[Aster]
The shuffle of bare legs against the furs, a groan, and a whine. A little giggle and a huff of breath. All sorts of noises kept coming from behind the thick, heavy curtain of the hearthbed, the sounds of a morning wrestle happening inside. Still very much naked and very much in the bed, Aster and Silvia did their best to annoy each other, as siblings do.
Just outside of it, Nivalis was busy with breakfast like a proper mother, humming and walking around in just her tunic and letting the children laze about a little longer. Her hair was already braided and hidden under a headscarf, her long ears nowhere in sight.
Pale thighs and butts, flat chests, and ribs all moved and twisted in the dim orange light of the bed, the black furs doing little to hide them. "Ngh, stop!" came a small whine from the girl as she found herself on her back and beneath her doofus brother, his mouth pressed to her neck and making the silliest noises against her skin. "Stooop, or I'll bite you!" she added after a moment, her skinny legs kicking uselessly at the air behind him.
With a soft chuckle, Aster pulled away from her neck and looked down at her, his golden eyes meeting hers. "Weren't you the one who said 'no biting' when we began?" he asked with that incredibly annoying, boyish smirk of his.
Instead of answering, Silvia began snapping her teeth at him like a little beast, raising her head from the furs and trying to get him. He kept his face just out of her reach, a mere breath away, laughing at her every snap. "Come on, just say it... how..." he started, then paused to dodge another bite, "...wait, what was it you were supposed to say again? I don't remember."
That made her stop biting and squint in thought, a cute wrinkle forming between her brows. "Something about... no, wait, it was..." she mumbled, her pink lips smacking together quietly as she tried to remember. A few seconds passed like that, the two of them just staring at each other in the dim of the hearthbed, with the boy still atop her and her legs still wrapped around him, her pale thighs pressed nicely into his sides. "I don't think... I was supposed to say anything?" she eventually said, blinking her pretty eyes at him.
For a moment longer, Aster stared down at her and just tried to remember what it was that they started fighting about, but couldn't. "Huh," he hummed, pursing his lips in thought, and then just shrugged and attacked her delicate neck once more, smooching and blowing into it with all the silliness he could muster. A loud, high-pitched squeal rose from the girl at that, and a whole storm of angry wiggles shook them both.
A bunch of breathy "You dork!" and "I'll bite you for real now!" flew from her mouth in the minute that followed, each one met with more wet noises and giggles from the boy. A whole minute of them just being silly, loud, and happy, laughing and making the furs beneath them rustle with their movements. For no reason at all.
It was only when the curtain was pulled aside, and more of the soft light fell upon their pale skin, that they finally stopped and looked up with flushed faces. The flickering of the fire illuminated the silver of their hair, which was neither messy nor falling over their faces but neatly braided in an intricate, matching way that kept their ears hidden. Long, thin strips of cloth were woven in and held everything tight and in place, even through this whole wrestle.
"Hey... Mom," Silvia said from beneath her brother, her small chest heaving up and down against him as she tried to catch her breath. "Do you need my help in the kitchen?"
Standing there in the opening, Nivalis looked down at them with a soft smile and shook her head. "No, sweetie. The sun's already up, so it's time you both put on at least something," she whispered, lifting her hand and showing them two pairs of tiny, white panties dangling from her fingers. Delicate and girlish, the sight of them instantly made Aster's face scrunch up in a scowl. "Come on, up," she added, looking at the boy in particular.
A quiet, reluctant whine left him, but he obeyed nonetheless, slowly pulling himself off his sister and sitting up on his knees, his soft bits jiggling a bit between his skinny thighs as he did. Silvia pushed herself up right after, sitting in the same way. "Do I really have to...?" Aster mumbled, looking at the panties, then at his mother, his golden eyes pleading. A slow, steady nod was his only answer, which made him sigh and lean back in surrender.
Lifting one of his ankles into the air, Nivalis slid the soft fabric over his foot and up his leg, then did the same with the other. A gentle pull of her hands, and the panties were around his pale thighs, digging into the soft flesh there. Another one, and he was lying back down on the furs with his butt lifted off them, and the panties were pulled all the way up and over his little boy bits, still soft and drained from what his mother and sister did to him earlier, covering them completely.
As she did that, Aster threw his arm over his face and made a pathetic, muffled sound into it. He felt her fingers adjust him inside the tight fabric, moving his bits this way and that until everything was tucked into between his thighs and under his butt. A small, uncomfortable wriggle followed, and it was done. "There we go," Nivalis whispered as she smoothed the fabric over his pelvis, making sure there was no bump on it. Nothing but flatness met her palm.
