that she had already worshipped Aurora’s feet for hours, so worshiping and licking her pussy wouldn’t be much different. But that line of thought went straight out the window when she felt Aurora's mana on her tongue: her body craved it so badly, it banished all thoughts that didn't point to her getting more. More. MORE!!

Aurora didn’t even have to order the mana-starved princess to continue, nor did she have to threaten her with punishments to get a better performance. Laureline wished that she had. Instead, Laureline eagerly dove tongue-first into Aurora’s pussy and ate her out with a passion that even experienced slaves could never muster.

Her zeal was so great that Trixie had nothing to punish her for. The little faerie took a break from her devious torments in order to witness Laureline’s ravishing performance. Occasionally, she would make some humiliating comment that brought Laureline out of her trance momentarily, only long enough to feel fresh shame over what she was doing.

When Aurora’s fingers roamed through Laureline’s blonde hair, it wasn’t to hold her down but merely guide her and provide a reassuring touch. That felt wrong. But she still didn’t stop.

The overwhelming power of Aurora’s potent mana drowned out every sensation; stars danced in her eyes, a soft white buzz filled her ears and her body became enveloped by a soothing fire that warmed and caressed her. Even though she knew she could only have been eating out Aurora for a couple of hours, Laureline’s mind and body felt as though she had spent entire days in this cramped little room.

When she finally summoned enough willpower to pull herself away, Laureline curled up in a fetal position beneath the dark skylight. She did this partially out of shame, but also because the after-effects of consuming so much mana made it difficult to do much else. She cursed herself for making the foolish mistake of high on mana to begin with. Her earlier indulgence was what made her so susceptible to the taste of Aurora’s love nectar and now she saw no way of escaping this troubling addiction.

Laureline had become intimately familiar with the effects of mana addiction from her time with Pearl and other human slaves over the years. But the effects of it would be much more severe on her since she, as an elf, did not just find mana to be addicting but also incredibly delicious and pleasurable. If Aurora got her hooked on her own personal substance, which she was halfway towards accomplishing, then she would truly be a slave. And not just any slave, but the absolute bottom of the elven hierarchy: a mana slut.

“A good start princess... At least, a good start considering your lack of experience and your natural inhibitions against practicing oral sex on another woman. You managed to bring me to orgasm multiple times. A very good start.”

Laureline curled up tighter into a ball. That wasn’t what she wanted to hear at all.

“Now, now, princess. It won't do you any good hiding away like that. It is time that we return to your chambers and prepare for the rest of the week.”

Laureline uncurled slightly and peaked her head out, hoping that she had misheard Aurora somehow.

Aurora nodded slowly. “Yes princess, we’re both going up to your room. I don’t intend to leave a poor girl like you by herself any longer. You need me, princess. Get up.”

At this point Laureline was not just cold and tired, but hungry and thirsty and increasingly feeling the aftereffects of her declining mana high. She wanted to return to her room no matter what, even if that meant spending more time with this terrible woman. An evening meal and a night of sleep, and she would be better.

She picked herself up to her feet and suggested in a meek tone that it wouldn’t be appropriate for them to travel up there together. She wanted to go up first and meet Aurora later, but Aurora shook her head firmly. That was when Aurora smiled confidently and announced her solution to the princess’ issues: she would use a glamour on her.

“A glamour?” Laureline questioned, unfamiliar with the term.

Aurora explained the principle of it. It was a type of illusion magic that would force an image into the mind of the observer based on their expectations. Aurora would disguise Laureline as a pet dog and sneak her back into her room that way. Laureline begrudgingly accepted it, mostly because she wanted to go home and believed this was her best strategy.

“Now then: strip down.”

“What? Why?” Laureline couldn’t help the questions spilling out.

“For the illusion to work best, you must crawl upon the ground like a dog. Likewise you must be naked like a dog. After all, you wouldn’t expect a dog to wear a dress, gloves and boots, would you?”

Laureline, who had no knowledge of this kind of magic, could not refute Aurora’s claims although she suspected the woman was lying.

