Disclaimer: Years ago, before the enigmatic Xylir Tsa appeared in the lands of Arangoth and Myst he lived as an apprentice to a great and powerful Master Sage on the other side of the world. In this tropical island kingdom he enjoyed a freedom and higher education under his Master than the station of life he had been born into. He also enjoyed some of the comforts of the Royal Palace where his Master was the King's Advisor.
Here he grew up learning to master the mundane and arcane Arts of their land and became so proficient in the areas of Numbers, Stars, Navigation, Politics, and other Sciences that he was set as tutor to the Princess Abrianna. The proceeding tale is about 6 months after the previous chapter. ~*~*~*~*~*~ Abrianna dipped underwater, and came to surface again with her head tilted back. Her curls flattened and fell away from her face, and still even though wet, had a reddish gleam in the hot sunlight. "Ohh� This was a good idea," she waded towards the middle of the pool. The water was cool, without being cold, it was refreshing. "I'm glad you decided to take this break with me," from the way her voice echoed off of the rocks lining the far side of pool he could tell that she was politely turned away. Xylir shuddered as his body and heart fought desperately against the morals of his mind and eventually won! His shorts flew down his hips and legs in a flash and he bolted across the grassy land. "AHH!" he cried as he leapt long over the water, curled into a ball, and broke the rippling surface of the pool with a heaving geyser! The water was still raining in fat drops around them when he came bobbing back up to the top, glistening with refreshing coolness. His body tingled with the sensation, his chest perking uncontrollably with the immediate temperature change. "Oh! Ohhh! The gods be blessed that you spoke the idea before me! I thank you for bringing me here! Hehehe!" Abrianna laughed, lifting her arms to cover her head as water rained down over her. "I'm glad you like it!" she called back. She was at a fair distance from him. Far enough that neither could see too much of the other. "I will get you to loosen up yet, hmm, Xylir?" she winked one wonderful blue eye and dipped her head back into the water again, and smoothed back the wet locks over her head with her hand. Xylir shook out his head, his eyes as yet unfocused to the Princess yards away from him, to create another rain of water from his ravenswing locks. The oily-blue locks shimmered in waves down the layers of lengthening wet hair plastered to his skull. His head wobbled a little with the dizziness from his exuberant shaking and he offered, a little dizzily too, "What do you mean? 'Loosen up?' Are you implying, Lady Abri, that I am not enjoyable company?" Xylir blinked spinning eyes as they attempted to focus on the coppery bobbin floating atop the water away from him. He struck out with his lean, powerful arms and kicked his naked legs out to swim quickly for her. "Not at all," she responded quickly, smiling charmingly for him, "Only that you may be more agreeable, and more eager for ventures like this in the future," she explained easily. She bounced her toe upon the pool's bottom and floated onto her side. Casually, she pulled herself in a slow stroke towards the small fall that fed the pool. Xylir laughed to hide the nervousness and quick agreeability from her. His heart beat harder against his lungs and ribs though his strokes had come to a stop and he was floating with his back to the pool's bottom. He knew that very moment, that without a doubt, he would follow her to the depths of -hell (or whatever)- and back if she wanted it. "Perhaps, perhaps. �IF- you can lead us to these adventures by the Celestials in the firmament above us!" He slipped beneath the rippling surface a little as he lifted his hand to point to the sky straight above, thankfully this dipped his waist beneath the shining surface safely from view. Abrianna's tan, slender arms spread out in the water and waved slowly back and forth� keeping her head and shoulders above the surface. "Do you doubt me?" she asked almost primly, her head tilting, her slim brow rising, and her full lips pursing in that way they do when she's been challenged. The Princess was prideful, to her father's woe, but it gave her that wild sort of beauty that many men in a few years will be trying to tame. Xylir had become used to that spirit, as temperamental as the smoking Mount Kukuna to the north that every so often made his displeasure known with the Goddess Moon above for leaving him by lobbing a burning boulder of brimstone at her. He always missed though and it would fall to splash and steam in the sea. Xylir had become used to Abrianna, yes. He was beginning to learn how to guide that spirit to constructive uses instead of letting it run wild. His last wish on this earth would be to ever quench the fire in her heart and eyes. "No, Abrianna� I do not doubt your abilities." He turned a mischievously furtive grin disguised as praise as he added, "�To sail us counter-dial around the kingdom." "The kingdom?" her pursed lips were slowly drawing into a wide smile, "I think you mock me," she said flippantly as she flicked a tiny spray of water at him. "If my leash were cut, we'd go far beyond that," her arms lifted and spread wide as she dropped her head back to look at the sky. "Much farther�" she tilted her shoulders and followed the turn of her head� smoothly slipping back into her casual stroke, drawing herself ever nearer the small fall of water. Xylir stood with his toes clenched deeply in the cold sand bottom of the pool, his eyes