Christa is going to be heading off to be the Lord-Commander's eyes and ears on the resistance to the Red Queen out in the Pink. 

It's, um, probably going to be at least sort of dangerous, but not very dangerous, on account of her being in their well-defended headquarters, rather than anywhere more dangerous. She's doing it to earn clemency in regards to the whole situation with Yui, which, it turns out, is illegal according to an old and probably not-normally-enforced law. The punishment would be ten lashes followed by banishment from the city.

That's kind of awful. Alard had no idea there was a law like that. Who is that law even for. Christa is the only girl Alard has ever heard of who wanted-

They can walk together back to Christa and Annabelle's flat and help her pack. As they make their way there, Alard is helpfully  but not very effectively, thinking about things one might need, in the Pink. He really doesn't have very many ideas about that. (He's also thinking about the implications. Of Christa. In the Pink. He's trying not to dwell on the images but he's definitely having some imagery. And there's a wordless yearning to be the last 'normal' lewd thing Christa does before she leaves, even if that's just a simple kiss.)

Oh. 

He's so cute.

Christa is kind of a lot less horny than she is when she's wearing Aire, so she doesn't think she actually wants to have sex with him right now. She's had so much sex in the last couple days.

But, when they're at Christa's place, he can have that kiss.

Although those images in Alard's mind are perhaps slightly changing her opinion on the topic of sex.

Does the Dragoon follow them into her flat, or just wait by the door? Her schemes to provide Alard with kisses or maybe something more will be rather instantly derailed if he follows them in.

The Dragoon follows them up but waits by the door. He is There but not in a way that interferes with kisses.

Annabelle has something of a reaction to seeing her gay lover and the boy both of them obviously think is cute, kissing each other. It reawakens some of the perverse lust, still lingering in her. Her mind fills with a sudden image of being sandwiched between them, all of them naked. She blushes hard but tries to shake off the brief, vivid fantasy in favor of distracting the Dragoon with inane questions about his dragon.

But she is thinking, where Christa can hear her think it, that maybe she and Alard can... miss Christa... together. Carnally. If only Alard thought she was pretty.

(Alard does, actually, think Annabelle is pretty and nice, though at the moment he is rather more focused on Christa.)

The flat is constructed such that it possesses bedrooms. Which means that they're out of view. And Annabelle is distracting the Dragoon.

And so, Christa can get down on her knees and slip Alard's cock out of his trousers and into her mouth.

Christa doesn't have all of Aire's mutations making this easier any more, but, well, Alard is conveniently easy to please.

Golly.

Alard pets Christa's hair and admires her and, and she's a telepath right, so he can just fill his mind with appreciation and pleasure and affection and all the good things she's making him feel, and the conviction that he'll think fondly of her when she's gone.

This is good! Very good! 

And really turning her on rather a lot.

She slips a hand down the front of her shorts to play with herself. 

She can beam her own affection and arousal and conviction to think fondly of him while she's gone right back at him.

So much good.

He cums in her mouth, unable to hold back, a small note of mental apology for the abruptness washed away by pleasure, held out for her to share in.

Oh, that's nice. She immerses herself in the pleasure, trying to drive herself to her own orgasm, and can't quite manage it.

Not immediately, anyway. She does get there pretty quickly. It's nice, but nowhere near as nice as when she's wearing Aire. That said, this time it does actually clear her head instead of leaving her just as horny as she was when she started, and it's probably a good thing that she be able to focus.

There's a few other differences, doing this kind of thing without Aire.

Her mouth won't keep him hard this time, so when she gently suckles on his cock in the aftermath, this time it slowly deflates.

His cum doesn't taste as nice, but it still isn't bad. Or, well, not very bad. She doesn't mind, even if she will want to get herself a glass of water pretty soon.

Oh. Also, she's sort of made a bit of a mess of her shorts, she should probably change. Conveniently, they're in her room!

Indeed they are.

Christa might even get to wear something other than her uniforms, for a change.

Once Christa has gathered the things she wants, they can linger for a little while; the Dragoon will wait patiently for the remainder of the promised hour. But eventually, it's time to go.

She does decide to wear something besides her uniforms! She does, actually, bring a couple of them with her. She wears them a lot, they're nice. But she heads out wearing the dread technology of pants. And a moderately fancy white blouse, even! Perhaps she will meet people in the Pink who will be impressed by moderate fanciness. Most likely not, but this has been a day, and wearing something that makes her feel like she is about to conduct Business is surprisingly helpful.

Can Annabelle and Alard follow along while they walk to the Temple?

They can follow as far as the Temple itself.

Entering the Temple of Light itself is reserved for full Dragoons and immediate underlings in the organization. Even Alard would need a special pass, which he does not currently have.

They can have a three-way hug again, before Christa is ushered inside.

Alard and Annabelle can both get hugged by Christa very hard.

And Christa will whisper Annabelle's thoughts about Alard being cute and interesting to Alard, and Alard's thoughts about Annabelle being pretty and nice to Annabelle, and then tell them both what she's just done.

She has assigned them the date of Alard cooking Annabelle dinner.

And then she's alone, again, and doesn't have to make herself look less sad than she is for her friends.

No one comments on her mood.

Christa is brought to the chamber with the rune-array that they used to record the direction-and-distance to the Deep Heart Glisten Palace once they found it earlier. The royal portal mage is back, much to the Lord-Commander's displeasure, but he does his job and lets the rune-array launch his portal across the continent.

The portal expands into being in the middle of the room. It is on the... 'ground' now, opening upon an expanse of peachy skin. In the distance is the large yonic entrance to the Deep Heart Glisten Palace, surrounded by a writhing orgy with the atmosphere of a slightly-somber festival. The scent of sex and clean bodies wafts through the hole in space.

Well. Off she goes orgyward, she supposes. 

She's probably going to stop being quite so sad once she actually gets to the orgy, but for now, at least, that is what she will feel.

She doesn't know how long she's going to be out here, and whether or not she'll actually get to go back home at the end of it. She doesn't know if she'll even live through basically joining the Tentacle Resistance.

And the world is rather a lot less nice than she's spent the past decade convincing herself it was.

It takes Aire most of a day to find her.

She's not, really, less sad when she does.