“Strip. Unless you want to risk someone seeing you crawl on the floor. I can only imagine the humiliation.”

Red-faced and silently, Laureline turned away from Aurora and slowly, hesitantly began the excruciating process of removing her clothes. Her conservative white clothes were dumped in the wooden chest in the corner of the room, and with a laborious sigh she dropped herself down to the ground. The glamour was a complex spell but worked exactly as intended when cast by an experienced mage such as Aurora. Trixie peaked out the door for them and as soon as she announced the way was clear, they started the long walk back up to the heights of the Inner Palace.

The procession went as such; Aurora leading the way, striding as boldly as an elf of her heritage and position could, leading the crawling princess Laureline behind her via a short leash of leather. The collar around the princess’ neck was seemingly wrought of solid gold and had the weight of it too, though Laureline knew that it was no more than conjured magic. Behind them both hovered the capricious fairy Trixie, appearing from the distance as no more than a mote of light but up close was a tiny, beautiful girl with glittery wings.

Trixie collected any excess mana from the two elves with a subtle, simple spell, each mote of rainbow dust dutifully collected on Aurora’s orders for future use. When it came to nobility, even a scant amount of the substance could be useful. Laureline hated herself for thirsting after the stuff, and Aurora seemed to enjoy the way she would glance at it with lust in her eyes.

Even though Laureline consciously knew, and kept reminding herself, that to all outside observers she would appear as nothing more than a genuine pet dog, the fact remained that the glamour did not affect the way she saw herself. She could still see her very real elfin hands padding along the tiled ground and caught a glimpse of her naked reflection in mirrors as they passed them. It was so easy to imagine for a moment that she was not being concealed at all, and that Aurora was truly parading her naked body throughout the halls of the royal palace.

Laureline couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder to look at the sadistic fairy. Her fingers crackled with nearly-invisible power, a stark reminder that at any time she could unleash her power across Laureline’s bare soles or exposed rump. It was humiliating knowing that such a tiny, ordinarily insignificant creature held the power and authority to punish the royal heir herself. Aurora had made a cunning choice when she picked her companion for this job; the diminutive fairy was exactly the creature best suited for ticking Laureline off.

“Why did I agree to this?” She mumbled to herself occasionally, wallowing in self-pity. “Why do you want me to act like a pet?”

“Believe it or not princess, this is also part of your training,” Aurora replied quietly.

“Orcs delight in making fun of other races, so they will benefit from your performance as a pet. The Jotuns will enjoy it but for other reasons. They seek only to be entertained by what they find cute. So we could dress you up as a cat perhaps, and they would find great pleasure in having you worship their feet in such an outfit.”

Worship a giantess’s feet? Laureline couldn’t think of a more dreadful prospect. She pictured Aurora standing above her, made huge in her mind, and saw a vision of herself being crushed underfoot. That vision, a horrifying daydream only, could soon become a reality for her.
Suddenly Aurora slowed down, interrupting her runaway thoughts. Laureline dared to look up to see why, and had to choke back a squeak of surprise.

The lavish hallway they were traveling through was no longer empty. Up ahead of them, emerging from the central palace library and looking exhausted, was Amelia. Laureline’s heart jumped in her throat and she wanted to slow down, but Aurora insistently dragged her onward without even slowing their pace.

If Aurora tugged hard enough, the collar would be pulled taut against her delicate neck and she would choke. Laureline could not slow down.

“Good evening, Amelia,” Aurora said, as friendly as she could manage.

Amelia jumped, looking genuinely startled. The tiredness was evident on her face even as she bowed respectfully towards Aurora. “My lady Aurora! Forgive me, I was not looking where I was going.”

“There is nothing to forgive, child. I was merely taking my adorable little Fluffy out on a stroll.”

Amelia crouched down low next to her, causing Laureline to flinch. Amelia’s wide innocent eyes were so near to her that Laureline was frightened that the magic might be pierced solely by the intensity of her gaze. Laureline had never noticed how deep and penetrating those brown eyes could be.