uncontrollably riveted to the barest discernable sense of her chest above the bright, coppery sun-reflected ripples lavishing upon her chest as the ocean upon the beach. He had seen as much of her flesh bared before by the shoulderless gowns that she wore during the hot seasons, but somehow that did not compare with the idea of knowing that beneath the waves nothing else hid her. Xylir was slow to find his voice, caught and sunk like so much flotsam with the plummet of his mind and heart into his stomach and loins. But recover he did, dragging up his wit from the pits within him to challenge, "Really? Is that so? And would you be able to navigate us back home by those diamonds above us? Perhaps if you can answer perfectly the quiz that I prepared back at the Palace, I will ask the Master Rezios to speak with His Grace the King. Mayhap we could arrange for a holiday for our Princess, provided she navigate for us." "Bah..." she turned in the water, and dragged her arm and hand quickly through it� this time sending a small wave to splash at him. "Even were I confident enough to navigate us home, I would get us hopelessly lost," her smile was charming, and proud, and her soft, blue gray eyes glittered in the afternoon sun, "Such that we've no choice but to explore the world!" That was apparently the end of the conversation, for before she ever allows him a reply, she's let her lithe form drop beneath the water's surface. She sunk until her toe touched the bottom, less then a foot under� and then she pushed herself off, to swim under the water towards the soft roar of the falls. Xylir had been opening his mouth to retort and ask why she would give up his attainable offer of adventure and freedom so flippantly. But she disappeared before his eyes, sunk quickly out of sight to dart like a silverfish beneath the surface towards the falls. He felt a little hurt, a little broken-hearted he realized, and wished very much that he had offered that flat out instead of as a reward for her good studying. She was right, he was too much a Tsa and not enough of the adventurous young man that he should be. Xylir resigned himself to quiet thought upon this and his general predicament of being too rapt in his studies to notice or live life around him. He kicked up from the pond bottom in faint puff of cloudy sand, the water falling away from the shadows that marked the bottoms of his highly defined pecs in dewy drops of sun-gold, and kicked himself towards the deeper middle to tread water mindlessly lost in thought. Abrianna surfaced only a small distance from the falls and gasped for breath, her fisted hand rubbing the water quickly from her eyes. She treaded water and dipped her head back into the water to smooth her thick hair back from her face. Even this wet, the darkened locks held that sheen of red in the bright sunlight. She wouldn't have meant for him to take the comment as he had, she'd only tossed off his offer as play. They both knew how horrible she was with direction. She very much appreciated his company. She didn't have many friends, and she cherished every one that she had. "Xylir?" her smooth voice called just over the sound of the falls, "...Has... has everything been all right?" her tone was different, it was absent of the humor before. Xylir had barely time enough to really settle his balance in the currents where it was deep enough for him to not touch bottom by the time she splashed back up. His thoughts shattered in the fore of his mind, but were quickly caught, shrunk, and reassembled at the back to continue again when he wished� not a trained ability, but a natural gift of sharp mind. "I am sorry, Abrianna? Alright with what?" his voice echoed over the water and from his lungs through it, though surely she would not feel the vibrations so near to the rush of the broad falls. "Well... anything, I suppose," she gave a short, nervous laugh that was most unlike herself. Her? Nervous? It was an odd and rare moment. "I mean..." her slim shoulders lifted to her ears in a helpless, almost sheepish shrug. "Terri... she, she says you haven't been yourself lately... more� more quiet and reserved." She bit down upon her lower lip for a moment, "I really don't see what she's worried about... you seem the same to me," this smile was even apologetic. It was rather awkward to be between two good friends who had a relationship. They all were young. It was the first time any of them had to deal with such things. Xylir was quick to catch his bodily reflexes to such a query. His mind was cut off from his body and he lazily slumped beneath the rippled waves of the pond. He was only gone a moment while his mind reset the connection with his muscles, overriding his baser reactions and he floated calmly back to the surface with water streaming from his darkly tanned features until the hot sun above quickly dried him completely. "I� had not really noticed she was displeased with me," his lack of feeling betray his lie though. Abrianna blinked large, cloudy blue eyes, quick to note the difference in his actions, and manner. It was one thing she had from her mother that her father sometimes lacked in� noticing the finer changes in people�s manners and actions. It would benefit her well in court. "She's not displeased, Xylir," she said with a patient, apologetic smile. "She only asked if I might mention it because perhaps you would speak to me," she was honest though, and unabashed as she failed to notice that it was she in this pool naked with him, and not her friend. It was completely innocent, and such things simply wouldn't even touch her mind. "I don't relish being the go