Insomnia

Insomnia
~~~~~~~~

	The autumn breeze and the distant sound of crickets are all that echo through the night at Castle Pendragon. The few clouds that were out in the sky failed to block the lunar light of a full moon. Stars, dazzling and innumerable, dotted the sky like freckles of the great celestial face. If anyone were up to see the sky at this hour, it may have yet filled them with a great appreciation for its calm beauty. Its occupants however have long since departed to sleep, save for the sentries patrolling the ramparts. And yet, deep within the great castle, two figures remain awake. One stirring restlessly, the other mute witness.

Hazel laid there awake, her eyes fastened on the figure of her mate besides her tossing and turning in a fruitless attempt to get some sleep. She had been like this for some time now, first waiting for him to retire for the night from his kingly duties, and now watching with worry as he tries to retire into a well deserved slumber. Truth be told, in the couple of years it had been since she was transformed into a human she still had but the faintest grasp on the intricacies of human politics, but even she knew that being a leader to a great many people was both an honor and burden. Being as young as he was only made the matter ever more imposing. It ached her heart to see his youthful spirit plagued by the trials and tribulations of being a fair king. More than once has he gone through a sleepless night, with her only being able to be by his side as comfort. At least tonight he was in bed, albeit in a state of restlessness. It was times like this that she sometimes wished for a quieter life for them, away from these many troubles in the calmness of nature. Yet even now she knew, having known since the moment she was transformed, such a thing was impossible. The price of Humanity, she was told by the great wizard, was to knowingly enter a new life filled with responsibility and challenges totally alien to her previous life as a squirrel. And the price of staying by Arthur's side was a commitment to take all that and more along side him on his quest to become a great king of all England.

Edging closer to him, she reached out from the covers to place a hand on his shoulder in an effort to provide some comfort. She yearned for his familiar warmth,and for his arms to wrapped around her form in an embrace that she has grown quite a fondness for. A feeling that she admits, she hasn't felt in far too long for her liking. While she initially had trouble with her now mostly-hairless form, she has grown to quite like sleeping in the nude. The sensation of her bare skin against his was one of the first things she took a great liking to as a human. Her human form remained small, roughly the same as when she first took it save for having grown a few inches and having built up a firmer frame of muscles. Despite his initial protests, she insisted on being trained in the basic arts of combat on top of her already large educational curriculum. It has come to pay off quite nicely in fact, being now able to sport a sword and even some armor quite comfortably. Still, even compared to Arthur, who has grown a bit on his own, she remained quite petite. Her breasts remained small, though she hardly saw how breast size was considered an issue with human women, and her waist slender. While not as long as she would have liked it, her red hair reached several inches past her neck; constantly cared to ensure it does not grow longer if she wishes to stay in a role ready for combat (yet another thing she did not quite understand with humans).

Having made contact with his shoulder, he rolls over to face her. Even in the dark she could see the weariness prominent on his face. His eyes seemed to be staring off into some great distance before focusing on her face. Almost immediately he softens, a smile forming across his face. With it, he seems to be at ease in the comfort of her eyes. She in turn smiles back, a face of sincere caring and understanding. Wrapping both of her arms around his back, she leans into him with her whole form, kissing him with a soft and delicate force. Not even more than a second later does he begin to kiss her as well, moving his arms so as to put one on her delicate waist while using the other to caress her back. As he does so, she begins to slowly intensify her kissing so as to match their growing yearning. Her hands begin to move across his back, with one resting against the back of his head and the other firmly planted against his buttocks. She kisses deeper, moaning into his mouth as he begins to hug her closer into himself, her breasts pressing firmly into his chest. Their tongues begin to traverse the others mouth, taking in their lovers taste to the fullest. After what felt like an eternity, they break the kiss to breathe sorely needed air. Hazel, having realized her eyes were shut, opened them to see her mate. It would seem that she has indeed succeeded in lifting his spirits at least, if the look on his face and the growth pressed against her were any indication. Taking the initiative, she rolled him onto his back and began to mount on top of him. She rose until she was sitting atop his lap, letting the bed sheets fall aside revealing her naked form in what pale moonlight reflected into the room. She then took one of Arthur's hands and guided it up to her chest, planting it atop her breast. With a small smirk, he began to knead on the breast, causing her to utter a small moan in delight. Affirmation given, he moved his other hand atop her other breast, cupping both easily within his palms. In circular motions he starts, rubbing into her with a subdued strength. Alternating between hands, he pulls off of her only to use his fingers to gently tweak and rub on her fair nipples. She continues to silently moan in delight, silently gasping as he playfully pulls and rubs her breasts and nipples.

Hands, in the sense of human hands at least, were another one of the things that she absolutely loved about the human body. Their dexterity, usefulness, and most importantly their intimacy allowed her to do and enjoy things that she never would have been able to do as a squirrel. From using then to write or lift, or even simply embracing someone in ways she never would have dreamed possible. They would never cease to amaze (or arouse) her. Her excitement building, she tilts her head backwards and begins to use her lower body to grind against his pelvis, spreading her building moisture across his lap while letting the friction continue to build up the tension they were both equally feeling. Over her own soft moans, she hears her mate, Arthur, let out a sort of grunt as she continues sliding her opening over his ever-pulsing member. Eventually he grabs her, stopping her motions and causing her to face back down towards him. Panting and with a face of lust and passion, Arthur removes his hands from Hazels thoroughly worked breasts in order to wrap them around her form and bring her back into his embrace. He then, in one fluid motion, rolls her over onto her back before sharing a deep kiss. After many seconds embraced, he pulls away and begins to move his hands down past her stomach to rest just on top of her moist sex. His hands rest there, while he stares back at her, switching from a look of passion to a look not that much different from a child asking permission from a parent. Giggling at his chivalrous gesture, she enthusiastically nods an affirmation back to him, ready to embrace his full being into herself.

