When we awoke the next morning, I noticed that I was still naked, except now, my cock was hard. Oops. Mary woke up soon after, stretching, pushing against my body, unintentionally turning me on even more. She watched as I growled a word I used to focus my aura, and my clothes, gray and shimmery, appeared on me again. She looked at me with awe. "I want to learn how to do that!" she exclaimed, ignoring her stomach growling. So I ignored her demands, and told her to eat first. She did so reluctantly, every once in a while touching my auric clothing to make sure it was real.

After we finished of the food she brought, she tore off her clothing, and threw it behind her, uncaring where it went. My aura caught it before it could be totally lost, and it had it come to my hands. It was still warm from her body. "Listen," I told her. "Not everyone can do the things that I do; in fact not very many people can." While I had known others who could manipulate their auras, it took years of practice and focus, and, even then, the effect was not even close to what I could do.

Mary glared at me. "No. If I'm going to stay with you for a long time, I might as well learn how to protect myself." She thrust her lower lip out in that common gesture children make when they want their way. If it had been any other girl, I would have given her a spanking right then and there. But there was something about her that allured me, that made me think.

I sighed. It was no use. I might as well train her a bit, see what she could develop, but I doubted it would be much. I held her clothing out to her. "You might as well put this on now.

It's going to be a while before you can actually make clothing. We'll start out with some small things- "

I cut myself off when I saw her. She was ignoring me, and had her eyes closed, muttering things to herself. I watched, agape, as the bare hint of a shining yellow aura coalesced around her. Beads of sweat formed on her body as her muscles tensed and untensed. Finally, the bare hint of the aura around her focused on certain points of her body, specifically, her nipples and her vagina. A small bit of yellow light blocked out both nipples (but not her not-yet-developed breasts) and the top bit of her vagina. I watched as the light remained, but she collapsed in exhaustion, missing the ground by bare inches as I caught her.

I was surprised to see that the light remained even after she collapsed, and even more surprised to see that she was still conscious. She opened her eyes and looked at me, breathing hard, exhausted, but clear-thinking "How'd I do? Huh? Huh?" I poked at the light on her pussy, and was not surprised to see that my finger went straight through it, as if there was nothing there. She yelped as my finger went a tiny bit inside her vagina.

I cleared my throat. "You did'quite well. Still, you're not yet experienced enough to make clothing, so I suggest you wear this." With one hand, I offered her the dress again.

She stared at it, then took it and ripped it apart. "No, no, no! My parents gave this to me, but they don't love me anymore. No. I wanna wear what you're wearing." She put on the pouty face again.

Still no inclination to spank her. Perhaps I should have quit bodyguarding, taken up something that used less guts. Sighing, I set her down, and coalesced my aura around her, focusing it into a shimmery gray dress that clung to all the contours of her body. She squealed in delight as she felt the weird cloudy feeling of auric fabric, as if there was nothing there except clouds.

I felt, under my aura, her aura and her body. Because I was so connected with my aura, I could feel her nipples, her chest, her stomach, and every damn inch of her body that the clothing clung to. It was much more intimate than anything I had felt yet, as I could feel her body heating up and cooling down, feel the moving of her chest as she breathed, felt the clothing itself move with her as she rushed toward me for another hug.

We embraced, and this time I actually hugged her, as opposed to just standing there looking awkward. I picked her up and carried her for the rest of the day in my arms, knowing how exhausting her first attempt had been. We talked as I walked along the dirt path.

"Where're we going?"

"Safety."

She thought about that for a bit. "Where's safety?"

"Where danger isn't."

"Danger isn't anywhere you are." She said, giggling, tickling my chin. I favored her with a smile before remembering who I was, and changed to my stoic forward stare again.

"I wanna go to a city." She said.

"Cities are dangerous."

"Not when you're around."

"'"

"I wanna go to a city."

And so on it went, until I finally collapsed under her insistent questions and grudgingly set along the path to the nearest large city, a place called Burgac. It was an inland trading center with a river to the sea, and sold all sorts of wares, from jewelry to food to people.

The next few days passed rather uneventfully. I taught Mary how to set a focusing word in her mind, a single word that would remind her of her aura, teach her how to focus. Her skills developed, and she was able to cover a bit more of each breast, as well as all of her pussy, although you could still easily see all the skin on each side; she simply covered the crack.

We had a few setbacks, most having to do with food, and one bandit attack, although I made short work of them. It was the afternoon of the fifth or sixth day traveling when we finally came near to the city gates of Burgac.

I snuck a peek at Mary, and was surprised at how much she'd changed. When we left, she had been very innocent and weak looking, a small frail being. She hadn't grown much, but now there was a sort of power about her, a hint of golden sparkiness that implied she was a bit wiser than you thought she was. And she was. How many seven year olds could create auric clothing?

The guards waved us through, especially me. Very few cities wanted the wrath of the Steel Legend upon them. We walked through the city, and Mary goggled at the cramped buildings, the flashy stalls, the multitude of people. I could sense that many of them had hungry eyes for Mary, but quickly turned away as they saw me.