Silently, Aster took his arm off his face and looked at the girl beside him, watching the same thing happen to her. How her legs were lifted one by one, and the panties were pulled up to cover her puffy, hairless slit. Just a few seconds of fiddling, and they were both in matching whites, lying atop the black furs.
"Wait, I think..." Silvia suddenly murmured after a moment, looking down at her own crotch and then at Aster's, "...yeah, you gave us the wrong ones. These are mine." She pointed at a loose thread near his butt, then added, "I remember because it was annoying me yesterday."
An arm flew back to Aster's face in a dramatic movement, and a loud groan left his lips. "Mommm," he whined into the soft skin of his elbow, making Silvia's shoulders shake with quiet giggles beside him. Even more so when something began to rattle somewhere behind Nivalis, and she had to rush away to check on it, leaving them be.
A distant, "It's fine, sweetie. They're pretty much the same," was all he got as an answer before the curtain fell closed once again.
With a long sigh, Aster went completely limp in the furs and pretended to be dead, arms falling wherever they may. His golden eyes stared blankly at the stones above his head, unblinking and unmoving, his chest barely rising for breath. His sister's giggles beside him did nothing to break the act, not even when she poked his side with her finger. He was dead. Panties-induced death, the worst kind. There was just no recovery from that.
For a whole minute or so, Silvia kept trying to get a reaction from him, tickling his ribs and poking his cheeks. Not a single twitch. She even went as far as to lick his neck, but the dead boy stayed dead. "Come onnn, stop that," she eventually whined, crawling on top of him and straddling his hips, her bony knees pressing into the furs on each side of him. "It's not that bad. We can switch them back if you want?" she asked, slipping a finger into the tight waistband of her panties and tugging at them, as if she was about to pull them off of herself.
A little shake of his head was his only reaction, and even that was barely noticeable. Being tucked into panties twice in one morning was just too much for him to handle. He was strong, but not that strong. He needed at least a few hours to recover before he was ready to suffer through that again. It was just better to leave things as they were.
"How about..." Silvia hummed, leaning forward so her face hovered right above his, "...we go see if there's anything at the table that could cheer you up? Maybe some cheese?" As she whispered that, the white of her panties pressed and slid against the identical pair on him, the friction making a tiny, almost inaudible sound. The flatness of their fronts matched perfectly, nothing but two layers of thin, delicate fabric between them. "And it shouldn't be too long until breakfast is ready," she added quietly.
That finally got a reaction out of him, a single blink of his golden eyes. A small twitch of his nose followed soon after, at the smell of something very nice coming from beyond the curtain, which made the girl grin victoriously at him. "And, and!" she continued, her pale thighs squeezing his a little in excitement, "we'll put on our tunics, and it'll be like you're not wearing them at all. How does that sound?"
A quiet, "...alright," came from Aster after a long, drawn-out sigh. Slowly, he pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked at her sitting atop him, then smiled softly. A forced thing, but still a smile. "Cheese sounds good," he murmured, then put his hands on her hips and gently moved her off him, separating the panties from each other. She nodded happily and, with a little wiggle of her butt, turned towards the opening.
After one more deep breath, Aster followed, and together they pushed the heavy curtain aside and climbed down the stones, into the dimness of their home. All the windows were tightly shut, so the only light that greeted them was that of the fireplace just nearby, at the side of the hearthbed that was closest to the kitchen. Nivalis was crouching right by it, humming quietly and busy with a small clay pot that hung over the flames.
Aster didn't get to see much else, as Silvia stepped in front of him a moment later and, with a soft, "Stay still," began pulling his tunic over his head. He didn't argue and just stood there all awkward, letting her dress him.
A few tugs and pulls later, and the soft, cream-colored thing swallowed him whole, the curly bottom of it ending at his hips and hiding the worst of the panties. A little bit of white still showed beneath it, as the tunic wasn't long enough to cover everything, but it was better than nothing. "Thanks," he murmured when she was done, looking down at his front and smoothing the woolen fabric with his hands.
She didn't say anything and just smiled sweetly, after which Aster helped her into her own tunic, a simple, dark grey thing that looked more like a light sweater. Much plainer than his, with no fancy ends at the sleeves or bottom. A little jump on her toes, and it was all the way down to her pale thighs, after which she immediately squeaked, "Cheese!" and darted towards the table.
Ignoring the feeling of his bits rubbing against the same spot hers had all day yesterday, Aster shuffled after her with a little, annoyed wriggle of his hips. He didn't make it to the table, though; instead, he stopped by the hearth and his mother and looked over her shoulder at what she was doing. "Need any help, Mom?" he quietly asked, a bit sadly. "I can, uh... heat things a bit, I guess?" His hands fidgeted awkwardly at his sides.
