Chapter 559: Chapter 559 - [Final Post-R18] Recon Of The Next Battle’s Win Conditions Leads To- Mmmf! Softer, Please...

"B-be that as it may. If you are willing to let me keep going... I think I can give you some more concrete ideas about what is going on in your lower region? Wait, that sounded... just - I’m trying to be entirely detached here, okay? Can you stop wrapping them around my skull like this?!"

Hands waving around as if, with only that, she could stop the *mischievous* tendrils of her partner’s spirit from trying to mimic a strong, calloused palm grabbing her head. She eventually gave up and scraped her fingernails along both sides of her husband-wife’s hip flexors. Pressing down with just enough purpose, knowing the erogenous potential therein.

The sharp breath that followed was not exceptionally dramatic - a small surprise that was barely anything. But it was still a tiny ’arousal’ to the one paying the closest attention to the details.

"Right. It’s clearly not completely out of the question. A real, physical one that I can feel and that I think I understand. And I would very much like to explain it - and try to help, if you’ll let me. If you want me to."

Narrowed eyes were looking at the hands still gripping her hips. Qatrand gil Yecine had a particular feeling rolling around in her heart as her wife, the most capable person she knew, spoke those words. If there was no progress after whatever the brunette would do... she was prepared to accept that sort of disappointing answer as permanent.

’Or at least, indefinite. Knowing her, she won’t leave it alone if I express any interest to change... and I want this, right?’

"I’m going to try something slightly different. Keep paying attention to your own body for me? Not mine, though I know that’s quite hard. Can you do that?"

"I can try. If you explain first."

The brunette shifted until she was sitting beside the blonde, rather than across from her. Close enough that their arms touched companionably instead of hovering in front with her hands in questionable places. She thought carefully for a bit about which version of herself to speak from - the detached reincarnated healer or the over-attached ancient wife. In the end, she picked the one that had always worked best on *this* particular precious patient.

Just El, talking to her beloved Qat.

"You spent years telling parts of your body to be still, my love. To not grow feminine. To not cycle hormones as mortals do. Because members of your family needed it to be something else. And you made it listen, using what they taught you - and I refined, because you wanted to be heir."

Refined being the biggest keyword. Elua had gone through every line of advice, instruction, and detail before handing the result back to Qatrand. She had no other test examples that matched her wife’s circumstances available, when it came to modern or ancient cultivators, but she’d been fairly certain that using only the Limited Reforge techniques for suppression provided to her by family might have actually damaged her precious gem long term.

Whether ignorance or malice didn’t matter much, considering she would have noticed every little slip and stopped her in time. Yet ultimately, even the reincarnator’s changes to the flawed methods still caused the swordswoman’s anatomy to fail to respond to what it was *naturally* supposed to... because that was the point of doing it at all. To allow her to remain as androgynous as possible.

"The problem seems to be that right now, even lying here with me and feeling safe, there are muscles deep inside your root that are clenched... somewhere between relaxed and fully engaged. Almost like you’re bracing your center for a hit, but you can’t feel them doing it. Because they’ve been doing it so long that it’s become their sense of normal."

"How deep? What do I do?"

"In your pelvic floor. The muscles that support everything between and below your hips, essentially. Let’s see... normally I’d start with a bit more breathing. I’ve shown you this technique before, to help keep your organs in balanced positions. But as far as I can tell you’ve been keeping up with that. So..."

Resting her hand on the bare abdomen, El rubbed at it twice - before coming back to her senses and actually examining the woman again. She located a few myofascial trigger points and guided the blonde to lay back as she pressed into them. Not enough pressure to cause strong pain, but plenty enough to register on the knotted tissue. There she held for about a minute each, with the air around her hands kept warm and toasty to aid in loosening the muscles.

"It feels... strange. Like slightly rigid parts are melting. As if... I’m aware of what I wasn’t before, and it’s hot where it wasn’t before."

"That’s the blood flow returning into capillaries after the muscle had given out. What I’m doing is essentially blocking it off, long enough for the tissue to not have the oxygen left to remain taut on its own. Now, this is going to sound weird but you should... bulge the region? Gently push down and out, almost like the feeling of urinating. Almost, that is. Don’t actually-"

"Where did you learn this?"

"Hm? The cultivators on this continent and beyond like to think they know so much about the physical form, but they remember very little. I knew most of this even before I quit practicing medicine. Stole a lot of the knowledge, of course."

"Most... and you touched people like this frequently? In your old life."

Smirking up at her ’irritated’ spouse, who had leaned her neck to see and talk, the heiress spread her fingers across the skin underneath. Tilting her head low and cutely, a great deal of ’mischief’ spread throughout her focused spirit.

"Oh, are you getting jealous? I assure you that- oh, crap."

Underneath one finger, she felt as a previously loosened muscle snapped back taut with a far too light twinge of ’pain’. What’s more, it seemed to happen despite the taller woman not really doing much ’wrong’ to cause it. Checking the others, she could tell that they were also strained or straining again... and it turned her teasing smile into a concerned frown very quickly.

"This might be just a bit worse than I thought. Can you roll over, darling?"

Qatrand started to do so without any question, but paused halfway. Her trousers ran down her thighs further as she twisted her body, exposing more of a certain sight that made focus hard for one wife - and her resolve to fix things even harder. She’d been avoiding the step of *internal* biofeedback so far, but knew that one of the upcoming sessions she might have to talk the blonde into it.

’And talk myself out of treating it as anything more than clinical! Bad, bad, Elua. We both want her to like it, not have bad memories!’

"W-what is it? Just stopping like that so suddenly."

"Is... it to do with the masking tool’s placement?"

Nodding quickly while taking a rapid exhale, mint eyes met pigeon blues with her seriousness returned. For the most part. Qatrand did take note that they ticked back down toward the space between her squeezed together thighs more than once. While still uncertain about being touched if it wasn’t going to feel right, the fact that her mint-drop apparently felt the ’desire’ to... made her feel further into a paradox of ’at ease’ and ’apprehensive’.

"So clever. Yes, I think so. Where the artifact was inset at the sacrum when you were young may be causing as much of a large problem as anything else. But I want to really be sure before I say anything."

"Okay. Just keep me informed of what you’re thinking, alright?"

"Your spirit is wrapped so much into mine that I’m pretty sure you know what I’m thinking before I do. But alright. I’ll keep my beautiful voice speaking to you, darling."

Qat began chuckling as she lay flat on her stomach. Leaving the ancient cultivator dismayed that this side of her from was all but just as wrecking to her concentration as the other! Visibly defined steel glutes that called to be appreciated, lower back dimples superior to that very buttocks - that sung out to be felt, considering Elua did not have that genetic trait - and of course that bit of tattoo which was caused by the current problem.

’It’s pretty hard to focus on the beautiful, but damaged musculature around the sigil for *male* on my beloved husband-wife’s lower back.’

But eventually she did... and discovered that while she had done her best to add to the training to keep the implanted item from causing Qatrand problems, it still meant the body would be developing a sheath of muscle tissue that prevented it from migrating or rubbing on bone... and other important nerves.

To a great degree, that had been a success. However, it also meant it was the epicenter of a lot of the core tension that remained in the region. And more than that, she could tell it was also impacting the pudendal nerve - the part responsible for innervating the external genitalia - due to that bodily connection being partially trapped in scar tissue.

"El? Are you okay? Your pretty voice is being pretty quiet."

Letting out a shaky breath, the brunette slowly took off her own dress and laid across the back of her ’fortress’. Hugging tight to it, so much skin contact made her feel much better very quickly. Breathing in synchronization, spirits taking very similar stances to their physical forms, all of it helped calm her down. But it didn’t make what she had to suggest any easier.

"I think I will need to cut it out of you finally. A long surgery. With... those tools. Or else you might never feel like you should and might have more problems in the future."

Even if she’d meant to bring it up at some point after returning... it felt wrong to do so right now. Like she had been given so much good in her own ’siege’ today, but was providing nothing but additional sorrow to her Qat. The last thing she’d wanted was to not only remind her of the trauma of her youth, but also to suggest they re-enact it.

A half a dozen seconds went by before the person underneath shifted, deciding that her answer was best delivered face to face.

’I always hated the scenes in those novels. Where they talked serious things with one partner facing away while the other clings behind them. If it’s important, then you should cling to each other. Together.’ 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Or so Qatrand mused all while a surprisingly ’embarrassed’ Elua, torn and tugged around in a roll right onto the front of the repositioned swordswoman, covered her own naked chest with her forearm. Of course, it might not be so *surprising* to someone who could accurately read part of the thoughts within the Warden Patrician. A woman who had immediately looked at the set of things that had been tyrannizing her since earlier... and wondered how they might feel.

"Okay. I’ll let you do it. As soon as you are confident that you have everything prepared you need to. I’m not scared, El. Not of you."

For a while after that, the pair of lovers kissed for some time - much longer than family waiting at the Goltbred estate for some kind of news would have preferred. During this time, one who was not so sensitive herself learned even more about sensual things through experimentation, rather than teaching.

Specifically, just how light of a touch she needed to use on her cute wife. Which to one ancient’s dismay, turned out to be *far* less than kneading bread required!