Author: JustSkipIt
Rating: R to NC-17
Feedback: Please leave feedback on the Waiting for Dani thread on the Kitten Board.
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own Willow and Tara and the Buffyverse. I'm not saying this universe is totally original but I didn't steal it from any author or creator that I know of. No copyright infringement is meant by this fic and I will not make any money from it.
Distribution: Kitten Board, Through the Looking Glass, Mystic Muse. Everyone else, send me a note.

Notes: Additional Notes at the end of this update.

When we reached my rooms I could still hear the music from the ballroom in spite of the fact that at most of the guests had left the ball. More than a few noblemen had left with first one servant and later another. While not keeping track by any means, I had noticed D'elam leaving with someone. When T'dre had given me a kiss and left moments after with one of the noblemen from the North, a man with whom she had seemed quite interested while dancing earlier, I smiled and told her to enjoy herself. She had playfully swatted my bottom with her bag but had assured me that she would do so at my insistence.

Dani shut the door behind us and leaned against it with a loud sigh. She was exhausted and her hair hung in ringlets at the edges where the exertions of her dancing were obvious. She was still leaning against the door when she pulled off her shoes and set them carefully to the side. I turned and was watching her joyously when she raised her gaze and seemed to see me finally. "I should get you out of your gown, My Lady."

She started to push herself off the door but I reached her in two steps before she could do so. For moments I just brushed my fingertips along her cheeks, looking deeply into her eyes. When I spoke, my voice was breaking. "Do you know how much I love you?"

Dani leaned her face forward so that our lips were almost touching. "Tell me, Tara." She closed the slim distance and I could feel the beating of her heart through the connection of our lips. And for a long time I didn't think of her words, could think of nothing else but the feel of her body trembling against mine.

Finally I began to step backward toward the bed, pulling her along with me and then remembered what she had asked. "Why don't I show you?" I whispered as I reached around to unfasten the first tie on her gown.

Her hands went as quickly to the bindings on my dress and began to work in what was very obviously a more practiced manner than my own even as I felt her nod against my mouth. Practice or not, my determination was quite fierce and we eventually found ourselves completely divested of our fine ball gowns.

I don't mean to say that this process was quick. By no means was it. Rather we moved slowly, almost torturously slowly to remove each scrap of our clothes, reveling in the skin underneath it. Of course, we had seen each other naked every day of our lives, bathed each other, snuggled, but this was different. My skin hummed with excitement and passion and I shook if I didn't continually press my hand or foot to the bed to ground myself in the reality of the moment. Many times we stopped so that one of us could get her breath or stop shaking. And when all barriers were removed, we seemed to move between a perfect understanding of the way to touch each other and an overwhelming innocence as nearly every movement was accompanied by a questing touch and raised eyebrow or "is this ok?"

I almost thought my girl was teasing me with her nervousness as my memory flashed back to how she loved me after my marking. But it was clear that that was not so. Perhaps that night she was simply fulfilling a duty or perhaps she felt confident and was helped by my state. Whatever the reason, her nervousness this night was as genuine as my own and we slowed many times to reassure each other.

I... we...

I blush to think of it, to tell it now. We were... intimate in every way I think I knew at the time. Wholly open to each other. Giving and taking. Taking and giving and both were the same in every moment. And we began to learn each other. To learn the feel of skin and lips and tongue. What makes her move like that or make that sound or that more high pitched sound?

We were so connected that night.

I ran my tongue slowly over her mark, wanting to touch and love her there and when I did I felt a spark against my mouth. I could tell she felt it too and it wasn't uncomfortable but it was unusual. And later. When I... when I touched her... and my mark touched her wetness... it was like electricity for both of us. And it felt as if she was touching me also...

I blush and can't go on like this.

With every heart beat and every motion of that night I knew how I loved her. I whispered it over and over.

The last time that she... How does one say this? When she cried out my name over and over and I rose up her body again, kissing a trail until I reached her lips and cheeks and eyes. And her cheeks were wet with the salt of her tears. I held her then. So tightly and hugged her to me and repeated how I loved her and was she ok? And she simply said, "Yes, My Lady." And she paused and whispered that she hadn't known if this would happen.

And I kissed her again and told her that of course it happened. That she was my girl.

And we fell into the deepest, although very short sleep of our lives and I held to her tighter and tighter in my dreams.

