Ember plops down onto her meditation pillow next to the garden's fountain, smug satisfaction in her heart. Maeve's third attempt to tease her was even weaker than her second, barely more than asking her to kiss her again. She was a little tempted, sure — the image of Maeve pressed down beneath her with her thigh grinding in between her legs fshes through her mind — but after yesterday's actual kiss it was hardly difficult to deal with it.

  She fshes a smug smile at Camellia where she sits on the broad rim of the fountain. She still feels flushed, but right now she's more satisfied than needy. "So," she says. "Still worried for me?"

  Camellia shifts on her pillow, adjusting her seat on the low ledge. Her chestnut hair falls down her back and almost into the fountain. "Yeah, a little. I think you’re getting overconfident. Did you really need to kiss her twice?"

  Ember rolls her shoulders and raises her arms over her head, intercing her fingers as she stretches one arm against the other. "Eh," she says. "It wasn’t a huge risk. And we’re almost done. Just one more day." Her smile eases even wider, the feeling of well-earned pride settling in Ember's heart. "You're right that she'll definitely try tomorrow, but if her attempt's as weak as it was today I've got nothing to worry about."

  Camellia spreads her hands. "Hm.” she says. "That’s no reason to sck off on practice. What do you want to try today? More drills?"

  "Actually," Ember says with a cockeyed smile, "I was thinking we could try kissing and breaking away. No sense trying things that aren't challenges anymore, yeah? We should do something that I’ll actually need tomorrow. Practice disengaging, like Ishaza says."

  Camellia taps her thumbs together in her p, and a small flush comes to her cheeks. "I'm not sure that's the wisest move for you, but if you want to try..." She looks off at the horizon, the snting rays of the setting sun shading the garden in long shadows. "Sure."

  "Well, then," Ember says. "Come kiss me?"

  Camellia cocks her head to the side. "Why don't you come kiss me? It's supposed to be about disengaging from something you started, right?"

  "I guess that would be a better test," Ember says. "Alright." She picks up her cushion from the dust of the pza fgstones, then puts it down next to Camellia and sits next to her.

  "Let's try something easier, first," she says. "Look at me?"

  Camellia turns and looks into Ember's eyes. "Alright." Her gaze flicks away, then reconnects to Ember's.

  An impish impulse takes hold of Ember. She takes Camellia's hand, raises it to her lips and gently kisses her knuckles, keeping her gaze tangled with Camellia's the whole time.

  "You're beautiful," she says, just loud enough to carry over the rush and spsh of the fountain.

  Camellia tears her gaze from Ember's. "I — you —" She takes a tiny, abrupt breath, then breathes out in a long exhale. "This is not seduction practice!"

  Ember waggles her eyebrows. "Of course," she says. "But that kind of thing is something you've got to do while horny as well, right?" She brushes a few scarlet strands of hair out of her own eyes.

  "Somehow I doubt Ishaza would agree with you accelerating her lessons." Camellia bites the inside of her lip. "Alright, then, you wanted a kiss? Get on with it already, there's no need to — seduce me into it."

  Ember lets out a breathy giggle. "Sure," she says. "I still need you to look at me, though."

  Camellia turns her head and meets Ember's gaze again. "Alright," she says. Her gaze flicks down to the stone of the fountain rim below her.

  Ember leans in and kisses Camellia softly. The brush of their lips is tender, chaste. The hunger in her responds to the peachy scent and taste of Camellia eagerly, asking her to deepen the kiss, to push her tongue into Camellia's mouth and cim her properly, to feel her breasts and ass under her hands, to cim her body for herself —

  She pulls away and gives Camellia a small smile. "There," she says. "That wasn't so hard."

  Camellia nods, and runs a hand through her own dark hair. Her mouth pys with a ghost of a smile. "I... yeah. You seem to be managing your condition pretty well."

  "One chaste kiss is hardly enough practice," Ember says. "That was easy. Let's kiss more deeply, that'll be more like the real thing."

  Camellia just nods.