“What an adorable creature, my lady,” Amelia complimented her and then she ran her hand over Laureline’s head.

Wild impetuous thoughts flooded her mind. She wanted to stand up and shout at her, to tell Amelia to stop treating her like a damn dog, to try and expose Aurora for the controlling, blackmailing fiend that she was but she dared not act on any of those thoughts. It took all her self-control to remain kneeling silently on the floor while her own personal attendant scratched her ears and ran her hands through her hair affectionately.

Laureline glanced upward at Aurora and saw that noble elf was smiling smugly down at her. Laureline fumed silently, enraged at how much Aurora was enjoying this.

Eventually, Aurora interrupted Amelia and informed her that as the hour was late, it was best that she hurry along back to her quarters. Amelia nodded, flushing with embarrassment and hurried away at good speed.

Laureline eyed her as she left, swearing vengeance in her heart for the humiliation she was put through. The glamour spell did not excuse Amelia, Laureline decided. Nothing but a just and swift punishment could redeem her for putting her through the public humiliation of a lifetime.

----

Another ten minutes of pain-staking crawling and behaving like a dog, and at last they reached the sanctuary of her private quarters. Servants were forbidden from spying on this floor of the Inner Palace in order to maintain some semblance of privacy for the royal family. 'That same oversight was what led to my mother being kidnapped,' Laureline reminded herself bitterly. If the guards or servants had attended her mother at all times then it would have been far more difficult for her to be kidnapped.

Laureline looked to Aurora for permission and stood up, rubbing her sore knees slightly. Crawling on the ground hadn’t truly been so unpleasant - the palace was exceptionally clean after all - but there were an awful lot of hard tiled floors between the aquariums and this chamber. It had been a profoundly negative experience to maneuver through the halls of her kingdom in this way, both physically and mentally but at least she was in her room now.

She wanted to go and put on a gown but she was consciously aware that Aurora still maintained the magical leash and collar and the fact that she was still consciously holding it meant that she wasn’t done with these charade. Aurora sat herself down at an ornate padded chair and began penning a letter. That she didn’t ask permission to use Laureline’s stationary or supply of high-quality writing scrolls was annoying. Laureline resolved not to give Aurora any cause to inflict further punishments; if she could play along with Aurora’s lessons then she would eventually find a way to turn the tables on her.

So, naked and collared, Laureline waited as patiently as she could until Aurora was finished with writing several scrolls which she passed to Trixie who disappeared in a soft flash of light.

“The guards and the maids have been informed that you and your mother are touring the empire, visiting distant cities. Since the information comes directly from me, nobody will question it,” Aurora told her. “This provides us a reason to dismiss them from the upper floors of the palace altogether and gives us total privacy for your lessons from here-on out.”

“I see. Thank you...” Laureline was halfway grateful. If this was truly the case then it meant her new life and activities were free from public humiliation. The only ones who would know her shame was Aurora and her irksome pet.

As if she could read her mind, Aurora smiled sadistically and said, “You know, I’ve been thinking of what we discussed earlier in the passageway. As effective as your portrayal as a dog has been, I would be much more interested in seeing you all dressed up as a cat.”

Laureline watched in horror as Aurora withdrew from her pockets a pair of small prepared items; a headband with realistically fluffy cat ears and what was unmistakably a butt plug with a long cat’s tail attachment sticking out of it. Laureline gave Aurora’s pockets a skeptical glance. They seemed even bigger than they appeared if they could contain such items without any outward indication of it.
Laureline had never suffered to allow a foreign object to enter her asshole before, and spent several minutes squirming after the fresh intrusion. Shockingly, after she had become acclimated to its presence, the tail attachment came alive all by itself and began moving with a realness that made it seem as if she had truly grown a tail and became some half-breed beast.

Aurora was delighted with how compatible the artifact proved to be with her, and spent nearly an hour instructing Laureline on performing tricks suitable for an intelligent pet cat. She brushed up against Laureline's leg, curled her body near the woman's feet along with other such behaviors. It was aggravating, knowing that the purpose of her performance was to provide entertainment for a primitive giant in the future, but at least Aurora was so entertained by her that she did not call upon Trixie to deliver punishments and so Laureline was grateful for the ‘playtime’.