Nivalis looked up at him from where she crouched and shook her head. "It's alright, honey. I have a bit of an opposite problem," she answered with a smile, pointing at the pot with a wooden spoon. Aster leaned in for a better look and saw scrambled eggs in it with a whole lot of onions, slowly moving with her every stir. "We don't have any pans, so I'm trying to fry it like this, and it's... quite an experience. It keeps sticking to the bottom," she explained with a soft sigh.
Aster hummed softly and just kept standing there awkwardly beside her, watching. For a whole minute he did until she couldn't take it, having someone breathing down her neck any longer. "Actually, you could... help me with the tea. That would be nice," she said, nodding to a small clay jug near her knees. "The water just boiled up. Pour it into the cups, would you?" Her eyes moved to the table, where Silvia sat with her cheeks bulging with cheese. "They have mint and honey in them already, but be careful. It's very hot."
With a tiny "Mhm," and a faint smile, Aster squatted down next to her and grabbed the hot jug, using the rag to hold it. It was quite heavy, so he took it very, very carefully as he stood back up and made his way to the table. Three cups of dark wood waited for him there, each filled with the green of mint and the golden of honey at the bottom.
A bit of awkward pouring later, and there was a sweet-smelling, steaming tea for them to enjoy. Aster put the now much lighter jug on the table and took a seat beside his sister, grabbing himself a slice of cheese as well. "Noice," Silvia mumbled as she reached for her cup and, after blowing on it a bit, took a tiny sip of the hot liquid. "Very noice," she repeated right after.
That made Aster chuckle softly, and he took a sip as well, then put the cup down and just looked at the steam rising from it. He didn't say anything after that, just sat there in silence and nibbled on the piece of cheese in his hand. For a good ten minutes, he did just that, the same little piece of cheese and the same sad look on his face, right until Nivalis stood up from the hearth with the pot in her hands and sat down at the table with them. "Our little breakfast," she whispered with a tired smile, and began serving the eggs.
"We haven't had them in... sooo long," Silvia said with a happy wiggle in her seat at the sight of it, at how fluffy and yellow it looked in the pot, and then in her wooden bowl. With a quick thank-you, she took her spoon and dug right in. A hum of delight followed a moment later. "This is really good, Mom," she mumbled with the wooden handle sticking out of her mouth, earning a little pat on her silver head. Then she glanced at Aster to see if he was enjoying it as well.
He... well, Aster was still in panties, so there wasn't much enjoyment on his face. He did manage to hum a little at the taste of it and even say a quiet, "Yeah... it's nice. Thank you," but that was about it. The same sad little piece of cheese was still in his hand, barely touched. A sad little boy with a sad little piece of cheese.
Seeing that, Nivalis and Silvia shared a knowing glance across the table. Both put their spoons down, and for a moment, they did nothing but watch him eat, and not eat, and pout at the table. Just before Nivalis could say something and comfort him, Silvia did it for her. "Hey, Mom..." she began in a soft voice, as if she just remembered something, "...you didn't tell him, right? The thing you told me when we were watching the sunrise?" Her words made Aster's head rise from his bowl.
A little frown appeared on Nivalis's face at that, her blue eyes looking away from him and at the girl, a confused little hum coming from her. "I... no?" she mumbled eventually, deciding to play along with whatever Silvia was scheming.
Aster scratched his cheek, confused as well. "What thing?" he asked quietly, looking from his sister to his mother and back.
Silvia didn't answer right away, instead taking a sip of her tea and enjoying the silence for a moment. Then she cleared her throat, put the cup down, and leaned forward a bit. "Well, we had a bit of a girl talk, you know... mother-daughter stuff," she hushed, her golden eyes on him.
He nodded slowly, waiting for her to continue. After a moment, she did. "And we kinda talked about the panties, and how you don't like them? And Mom was like, 'I don't understand why it's such a big deal, all elven boys wear panties like these! There's no such thing as different panties for girls and boys,' and I was like, 'Whoa, that changes everything, we should tell him that...'" she rambled on in a fast whisper, her little hands gesturing this way and that. Then she gave her mother a look, one that involved quite a few winks and eyebrow wiggles. "Right, Mom?"
Nivalis began nodding before Silvia even finished, her lips curving into a tiny smile. "R-right, yes... that's exactly what we talked about," she whispered, looking at Aster as well. "It's normal for elven boys to wear these kinds of panties, honey. Nothing embarrassing about it. There's just no other kind for them." She took a small bite of her eggs right after, adding a much quieter, "And the boys with... nicer ones were considered to be... quite handsome, actually. Yeah."