between... but I do want to see my friends happy, both of them," she added purposely, helping to stress how she thought of him as such a good friend. "Really, I am fine," he returned, his hair slick pitch molded to his scalp that surely should have dripped away as he tilted his head towards one shoulder. His full, obsidian eyes focused upon the Princess floating only yards away from him. He continued without skipping a beat, his words not lies, and only stretches of the truth that could not touch his voice, ��I have only been preoccupied My lessons have increased in intensity the past few months, you know this. And I have been tutoring you. Her recent complaints seem to stem that I do not have the time I once did to spend with her." He could not outright lie to the woman he dreamed of every night after all. "Of course..." was she actually blushing? This position was awkward and her words were somewhat quiet as she watched him. It was true, all that he said... but at the same time, it nagged at her. From what she knew of him, even with all of those obstacles, he would be the sort to still make Terri feel special. "Perhaps... Perhaps you should do something for her when you next have some time free, yes?" she smiled lightly, the tone of her voice more carefree as well, "Perhaps... surprise her with some flowers... or lunch� or.." she had begun to wade back towards him, slowly pulling herself through the soothing water, "...I will help you think of something." Xylir had to look away from her nearing him, certainly she would soon see the reaction in his eyes that she wrought upon him. He could not keep it from those orbs of Sight; all his will was poured into a bulwark to keep back the flood of his body's needs from showing in his loins. He spotted the beach shelf across the pool from him and before she could get too close at her slow pace, he flattened out and stroked his lean and nude form with long hard strokes towards the sand. Abrianna stopped as soon as he abruptly swam away from her. Her furrowed gaze followed him, and a frown settled upon her features. Initially frustration gathered in her throat. No one just turned his or her back on her. No one. But she forced herself to swallow it back, and she cleared her throat to rid herself of the taste of anger. Damn Terri for putting her in this position. Apparently he didn't want to speak of it. She pulled herself quickly forwards, and cut through the water in a smooth stroke, towards the edge of the pool the jumped in from. Xylir was quick to reach the other side, but careful not to expose himself and so slow to draw himself crawling up onto the sandy shelf. Despite his wiggling and sliding up the smooth sand, his paler bottom did flash above the surface with the shadow of his manhood dangling in the drying breeze before he quickly forced his lowerself under he water and rolled over. He sat up against the heat of the summer afternoon, sitting in the shallow water that covered his legs and nether regions. Finally he broke the silence between them with an offer of "Thank you, Abrianna. I appreciate your gesture and I am sure it is hard on you to be that 'go-between'. I did not wish for you to ever become involved." "I only want both of you to be happy," she said, exasperated. Her head fell back, and for a moment she floated there in the water, staring up at the sky. He'd swum away from her to the opposite edge of the pool and even from there, he may have seen the brief curve of a breast. "I will talk to Rezios then," she started, as if things had been decided, "He can help me for an afternoon or two a week... and you could have more free time." She pushed herself up, and her torso slipped fully back under the water, "How does that sound?" she turned around, her thick, wet copper hair gleaming with a tint of red in the sun, and floating over one shoulder, a couple of curled stands clinging to one tanned cheek. "No, please! Abrianna, I implore you not to do that with Rezios!" Xylir was emphatic about her not taking the matter to his Master, excited almost to the point that his voice was a yell. But it was not; he had enough sense to speak only loud enough for the emphasis to travel across the pool. "Please," he continued to plead and then explain, "Master is beginning to show confidence in me and my learning with allowing me to teach. That is very important to me. I do not want him to think that I can not handle it." More so he felt he would die if he were denied any time he could have with Her Highness. Abrianna frowned, her slender brow furrowing in confusion. She simply didn't understand the reason for him to become so excited over the matter. If anything, she rather thought he would be more appreciative to have more time to himself. "There would be no reason for him to loose confidence, Xylir. ... Maybe... maybe then there is something else we could do? One afternoon every once in a while to spend with Terri can't be bad... Rezios wouldn't object, not if he saw you two together." she smiled lightly. Xylir turned his wide and fearful eyes away from the beauty treading across from him, he couldn't stand for her to see him with that expression. He hated himself more for letting it even touch him. ~ A Tsa shows no emotion ~ he heard Rezios' voice lecturing in his head. ~ A Tsa's advice is objective, emotionless, critical, and educational. ~ Lessons started to move through Xylir's mind and calming him by forcing out the chaos of his feelings. "Yes," he finally managed with a clear and even tone, "an afternoon here or there would not be bad. I will speak with him this evening, after dinner." "Xylir?" though he turned