And Strife, well, Strife was cradling my head in his lap like I was a pet or something. Just looking at me, and stroking my hair every now and then. If I just relaxed, it was nice. But if I started thinking, I got nervous. What, precisely, was going on here?

But for the most part, I just lay there. It was calm, and comfortable, and no one was chasing me. Strife's hand in my hair felt nice, and if I didn't want to think too hard about what that wistful look in his eye might mean, well, I'd earned some rest, hadn't I?

I don't know how long we stayed there like that. I think it was more than an hour, but not much more. I glanced up at a soft rustle from the doorway.

I had to blink to be sure I wasn't seeing double. Ok, so the pair of young men I was looking at weren't completely identical. One had a narrow braid in his long, blond hair framing the right side of his face. The other had a braid on his left. Apart from that… they had the same delicate faces, dominated by wide green eyes, the same lithe, muscular little bodies, the same warm, golden tan, and the same skimpy, silky loincloths. They each carried an armload of towels.

"I'm Toren." That was left-braid.

"I'm Koren." Right-braid. "Nike sent us to fetch you."

They had an air of... detached obedience, I guess would describe it. They kept their eyes lowered when they weren't speaking.

"She's having a feast tonight and"

"and she thought you might like a bath first."

A bath… now, there was an idea. Both of the feline-looking blond guys stepped forward to help me stand, but Strife had already lifted me to my feet. They led us into a steamy room with tiled walls and floor, dominated by a huge sunken pool. One of the blond guys (Toren?) stripped off my clothes with a kind of straightforward efficiency. Looking down showed me just how much of my skin was covered in dark bruises, so I tried not to do that. I glanced over at Strife; the other one (Koren?) was doing the same to him. They were quick about it. Guess they had a lot of experience taking people's clothes off!

The water was just barely not too hot. It felt great. There was a kind of ledge, all along the edge of the pool, at just the right height to sit with just my head out of the water. Beside me, Strife sighed contentedly, and lay his head on my shoulder. I let my eyes drift mostly closed. Strength seemed to seep into my weary muscles with the warmth of the water, chasing out the sore stiffness lingering there. I felt almost human again. I felt... Strife, nibbling not-quite-gently on my neck.

"Hey, lazy," he murmured, "Time to get clean." He grabbed a flask of something from the ledge behind him, pouring some into his hands. He started rubbing it into my hair. It smelled a little herby, a little bitter, and it tingled ever-so-slightly on my scalp. The stuff lathered up real quick, too, as I realized when a thick drift of foam covered my face.

"Hey!"

"Shhhhh." He worked the soap onto my skin with firm, caressing strokes. It wasn't until I cleared the suds out of my eyes that I noticed he'd maneuvered us into the middle of the big pool. The water was a little cooler here, but still nice and warm.

Well, he wouldn't have gone through all this shit just to drown me, would he? Not that I could do anything about it if he decided to. Yeah, I know, cheerful, but it helped me relax, because after all, why worry about something you can't change?

Anyway, it was kind of nice to have someone bathing me. I couldn't remember ever being taken care of like this. I let myself float in the water, the last of my aches and tension melting away under Strife's confident touch.

"Feeling better?"

"Mmmmm." I didn't want to rouse myself enough to form actual words.

"Oh, goooooood." His voice had a wicked little edge to it.

I chuckled slightly. "As a matter of fact, I'm feeling sooo good that—" I dove under the water, grabbed Strife around the knees, and yanked. He hit the water with a very satisfying splash and I began to swim off, but he grabbed my ankle and pulled me back.

"You'll pay for that, girlie-girl."

"Oh, will I no—" That was when he started tickling me with his free hand, the little jerk, and anything I would have said fading into helpless giggles. I tried to kick, but he was still gripping my ankle.

"Laugh while you can, girlie…" he slid the hand clutching my ankle up the length of my leg, and grabbed ahold of my butt. Hard. "You won't be laughing for long." He pulled me close to him.

"And whaddaya mean by that, eh?" I scowled at him.

"Oh… just a little of…" he pressed his mouth against my stomach, and blew. Fuck, that tickled! I thrashed around, or tried to, anyway. He had a pretty tight grip on me.

"That... isn't gonna... stop me from.... laughing!" I gasped around a fit of convulsive giggling.

"I'll just have to try harder, then." He slipped a hand between my legs and started grinding his thumb against my clit. "Let's see you laugh now, wiseass."

Wiseass, was I? "Ha. Ha. Aaaaaaaaaaaah..." Ok, so I don't have a smart answer for EVERYTHING. Especially as he slid first one, then two fingers inside me and started pumping. I writhed a little, and moaned.

"That's more like it," he said with a sniff. But he was smiling, which was a good thing... or was it? "But maybe I should, like, make SURE you've learned your lesson."

Hmmm. I didn't have to wonder about what he meant by that for long, of course. With one slow, firm stroke he guided his soap-slick cock into my ass. He didn't let up his pressure on my clit for a moment, and thrust a third finger into my twat. I wrapped my legs around his waist and closed my eyes. It was too much, too much sensation. I took a deep breath and plunged my head back, under the water, and gave myself over to it.

The water swirled around my head, loud in my ears. I shuddered, floating. My world had narrowed to Strife's cock, sliding in and out of my ass, his hand, filling my cunt, and the relentless grind of his thumb against my clit. And, of course, my lungs screaming for air. I needed to breathe. I needed to come. I held out as long as I could, on both counts. It wasn't long enough, of course. I came hard, shaking with the force of it, just as I broke the surface, gasping for breath. Strife stiffened against me, and I felt the hot spurt of his seed.

"So, what was up with that, some kinda drowned Rat trick?" That's another annoyance about screwing gods. THEY don't have to wait to catch their breath.

"Picked it up from a river nymph I used to know, in Thessaly." Nilae. It had been a while since I'd seen her.

"Forgive us for interrupting but—" Oh yeah. Those blond guys. I'd forgotten they were still in the room.