Zane and Aloretta had been debating circles around each other for a half hour.

"You're capable in a way no one else in the guild is, Aloretta." Zane explained." I know you believe in what we're trying to do here- you've worked so hard and it's because of you that we've gotten this far. Think of how much easier it would be to accomplish our goals if you exercised the power you've been given."

"You're not exactly asking me to make us a campfire at night. You want me to hurt people." She unfolded her arms as she grew passionate. "There's no reason good enough to do it! Not one job worth enough money, not one thing worth learning, not one-"

He cut her off, knowing his next question was an ultimatum. "What if it was our lives?"

She quieted. "Our lives?" It was barely a whisper.

"What if you had to defend any the guild members, or yourself, or me?"

She looked away to try to find an answer. Thinking about a danger like that at all made her heart bleed. Her eyes started to water but she knew her truth. "I wouldn't."

Wrong answer.

She continued to explain herself through light tears. "I mean, what makes our lives more important than theirs? Besides, if they feel strongly enough to take our lives for whatever we're doing, we're probably wrong to be doing it, right?"

Zane feigned concern and embraced her. "Hey, hey, it's okay. I'd never let you be in that situation." He lied. His hand held the back of her head into his shoulder as he rubbed her back to soothe her. "How about this: there's one more thing I need to discuss with you before day's end. When you're ready to tuck in for the night, find me in my room."

She blushed hard and pulled out of the hug. "Your room?" She knew what that meant. Zane only brought people into his room when they had done something extremely well. She knew best of anyone- she was in there regularly for all of the progress she's made for the guild. So sure before that disagreeing with him on this would mean she would have to work so much harder for an invitation like this, she couldn't contain her joy. "Of course, yes! Thank you, Sir." She hugged him again, beaming brightly, before skipping off to the rest of her day.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Zane's room was beautiful, especially so at night. Jewels, plants, and other natural treasures from the guild's field research trips lined thick oak shelves. Some hung decoratively from the ceiling, others nestled into corners where wall meets furniture. Since it was dark out, everything was painted in the honey light of a few lanterns. The sight alone made it an absolutely wonderful place to be.

The real highlight of the room, however, was it's curator. Zane was penning a missive at his desk when Aloretta opened the door to greet him. "Good evening."

He didn't look up from the parchment or stop writing, but with his free hand, he motioned for her sit across from him at the desk. She did. "Aloretta..." He trailed off. After a few more lines, he signed the foot of the page with one stroke and set his pen down. "So glad you came in."

On his desk was what you would recognize to be Newton's Cradle. Five translucent gems, cut and polished into near perfect circles, suspended by string tied to a branch. Light passing through them refracted into bright golden circles that shone on everything near. As Zane dropped one sphere into the others, the motion made the cast light dance to the rhythm of the gems hitting each other.

It was absolutely mesmerizing. "Of course. What is it you wanted to discuss?" Aloretta tried to shake herself out of it but the sound was steady and the light moved in sync everywhere she tried to put her eyes.

He grinned, watching what it was already doing to her. This is something he's watched her and others experience time and time over, but her lack of awareness and the inevitability of it all forever amused him. "I like the way you carry yourself. You're so diligent. Your word means everything because you follow through on it and are relentlessly thorough in doing so." His voice slowed and smoothed as he continued. "It's everything to me that you follow me so well."

She blushed at the praise. "I'm happy to do it, Sir."

He stood up and timed his steps to the click of the pendulums as he made his way to her side. Her fascination was unbroken as she watched his movements. "Oh, I know. It's only because you're so pleased with what you're doing that it truly has your best." He gently turned her chair  to face him as he knelt down in front of her and took her hands. "There's something about that feeling of purpose it gives you, isn't there?"

"Yes" she replied, mostly listening. The way the lights moved along his skin and sparkled in his eyes while he talked this sweet with her made her melt.

He took her hands in his. "That's right. Just knowing you're helping is such a warm feeling, isn't it?"

She thought to look down at the contact but she was afraid he would stop if she reacted. "Yes" she responded, a little nervous.

"Good, good." He started moving his thumbs in rhythm along her palms. Just as quickly as she had been made anxious, she was soothed again and sunk deeper into her chair. "Part of being a leader, someone who's so easy to follow, is making sure the people, like you, who want to follow me are comfortable and relaxed. You're comfortable and relaxed right now. Isn't that right?"

"Yes" came naturally.

"Good, good. You're filling with the warm feeling from being so helpful, and doing such a good job following me. You're so at-ease listening to me. You're so cozy in my hands, feeling me. It's a wonderful feeling. It's everything to you that you follow me so well. Following doesn't have to be so hard, or take so much thought. It's enough to just hear me, and let me guide you. That's what is so comfy. I know what I'm doing so that you don't have to. You can just follow me into this feeling and know that I've got you."