~~~~~~~~

	For longer than he would like to admit, King Arthur Pendragon had felt overwhelmed. A little over two years has past since he first pulled the sword from the stone and anvil. That first year alone had him traversing with the terrifying world of domestic politics, law and order, and a crash course on royal court etiquette to boot. Not to mention suffering the weight of the public's great expectations for their new king. The second year was arguably worse, what with keeping his rule established, dealing with foreign nations, and the occasional matter of supernatural origin. All of this while going through the great growth spurt (Puberty, Merlin calls it) that will in short time make him a man sometimes makes him miss the cumbersome yet more mundane tasks he had to do growing up with Sir Ector. While he was always grateful to have his friends and family supporting him, there are times he worries for their well being just as much as his own. While Merlin has been a great teacher and even greater companion, there have been times Arthur has caught Merlin in the midst of peculiarly aloof moods, or at least more peculiar than the moods the old wizard usually gets. These moods leave Merlin confused over events, sometimes questioning the time and date. When Arthur presses Merlin about these moods, he simply acts like nothing had been the matter at all. Asking Archimedes, being the only one to have spent a great deal of time with the wizard, often ends up the same, but what little he does say about it sounds like typical confusing wizard talk. Something about time and fate in flux?

Arthur himself had grown in stride the past couple of years. While he could hardly be considered scrawny now, he still was a far cry from the physical expectations one would have for a king of all England. He had a faint stubble in all of its patchy and itchy glory beginning to come in. He had also managed to grow a good handful of inches, with the extra muscle gained from the repeated drills and training with Sir Ector helping him to fill out his form and escape from being a scrawny prepubescent to a taller not-quite-as-scrawny teenager. Given another couple of years this kind of growth and he may very well turn out into fit and strong king.

Sir Ector and Sir Kay over the past two years has also sent him through a loop more than once. Ever since pulling the sword, Sir Ector had gone from being a strict and intimidating authority figure to penitent and at times groveling at his feet. To say it was uncomfortable was an understatement. Even Sir Kay, for all of his brutishness, seemed to try and take his knighthood seriously (or at least seriously when in the presence of Arthur) and had been focusing on actual training rather than squandering himself. A good thing, perhaps, considering the number of young and eager knights that have already been vying for the kings favor. While he is not entirely surprised about both of their changes in behavior, he does wonder if they had truly felt this way all along, or it is just the king they respect in him. He truly does with for the former.

As for Hazel, he can think of nobody closer to him than her. What had started off admittedly one sided has over the past couple years blossomed into something beyond even his own imagination. While there were many things he liked about her; Her gorgeous smile, the way her eyes were always expressive, her chipper attitude on life, but perhaps most of all the fact that she was genuine and sincere in everything she did. This quality in fact stands out best among the many other potential maidens and admirers. As flattering and beautiful as many of them were, they still only saw him as "King" rather than "Arthur". An aspect of royalty that he has made no secret in hiding his displeasure for, despite the insistence by others the need to be ready to marry a fair princess for the good of the kingdom as a whole. This was a road he dreaded having to cross, yet he remained thankful that it may yet be a few more years until he must worry about that.

As their love bloomed into a mutual reciprocation, Merlin had finally decided to step in and give Arthur "the talk" as he called it. While he already knew about the basics of life and how it was created thanks to Merlin's education, this talk bordered on far more intimate subject matter that had even Merlin slightly flushed red. He had talked about things he had only a rough understanding about beforehand, such as what his current coming of manhood ("Puberty!" he keeps insisting on calling it) entails for both his body and mind, dealing with these new changes and "urges" as he put it, the changes and "urges" a woman starts to go through (at this point he had decided to include Hazel and go over his previous points so as to not repeat himself) before going into a incredibly uncomfortable and unnecessarily long winded speech about the practice of sex. While Hazel was far more familiar with the topic than Arthur had thought, even she proved unprepared for everything that Merlin went on about. Like the fact that you can get terrible diseases, or that practicing "unsafe" sex could lead to a child, or that there even was a thing as "safe" sex to begin with. The whole conversation eventually derailed over the explanation and attempted demonstration of some kind of material that wouldn't be invented for hundreds of years to even practice "safe" sex. Although they both ended up more knowledgeable, if also confused, on the subject, Merlin did eventually come to Arthur in private with some sort of spell that in his words "will make you all the safer without any of the worry!" and words of wisdom.

