Everlasting Dream

Chapter 84: Our little swamp

[Nivalis Silverfrost]

The girls kept walking forward, barely making any stops. Their heavy breathing filled the air as they struggled to put one foot ahead of the other in this endless, damp forest. The sun from earlier had long hidden behind dark clouds once more, leaving them with gloomy shadows all around once more.

Nivalis's muscles ached from exhaustion from carrying Aster for so long in her arms. Silvia stumbled beside her, holding onto her forearm. Her small feet dragged through the muddy, mushy ground, and a loud, ragged pant came after each step. Mud caked on their skin, clothes, and hair.

But they didn't stop. No matter how tired they felt, how much their legs hurt, or how much their lungs burned, they pushed forward, holding onto hope that they were nearing the edge of this suffocating forest. Nearing a place where they could finally rest without fear of attack from those monstrous plants or whatever else lurked in shadows around them.

Nivalis looked down at Silvia. Her daughter was a mess of mud, sweat, and tangled silver hair, which clung to her dirty cheeks under the girl's hood. Only golden eyes remained unchanged, looking back at Nivalis with such exhaustion and desperation that it hurt to see. "Climb on my back," Nivalis said breathlessly. She knelt beside Silvia and removed the leather backpack from one shoulder so she could climb up; her bow was attached to its side. "Come on, hop on," she repeated tiredly.

"I-I'm okay..." Silvia whispered in response, but it didn't sound convincing at all. The girl was trembling from cold and exhaustion, her tiny frame barely able to hold herself upright anymore. She had clearly already pushed herself beyond any limits her petite body could handle. Ever since she awakened her affinity many years ago, she hadn't grown even a little, and now more than ever, it showed. Usually, it's not a problem, but in this dire situation, where they have to cover long distances through terrain like this... It was a huge issue.

— "Please, honey," Nivalis pleaded quietly while kneeling. "Just for a few minutes so you could rest a bit, alright?" she asked, strained and tired but still full of motherly care.

Wiping her forehead on her dirty sleeve, Silvia reluctantly nodded in response to her words. She climbed weakly onto her mother's back and wrapped her skinny arms around the soft neck, putting her legs over the woman's forearms so they dangled limply. "T-thank you," she whispered before letting out a sigh of relief as all tension left her muscles. Her body instantly slumped against Nivalis's as exhaustion washed over her like a tidal wave, and her eyelids grew heavy.

With a grunt of effort, Nivalis rose again, Silvia hanging off her back, and Aster cradled in her arms. It was a lot to carry — two backpacks that the girl carried, her own being the heaviest, and two kids: son in her arms, daughter clung to her back. 'Just a bit more...' she thought, feeling her legs tremble with each step. 'Just a little bit further...'

But what a mother wouldn't do for her children? Nivalis was ready to carry them both for the entire day if that's what it takes.

...

Nivalis didn't know how long she walked like that. Silvia fell asleep almost instantly when Nivalis picked her up. The poor child couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. The girl's soft, rhythmic breathing warmed the back of her neck as the elven woman kept walking.

When the surroundings began darkening once more, signaling the arrival of another night, Nivalis felt her heart sink at the thought of spending another dreadful night in this horrible place. She hoped today would be the last day here, but everything hinted that it wasn't.

Aster's moans grew louder and more frequent with each passing hour, his body burning with fever. 'How long will he last like this?' was a question that haunted Nivalis every minute, reminding her why she kept moving forward no matter how much her whole body hurt or how tired she felt. She clung to hope that it was not an infection that caused his fewer but just the overuse of his fire magic. However, after each glance at his palms, she found herself doubting.

But just as Nivalis was about to start looking for a place for the night, the forest around them began changing slowly, much to her surprise. Her boots pounded against mud with renewed vigor, squelching and squashing beneath her steps, propelling her faster and farther than she thought possible as the ancient forest thinned little by little. The massive trees became less frequent, replaced instead by bushes and grass. "P-please..." Nivalis whispered desperately under her breath, hope blooming in her chest again. 'Please let this be the edge of it... Please.'

After some time more, the faint light of sunset greeted Nivalis' exhausted face. The pinky-orange sky above, which felt like she hadn't seen for years now, made tears of relief well in her blue eyes. "It's over," she whispered, barely believing what she saw before her. The wind lovingly caressed her dirty cheeks as she stood there, staring at the vast, unobstructed horizon ahead of them, watching the sun slowly dip below the distant hills. It was a sight that left her breathless, the most beautiful sunset she had ever seen.

They finally made it out. That thought made Nivalis smile like she had never smiled before. "We are out..." she breathed out.

"Ugh," Silvia moaned behind her back, her soft hands tightening around her mother's neck as she stirred, still half asleep, the warm sunlight caressed her pale, youthful face. It took her a moment for her brain to register the change, but when it did, her golden eyes snapped open and blinked rapidly before widening. "Woah..." The girl whispered, resting her chin on her mother's shoulder, her golden irises reflecting the warm rays of sunshine. "Mom... are we..."

— "Mhm," Nivalis hummed quietly in response, her tired feet squashing loudly through the mushy ground as she slowly walked forward, finally leaving this terrible place behind them. The girls simply turned their heads around, watching in awe how familiar green pines and spruces had replaced those massive dark trees. The smell of dirt, mud, moss, and rotten leaves was slowly replaced by pine and freshness. "We need to find a place for the night. But let's walk a bit further away, alright? Just in case." Nivalis said quietly.

Silvia nodded against her shoulder, yawning widely. "I can walk," she mumbled, half-asleep still.