Aloretta kind of lost track of what he was trying to say as the logic of it all looped in on itself. It didn't help that her attention was still caught on those lights. That sound. His touch. His voice. Every iteration of those sensations made her head fuzzy, and the harder she concentrated on the motions, the slower time seemed to pass between intervals.

It was everything she had in her to try and participate in the conversation and articulate how she was feeling. "You're so dreamy" she sighed.

He smiled at how far along she already was. Her mind knows exactly what to do in these conditions, even when it can't remember. "Thank you, but I think it's more that you're dreaming. You're so soft and warm and comfy and cozy and sleepy." He started to sway himself side to side in rhythm long enough for her to naturally mirror the motion as he spoke. Even when he slowed to a stop, she continued. Perfect. "You just feel so cozy when I talk to you like this. Your body melts and you don't have to think about a thing. Your eyelids start to get heavy when you get warm and sleepy. You sink deeper into the feeling. I talk to you so smooth and soft and it makes everything soft, warm, and sleepy. It's so easy to sleep in this feeling that you couldn't even stop it. It's such a big, heavy blanket of warmth over you that you can't get out from under it. You can only cuddle closer, letting that warmth fill you all the way up."

Her sways got wider as he spoke and her eyes took longer to open with each blink. She wasn't listening to what he was saying, but she was agreeing wholeheartedly.

"Just like that. And the sleepiness feels so good on your body to give in to. As your body relaxes into soft sleep, getting heavier and cozier, it's everything you want to just follow me into this feeling. Just follow me down, close your eyes for me, Dear. Let them rest. Let your whole body rest. Just listen to my words, that's enough. That's it."

He slowly let go of her hands and stood up. The width of her swaying had gotten wide enough that she was just lolled over to one side without the will to pick her posture back up. He carefully picked her up and carried her to his bed.

He undid the loose bun in her hair and laid her on her back. Once sat at her side, he began again. "You're doing so well, not needing to use a muscle or a thought to follow me still. You're having such a wonderful dream. In this dream, I have invited you over to discuss something important, and you have been listening so well. This is how you feel when I give you an opportunity to please me and you take it." His fingers traced back and forth along the inside of her thigh, slowing where she was most sensitive. "This part feels very familiar and so good, doesn't it?"

"Yes," she replied, unthinkingly.

"But then in this dream, I ask you to be my partner. My right hand. And when you say yes to me, when you give yourself to me, you feel amazing." He trailed his fingers farther up her leg and up her dress. After sliding inside her underwear, his thumb rubbed slow circles into her clitoris. She couldn't keep in a moan. "Being my girl means being directly under me." He massaged with a little more pressure and leaned forward. "Being such a good girl for me means that I get to have my way with you." He slid two fingers into her and stroked her insides at the same speed of his thumb. "My way with you is always the right way because it just feels so damn good. Isn't that right, Dear?"

"Yes" she panted out, no more aware than she was for the last reply. Every motion made her make noise. Every stroke got her closer and teased out a little more squirt on his hand. She started to bounce her hips against his hand with need.

He couldn't take it. "You're so perfect. My Aloretta. You're mine." He pulled his fingers out of her only to take off her dress, bra and underwear. Once she was laid out naked under him, he continued where he left off. One hand near vibrating on her clit and another three fingers deep inside her going just as fast. "That's it, Firefly. You're so good for me. Let it all out."

She did. She came all over his hands and a bit on his sheets. Her body relaxed back into the bed as she caught her breath. Her mind was still steeping somewhere between trance and bliss.

"It's never enough." His voice broke from its steady hypnotic cadence to something much breathier and needier- though just as heady. "You will give me everything you can think to." His hands moved as fast as they could to free his dick from his pants. "Anything you come up with in that pretty little head of yours," he rolled a condom over himself and then took to hold her hips, guiding her to receive him as he entered, "you'll do without question."

She erupted into moans all over again on impact. Her body was so fucking sensitive from just having came.

The conditioning continued. "This is what saying 'Yes' feels like." He bucked his hips back and forth repeatedly, with a desperation bordering on frustration for pleasure. "This is what being mine feels like." She was giving it to him tenfold as her warm vagina convulsed and squeezed on his dick. "This is- hah!" He cut himself off as he felt himself nearly ejaculating.

She felt him throb and twitch as he thrust right on the spot she was most sensitive over and over again. Much to the relief of his wearing endurance, she coated his dick in a thick orgasm. Her hot, wet liquid running down his shaft sent him over the edge. He buried himself in her and released.

It took him a moment of lying beside her and catching his breath, but he found composure shortly after remembering his intentions. "That was perfect, Firefly. Don't you feel so much better?"

She let out a dreamy sigh in agreement and wrapped her arms around his torso.

He beamed at her and returned the embrace. "Good, good." His fingers idly combed through her hair. "My pretty weapon. You and I are going to have so much fun together. You will become an extension of my will and I will take perfect care of you as such."