The next morning afforded us no time to lounge in bed, much as we would have wished. We both had many duties both social and logistical to attend. Dani was up and dressed when she woke me with a few kisses and then resisted my playful attempts to pull her back into our thoroughly mussed sheets. I grumbled but rose from the bed and bid her to go about her duties as I dressed myself. While I liked the way we looked in our ball gowns, pulling on my fine riding clothes seemed to me a portent of a more relaxed type of fun.

My day would be quite full indeed and Dani reviewed both her and my expectations as she made the bed and handed me my riding boots. Dani would be supervising the house staff in their preparations for lunch and dinner as well as visiting with each of the mark-bound servants to ensure the needs of their masters and mistresses were fully met.

Our guests engaged in a variety of events and entertainments over the next two days. On this second day of the celebration, every free minute would be taken up by various contests of physical skill: riding, shooting, running, wrestling, hand-to-hand, and fencing, as well as other competitions. All celebration attendees were permitted to join in the competitions although they had to commit to a contest by a certain hour so that the pairings or heats could be scheduled. Dani and Faith played no small part in determining those pairings, serving on a committee with Master Finn, Miss LeFleur, and a few other nobles. Finn's servant, a fit dark-skinned man named Forrest lacked any hint of personality and seemed more machine than man. Nonetheless, his calculations and suggestions aided us in our challenge to match and pair the contests.

Other available entertainment came from three fine bards, each of whom had staked out a distant corner of the courtyard and seemed to glory in gathering large crowds for their tales and performances. Dani came to find me shortly before the lunch break as the most highly heralded bard in the land began the story of my parents's love. I noted that Dale and Donnie were there as well and paid the performer generously on the completion of his art.

My father and I also sat in conference much of the day and the next morning-either jointly or separately. For obvious reasons, gatherings such as this were an excellent opportunity for meetings between and within Estates. As a group we discussed and decided strategies for optimization of crop yield, redistribution of knowledge and skill among Estates, and other important policies of our land. Many of our young guests would return home with an Estate other than their own to foster goodwill and gain specific knowledge and training not available at their own home. And of course, many of these guests would also seek appropriate partners or contact with others at their new home.

It was also tradition that at a mark-binding celebration, the Lord and Lady of an Estate could not refuse an audience with any member of that Estate nor of the villages surrounding. Very few free men and women (Gael, Desiderata, and Phoebe have been mentioned prior) are invited before the third day of such a celebration but many servants came to conference with one or both of us that day. Some carried a request or grievance while others simply came to take advantage of the opportunity for direct contact and to pay their respect.

One meeting which had quite an emotional component for both myself and my girl was my audience with D'rs. Having been bound to my grandmother, her meeting deserved attention from both myself and my father. Dani announced D'rs and I could see that her eyes were again wet with tears. D'rs bowed in respect to us and then took the offered seat. She spoke plainly and beautifully of the honor of serving three generations of the Maclay estate. She was clearly touched by her memories of my grandmother and mother and took my hand as she again repeated her statements of the night before that it had been an honor to see me raised to my Ladyship. It had been, she explained, her commitment to herself that she would serve our family long enough to see me so honored. She then humbly requested freedom from her binding. My father spoke when he realized that I was crying too hard to do so for I had realized her purpose in coming and why Dani kept crying when she spoke to Doris. While we would not and could not deny the request, it being her right with my grandmother gone, I felt sad at the thought that she would be leaving our Estate.

"Lady Tara and I thank you for serving our house these many years. We will be sad to see you leave our family but will never forget the honor you have performed." I had regained my composure and we stood together and bowed to her to show our respect.

"I would be honored to artist your mark the day after this celebration closes or we can ask Miss T'dre," I told her.

Doris smiled as she told me that she would also take it an honor to accept the freed bond from me. She stayed a while longer to discuss some financial matters. Suffice it to say that when Doris took her freedom two days hence, her hands and pockets would be far from empty. I left her with the teasing that she should come up with her desired name so that we could perform the mark well.

Another quite interesting series of meetings involved a Maclay estate about a two day ride from ours. It was quite a long and involved tale involving my great-grandfather's youngest brother's enrollment in the military, meeting a beautiful noble woman with low marks and marrying her. Through a series of accidents and fights (none related to or showing badly on my great-great-uncle) the estate had eventually become part of the Maclay Estate. That couple had then had four girls and three boys with only one of the girls living to adulthood. She had married well or at least up in rank but had only had one son. That son had not married and although he was young, now was in very poor health. The Estate sent its Steward to the celebration, technically a free man much like Gael, but working exclusively for the Estate.

