Mira and Joan sat on the edge of the bed as ordered, watching the princess pace across the room. She seemed irritated, grasping her hair as she walked in front of the two.
"God dammit... I didn't plan for this," she cursed.
Both were too afraid to say anything, so the princess continued to grumble and pace. Finally Mira asked, hesitantly, "What's the matter?"
The princess stopped mid-step, turning to face her, still scowling; Mira backed up a bit in surprise, scared that she shouldn't have said anything. But the princess just sighed.
"Narendra's finally starting to see some success in his siege on Ravi's province. They're practically on his doorstep, and it's about damn time, it took them forever," she said, shaking her head. "So it's time to steal his land while his troops are still drawn thin. I think we'll be able to hit the capital within two days; my dear brother is the world's biggest coward, especially since the assassination attempt, so he'll be mine for the taking.
"Maybe I can finally kill him. We'll see," she said, unable to help but smile a little bit at the thought.
"So, um, what's the matter?" Joan asked quietly. She thought it sounded good-- at least from the perspective of Princess Tara's power lust.
"Oh, well... it'd be bad for morale if I didn't travel with my own army. A leader has to stand by her troops, after all," she said. "It'll be worth it... I just don't want to leave. It's lousy, you have to travel light... so I'll only be able to bring one of you along."
"Oh," Joan said, feeling like she shouldn't be so surprised.
"It's not fair to whoever gets left behind, I know, but it's a hard call," she grumbled, starting to pace again. Mira nodded slightly in agreement.
Joan looked down at her feet, leaving a moment of silence as she thought, before looking up again. "You can leave me behind," she said quietly.
The princess stopped again and looked at her, raising her eyebrows.
"You're volunteering to stay behind? Are you sure about that?"
"Well...," Joan said, her voice still soft, fidgeting. "I think Mira deserves it more. I... I can wait here for you. And I don't want you to make the hard decision."
"You don't have to...," Mira looked at her, just as surprised as Tara, but not very secretly delighted to hear that.
"Wow...," Tara said. "That's very selfless of you. Well, alright, I'll take Mira along... thank you, pet. That's a very, very good girl."
She walked over, stroking Joan's hair, kissing her on the forehead and on the cheeks, smiling pleasedly at her. Joan was uncertain of how to respond, and just nuzzled slightly, as the princess continued to lather her with affection.
"Isn't that very nice of her, Mira? You should show her how much you appreciate it," she said, turning briefly to face her.
Mira smiled, and moved further back on the bed, scurrying around so she was sitting right behind Joan, putting her legs beside hers and wrapping her arms around Joan's body. First she hugged her tightly, then rested her head on her shoulder, murmuring softly into Joan's ear; then she let her hands wander upwards, fondling Joan's chest lovingly.
"I won't forget it," Tara said, deciding to reward her pet for her selflessness, and as Mira kissed at Joan's ear, the princess went down, stroking and petting and kissing her all over, rewarding her as she saw fit; Joan moaned out, as the two both showed their appreciation. Once they were done, Mira cleaned her up nicely.
Eventually, by the end of the day, they had to go about the business of leaving. Most of the arrangements had already been made, and at last the princess gave Joan a final, long kiss goodbye; afterwards she sighed longingly, and Tara promised she'd be back soon. Joan spent the night alone in her bed.
In the morning, she wondered what she would do now that the princess had gone. She had an ulterior motive for offering to stay behind-- she wanted to get the hell out of the palace. She knew she had to. She almost felt bad, especially after how nice Tara had been in showing her appreciation for what had really been entirely selfish of her; but she knew that it was what she had to do.
She'd enjoyed being lathered with affection, and all the attention, and she even admitted to herself that the sex was pretty great. But she knew deep in her heart, it wasn't right. She wasn't meant to be here, in this position, in this woman's bed. She had her whole life ahead of her, she had real potential ahead of her, and she knew she deserved to really fall in love with someone who was right for her. She had to get out. It had been a fun fling, an interesting diversion, but even though she felt like she was in over her head, she had to escape.
When it came down to it, getting out wasn't that hard. She simply asked one of her former guard colleagues to let her borrow an old uniform, for old time's sakes; then she disappeared into another part of the palace, where had a better chance of blending in, and pretended to take up one of her old duties. When she left the palace that night, nobody suspected that she was actually escaping. She disappeared into the cool night, making her way through the city streets, unsure where she would go, but knowing that she had the whole world ahead of her; she could escape to the countryside somewhere, and start there. Her story ended there. She got out, found what she deserved, and lived happily ever after. The end.