” Then, Sonya moved her head from the position she was in, still with her thigh draped over me, and kissed me on the mouth. I remained still, with...my lips tightly closed, not responding in any way. She drew back from the kiss, and I said, “Sonya, go to your bed now.” Sonya moved her left hand up from under the covers, and she gently touched the centre of my forehead with her index finger. “Up here,” she said, “you want me to go.” Then, she moved her hand down, and touched my erect cock. A final quickening, and accompanying sighs and cries from us both, finished with a shout – no, two shouts! – as we came almost simultaneously.I wanted to cry with joy. It seemed that the twelve-thousand-and-first fuck had turned out better than expected, in fact better than all the other 12,000.I turned to him and tried to say how wonderful it had been: that I’d never understood how sex could be other than a means of selfish pleasure, but now I did: that I felt joined to him as to no-one else. However, I did not worry."Did you really mean what you said about retirement?" Meghalen said."You? Of all people?" Yes," I said sincerely. "This is to be my last quest. I have beenoffered a position at the Academy of Wizardry in the Imperial City and Ihave accepted. I am to start in two weeks." I worry for the fate of the land if you retire to a desk," Xhaiden said."Bah," I scoffed. "There are plenty more to continue my work, such as youtwo. You will do well, my friends."We began walking. " Me too," I said, giving up on Gladys making her appearance. When she finally did arrive I was checking my email."What's that?" she asked, coming up behind me and blowing in my ear. I looked up to see her remove her jacket. She looked good, wearing jeans and a sweater."It's messages from friends who work in my Dad's company. This one is from an analyst," I said, opening a message entitled, 'Any news?' from Wanda. She wanted to know if I had learned why she had been promoted."Why does she care.