With a theatrical yawn, Aurora announced that she was tired after all of the day’s activities - aggravating Laureline, who had seen Aurora do little more than sit there to be pleasured and entertained. She was permitted to remove the buttplug and cat ears, for which she was extremely grateful, though she noted that Aurora instructed her to put them away carefully so that they could be used again tomorrow.

“Well, princess, it is late enough. I think we shall move on to your bedroom now.”

Laureline felt her heart sink even further. She had half-hoped that Aurora would leave her at this point to return to her own room and resume their perverse educational activities the next morning. No such luck.

Through a pillared corridor, lavishly decorated with busts of past elven rulers and their portraits, Aurora led Laureline to her own splendid bedroom. It was an open, airy chamber practically big enough to be a throne room.

“A beautiful bed princess, but a little too grand for you in your current station. I think it would be more beneficial if you were to lay yourself down by the foot of the bed and sleep there for the night. After all, orcs don’t use feather-pillows and soft mattresses like you’re used to. If you end up marrying one of them, then you’re going to need to be used to alternative means of sleeping.”

Laureline gritted her teeth and watched in impotent fury as Aurora uncloaked herself and sat on the edge of her own bed. To top it off, she also tied the leash fixed to Laureline’s collar to the bedpost, denying her any freedom to move around the room. The message was clear; Aurora would be sleeping in Laureline’s bed tonight, and the princess had no choice but to take the floor as her bed.
Determined to turn things around on a fresh new day, Laureline laid herself down on the ground, curling herself up once more into a ball. With no blanket to warm her, it was going to be a cold night, but her exhaustion was enough to send her quickly to slumber.

----

Only a few hours later and the first rays of dawn stirred Laureline from her uncomfortable rest. She hadn't slept well. Her naked body felt stiff from her position lying down on the floor and she pulled herself upright with a groan.

‘This can’t be good for my health,’ Laureline sighed inwardly.

No sooner had she rubbed the sleep from her eyes did she notice that her bedroom doors were wide open and two figures that were decidedly not Aurora were standing there, watching her. On instinct, Laureline shrieked and raised her hands to cover herself. She didn't do a very good job of it. All signs of dignity and pretense at royal authority faded away under their stares.

None of her prior experiences could prepare her for the sight of two other women inside her bed chambers. The events yesterday had started conditioning her into accepting Aurora’s presence and her hideous lessons, but she simply couldn't abide being seen in these circumstances by others.

Laureline then realized that one of the figures was Amelia, and the other was a large female orc. The two could not have looked more opposite to each other than if they had tried. Amelia was small and young, petite for an elf with mousy brown hair and fair skin. She was dressed in conservative elven robes that matched her relatively plain appearance.

The orc was nearing eight feet tall and packed more muscle than any elven guard Laureline had ever laid eyes on. Her skin was a bright vivid green and her flesh was brimming with an abundance of vitality as if her mortal body could hardly contain such power. Laureline could not have said if she was beautiful or ugly by orc standards, but she had an intimidating look to her. The small pointed tusks jutting out of her lower jaw did not help.

The traditional orcish clothing she wore was little better than an array of tight leather straps that concealed nothing and accentuated her raw sexuality. Not only was her body firm and muscular, she had exceptional curves and breasts so large and round that Laureline swore that each one was easily bigger than her head.

“Ah. Zara, Amelia. You’re right on time,” Aurora strode into view, already dressed and ready, Trixie hovering by her shoulder.

“Since I cannot be with you at all times of the day, princess, I have entrusted our secret with these two, and they have generously volunteered to assist in your tutoring. You are already familiar with Amelia, and Zara has been a diplomat and magical advisor to our empire for some years now. You should obey all three of them as if they were an extension of myself, and be grateful for the time they are sacrificing for the sake of your education and training.”

“Aurora… I don’t know…”

“I leave you in their care. Along with my dear Trixie of course.”