Much like a fish clinging to a shiny hook, Aster clung to the hope that wearing those panties was a normal thing. That it was just some weird cultural quirk, that he wasn't the only one suffering through it. "Really?" came a tiny, hopeful whisper from him, his eyes flicking between the two of them. They both nodded, and that made his face light up.
A heartbeat later, just before Aster could ask why she hadn't mentioned it before, a soft knock came from the door, and the sound made all three of them flinch a little. A muffled, "Hellooo, neighbors!" followed soon after, sounding very much like Margaret.
Right away, Nivalis got up from her stool and, with a hushed, "Press your thighs together, honey," headed for the door. Aster nodded and did just that, making sure not a single bit of white was showing between his pale thighs, while Silvia just smiled and took another bite of her eggs. They watched their mother quickly slip into her panties—also white—and pull her pants up, and then open the door, letting in the chilly morning air and a smiling, brown-haired woman. "Good morning, Margaret," she greeted with the same kind of smile.
"Morning, love," Margaret replied, her gaze moving from Nivalis's blue eyes to those of her children, humming at the sight of them sitting at the table without pants and munching on their breakfast. In her left hand, she held a small jug wrapped in a cloth. "How are you settling in? Did you sleep well?" she asked the moment the door closed behind her.
A nod and a soft, "Very well. Everything is perfect," came from Nivalis as she helped her out of the furs and hung them on a hook by the door. "We're having breakfast right now. Would you like to join us?" she asked, motioning to the table.
Margaret waved her hand dismissively as she took off her snow-caked boots. "Oh, no, no. I've already had mine with my boys. Maybe just some tea, if you have any water left?" she said, lifting the jug she was holding a little. "Brought some goat milk for your little ones, if they'd like some." That instantly made Silvia perk up in her seat, her legs kicking excitedly beneath the table. A heartbeat later, the girl began furiously gulping her tea to make room for the milk.
...
Half an hour later, the four of them were walking to the village through the snow-covered path, bundled up in their furs and wool against the morning cold. A lot of talking had happened during that time, mostly Margaret asking all sorts of questions about the house and whether everything was alright with the hearthbed and such, which Aster mostly avoided by stuffing his face with more eggs and cheese and just nodding along. It was... nice. The whole thing.
But walking to the hearthworks in his woolens, which hugged everything from his waist down, was not. And having white panties beneath them, squeezing his butt and bits in the most uncomfortable way? Even less so. And yet, there wasn't even a hint of discomfort on his face, no pouting or anything like that. Instead, there was just a little smile, one of a boy who had just learned that it was normal for elven boys to wear such things. That this kind of squeezing was just how it was supposed to be.
Silvia walked right beside him and had a similar smile on her face, peeking out from within the fluffy furs, but hers was from all the milk she'd had—two whole cups, and even half of his. There was a bit of a hop to her steps, too, a happy, bouncy one that kicked the snow around and made Nivalis chuckle softly behind them.
Margaret walked in front, leading the way, and went on and on about the hearthworks and what they would be doing there. "Mother Anne will probably have you do something simple today, just to see how good you are. A scarf or socks, most likely," she said, glancing over her shoulder into the blue of Nivalis. "I know you said yesterday that you're decent at it, but..." she paused and gave a little shrug, "...every woman here thinks they're the best at all things needles, you know? Just show her your best, don't rush or anything, and it'll be fine. I'll be around if you need any help."
Nodding softly, Nivalis huddled deeper into her furs and took a deep breath of the cold morning air, letting the scent of pine fill her nostrils. "Yeah, I understand. Thank you," she murmured, looking ahead at the path leading to the village. The first houses were already appearing between the trees, small and cozy, with smoke rising from their chimneys.
"And you girls," Margaret continued, looking down at the pale two, "you'll have to pay attention and learn, and help your mother when she needs it. No slacking or running around, alright?" Both Aster and Silvia nodded at that, a bit nervous but determined. "Good," she breathed, and they kept walking.
Soon enough, they were at the edge of the village, walking between the houses on a path that had seen many more footsteps than the one they'd come from. The silence slowly gave way to the sounds of a waking village: the distant chatter of people, the chopping of wood, the occasional rooster crow, and the creaking of gates. People walked about with their faces all flushed from the cold, paying little attention to the four of them.
Everything looked much like it had during the snowstorm, and yet completely different at the same time. The same houses, the same fences, and the same path, but the sun changed it so much that it felt like a completely different place.
Once again, it made Aster all excited and awed, and he kept looking at everything around him with a childlike sparkle in his golden eyes. "This is so... cool," he kept whispering to Silvia over and over again, who, instead of answering, just smiled at him and took his scarred hand in hers, holding it in her smaller one as they walked.