his head, the look in his eyes was seen, and it showed in the worried expression that knit her delicate features. "You do... want to spend time with Terri, right?" his deadened voice made her heart sink for her friend. Only for the thought of whether or not to tell the young blonde, this was a fine situation she'd landed in, and she didn't want to have to pick sides� but in truth, more of her time these past months is spent with Xylir. Xylir nodded his still dripping head before speaking his answer; his calmed obsidian eyes focused back across the sparkling pool upon Abrianna's, "Yes, of course. She is nice to be with and likes to be with me. It makes for good company and that is what anyone ever wants, correct?" Abrianna nodded, though she bit her lower lip uncertainly. "A friend... Yes..." she inclined her head, "...and you like to be with her?" She was persistent. But then he would know that... if there was some little thing nagging in the back of her mind, and she thought she was on the right track� she was going to continue to pursue it. She had reached the rocky edge of the pool where they had jumped in, and one slim arm lay upon the ledge. Xylir was aware of her single-mindedness when something intrigued her, but he wished that she would find something else quickly to occupy her attention. He did not enjoy leading her around his heart like this, his mind and feelings were yet his own and he did not know how she would take them if she found out his secret. "Yes," he offered a small and disarming smile, "I believe I just said as much. Again, I have only been so busy and preoccupied. That must be why she has been upset." "Well..." the smile and his words seemed to work for her, for he could see relief wash over the concern that marred her lovely features. "I really can't blame her," she said offhandedly, shrugging one slim, tanned shoulder, "I would be upset as well if I couldn't spend time with my handsome, and charming boyfriend," one beautiful, blue gray eye winked. She then turned her back to him. With both hands gripping the edge of the pool, she found a foothold beneath the water and pulled herself up. Her lithe, slim body glistened in the sun, the water from the pool streaming down her soft, round curves. She moved without care, or shame, climbing from the pool and walking across the grass to her clothes. She picked them up and dabbed at her face, but even so as she twisted to look back towards him, he could see the soft, paler curve of the side of her breast, it's peak just covered by the white clothes. "She's really a very lucky girl," Abrianna spoke honestly. Xylir would not see her flesh though, blinded to the sky above him as he was. When he realized she was leaving the pool Xylir fell backwards, slapping upon the water that was surrounding him as his only refuge from ogling the Princess. "She� She is a very lucky girl, Princess. Too lucky and warm-hearted for a Tsa� or a one-day-too-be Tsa at the very least." Xylir's eyes burned as he stared up at the pale, cloudless blue sky with the sun looming huge and white molten gold of the sun off towards the horizon. He felt horrible for twisting the truth and for realizing he was leading Terri on, but what other choice did he really have? What could he possibly do so that he did not break her heart and consequently incur the ire of her friend, the Princess? "That was meant as a compliment, Xylir," she replied with a wry tilt of a smile. She didn't completely mop herself dry with her clothes, rather held them loosely in front of her to hide what should be hidden as she lowered herself to sit cross-legged upon the ground. "I wish I were as lucky as her." She brushed a dripping lock behind her ear and watched him across the pool. "I am covered," she added, noting his discomfort. Xylir ignored her warning of her dressed status and remained laying half in and out of the water. The burning air above and the cooling liquid below clashed together in his mind in a discordant harmony with his own internal battles. "One day you will be more fortunate, Abrianna," he spoke to her and the sky. "Already you are in so many ways. She will only ever be a Lady at Your Court while it will be you to govern all of us. She will always and happily live in Your Shadow while you will have your choice of the suitors and her lesser stature will leave her with second pickings." "I merely meant that I wish I were as lucky in love," she said with a tiny chuckle. "I hope I find someone like you," she folded her arms in front of her, hugging the bundle of clothes closer to her chest. She was drying quickly in the hot sunlight, the water droplets on her skin tingling as they evaporate into the air. Her long hair dripping down her back. She drew a full breath, and her gaze shifted to stare absently at the soft, trimmed grass... waving with the slight, faint warm breeze. "In a way," he groaned as he forced himself back up to his elbows, "that is what I was getting at. You will have the finest courtier! Not just a man who dresses the finest or is wealthy enough. I am sure you would not judge a man on those merits alone. No, you crave, just as Terri craves, a man who can lavish his sincere attentions and affections on you. Anyone else simply would not do and I know you would send him off with only so much as a dismissing wave of your hand." Quartz beads rippled and sparkled down his smooth chest before rushing in bounces and trickled rivulets over his packed abs scrunched from the lounging position he rested in. His island-bronzed skin gleamed fresh and cleanly in the hot summer day, unmarked by the blemishes that most male youths his