Laureline groaned. Perfect.

From that moment on, Laureline was never left by herself for more than five minutes without either Amelia, Trixie or Zara checking up on her, either individually or together as a group.

The lessons were fortunately different than the hours of foot worship, pussy worship and petplay that Aurora had forced her to endure. Each one focused on a different aspect of herself and her role as a future Queen.

Trixie, the pesky creature, had her reciting lines verbally over and over again, making sure that she could control her tone and facial expressions even with all the humiliating phrases she was given. “Would you like a foot-bath, Miss? My tongue is at your service!” followed by, “It would be my honor to please your Majesty.” and the infuriating “My life and my cunt are yours forever, please use them as you see fit.”

Naturally she failed those lessons many times over the course of the morning. Trixie had a keen eye for tracking the twitches of anger in her brow, and a sharp pair of ears too.

Zara instructed her on the proper poise and stances that she would be expected to take when she met the other orcs. She was commanded how to stand firmly at attention, how to bow, to kneel, to do whatever was necessary to demonstrate submission physically and without the need to speak. She carried a riding crop with her and whenever Laureline was too slow to switch from one stance to the next she would lash out across Laureline’s backside or in between her thighs.

The green-skinned woman made sure to switch up her targets constantly, never letting Laureline get used to being hit in a single area. Laureline could tell that Zara was holding back - a true swing from one of the tree trunk arms would knock her off her feet - but each strike still delivered a painful red mark as a reminder for the next time she was ordered.

Amelia’s lessons were the easiest to bear. She instructed Laureline on the various foreign cultures around the world; the cultures that she would have to adapt to and please in order to guarantee the success of these marriage arrangements. Every race out there seemed to have their own peculiarities and depravities - and though her lessons were not accompanied by pain or exertion, they did fill with with incomparable stress as she thought that she meant had to live out the rest of her life bowing and scraping to the whims of these savages.
Still, in her bosom was nestled the seed of hope; Amelia was, after all, hopelessly devoted to her and loved her. She therefore had an ally that she could make use of to work against Aurora. Her adviser and tormentor had made a mistake bringing her in here. Laureline waited for the opportunity to come and it presented itself later that afternoon after a paltry meal of bread and water sprinkled with a load of Aurora’s mana.

The buzz it gave her bestowed a small boost to her confidence. Trixie and Zara were elsewhere, and Amelia was tasked with teaching her some common prayers in the Human tongue that needed to be used before worshiping feet.

Checking over her shoulder to make sure there was no sign of that infernal fairy, Laureline leaned over and whispered conspiratorially to her attendant. “Amelia, these lessons are a nightmare. Aurora is forcing me through these hideous trials for a sham marriage to some foreign savages! We can’t let her win. I need your help to take back control from her and stall these foreigners from entering our empire.”

The quiet girl began to nod along as she spoke and Laureline dared to smile in victory as she did so.

“I know you’d be on my side. I knew you loved me…”

Amelia smiled sadly. “Aurora said you would try this.”

Laureline’s smile froze on her face. “What? Amelia, please, I…”

“You see, I did love you. But my fair lady Aurora made me realize that what I felt was merely an infatuation. I only saw your beauty on the surface without realizing what your true self was like. Now I know my purpose is to help you, to transform you into someone truly deserving of my love.”

“No, Amelia, you don’t have to do what she wants… She’s trying to trick you…” It was not good. Laureline’s words sounded hollow even to herself. Amelia was a lost cause, and her hope was gone once more.

“I’m sorry princess, but you must be punished for this level of insubordination. But since it is a necessary punishment, I won’t feel too guilty. Zara!”

As if she had been hovering just outside the door, the muscular orc dominatrix bounded through into her private study with a great big smile on her rugged face.

“Zara’s been itching to punish you all day and we had a bet to see if she would need to do it before supper, or after. I guess I lost.” Amelia nodded towards Zara. “Start her off with what we discussed earlier.”

“My pleasure,” Zara rumbled, and her smile sent chills down Laureline' spine.