I led Mary through a maze of alleys, meaning to get to a safe house I kept in this city. Around halfway through, though, Mary stopped at a dead end and looked into it, agape. "What're they doing to her?" she said, pointing down the alleyway.

"They're raping her." I myself had taken a look, and three men were indeed raping a brown-haired elf girl. She looked to be a bit older than Mary, which meant that she was probably much older. One of the men had a hand around her mouth, to prevent any spell speaking, and the other two focused on her pussy and tits, which they violently played with. Mary could not tear her eyes away from it. "We must help her!" she said in a horrified whisper.

I sighed. "No, we must be where trouble isn't. Trouble is here. Thusly, time to be gone."

"No!" she shouted at me, the men noticing her now. "We must help her! I order you, Steel, to help her!"

I sensed one of the men moving toward Mary. I inwardly groaned. This would attract way too much unwanted attention, but I could not let them get Mary. The good thing was, they did not actually suspect I was here.

The man approaching Mary feel under the brute strength of a solid wall of auric force, flying backwards as it hit him. I dealt more subtly with the second one, disabling brain functions so he slumped to the ground, one finger still in the elven girl's pussy. The last one whipped out a knife, but, before he could do anything with it, his hands and head fell off, courtesy of auric blades, which traveled as fast as thought.

The girl was more professional than I thought. I had little dealing with the elves in the past, so it surprised me how gracefully this one dodged the falling body and the blood, and twisted around and pointed a finger at me in a spellcasting position, the other hand holding a crystal around her neck that I hadn't noticed. It was a bit late to quickly move in front of Mary, so instead I set a wide shield around us, so powerful that the air shimmered gray. I also strengthened the defense capabilities of Mary's clothing, just in case. Then, I held my hands out to my sides, open, facing up, in a universal gesture of peace. At the same time, I gathered energy in them, to retaliate if the elf girl somehow managed to break my shields. It never hurt to be careful.

We stood there for an eternity, both of us, long living, with patience to wait for years if needed. She was unabashed by her nudity, and her eyes darted quickly between Mary and me.

Finally, someone broke the silence.

"Oh you fools!" Mary said, and charged straight out of my barrier. She walked up to the nude elf girl, and gave her a great big hug. I admit, I felt jealous. "See?" Mary said, looking pointedly at me. "She's not dangerous." Mary looked back up at the elf girl. "I think you can be my sister. Come on sister, let's go!" She dragged the elf girl by the hand toward me, and we went on our path.

I walked directly behind them. Mary still held the elf girls hand, and peppered her with questions. The elf girl gave short, curt answers, each time warily glancing at me as if I might do something. Which I might've.

We finally reach my safe area, the top floor of an inn. It was sealed off from the others, and only accessible by a ladder, which was well hidden. The escape routes were one way, the most notable being jumping out the window at the other side of the room, to the roof of another building.

Mary gnawed on the dried food I had stored in the room, while I checked to make sure that everything was good. When I got back, the elf girl had finally seemed to trust us, and was nibbling on a bit of dried apple.

She broke under Mary's insistent questioning. Her name was something like "She who walks and talks to the river at night and knows the pleasures and desires and wants of men" in the singing elf tongue. Mary dubbed her Ella.

Ella was of a noble family, from the city of Elvesvard, but she had run away to see more of the world. Originally, she had money, clothing, and the necklace around her neck, which was a family heirloom. Eventually, the world turned out to be not what she thought it was, and she ended up losing almost everything, and selling her body to nobles who could afford the young elf girl. She had a falling out with the nobles, and was on the run, absolutely naked except for her most valuable possession. The necklace thing was a bluff, although the necklace itself carried power.

Finally, after questioning her for a few hours, I decided that we would need more supplies. Taking money from where I had stored it in the room, I wrapped Mary in a ward that would totally encase her and notify me if she was in danger, and jumped down to go to the market.

It was slave day today, and, as I walked through the massive town center of Burgac, I saw many traders hawking their wares on rickety wooden platforms. The typical most-wanted types were strong, young men, preteen girls, and older but still attractive woman.

Demonstrations were taking place. Men demonstrated how much weight they could lift, how strong their legs were. Woman moved sensually. And, in a corner of the plaza with guards to make sure nobody too young could enter, sex acts acted as advertisement. A woman masturbated in front of the crowd, eyes closed in ecstasy. A girl, no more than five, shoves a polished wood stick halfway down her throat, sucking it and licking it. Another girl sits with legs wide open and lets strange men shove their fingers up her pussy, smiling all the while. Finally, in the way back corner of this section, you have the darkest of the dark, the very taboo of the society, yet legal in Burgac, because, even if it wasn't it'd still happen.

There, the girls walk with nooses around their necks. There, the girls walk with marks of needles on their bodies. There, the girls walk under the shadow of death, and their auras are always tinged with sickly colors.