It didn't take long to reach the hearthworks, a house barely any different from the others around it, just a bit bigger and with a lot more smoke coming from its chimney. Without much hesitation, Margaret pushed the door open and ushered them inside, from the cold winter morning and into the warmth of the place, into the smell of burning wood.
Aster was the last to enter, and the first thing he noticed was that there were a lot fewer women, not even half as many as yesterday. Empty chairs were everywhere, and it was quiet for the most part. The few that were scattered about the place looked up at them as they stepped in, and all gave soft, polite smiles as well as quiet greetings. "Good morning, ladies," Margaret hushed to that as she took off her furs and hung them by the door.
"Good morning," Nivalis repeated for her and the kids, receiving more looks as the silver of her hair, peeking from beneath her headscarf, and the pretty braids of her "girls" were revealed as they took off their furs as well. Aster instantly began blushing as he felt all those eyes on him, on his silly curly tunic, and the way his woolens hugged his legs and bottom.
In the far corner of the room, Mother Anne gave them a small, gentle wave with her old, wrinkled hand, the smile on her face just as kind as it had been yesterday. "Margaret, there you are. I was just wondering when you'd come. Usually, you're the first one to arrive," she said in a quiet tone, after which her grey eyes moved to Nivalis and her children. "It's so nice to see you, my dear. Come sit with me, we'll talk." She gestured to the chairs right by her, inviting them over.
Nivalis returned the kind smile and, after taking off their boots, the four of them shuffled over to her. Aster and Silvia sat together in one, and Nivalis beside them, while Margaret took a seat right next to the old woman. "So, how are we doing? Is the house warm enough? Did you sleep well?" Anne asked right away, looking at each of them as she did.
With a small nod, Nivalis answered, "It's all perfect, thank you. I don't think we've ever slept so well before." Both Aster and Silvia bobbed their heads in agreement, not saying a word, just sitting there obediently.
"Good, good..." Anne whispered, a pleased hum following her words. Then, after a moment, she turned to her side and grabbed a small basket from the floor, which was full of yarn, knitting needles of different sizes, sewing needles and threads, and all sorts of things one might need for the craft. "Let's get you to work, then? I put this together for you, a bit of everything," she said, carefully handing the basket away. "It's for the work here and for home, so it's yours to keep. Every mother needs something like this around the house, to fix things and whatnot," she added in a kind voice.
A quiet, "Oh," escaped Nivalis as she gently put the basket on her lap, looking down at it. "Thank you... that's..." she began, her blue eyes lifting to meet Anne's grey ones, "...very kind of you."
Anne simply nodded at that, then continued in a whisper, "Now, as for what you'll be doing today, I want you to make something for yourself or the girls. A scarf, a hat, socks, mittens... anything, it doesn't matter. Margaret mentioned yesterday," she said, glancing briefly at her sitting there, "that you don't have much clothing, so this would be a great way to change that. And it'll give me an idea of where you stand with your skills."
Once more, Nivalis nodded, her hands gently touching all the things in the basket and going through them. Anne kept looking at her and the kids as she did. "There are crochet hooks in there as well, if you prefer that," she added. "Take your time with it, there's no rush. I don't expect you to finish it today." Nivalis hummed quietly at that.
With that, Anne began to rise slowly from her chair, a faint groan escaping her in the process. "Alright, I'll be going now. The little ones will be arriving soon, and I need to set the furs by the fireplace. Margaret, dear, please take care of them," she said, patting the brown-haired woman on the shoulder. A soft, "Of course," came in response, and with a final kind smile, she walked away.
Just as Margaret opened her mouth to start explaining the hows and whys of the craft, Nivalis was already pulling out balls of yarn and the thinnest needles from the basket, her hands moving with certainty. Margaret closed her lips back and decided just to watch her in silence.
And so did Aster and Silvia; they just sat there together in their chair and looked down at their mother's lap. Long, slender fingers unrolled a bit of dark-brown yarn and brought it between the wooden needles. And then... magic happened. She began looping it in complicated ways, so fast it made their eyes hurt a little from just trying to follow. Precise, quick, and so incredibly elegant that it looked like the wool was dancing in her hands.
Soon, the women around them began to notice, too. One by one, their eyes moved from their own work to the quiet mother sitting in the corner with her children, and stayed there. Whispers of "Look at that," and "How is she doing that?" filled the quiet of the hearthworks, but none of them managed to pull Nivalis from her work.
That made Aster smile sweetly, a "Yeah, that's my mom!" kind of smile, as his golden eyes glanced up and around the room.
...