Instead of the magical golden chains which Aurora caused to snap into existence earlier and instantly bind her, the magically enchanted rope was far slower in its application. It slithered and coiled to her like a living beast, its loops raised above the ground to snare her like a mobile trap.

Laureline fought with all she had. The deceptively slow nature of the magical bindings gave her false hope that she could fight them off and retain her freedom for just that extra bit longer but the more she focused on untangling herself instead of running away, the more the rope bunched up and wrapped around her naked body.

Loops around her ankles tripped her up and then it was over; she twisted and turned in a silent struggle but she was held firmly in place by the weight of black rope which was now expertly tying itself around her body to restrain her and put her on display. A pair of loops bound her tits, thrusting them forward, and another loop snaked its way around her throat to gently squeeze and remind her that her air could be cut off at any time. The mass of rope around her arms formed a perfect armbinder, holding them behind her back and together, her hands useless.

Amelia’s tone took on the professional school teacher tone that she had earlier as she filled Laureline in on the dreadful punishment that awaited her.

“Orcs have a particular penchant for tickling. They can’t get enough of it. Sometimes they’ve even launched raids into our lands specifically to capture pretty elven girls such as yourself to haul back to their hidden villages deep in the woods and practice their vile methods of tickle torture. Imagine what kind of plight those elves face; young and immortal and so far from home, with no one but hundreds of sadistic orcs to keep them company, each one vying for the chance to elicit shrieks of laughter.”

Laureline found it hard to conjure up much sympathy when she was much more concerned with her own desperate plight. The orc controlling the ropes raised her hand upwards and the mass of ropes shifted, levitating in the air so that Laureline was tilted with her head pointed towards the group and her bare feet thrust up into Zara’s reach.

“Mmm, pretty princess feet. Many pedicures.” Zara poked the sole of her foot with her forefinger. The black-painted nails on her hands were so thick and pointed that they were practically claws.

“Don’t you dare touch me you filthy greenskin pig!” Laureline barked at her. The mounting frustration she felt growing all day finally spilling out.

Amelia winced.

“Oh, I’m going to enjoy this,” Zara chuckled in her guttural foreign accent.

Big and blunt though she seemed to be, Zara’s fingers proved to be surprisingly dextrous and gentle. At first the wandering hands across her bare feet felt more like an intensive deep-tissue massage than a punishment, but Laureline quickly realized that that the orc was simply warming up her feet for a round of tickling. In her peripheral vision, Laureline noticed Amelia pulling up a chair. She seemed determined to stick around as an audience, though it was hard to read her expression and tell if she actually enjoyed what she was witnessing.

When Zara finally started to use her nails, driving them straight into the nerves of her poor soles, Laureline who had been barely keeping her reactions in check broke down. No matter how much she scrunched up her toes or twitched her feet from side to side, nothing she could do could shake Zara off.

What’s worse, the fact that the ropes were doing all of the work on their own holding her still and raising her into the air meant that Zara was free to dedicate her whole strength and concentration into tickling her feet. A light brush out claw-like nails down her soles, a flickering of fingernails against the underside of her toes, even a repulsive lick thrown in for good measure from heel to toe stems. Zara employed an introductory method covering all of the basics that she knew.

Giggling uncontrollably, unable to prevent tears sprouting from her eyes, Laureline knew in the back of her mind that Zara was still going easy on her. She wasn’t employing any tools but her own hands and mouth, and the intensity was far less than she expected from an orc of Zara’s strength and experience. As humiliating as the very nature of tickle torture was, the fact that she was reduced to a babbling, shrieking wreck by so little was all the more horrifying.

When Zara finally released Laureline from the tight confines of her black ropes a mere ten minutes later, she didn’t even need to leave a parting message. The look of defeat, plain as day on Laureline’s face, was all the acknowledgement she needed that her punishment had been successful.

Laureline was back to studying within no less than five minutes, and time moved steadily onwards.