I cared not. I was a fighter, a warrior, a legend, and had seen much, much worse than that. I headed toward the "cleaner" sections of the plaza, away from the smell of human bodies and sweat and sometimes sex, to purchase clothing and food and supplies. I bought a small, bright crystal for Mary to use to focus on. Many people looked at me oddly when they saw me buying clothing for little girls, small shifts and dresses, but backed away when they saw my stormy gray eyes, paired with my steel gray hair, paired with my cloudy gray clothing.

I headed back in relative peace. There had been some rumors about a demon army to the west, but that was far, far away from Burgac, and they were only whispered, blown up rumors. When I reached my room, the peace was broke, although not in any way I could have imagined.

Both Ella and Mary were naked. That was the first thing I noticed. The wards were untriggered on Mary, and the dress I had made for her lay crumpled in a formless silvery heap. Auras will do that.

I had come to them in the middle of a bit of'experimenting. Ella had her legs wide open as she sat on the floor. One hand lay on her stomach, near her crotch, while the other was supporting her. Mary was in a'doggystyle position. Her head was near Ella's pussy, and she had three fingers up it, and was trying to fit a fourth, it appeared. Her other finger was moving its way in and out of her pussy, and was glistening wet.

They both noticed when I came in. Mary blushed, and stood up, head down, expecting to be chastised. I noted, however, she did not attempt to cover any of her girl parts, and, indeed, a hand hung around her pussy, as if she wanted to get back to it. Ella sat there, absolutely nonchalantly, as if I had walked in on them talking. "What'are you doing?" I asked, not unkindly.

Ella glared at me, as if it was obvious. Which, in all fairness, it was. "You know", she said, cocking her head at Mary, "likes you. She really really likes you. She wanted me to pretend to be you, and kiss her, and do things to her. I told her I didn't have the equipment, but she wanted to go on a bit anyways. So then we'"

"Shut up!" Mary cried. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" She shot horrified glances at me and Ella, and began to wail to drown out Ella, who I couldn't hear, but continued to speak nonetheless. This called for drastic measures. "BE SILENT." I said, layering my voice with the power of my aura.

Auric commands are tricky. For one thing, the wording and the will behind it must be specific, otherwise something like "BE STILL" might still someone's heart, effectively killing them.

Also, the battle was based more on will than on aura, and if I started swinging commands around at random, a determined or desperate will could easily overcome mine and cause a backlash, forcing my command back at me.

This one worked like a charm. Ella was unsuspecting, young, and ignorant. She immediately shut up, and, as an added bonus, could not even get her mouth to form the semblance of letters anymore. It would wear off in time, or when I cancelled it. For now, Ella simply threw her will inefficiently at it, attempting to form any type of sound with her mouth, but failing.

Mary was uncharacteristically silent for the rest of the night. I had bought her nice clothes, nicer than I usually afforded any other quarry I had, and the pretty bauble. She dully refused to try on any of the clothes, and only tossed the gem from hand to hand before carefully setting it down. She attempted to put on the dress I made her again, but it had lost all form, and resembled water, flowing and moving. In an attempt to make her laugh, I transformed it into many comical shapes, among them, a duck, an extremely large cavalier hat, and a small pony. Each of her small smiles was immediately smothered beneath something I saw in her eyes, but couldn't put a finger on. Damn, the females were always so moody.

Eventually, I returned it to its dress form, which she put on with eagerness. I looked back to Ella, who was trying to curse me using words, and, those having failed, was now making extremely rude hand gestures offering me recommendations of things to shove up my many holes. Ignoring that, I led Mary to the medium room of the three rooms, a bedroom, with magical wards set on it, and supplies, a bed, and a pump. A small window offered an escape route as well as fresh air, but it had a barrier set on the outside, so even mice could not get in.

She lay down on the bed, dress crinkling around her. I usually slept on the floor near the doorway, to guard against any possible intruders, but today, things were different. Mary would not, for the life of me, let go of my hand, and I was in no mood to cut it off. She gazed at me with longing, and I melted under it. Sighing, I got into bed next to her, and she snuggled as close as she could to me. I set myself into a meditative trance, which I sometimes used instead of sleep, and my breathing slowed.

Mary must have expected I went to sleep. One of her hands crept down her body, to her pussy, on the outside, where the dress still covered it. Ignoring the dress, she proceeded to stroke and stimulate herself, body making small kicks and jolts as she pleasured herself. "Oh'yes'please'.I want it'oh god'oh god'oh'STEEL!"

It ended with a shuddering orgasm and a muffled scream. My mouth (in a meditative state, my body control wasn't the best) attempted to frown and smile at the same time. Smile, because the word was a funnily unusual word to shout during sex, and because I was glad she thought of me. Frown, because she was so young, so innocent, so pure, and yet I desired her with a hunger I had never known. Still, emotions were my specialty, and I smothered my lust, but not quite all of it, as I still ended up with a hard cock.