Firstly, Nivalis cleaned Aster's dirty neck using her tunic as a rag. She gently wiped away all the old mush and dried blood from around the five relatively long but not deep claw marks spread across his delicate skin. Once clean, they didn't look nearly as bad as she imagined.

After that, she moved down to Aster's hands, unwrapping them with a frown. The smell coming off them made her stomach turn; even though she expected it, she couldn't help but gag quietly at the sight of open wounds on his raw, tender flesh. Pus oozed from the blisters that covered his palms, a sight she wished she could erase from her memory forever. She carefully cleaned all the disgusting yellowish-green substance off using almost all the boiled water they had prepared before refilling it again with water from their nearby pond. It wasn't the cleanest water in the world, but it should be alright if she's careful not to get any of it into his wounds.

"How long do we need to boil it?" Silvia asked quietly while lowering a hot stone into the green mush, which immediately started bubbling. With each new stone added, the mush became thicker and more intense in smell.

— "Twenty minutes should be enough..." Nivalis replied distractedly, focusing on Aster's feverish body. She used her tunic to wipe away all traces of mud, sweat, and grime, starting with his shoulders down to his skinny chest and then onto his tummy and legs. When she finished with his face, hair, and back, it was time for his private parts. The last thing they needed right now was some kind of infection to happen down there simply because she was not thorough enough while cleaning him.

Putting her now dirty again tunic aside, Nivalis took her little boy's tiny penis in between her thumb and forefinger as gently as she could. His soft skin felt delicate to the touch. As carefully as possible, she started cleaning him with her fingers. She pulled down his foreskin that was attached to the tip, revealing a pink head no bigger than a pea underneath, a sight so cute that it almost made Nivalis chuckle.

Silvia's golden, curious eyes followed her mother's every move, watching how she cleaned her little brother. Doing such things in front of her daughter made Nivalis feel weird and nervous, but not that she had much choice now. Who knows what that mud was filled with?

But it wasn't just that. What made Nivalis even more nervous was when Aster started to... grow... right between her fingers. 'Great... Just great...' Nivalis thought, feeling how this tiny thing twitched while his heavy breathing became louder and faster. It felt so incredibly awkward. And her daughter's gaze didn't help either.

After a moment of hesitation, she decided to continue as if nothing happened. She gently wiped his cute little balls next, barely larger than two cherries each. They lay in her palm as she cleaned them, rolling them between her fingers delicately, being careful not to hurt him. His member kept throbbing this whole time. It made Nivalis remember all those nights when this little guy humped her navel.

"I think the mush is done..." Silvia whispered after some time, her eyes glued onto her mother's hands holding her little brother's thingy.

Nivalis almost jumped at the sound of her daughter's voice. "Yes. Please put it aside to cool down..." she mumbled in response, letting go of Aster's sack and moving onto his butt. She lifted his legs gently and spread him open with one hand while cleaning him with the other using her tunic.

He looked much better once fully cleaned, although his face still twisted uncomfortably with pain. Or were those moans from her touch? It was damn hard to tell now. And Nivalis didn't want to know either, not really. "Alright... that should be enough..." Nivalis said softly, gently lowering his legs again. His tiny penis stood proudly for them both to witness, twitching every few seconds as if begging to be touched.

"Let's go wash ourselves real quick while the paste cools off," Nivalis sighed, covering his shame with her dirty tunic and getting up with another tired groan.

"O-okay..." Silvia mumbled in response, slowly getting up and following her mother to the pond nearby. At the shore, Nivalis removed the few pieces of clothing she had left on her body before helping Silvia do the same. She then took her small hand into hers, and the girls stepped into the cold, murky water. It was filled with mud, small plants, and all kinds of things that tickled their feet, but they were willing to tolerate it if only for a chance to get clean again after so long.

They crouched down, their naked bodies shivering from the chill of the water. Goosebumps formed on their smooth skin as nipples hardened from the cold breeze blowing against them. Taking Silvia's tunic from the shore, Nivalis carefully washed her daughter's body, watching how dirt immediately started falling off her pale skin and disappearing into the muddy water surrounding them.

Nivalis started from her face, working down her neck, shoulders, chest, and stomach before moving onto her butt, legs, and feet. Silvia remained quiet during this time, only shivering a little from the coldness of the water while occasionally gasping softly at her mother's tender touch upon her delicate skin.

After finishing working on her petite body, Nivalis started to clean herself next; however, Silvia didn't let her. The girl simply took the brown tunic from between her hands and began scrubbing as hard as she could against every part of her mother's pale body, trying to remove all grime covering it. "So dirty..." Silvia quietly whispered every few minutes as she worked while Nivalis just sat there, her hands resting between her soft thighs to keep them warm in this coldness. Not a single word was spoken between them.

Once they had cleaned each other, they rinsed their long silver hair until no more dirt could be seen. Their bodies trembled from the cold when it was finally over. "L-let's get b-back to the fire..." Nivalis stuttered out through chattering teeth before quickly getting out of the water, holding her small daughter's hand tightly in hers; their bare feet squished loudly against the muddy ground beneath them with each step back towards their campfire.

Once there, Nivalis sat on the ground next to her son and the fire a soft thud of her perfectly-shaped butt against the ground. She then softly patted her thighs, signaling the girl to sit on her lap instead, and Silvia did so without any hesitation. Her little butt pressed against one of her mother's thighs as she wrapped both arms around Nivalis' waist tightly for warmth, resting her head upon the softness of her breasts.

Nivalis embraced her daughter in return, letting out a long, satisfied sigh as she felt the warmth from the nearby fire. "There, better..." she whispered down at Silvia with a tired but content smile, feeling her tiny body trembling heavily in her embrace. "We did it, honey... we made it..." she added, running her fingers through the silver locks of her little girl.