This Rupert Giles brought with him a veritable library of records detailing the Estate's fortunes (or lack thereof) from my grandfather's time. My father and I sat in conference with him for hours reviewing the financial records, crop production, even birth, death, and judicial happenings in the surrounding villages (of which there were two). The acreage was about 1/3 ours but crop production was much lower than that. The records showed that at this rate the Estate could continue to support itself, drawing on prior funds, for at most three more years. Then we would either have to begin to support its losses or sell off land.

By the time we completed this meeting dusk showed in the skies and my father and I both retired to bathe and prepare for our banquet. The second night banquet would be nowhere near as elaborate nor as formal as last night's but still quite an event. It was again followed by dancing although this night guests also could avail themselves of gaming rooms or sitting parlors if they preferred. They had, in effect, full run of the castle.

All members of my family took part in all the available entertainment, mixing and mingling with all the guests. I noted again that Anne seemed quite attached to Master Finn and walked close by a few times to engage in some close scrutiny. He appeared slightly nervous at the attention but nowhere near as nervous as he should have been. Faith danced with a variety of guests with a great deal of vigor but I could not detect that she paid any closer attention to any one man than any other. I grinned as Dani whispered to me in passing that Melanie would be very disappointed.

The second evening capped an incredibly busy and successful day for the Maclay Estate. The high ranking of our family was borne out by our repeated good showings in all competitions. Faith had won two riding and two shooting competitions; Donnie had come in second in one of those as well as winning a hand-to-hand event and wrestling for his weight grouping; Dani had won a hunting from horseback event and of course stood to win the Chest challenge in the morning; I had taken second in broad sword and first in rapier; Dawn had surprised everyone with a three league running win; and, Delia had even more surprisingly won her wrestling category. Anne had of course been thrilled to watch Master Finn win two long bow ribbons although he came in a disappointing eighth in his hand-to-hand contest. His apparent cousin, Master Stefan Finn, had won more events than any other competitor save Faith. He had won the riding events not won by Faith, won two shooting events, and personally beaten my little sister at the rapier. The fourth son of the third son of the previous Lord (Riley's grandfather) and holding only two marks, he apparently fostered with Lord Finn to make use of his physical skills.

It was again late when we reached my rooms following the banquet but that does not mean that we restrained ourselves. Now that we had ... been intimate it seemed that we could not do without each other again. I had Dani in my arms the moment the door was closed behind her and I can't even remember how we made it to the bed. Oh yes, I do now. We didn't make it to the bed for quite a while and then only when Dani convinced me that a Lady should not sleep on the floor under a table where we had rolled without noticing, more importantly, that we would be much more comfortable propped up by the abundant feather pillows and mattress.

Our movement to the bed woke us a little and gave us an opportunity to discuss the day. I expressed my pride in her and in all our family for our various victories throughout the day as well as mixed feelings of sadness to be losing D'rs but happiness for her. Dani agreed with me that she was sad to lose D'rs who had been a mentor and later friend and on whom Dani still expected to rely for years to come. But since D'rs's "man friend" as Dani put it, the entire subject being news to me, lived in the nearest village, Dani had no doubt we had not seen the last of our honored servant and friend.

She revealed various observations of many of the guests gleaned from interactions with their servants, all of which were quite perceptive and fair in my opinion. She reported that Riley was a perfectly accomplished and respectable young man who had been quite helpful in running his father's Estate since the taking of his marks. In truth, she had quite favorable impressions of all attending our event.

The next morning we were again out of bed long before we would have loved to stay. The competitions concluded with Stefan and Faith each taking another win with their shooting at moving targets and Dani championing the Chest tournament. The final game, between Dani and Lord Lefleur was quite an event as they bent over the board in concentration. When he had knocked over his King to show his surrender, Lord Lefleur had bowed to Dani in her victory. While many only viewed the physical competitions as being important, Dani's win was quite a feat and one which in which the Maclay Estate could take much honor. Lord Lefleur later joked to me that his family was well known for their mental acuity, particularly at games of strategy and that perhaps Dani would be better suited on his Estate than ours. I laughed off his teasing for the compliment that it was for my girl. His coveting her, even in jest, showed her great value and prestige but nothing could make me value her more than our love.