age suffered from. Perhaps it was a bit of the magic he possessed that kept him pain-free and almost vainly gorgeous to behold. Or it could be the long hours that he worked at his exercises, both mental and especially physical, that kept his skin glowing so healthy. "You are right," she said with a bit of a laugh. She pulled her knees up to her chest with her ankles crossed, and her arms wrapped loosely around them. She set her chin upon her knees and charmingly tilted her head. "But I want more then just affection and attention... I want him to be someone I can speak to. A friend." Who knew why it was that she hadn't noticed it before, be it her fleeting attentions, or simple lack of notice� but this late afternoon as she watched him across the water from her, she noticed how attractive he had become. He'd always been handsome, but he had grown, and was turning into a very handsome man. Her lips curled just slightly as she fell silent, her cloudy blue eyes shifting over the young man's strong chest, and handsome visage. There was a flutter in her chest that brought a bit of color to her cheeks. It must be from their topic of conversation. That's all. Xylir drew a wide smile of amusement from his thin lips, his bright teeth flashing in the wavy sun-reflections from the water. "I realize that you must sure know, but I have to say that friendship comes with time. As that adoring and sincere man gets to know you and you him, your friendship and love will only grow and bloom and surely topics of conversation will be unending." The young man watched the girl across from him with barely concealed interested for her barely concealed form. Really, it was all he could do to keep his reaction to her as only a little tensing of his body. He was beginning to feel strangely embarrassed about himself, not knowing why, and wondering how he could get himself over to his clothes again. "Yes... yes... Well, I intend on knowing who I will be chaining myself to before my father makes me, so he best give me some time," she gave him an almost roguish smile. "Do you think Rezios will be missing us yet?� her brows arched, as she lifted her chin from her knees. "Next time we take a break like this... we could plan it and let Terri know� And I'll let you two spend some time together, hmm?" "Yes!" he sat up straight as he suddenly realized how long they have been gone. It was almost near the end of the time that he was scheduled with her for tutoring. His own lessons had set that internal clock to within only a minute or two. "Yes, we need to get back as fast as possible, Master will be expecting me any minute!" He was already stretched forward with his legs curled up and halfway standing when he remembered his nudist state! With a frustrated and shocked cry he splashed back to sit in the water with only a momentary view of his agitated manhood slapping against the inside of his thigh. Abrianna was gratefully looking away at that point, but at his eagerness, and excitement at how long it had been, she was quickly getting herself up from the ground. The clothes slipped, and for a moment, he could plainly see the graceful arch of a youthful breast. It was quickly realized, and covered, but she went on without much embarrassment. "Turn and I'll dress... then I'll walk on ahead and you can change and catch up to me?" "Of course, of course," he groaned a bit more as his rested and relaxing body was forced to quickly shift and contort. He managed to crawl deeper into the pond where it would be a little more difficult to see details at least and so that he could turn around more properly. It took her only a few short moments to clothe herself. Thankfully it was warm enough out that the thin white cloth didn't cling to her skin. The only evidence left of their swim was in her tousled, thick wet hair. "Alright... be quick, Xylir," she said before turning and walking quickly from the open area of the pool and back onto the shady path of the garden. It only took a few steps, a few heartbeats, away from the pool before she heard his frantic splashing and then silence again. A few moments more down the path and she began to hear rustling from behind, the rushing of a body through the foliage. Xylir came running up beside her as quickly as his long legs could carry him. With each step he seemed to glide along the ground, not gangly flaying to catch up as his long lean limbs might otherwise suggest. Other than flushed and heaving of chest for his sprint, the apprentice Tsa showed none of the signs that the Princess did of taking an unauthorized dip in a secluded pool. His hair looked as though it had been freshly washed, dried, and brushed, his clothes were spotless and unrumpled, and he generally looked as perfect as if he had just gone through his morning rituals in the past two or three minutes rather than frantically racing towards her! How did he do that? Abrianna had slowed her pace a little bit as he was catching up to her... making their walk seem less frantic, and more casual. "Now why can't you teach me to do that?" surprise first registered over her features when she looked towards him, but it was soon followed by a laugh and a smile. Her hand groped blindly between them until it found his larger paw and she gave it a friendly squeeze. "Thank you, Xylir," she said softly, a bit of dry-wet hair slipping upon her brow as she glanced sidelong towards him. It was good to get away, and better to have an accomplice. Xylir was smiling and chuckling from the humor of her shock and amazement before those passions strangely transferred to him from the touch of her hand. "Uh� umm� you are welcome, