And Gale minded much less when they at least allowed him free reign of Shra'kt'lor's great library. Orpheus had actually suggested it, some faint amusement in his eyes as he'd commented on "the istik's" great curiosity for all the knowledge the githyanki had that his own people did not, and the githzerai had been equally condescending in their permission, but they'd given it.
And it was true, that apart from Lae'zel, the best part of his current life was getting access to the the astral plane's great collections of knowledge. Indeed, most of the hours he had free, he was reading his way through whatever slates were on hand, especially those that covered the astral plane and the many forms of magic and similar that were practiced there, but ultimately he'd read about any subject. Lae'zel sometimes teased him about it, but often she was reading with him; there was much she had never had the chance to read about either, and she, too, was a creature eager for knowledge and all it could bring her.
Negotiations had gone on into a second day, so Gale was still reading. He had now figured out the library's cataloging system, at least enough to know what was in each section. Unfortunately there were a number he couldn't read; he had long mastered basic Tir'su, but these were written in older, more esoteric gith languages. But there was still enough that he probably could happily stay in there for weeks. Since he didn't think it was likely he had that long, he was instead trying to read at least one thing from each section.
He reached the section on sensual pleasures fairly late in the afternoon. The githyanki, Gale had come to understand, did not have any of the more prudish objections to worldly enjoyments so many people in his own world had, and generally accepted that their soldiers might take some time between battles and training to pursue them. But the more fanatical fighters often thought them silly, and everyone else largely viewed them as ultimately insignificant. Sex, divorced from procreation for all of them, and from any real feelings for many of them, was just another appetite to be indulged as convenient, and he suspected they genuinely thought about it much less than other people did.
And for his own part, Gale seriously considered choosing one of their books about githyanki delicacies to read first. Their cuisine was something he remained deeply fascinated by, and there were multiple dishes he'd read about he dreamed of cooking someday. But of course he hadn't yet gotten the chance, and probably wouldn't for some time yet, if, indeed, he ever did, and his meanwhile his "To Cook" list was getting tragically long. Perhaps it would be best not to add to it that day.
So he pulled out a slate about sexual tricks instead. Hardly the first one of those he'd read, either. Since arriving in the Astral Plane, he and Lae'zel had fully explored the use of psionics in their intimate moments together, and with him having already shown her some of the things Mystra had shown him, they had even figured out new or even better ways of doing them in their new, powerful environment. But the books were teaching him the intricacies of githyanki anatomy, things about their bodies many of they themselves had never bothered learning about, and there were other useful things he'd learned from those tomes as well.
And now he was reading something very interesting indeed when he heard a familiar voice call out his name, and looked up.
He had already heard the pent up frustration in Lae'zel's voice, and as he watched her stalk across the chamber, he tried to gauge how bad it was. Not disastrous, at least, since she actually looked fairly calm. More like they hadn't made much progress that day. "No good news, I suppose?" he asked, just to confirm it.
"There is some for you," she sighed, "in that you will get to spend another day in here."
"Ah." Gale couldn't say he minded that part. And that she was saying it was another sign things weren't as bad as they could've been. "Anything at all?"
He watched her consider her answer, but then say, "That is for Prince Orpheus to speak about tonight. He will do so in three hours, after we have eaten."
That meant, Gale thought, that the two of them didn't have to go back to their quarters immediately. Which he was glad for. The two of them were sharing them with three more soldiers, and there was little room, and no privacy. He might not mind their company as much later in the evening, but he and Lae'zel had gotten too little time alone since the negotiations had started.
Indeed, he was thinking about what he had just read, and listening around their immediate area, and hearing noone in proximity. This wouldn't even be the first time they did it in a library. Once, perhaps, Gale might have at least hesitated at doing so, but when one was fighting a full-out war, one really did have to take whatever opportunities one got.
Lae'zel didn't look like she was in any hurry to leave, either. Indeed, she was strolling over to one of the shelves, and as she reviewed the slates there, she asked, "So, what amazing illumination befell you on this day?"
"As to that," he replied, "well, there is something very interesting indeed I've just been reading. I could tell you about it, but it would probably be better to give my new knowledge a practical demonstration. Behind there." And he gestured to a little nook behind one of the shelves, where anyone passing by the section was not too likely to spot them.
"Let me see that." Lae'zel snatched up the slate in his hand. She only had to read briefly to confirm what she no doubt had already guessed. "You think this a good idea?" she asked. "Admittedly, this may be the best opportunity we have for sex while we're here..."
"And you could do with it, I think," said Gale. "I can tell it's been a hard pair of days for you, and I really want to take care of you properly. If I can't make any other contributions to these negotiations, please let me make that one?"
He dropped his voice to a murmur as he spoke, and he leaned down and pressed the slightest of kisses to her neck. When Lae'zel had first asked for tenderness from him, and they'd spent several evenings exploring what she might like best, soft kisses to her neck had rapidly become one of her favorite things. She liked them on the ridges of her ear, too, so he pressed his second kiss there.
He aimed his third kiss for her cheek, but it landed on her lips as she turned her head towards his. They kissed for a long moment, soft and sweet, though Gale could feel her press into it.
"You are generous, as you always are, my love," she murmured. "And I know that much as you enjoying reading, you have no doubt gotten restless and pent up by waiting these past two days. Very well." And with a saucy look on her face, she drew away and turned to walk towards the nook.
Gale took a moment to admire the view, and make his exact plan. Much he had already known about githyanki anatomy and using telekinesis for more prurient purposes, to do what he had just read about would take a new level of precision, especially when it was not practical for them to disrobe too much.
In any case, he couldn't do much to her through her upper armor, at least, so as he followed her, he let his voice take a commanding tone, as he said, "I will need you to remove your breastplate for this, as well as the armor about your hips."
Lae'zel had claimed once this voice of his did not impress her. But it saw her pull herself up straighter in response to it, and though her back was currently turned to him, he thought he saw her breathing quicken. And she obeyed, unstrapping her various pieces of armor until they fell away, leaving her covered above the waist only by a tight, dark top and the plating on her arms.
When she started to turn around, he used the same voice to say, "Don't turn around yet. I'll start with your back."
He walked to the edge of the nook; he would remain visible to those walking past the chamber for the first part of this, but they wouldn't see him doing any more than just standing there. Inside the nook, a single torch stuck out of the elegant dark marble walls the entire building was made of, casting a pattern of shadows around them and illuminating Lae'zel almost like a silhouette, although the other lights in the chamber made everything on her visible enough.
"Raise yourself up," was his next order. "Not too high, just a foot or so." She rose before him until her back was at the level of his eyes. He knew where all the muscles on it were, where all the bones were, and where all the more sensitive spots were.
Typically he had used telekinesis to move things, sometimes big, and also sometimes smaller, and more delicate, so he knew how to put less force in it. He had also read about the telekinetic manipulation of gases, or even just the normal air around one's self. It was very difficult to do in the material plane, manipulating something without a solid structure which you couldn't even see, and Gale had never tried it. However, he had just read about a more easy manner of manipulation that only worked on the Astral Plane, and also about certain uses it could be put to. A few whispered words, just the right movement of his hands, and a breath in, and the air around them came under his command.
Lae'zel was extremely sensitive around the small of her back, so Gale started there. Just the slightest press of the air against it, enough to tease. Her breath hitched at the touch, and then again as he pressed a little harder.
He leaned forward, and allowed himself to breathe out against her back, hard enough for her to feel it. She didn't visibly or audibly react to that, but then he ran the air in its wake. Now he could see her chest rising and falling rapidly, and when he found just the right place to caress on her shoulder blades, she outright gasped.
She was, in fact, responding faster and stronger than he'd anticipated. Gale could only think she'd been much more wound up that he'd thought. Nor was she the only one. He had started to get an erection about as soon as she'd agreed to this, but now he was suddenly aware that he was painfully hard.
Perhaps he might not tease her as long as he'd originally planned. But he could linger her for at least a few more strokes of air. A pair of light ones up either of her sides, to make her anticipate pressure that didn't come. Firmer ones to to the small of her back, straying a little onto her arse. He watched her fingers clench, listened to her pant.
"Turn around, and come down," he finally said, and she did. He took in the desperation on her face, the sweat visible on her skin. Her shirt was low-cut enough to show the swell of her breast, and perhaps more importantly, her entire collarbone. Gale had long been aware that while gith had breasts and nipples, they generally weren't as sensitive as those of other races, and Lae'zel wasn't an exception. But running his fingers-or anything else-along her collarbone inevitably got her hot. He felt the desire to run his tongue there, but no, not at this moment.
He used the air instead, let it tickle them the way she liked best. She grit her teeth against the moan that would've come out of her, managing to keep it to very quiet whimpering. Gale supposed he could only go so far with this, here, if they really didn't want to be overheard. But when he asked, "Can you hold it for a few more minutes?" she managed to nod.
And below her shirt, she had managed to strip off everything above her thighs. When Gale looked down, he could see how wet she was.
The githyanki clitoris was a little bigger than a human's, which made his next move easier. Gale moved the air near it first, giving her a moment of anticipation, before moving it in to massage it. Lae'zel groaned, still softly, but Gale felt it reverberate through his bones. He could feel how red his face was with heat, the sweat starting to drip off him.
He would, he supposed be a suspicious sight if anyone saw him now, and so he took a step forward, so that he, too, was now in the nook. The two of them were now inches away as he kept her on a plateau of pleasure, able to feel each other's frantic breathes on their faces.
He kept the motion up as he focused on her eyes. There was so much in there. Passion and need, of course, and also so much love, and so much trust. Not for a moment of all of this would he ever forget how incredible it was, that she was actually letting him do this to her. Or how glad he was, that he could help her let go.
He would not force her to beg, at least not out loud. He didn't think he had the patience for that anyway. Instead he waited, breathing in and out, watched her eyes got a little wider, then a little more, and then her mouth started to part, and that was enough; he knew her tells that well by now. The air started rubbing her clit faster, and harder, and he lunged forward and kissed her so she could yell into his mouth as she came, nails digging harder into his back and her feet knocking against his ankles as she rode it out hard, her pelvis knocking into his and for a moment he thought that would be enough to make him come right in his pants.
But when it wasn't, she immediately started pulling at his robes, and he quickly moved his hands to help her. After not touching for so long, it felt so good just to feel her skin and the weight of her body against his, even before his cock sprang free and he outright shoved her against the wall with the force of his thrusts into her, now caressing with his hands all the places he'd caressed with the air, mouths joining again as it became her turn to muffle his cries, although she let them out, too, as he hit the right angle to make her moan some more. He was sorry he couldn't make it last longer, that they couldn't spend all of the astral eternity locked together like this, but he held on as long as he could, until he finally unraveled in her embrace.
He'd lost his concentration on the telekinesis, although with her psionics still up they were floating just a little above the floor together, leaning into each other as they both came down. Gale pressed a few more kisses into her neck, a little overwhelmed by the ridiculous amount of affection he felt for her, and ran his hands down her back, now a touch to comfort and help ground her, as he knew if her emotions were hitting as hard, and they might well be, she was going to need that.
In the end, it was her who gained her ability to talk back first, which might have been a little sting to his pride, but her first words were, "We need to do that again. When there is a good opportunity for it."
"Glad to hear you liked it," Gale managed.
"Indeed. I'm afraid you might have been the one of us who had a more productive day."
"Oh dear."
In the distance, possible from one of the adjoining chambers, they heard voices, and Lae'zel sighed, "We need to make ourselves presentable again. I do not know what the exact consequences of being found in our current state would be, and it is better for us not to find out."
She dropped them both down, and Gale tied his robes back up, and helped redon her armor. A bit of prestidigitation got rid of all the the obvious signs of what they had been doing. They would walk out here, Gale knew, as the respectable Warriors of the Comet they had to be while they were in this city, her as the hero who freed the Prince, he as her loyal consort and fellow in arms. It was a persona Gale was still getting used to, even after six months. It helped him to know there was still the two of them, in nooks like these, where they could at least briefly strip those fronts away.