Yafutoma was very…different. That much was easy enough to agree on for anyone from the rest of Arcadia’s settled islands. That quality of this difference was what was not agreed on. Aside from ogling at the exotic women, whistling appreciatively at them when appropriate (from his own perspective, anyways), Vigoro had made it apparent that this difference wasn’t one he especially enjoyed. It wasn’t entirely surprising, of course: one of the non-female things that Vigoro appreciated most was blatant strength and power. Yafutoma’s obvious closely-followed values of craft and balance in their food, architecture, political system, and personal nature was unimpressive to him at best. He would take the heavy atmosphere of Valua over this place any day.
So, what he was doing was far from shocking now that there was a little down-time after docking at the unknown land’s capital, opening friendly diplomatic relations with the country, immediately severing those relations by endorsing a hostile coup against its ruler, and personally searching until boredom set in for Vyse, Fina, Enrique, and especially Aika. What he was doing was the same as he did just about every time he was freshly landed in a city: eyeing women and babbling incessantly about how much he wanted them, how much they wanted him, and when and where this imagined mutual desire would be fit into his cluttered nightly schedule.
It was beginning to grate on Belleza’s nerves a bit.
“Oh ho! Look at that young beauty!” Vigoro exclaimed without much attempt at discretion, jerking his head to indicate a slim, younger Yafutoman woman watching he and Belleza stroll down the path. “She can’t keep her eyes off me. Not that I blame her; why, if there weren’t so many lovely ladies to gaze on, I probably wouldn’t be able to take my eyes off me, either!”
Belleza deepened the frown of annoyance which had settled on her face some time before. An interest in visitors so radically different than the normal Yafutoman was not the same as attraction.
“So, Vigoro,” she interjected, hoping to get the topic back on the small meeting she’d been having with him before, “how is the search for Vyse going?”
Vigoro shrugged noncommittally. “He seems to have slipped out of our grasp again. But he won’t be going anywhere far; we’ve got his ship and most of his crew locked up tight here.”
A sour look pierced Vigoro’s usual good-natured and self-confident (if dull-witted) expression. “Figures that of all of them he’d take Red with him. Ah well, I’m sure my continued absence will just make her heart grow fonder!”
“I’m sure it can’t get any less so,” Belleza replied agreeably, then continued smoothly, “I assume you plan to bring the crew back to Valua as prisoners of war?”
Vigoro shrugged disinterestedly, his attention having shifted to an attractive Yafutoman woman they were passing. “That was the plan, but Kangan said he has jurisdiction. Wants to execute them later as trophies or something. It’s not important to us, so I didn’t really argue. Say, I think she’s looking at me; what do you think, Belleza? I guess that raw charisma like mine carries over all cultural boundaries, eh?”
Belleza was silent a moment as she considered Vigoro’s speech (the former part, not the latter; she was pretty sure that the woman wasn’t looking at either of them with any more curiosity than all the rest of the Yafutomans did). A minor change in her plans, it would seem.
They passed the woman by uneventfully, and Vigoro, undaunted, began to insist that she hadn’t spoken simply out of awe of his magnificence.
“I doubt it, Vigoro,” Belleza replied with crystal clarity. “It’s just that you don’t really know what women want.”
Silence. Dead silence.
Then laughter. Big, raucous, full-blast laughter emptying Vigoro’s impressive lungs of air as its fuel.
“Belleza,” Vigoro smirked after he was done, “NO one knows women like Vigoro the Charming! What would YOU know about the subject, eh?”
“You mean besides being a woman myself?” Belleza asked flatly. “Well, I’ve had my share as well, you know, and I’m fairly certain I’m more effective than you would be.”
“You have?” came the surprised response. It seemed he was learning something unexpected about Belleza each hour since arriving here. Nonetheless, he wasn’t about to let her get the better of him on a subject so important to him. “No matter, I still know how to get the ladies better than anyone else! Why, the legacy of Vigoro the Manly is--”
“Care to take a wager on it?”
Once more, her interruption stopped Vigoro dead in his speech. Only for a moment, though. “Certainly! Name your terms, Belleza!”
“If you win,” the woman general brusquely answered, “I’ll allow you the opportunity to personally defeat Vyse should he return here, as I am sure he will try. If I win, I get to. The winner is the one who proves that they know best what a woman wants. Deal?”
Vigoro grinned at the chance to show his superior manliness to both Belleza and Vyse in the same blow. “You betcha!”
“Uh, but,” he then added, lowering his voice and looking about with--could it be?--a sheepish expression, “This stuff doesn’t really...MEAN anything, right? You know what I mean.”
Belleza hid a small, genuinely gentle smile from her peer. She knew exactly what Vigoro meant, and that his thoughts were on the spunky red-head constantly with Vyse. It was the same way her thoughts briefly flashed to her superior officer. “Of course. What is done here means nothing, and needs not be retold to anyone.”
Vigoro’s typical self-confident grin reappeared, and he enveloped Belleza’s dainty hand in his own muscular one to seal the pact. And then immediately set off in search of womanly conquest.
Good, the purpose was set.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vyse’s crew had fought valiantly for a group who were not warriors. It had taken a great many Valuan soldiers and Yafutoman royal guards to suppress them and capture the Delphinus, and a fair number would never serve their respective country again from it. While these deaths caused Belleza the same sorrow that all needless slaughter did, she at the same time knew it was a testament to how inspiring a leader Vyse was to inspire such loyalty in his crew that they would take on such impossible odds rather than surrender their leader’s ship quietly. Even the man known as Lawrence, whom Belleza understood from intelligence reports was simply a hired mercenary, had fought without hesitation (and for that matter, had been one of the most skilled of the crew).
And even if their enthusiasm for defiance no longer filled their features as they sat crowded in a couple of Yafutoma’s most unpleasantly damp and odorous prison cells, their determination was no less evident. Indeed, Belleza freely admitted that a crew such as this, held together by something stronger than just payment and military service, could probably accomplish things never imagined before if given the chance. Just like their captain.
Not that assessing Vyse’s followers was her purpose for coming down here, of course. She was here to scrutinize and stare at the women of Vyse’s crew with blatantly obvious lechery.
There were two in particular that struck her eye; the first was the older of two very similar Yafutoman women, with a strong, blunt face and toned body. Belleza could already tell she had a good, strong spirit, as indomitable as her muscular physique. But, unfortunately, that could translate into total refusal to cooperate, and also, this woman, being a Yafutoman, would have to be very new to the crew and not have the proper attachment to the others that Belleza could…utilize.
The second girl that caught Belleza’s eye, though...she was a different matter. Very interesting, that Vyse would have Ixa’takans in his comrades as well. They could have an unseen talent that Valua had never seen, for surely they held no engineering or ship-keeping talents, being as undeveloped as they were, yet Vyse would never, Belleza was sure, keep any around for forced manual labor. Nor would the Ixa’takans be likely to volunteer such help, having been mistreated and abused for it for so long.
But enough with practicalities. Belleza had more pressing thoughts on her mind. She made a great show of slowly letting her eyes drift up and down the Ixa’takan girl. Long, limber, and very visible limbs, with an uncommon mix of soft and gentle curves with ready, trained hidden sinew...delicate hands and dainty, yet clearly agile and well-used feet (not entirely surprising, considering Ixa’takans’ typical refusal to wear shoes)...a thin, taut belly that boasted neither fullness nor hunger...an exotic, yet pretty face looking to be used to a certain mix of shyness and resilience...and finally, that long, light silver hair that Ixa’takans sometimes had, so exotic and rare to most of the civilized skies.
Plus, she was wearing next to nothing, sporting nothing more than leaf-based garments holding her hair back, containing her smaller, yet alluring breasts, and covering her womanhood from a world that most certainly must have often shown interest in it. It was fairly obvious to anybody (which would be the point) that this woman was the most beautiful and attractively dressed. The decision was easy enough to make.
Belleza called over to one of the Valuan guards. When asked what she needed, she replied in a tone that left absolutely no doubt what her purpose was, “I’m taking that one to my quarters. I wish to...talk...to her.”
The Valuan soldier stared for a moment, and Belleza had a feeling she knew what kind of expression he was hiding behind his pointed helmet. Then with a quick, “Yes, ma’am,” he and a couple of his fellow grunts opened the cage and unlocked the bonds on the Ixa’takan woman, escorting her out. There was compliance in her walk, but defiance in her face. Yes, she’d do very nicely, Belleza had little doubt.
Turning away, the general told her subordinates over her shoulder that that was all for now, and then ordered the Ixa’takan woman to follow her to her quarters aboard her ship.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Belleza’s quarters were not lavishly decorated, but at the same time were far more inviting and pleasant than what many high-ranking officers would consider appropriate. But that was okay. After living so many years of her life with nothing before earning her current high position in life, she felt she was fully entitled to enjoy some modest rewards for her accomplishments.
Of course, neither of the current occupants of the room seemed to be interested in this. Belleza, because she had become quite accustomed to her own living space’s appearance, and the Ixa’takan woman, because, well, she seemed hardly in a pleasant enough mood to care. She glared baleful defiance at Belleza from her seat across the Valuan’s small table.
Well, no sense in prolonging this. “So, prettiest of the outlaw crew, tell me: what is your name?”
Anger flared in the foreigner’s eyes, but she did answer. “My name is Merida, Valuan.”
“And I am General Belleza,” was her even response. She continued without pause, “What does an Ixa’takan with such rare beauty do for the renowned air pirate Vyse?”
“Why?” Merida asked, voice filled with scorn. “Are you hoping I am a warrior? An engineer? Someone of importance, whom you can squeeze every last drop of useful information from as you did the blood of my people?” She forced a short, mocking laugh. “Then your greed for my beauty betrays you. I am a dancer; I know nothing.”
Well, well, well! Belleza was duly impressed. This Merida was no pretty pushover; she had quite a prideful fire within her. What made it all the more interesting was that from what Belleza could tell, she seemed like she would be (and probably was) much more accustomed to being cheerful and pleasant. Fascinating; this really would prove interesting.
Belleza smiled at her forced guest. “No, I was simply curious to know a little about you, Merida. Interrogation isn’t my area of expertise, anyways. A dancer, are you? I’m also one, though now because it’s a useful skill at times rather than by survival necessity.”
Merida made no response to this, but just continued to glare at Belleza. The air general shrugged; she actually wouldn’t have minded discussing the different dancing styles and techniques between Ixa’taka and the more “civilized” of Arcadia’s countries, but Merida clearly wasn’t interested. Not altogether surprising, of course.
“Well,” Belleza began after a moment, “I imagine you know why I brought you here, Merida?”
The foreign dancer’s eyes narrowed, and her lips pursed together in a set, determined line, parting only long enough for her to say, “I can’t stop you from forcing yourself on me, Valuan, but you can’t force me to participate.”
Belleza chuckled, pleased with this defiance. “No, I certainly can’t. I could only threaten you with all manner of unpleasant things, but in the end, I can’t force you if you have the will to resist, which I suspect you do. Men certainly have the advantage in this sort of situation.”
“Then just send me back,” Merida pleaded. For the first time, a tinge of fear and desperation was visible in her eyes. Despite her cool (if not calm) exterior, this woman truly did fear what could happen here. “What can there be to gain from doing this?”
“You’d be surprised what we could gain,” Belleza replied, not giving away her satisfaction that Merida, despite her quick and clever thinking, was nonetheless easy (and interesting) to manipulate. She saw ahead one step; Belleza saw ten because she made the path in the first place. Few people had the skill and dumb luck to disrupt the paths she set and even the field--not everyone could be Vyse. “What would happen if I returned you now, Merida? You’re strangely eager to be back in a cramped, ill-kept prison cell where you can await execution in a strange land by enemies you don’t even know. Your one comfort might be that you have friends to be with before the end comes--but then, they’re going to die as well, so I doubt that you would draw much consolation from that.”
“Better to be with them in our final night than in a Valuan’s bed!”
“But,” Belleza suggested slyly, “perhaps it doesn’t HAVE to be final night for you or your friends.”
There was a very tense pause as her Merida pondered those words--and Belleza could tell from her expression that she already knew the answer to her next question: “What do you mean?”
The red-haired woman shrugged nonchalantly. “It wouldn’t be difficult for me to approach the new ruler of this country and demand that you and your friends be taken as Valuan hostages. You’d be brought back to Valua, be put on trial where all charges against you would be dropped because of my official testimony that you were coerced against your will by Vyse into serving him, and either go free or serve a minute prison term--a year at most. All I would need to save the lives of you and your friends would be...a reason.
“Or,” Belleza reminded her, “you can refuse my offer. I like your strong will and clever mind, Merida, so I’ll probably spare you anyways. Kangan will just use the execution of your friends as some ridiculous show of might. It’s up to you, Merida.”
There was a moment’s hesitation. Then Merida slowly spoke, looking down to avoid Belleza’s eyes. “If...if I do as you please now...you swear that you’ll save my friends?”
“I do.”
Belleza waited and watched as Merida, still looking down at the table, gritted her teeth in obvious frustration. It was but a moment, however, and with a deep intake of air to calm herself, she raised her head, looked Belleza in the eye, and asked with utter calm and compliance, “What do you wish me to do, General Belleza?”
“Just Belleza will do, Beautiful,” she answered, carefully hiding her satisfied smirk. “Now, for starters, take off your clothes and lie down over on the bed.”
Merida obeyed wordlessly, and Belleza turned around and began to strip herself down to her underwear. Once she was done, she turned and watched in as detached a manner as she could (Merida’s toned, lean, lightly tanned body was difficult to keep her eyes off, particularly her small and (dare she think it?) cute posterior) as Merida strode to the bed and silently lay down on her back. She propped her head up on a comfortable pillow and stared boldly and without shame back at Belleza.
“You’re truly willing to do this,” Belleza remarked as she gazed from her spot several feet away. “Your loyalty to your friends is that strong. It’s fascinating, how powerful a leader Handsome is to inspire such bonds in his crew.”
“Valuans would know nothing of it,” Merida responded evenly, to which Belleza shrugged. People were people; there were men and women of great and poor character on both sides of any war.
Oh, well. Enough conversation. It was time to get to business! Belleza took a deep breath and, with great purpose, sat down in her seat and poured herself some Yafutoman tea. This tea she leisurely drank while reviewing some reports.
After a few minutes, she heard Merida speak up in a tone of confusion. “Er...ah, Belleza?”
“Hm?”
“I...” There was a pause. Obviously Merida was trying to figure out what exactly she was trying to say. “I’m, uh...ready?”
“Yes, I saw, thank you. Keep it up; you’re doing a great job.”
Belleza didn’t look up for any part of this small conversation, and sat for a few minutes more while enjoying the heavy atmosphere of confusion she was setting.
Several more minutes passed before Merida spoke up once more. “You Valuans have a very strange way of doing this.”
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and Belleza finally looked up. Excellent, time for the next part. She stood and quietly told Merida, “Now, don’t say anything, understand?”
Merida looked at her and made it visually known that she thought Belleza was mad.
“Now who could that be?” Belleza said, raising her voice a little above her usual volume. “Always right when things are really getting started, too!”
Merida continued to obey the request for silence, but her face showed further certainty that Belleza was utterly insane.
No matter. Belleza made her way to the door, making sure to make a fair amount of noise in doing so, and opened the door about halfway--just enough for Merida to clearly see the visitor to be the villainous new emperor.
For his part, Kangan looked quite shocked. This, of course, was perfectly understandable, as he was staring at the foreign general Belleza in nothing but her undergarments with a completely naked woman waiting on her bed within. It was enough to fluster him into silence for a moment.
Belleza gave a very impatient frown. “What is it, Kangan? I think you can tell I’m a little busy.”
The man managed to gather himself (and under the circumstances, it probably wasn’t an easy accomplishment) and say, “Er, you, uh, requested that I come to speak with you regarding details of our military pact...”
“Oh, yes,” Belleza responded, smiling in slight embarrassment at what had apparently been her mistake. “Of course. I’m sorry, I forgot that I’d called you here. We’ll need to meet later on about that. I’m terribly sorry.”
“Er, quite, ah, quite alright, general. I will be on my way now!”
As Kangan hurried off, Belleza added, seemingly as an after-thought, “Oh, and Kangan, due to certain circumstances, the Valuan Empire will be taking custody of Vyse’s captured renegades. That’s acceptable, I assume?”
Kangan looked like he wished to argue the point, but wished even more just to be out of this situation. “Yes, of course.”
And that was that. Belleza closed the door, chuckling softly to herself, and walked over to where her clothes lay in a heap. As though just remembering, she looked over at Merida, who looked almost as confused as Kangan had at first, and told her, “Thank you, Merida. You may get dressed now, if you wish. I’ll just need you to stay here for a little while longer before I bring you back to your crewmates. Must keep up appearances, after all.”
“Appearances,” Merida repeated, deep in thought for a moment. She made no move to get up and retrieve her skimpy garments.
“Something wrong?” Belleza asked, gathering her clothing from the floor and setting it on the table to put back on.
“I’m trying to understand what just happened,” Merida answered. “This was all a set-up of some sort so that you would gain custody over I and my friends?” Belleza nodded, and Merida’s next question was, “Why?”
Ah, yes, why. Of all questions, it was always why that was most complicated to answer, because it covered so many different queries. Why the deception? Why did she want the crew to begin with? Why Merida rather than anyone else? Still, Belleza felt that after putting Merida through this experience, she owed her a satisfactory explanation.
“Well,” she started, leaning against the table as she faced Merida, who had just now risen to sit on the side of the bed, “I hate the thought of people dying. I know you probably can’t understand, but it’s the reason that I serve as a general. So when I was informed that Kangan planned to execute you and your friends, I had to find a way to keep that from happening. The only problem is, some of my peers, and certainly a devious man such as Kangan, would see such an act of mercy as weakness, and I simply can’t afford to have my reputation as an effective and valued leader to be damaged like that. But while men like Kangan and my fellow general don’t understand the values of mercy, they can recognize the universal idea of coercing someone into doing whatever they want with bribes, so if I make it appear that I’m bribing you into being intimate with me, they’ll be more likely to accept and respect that than my simply showing kindness.”
What a strange world it was where begging favors to satisfy base, animal urges would be more respected as strength than empathy.
Merida was keeping up with all this, and now interjected with a question. “But why not tell me this from the beginning? I would have gladly went along with it, had I known your intentions were so just.”
Belleza gave a small shrug. “I hope you’ll forgive me for that, Merida. To be honest, I was simply curious...Vyse is such a fascinating young man with so many rare and exemplary qualities; I wanted to see just how loyal his crew could be to him and each other when you’ve known him for so little time. To unite so many different people in a bond strong enough that you’d do so much for one another…well, there are times I truly regret having him as a foe.”
Both of them were silent for a moment, and Belleza went back to filling out her reports, deciding that it was actually more comfortable in the warm cabin to stay dressed as she was.
“So, then it was all a lie for our benefit? Your actions and interest in me and all?”
Without looking up, Belleza gave a light chuckle and answered. “Well, not entirely. One secret I’ve long since learned about deception is to always include some truth in it. It’s much easier to tell a convincing half-truth than a full-blown lie. One of the reasons I chose you is because you’re the most beautiful of your group; I don’t have to show off an attraction I don’t feel. A little truth can go a very long way when you know what you’re doing.”
Belleza heard no response from Merida, and went back to filling out her reports. A moment later, however, she suddenly felt a pair of slender, yet soft hands gently descend to her shoulders, then begin smoothly and firmly massaging them, focusing on the sensual apex where Belleza’s shoulders ended and neck began. Its slow, steady, but demanding pace and strength left no question of the intentions behind it.
Belleza turned to look up at Merida, following her slim frame with her eyes until she reached the Ixa’takan’s collected, purposeful, and eagerly benevolent expression.
“Why?” she asked. There was no great surprise or sense of disbelief in her voice, just an accepting curiosity.
Merida shrugged as she continued her actions. “I don’t know. Gratitude for what you’ve orchestrated for us, perhaps at cost to your name? A reward for a decency rare in Valuans? Maybe, or maybe I just want to. Does it matter?”
“It does,” Belleza replied as she rose from her seat and turned to face Vyse’s lovely crewmate, “But so long as it’s not for fear or misunderstanding, it’s right.”
Merida’s hands had not left Belleza’s neck, so she now used them to pull the fiery-haired general to her to kiss her hard on the lips. There wasn’t a soft prelude, no tender foreplay involved--there wasn’t time for it, and it had no place here anyway. They simply pressed their lips together, and a moment later, they found themselves pressing their tongues against one another. As they did this, they closed the space between their bodies, and began to press themselves against each other, as well. Belleza let her arms come together behind Merida, dropping down to let her hands rest on the woman’s exceptionally tight and lovely butt, grasping it and using that hold to push the Ixa’takan closer still. Each reveled at the heat and sensual energy that passed through them as they seemed to try to meld together. The mild, yet greatly arousing pleasure that came of this intense closeness, this near oneness, was not dampened to any real discernable degree by the presence of Belleza’s underwear, but it was still something she realized would have to be taken out of the equation soon. First, though...
As was her nature, Belleza naturally took control of the situation to set a pace according to her own preference. She broke off the kiss and said through gasps for air she hadn’t realized she needed, “Sit down on the bed, Beautiful.”