"While sex is a completely normal and natural part of life, my boy, people are going to remain backwards about it through your lifetime and beyond, believe me! Now if you do choose to partake in your youth, you must absolutely positively MOST DEFINITELY keep in mind that as king, it would be less than kingly to be caught 'in the act' so to speak, especially outside the confines of marriage! I do know you really like the girl, and I am no means saying you SHOULD, but if you DO...'mum's the word' as say. Or will say, I think...".

Arthur at the time was close to protesting about not even being sure if we WAS going to have sex at all, but later reconsidered once he remembered that Merlin could indeed see the future, so any point in arguing it would be fruitless. Merlin even assured him that the spell could be undone at the snap of a finger. "You are going to have to have children at some point, right?" He had said, yet to this day Arthur swears he saw the briefest flash of some other kind of emotion run through the wizard between his typically spirited talk. Nevertheless he was glad he ended up taking his advice, as he had in fact ended up partaking in the act of sex. While it was at first incredibly awkward and perhaps not quite as long as they had initially liked, both being a king with access to the appropriate literature and reluctantly asking Merlin for "Advice" had helped turned their sex into a more refined lovemaking.

Yet before he had been brought out of his malaise from another hard day of statecraft, Arthur had come to think that it had perhaps been a long while since he spent some actual private time with his "squire", as far as the rest of his court knows. Perhaps it was paranoia or stress that had distanced him as of late, but it was her delicate hand, soft smile, and big brown eyes that brought him back to both earth and to her.  He let her anchor him back towards the comfort that so eluded him as of late. With each kiss, each tease, each noise he felt as if he a part of him was rejuvenated. Her goal was to bring him back and remind him that their comfort will always remain steadfast. She had not planned on being satisfied in return. But here they were, about to cross the horizon into the epicenter of carnal comfort. But like a truly great and fair king, he first wished to give upon his most loyal subject what she had given upon to him.

With great speed, he quickly brought his head down upon Hazel's crotch. Slightly taken aback, she nearly questioned him aloud for doing something that she frankly had not expected. This protest was replaced before it could even be spoken by a sharp gasp as Arthur began to kiss her wet nether region. With the initiative on his side, he further pushed his assault into her, burying his face deeper into her until his tongue could effortlessly push past her folds. Her panting, now at a steady pace, combined with the intoxicating smell of her sex filled Arthur with great vigor. Having begun to explore her inner caverns, he experimented with his tongue against her walls. He took great delight in the hitches of her whimpers as he brushed against her particularly sensitive spots. After a minute he finally pulled back, taking in great gulps of air while he surveyed the now flushed mound. Looking up his eyes made contact with Hazel's, her face about as beat red as her hair. From the almost whining look in her eyes, he realizes he may have gotten her a bit close to her climax. Feeling satisfied, he bent down to place one last kiss on her now throbbing clit, his lips parting her hood as he gave a quick flick with his tongue as he finally parted from her.

If her arms squeezing his combined with an almost cute whine was any indication, Hazel seemed ready to get to the grand finale. Having felt that he had been sufficiently chivalrous, Arthur was happy to oblige her. Positioning his impressive manhood against her aching, and with the help of her already dripping hole, he managed to slide inside with a sleight of speed. His worries that he may have been too fast
quickly melted as she had almost immediately began to try and buck her hips into him. Taking that as a sign to kick it up a notch, he started at an even and deep pace, trying his best to sync up with her almost wild humps. No longer content to just moaning, Hazel began to
dig her fingers into Arthur's back as she arched her head into the crane of his neck, giving him love bites all across his neck in perhaps her most signature sign of affection. As Arthur began to pick up the pace, he stealthily moved a hand down towards her crotch, and in a feat of impressive skill began to massage her clit, quite quickly pushing her right to the edge of ecstasy. As a familiar warmth began to build within her, Hazel removed her mouth from Arthur's neck, attempting to steady her breathing for the climax that was mere seconds away. Finally, after a sharp intake of air, she let her orgasm wash through her in one great, unsubtle moan. As her spasms began to rock through her body, her already tight walls began to tighten even further. Combined with a few final deep thrusts into her, Arthur too let his belayed climax hit, filling Hazel's squirting pussy with his hot seed.

As their joint orgasms began to come down, Arthur rolled back on his side facing Hazel. Their bodies, still only half covered from their romp, laid still in the dim moonlight. The faint glisten of sweat sparkling like dew on morning grass. Hazel loved it; Being able to make love facing your mate, bodies melding together so perfectly and beautifully. Arthur loved it; Being cared for and caring in return with his love in such an intimate way that it mattered not if he was king or not. And so they both lay there, stares without words yet filled with an unmistakable message. As both Arthur and Hazel finally drift off into sleep, that message remained resonating within them well into that autumn night. Its clarity unmistakable, its meaning ever powerful, its voice the collection of their years both together and to come.

	"I love you."


																THE END