  Ember leans in again, takes Camellia's cheek in her hand, and kisses again, deeper. She pys their lips together, then risks a gentle nip of Camellia's lower lip. The heat in her is even sharper, now. Visions of Camellia sprawled out beneath her py through her mind, pushing her down, pinning her and kissing her neck, her shoulder, her colr... Then ripping open her dress shirt and pressing her lips to her breasts, pping at her nipples, working her way down her belly kiss by kiss, and finally ciming her sex with her tongue.

  She pulls away, a little flushed and out of breath, and gives Camellia a small smile.

  Camellia takes a slow breath, and nods as if to herself. Then she leans in and kisses Ember. Their tongues tangle, and Camellia ys a hand on Ember's back to steady herself as she deepens the kiss. Ember reciprocates; her eager arms pull Camellia into a soft embrace as their tongues work against each other, heat surging through Ember's sex and pooling in her stomach. She feels flushed and short of breath, her whole world narrowing to Camellia, Camellia, Camellia…

  Camellia pulls back first this time, her breath coming hot and unsteady. "Still okay?" she asks.

  "Still okay," Ember says, and pulls Camellia into her p, wrapping her up in her embrace. The weight and pressure of her on her p is a simple, animal joy, even through their clothes. "You're cute when you're shy." She meets Camellia's lips with her own again, her hands pying across her back. The friction of their bodies together makes her sex wetten, and after a moment she dares to take a handful of Camellia's ass. She could just put her hand right against Camellia's pussy through her dress if she wanted to —

  Camellia makes a surprised noise, but keeps kissing Ember; her hands stray lower as well, grabbing a handful of Ember's ass in return, and she leans in against her with a warm sigh.

  From there, it's a small matter to bring her other hand in and grope Camellia's breasts, pying her hands over her nipples and pinching lightly. Camellia lets out a soft moan into Ember's mouth, and presses in closer. God she loves that sound. That is the sound of a woman who wants her.

  Ember shifts her lips away from Camellia's mouth, and instead starts to kiss at her colr, her neck, her shoulder. She nibbles, feeling the firmness of Camellia's skin beneath her teeth. Her stroking hand slips from Camellia's breasts down towards the valley of her thighs, her head already full of the sound of Camellia's imagined moans —

  "Safeword," Camellia gasps, half-out-of-breath. "Fuck I'm sorry but safeword!"

  A twinge of hurt goes through Ember's heart, and for a moment she wants to press her hand in between Camellia's thighs and damn the course to hell —

  But she's sworn to always respect a safeword.

  She presses her fist to her forehead. "— damn it. I got carried away." She lets out a heavy huff of breath. "What a mess."

  Camellia breathes out a ugh and hangs her head a little. "I guess you're not invincible after all," she says. "I'm gd you tried, though. And, um..." She rubs the back of her neck. "Maybe we could come back to this ter?" She bites her lip. "I..." She shifts in Ember's p slightly, rubbing one thigh against the other.

  Suddenly Ember sees the humor in the whole situation. She snorts out a ugh as well. She's tempted to kiss Camellia again, to touch her more, tease her more, but... better not to risk it. "Yeah," she says. "Day after tomorrow?"

  "Charmer," Camellia accuses. "But sure. Day after tomorrow. Since you seem insistent on getting into my skirt somehow." She gets herself up from Ember's p, brushes off her skirt, and picks up her sitting-pillow. "It's getting cold out here, and if we practice this more we'll just be reinforcing that you get good things for slipping. Sorry, but the lesson's over."

  Ember gives a small smug grin, feeling the heat in her squirm. Sure, Camellia’s ended the lesson, but she’s won the bigger battle. "Yeah, I hear you. I'll do drills on my own back in my room. Still..." She shakes her head. "It was good to kiss you."

  Camellia shakes her head with a wry smile. "You're impossible. Alright, see you tomorrow probably. You charmer."

  "Tomorrow," Ember replies. "And who knows what might happen the day after?" She waggles her eyebrows.

  Camellia just turns away with a wave of her hand, and walks off back towards the dorms.

  Ember watches Camellia’s ass as she walks away, her head full of warm thoughts and quiet triumph. Maybe she’ll go try another edging session after this, see how many she can manage this time. Remembering Camellia’s breasts beneath her hands is definitely going to help with that…

  She gets up from her pillow, and heads off towards the dorms herself.