In the afternoon, the villagers and more than a few visitors from other villages began to arrive. The south field was set up as a fair and fete and many of them came toting their wares for sale or trade. We were quite proud to boast the fine products of our nearby citizens and felt quite sure that the visiting nobles would spend their riches eagerly. Rather than a formal receiving line, my family would spend the afternoon circulating and visiting the stalls and social areas of the event. Three temporary taverns had been set up with complimentary ale, wine, and food for our visitors and these saw very good foot traffic throughout the day. Two of these ran music for those who wished to dance and this was a frequent pastime.

Our villagers, of course, recognized those of our Estate and paid their respects quite nicely. Some choose to bow in recognition of my honor while others shook hands or nodded their heads. All customs were perfectly acceptable and I enjoyed the afternoon quite well.

Anne and Dawn spent the first half of the afternoon at the letters booth. Many of our people, while skilled at their crafts, did not know how to read or write. These brought with them letters from friends or relatives, requests to write responses from the same, or even requests for agreements they would like written. Dawn was chosen because it was a good opportunity for her to practice her own skills and Anne because I felt that she needed to learn to interact with people from all stations rather than just her own. I did note that Master Finn seemed to be loitering around the booth quite a bit and stopped by to suggest that he might assist the Anne and Dawn as the line had grown quite longish. He was quite gallant if a bit overdramatic in his declaration that he would do what he could for as long as the wait continued. Oh, he and Anne would be perfect together...

The second half of the afternoon saw Donnie and our great-cousin from Lord Martin's family, a four-mark girl named M'lissa, whom I had seen dancing with Donnie more than the other girls, fulfilling the position at the booth. It was quite easy to see that when they had no customers, they were involved in long discussion and noticed only each other. I felt a slight pang of guilt for my own reservations in finding an acceptable match. Donnie's wife would only become Lady Maclay if I were to vacate my title before their marriage. Still, our Estate was held in very high esteem and I could not imagine a girl refusing his offer based on her not becoming Lady Maclay. Given that I possessed neither wish to marry nor to vacate my title, my guilt did not last long or strike deep.

I believe I met every guest that afternoon and my arm verily ached by the end of the day for holding my mark in front of me so consistently. I found Xander toward the middle of the afternoon, staffing a booth with lovely carved items such as the one he had given me and greeted him warmly as well as loudly praising the workmanship of his pieces and the true sound of the whistle. He made me laugh with cute tale of one of his canes and asked that I wait while he went to find his father who he said had gone to one of the taverns for a pint. Dale happened to be standing by and offered to man the stall while we went to find the young man's father. Xander gladly took the offer and conferred with his replacement for a moment on prices before we set off in search of the older man. When we found him, Xander introduced us with great respect on both sides explaining that his father was the master carpenter and that Xander was a mere apprentice in comparison. I answered that Harris must be quite a craftsman indeed if his skill was so superior to that of the man who had made the whistle as well as supervising the stables. I could see that Xander felt proud but he was humble at my compliment as well.

By dusk, most vendors had abandoned their stalls - their pockets weighed down with coins I had to imagine for our other guests had been quite eager to shop - and entered the feasts. We fed the villagers no less lavishly nor generously than we had our other guests for the past two days. The festival went on and on with many of the villagers spending the night in the tents Xander's crew had erected for the purpose.

By the time Dani and I retired that night, we were both barely able to keep our feet to make it to the bed nor our eyes open. I think I might have been partially asleep when she eased my feet from my boots and I'm embarrassed to say that I was too tired to help her undress at all. I remember stirring only long enough to pull her close to me, kissing her over and over as I mumbled my sleepy "I love yous."

Additional Note: Again, I will admit to my concerns with some content of this story and this update. I posted a discussion of some of my concerns regarding sexual ethics and this update at beta pens. I believe that we have discussed some of these concerns in this thread and invite the opportunity to continue that discussion.

I am not even vaguely comfortable with the power imbalance inherent in the relationship as depicted in this fic. However, I must admit that this activity is truly one of the central events of the story.

I will be more than happy to discuss the sexual ethics of this update or the entire story either in this thread, the thread on beta pens, or by PM if you would like.