Merida nodded and did as she was told, planting herself down a few inches in from the side of Belleza’s mattress, letting her legs dangle off it below the knees, not quite touching the floor. When Belleza dropped to her hands and knees and moved to be before the light-haired woman, she eagerly spread her legs as far as she could. Of course, being a dancer through and through, this meant that she could spread her legs so far that her heels could rest on the edge of practically the ends of the bed, with her leaning back on her arms to support herself comfortably. Such feats of flexibility were not unknown to Belleza, since she herself was trained and accomplished in many forms of dance, but this was her first time seeing someone do it for her rather than the reverse. She could now understand firsthand just why it seemed to appeal so much to her previous partners.
After getting a very erotic look at Merida’s open invitation, Belleza leaned forward and planted the first tender kiss of this encounter upon Merida’s clit. The darker-skinned woman shivered with this new pleasure, and Belleza went to work. She slowly but firmly pressed her tongue against Merida’s outer lips, swirling around them in a play that brought out a small groan of pleasure from further up. With each moan she heard, Belleza became more daring, slipping her tongue further into Merida’s core for a moment, then retreating back until the next whimper came. Soon, Merida began alternately panting and softly moaning constantly, so, using her fingers to further open the entrance, Belleza’s tongue invaded and started to fully explore its new territory, licking and pressing all around within Merida. And as this were not enough--which, from Merida’s now-loud and persistent moans and shakes of pleasure, was not true--every few moments Belleza would move her head very slightly forward, just enough to rub Merida’s clitoris, each time causing the woman to jerk in response.
It was not long before this assault pushed Merida over the brink. She was not loud, nor did she thrash wildly, but the high-pitched squeak and intake of air as she shivered with tiny, beautifully pleasing muscle spasms told the tale just as well. Throughout it, Belleza continued to lick, swirling her tongue around now not so much as to bring pleasure, but to capture her temporary lover’s passion’s fluids.
Once she’d had her fill, and Merida was done recovering from her orgasm, Belleza stood, intending to get fully undressed so they could continue and she could get a release, something that by this point she desperately wanted. She had but removed her bra, however, when Merida unexpectedly grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down onto the bed.
Not what she’d planned, but as Merida lay down with her and captured her lips once more, Belleza was content to let another take charge for the moment. Thankfully, Merida seemed to know full well that Belleza was at this point uninterested in foreplay, and so, still kissing her fiercely, she moved one hand down and slipped her fingers into Belleza’s underwear. Belleza moaned passionately into the kiss, rumbling sound traveling from her throat to Merida’s.
Merida’s fingers began to rub against her mound, eliciting another muted groan from the Valuan general, before two were slipped into her folds to poke and prod her within. Belleza’s excitement could easily be felt as Merida’s digits penetrated her well-lubricated center. It was the work of but moments, a few rhythmic thrusts and squirms with fingers, a few soft strokes of thumb against clit, for Merida to bring Belleza to climax. She broke the kiss as it crashed through her, her loud moans finally free to make themselves known to any who would listen. Merida took this opportunity to bring her mouth down to Belleza’s breast and suck upon it, only increasing the pleasure of the orgasm.
Finally, it was over, and it only took Belleza a moment to readjust her eyes to see straight again. And what she saw was Merida grinning slyly next to her.
“That was fast.”
“Hey, I waited all through you for it,” Belleza protested playfully, not minding lowering her guard for a moment to be comfortable with her companion.
“Hm, I bet I could make you come just as fast again,” Merida replied, her grin not leaving.
Belleza glanced at her clock, knowing she would be due for a meeting with Vigoro and some lower officers soon. “Well, Beautiful,” she said, smiling slightly, “I think you’ve got enough time to try.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the end, Vyse came and rescued his crew long before any execution could have taken place anyway. And Vigoro still claimed a victory on the little contest between him and Belleza, for while he admitted that Belleza’s “catch” was quite something, he still believed that obtaining 3 Yafutoman women for a reasonable cost proved him the winner. Belleza gave him the victory--he had, after all, proven that he, too knew what some women wanted.
Nonetheless, for a brief moment in time, two people who should have been mortal enemies were able to share understanding, and help one another in many ways. And to Belleza’s eyes, such an achievement of personal peace in an international conflict would never be a waste of time.
Deviant Hearts Archive | Back to main index