----

On the fourth day of her training, Laureline couldn’t stand the oppressive conditions that her training required and the frank air of uncleanliness that had settled on her. The Nonstop studying, exercise and practicing to be an obedient spouse had left her skin grimy and caked mana residue. Her once-illustrious hair was lank, adding greatly to her humiliation.

Since she was forbidden from interacting with the servants, or even allowing them to see her, she could not leave her private quarters to use a bath. Fortunately, her private quarters were the size of a mansion for any other elf so there were plenty of spare rooms that could be adapted for this purpose.

After begging her profusely, and in the proper manner taught to her in earlier lessons, Amelia arranged for a large copper tub to be brought up, and using an arrangement of spells she contrived for water to be conjured and heated within the tub. It was a far cry off from her bath in the luxurious expanse of the Inner Palace’s bathhouse, but Laureline had to make do with it if she wanted to be cleaned at all, which she desperately desired.

What took her by surprise was that Amelia joined her in the small bath. Laureline was given no choice in the matter. Amelia simply undressed herself and slipped into the copper tub facing her. After she was done scrubbing, Amelia insisted that she provide the same service to her. To anyone else such a gesture might have been reciprocal and fair, but Laureline considered it demeaning. Amelia was little better than a servant to her, why should the princess bathe and clean her own servants?

She wanted to say as much, but the memory of her helplessness in the face of the orc’s tickling was still strong. Defying Amelia’s request, even over such a trivial thing, might be grounds for further punishment.

“Yes, of course Amy,” Laureline acquiesced, trying to be friendly.

“Oh, and I forgot to mention something princess. We’ve had a message from the slimes of Oorway. They’re excited by the prospect of an elven marriage but they want to test the compatibility of our two races first. So they’ve sent us a gift.”

That horrible piece of news filled the remainder of Laureline’s bathtime with gnawing worry as she placidly washed Amelia's entire body and then dried herself off. She was just done with toweling when Zara strode into the room with a heavy iron chest held before her that would easily take two elven soldiers to carry.

Laureline managed to keep herself from jumping at Zara’s presence. Being naked around the orc still filled her with unease. She was sorely happy that Zara had never requested that Laureline worship her feet or lick her pussy like Aurora had made her do. The orc, against all expectations, had been the least sexually forthcoming among her four teachers. Or perhaps orcs had a different conception of sexuality altogether.

Part of her hoped that was simply the orc’s nature. Part of her dreaded that it meant Zara was building up to something dark and terrible.
Zara left them and Amelia gleefully unlocked the chest which featured a simple sliding bolt instead of a padlock. Laureline was puzzled at that. That type of lock meant that anyone outside could open it, so the only purpose in locking it would be to keep someone - or something - inside.

Laureline peered over the edge of the chest cautiously. “Don’t tell me that this is a slime,” she muttered.

The contents of the locked box was some kind of liquid; dark purple and impossibly contorting itself into different shapes. Most of its mass was a distributed puddle, but in the center it bulged upwards and occasionally thick strands of gooey ooze would poke their way further up before collapsing under their own gravity back into the pile.

“Not quite princess. Ah, I believe it is kind of proto-slime. It has no higher-level consciousness, so it cannot adopt an elven or humanoid form. They mostly look like big round blobs if they’re well-fed. They’re kept as pets by the citizens of Oorway.”

“A pet,” Laureline said flatly. “Sorry, but that just seems inappropriate? They want to foist a pet onto me, the princess of the Assyrian Empire?”

“It’s a bit of a test, princess. They want to see if you can take care of it. They want you to dedicate your time and energy towards keeping it healthy so that when their ambassadors arrive, they’ll know you’re a suitable match for their own royal family.”

“I have to take care of some icky creature, in addition to preparing to meet a gaggle of humans and orcs next week?” Laureline shook her head. “I’ve never had a pet before. Well, if we’re not counting Pearl.”

“I can’t imagine what punishments Aurora would conjure if you let a gifted pet of a friendly nation die by negligence…”

“Enough Amelia, please. I get it. I’ll look after the damn thing... How do I look after it?”

“Well my princess, let me put it this way: it’s a good thing you’re already naked.”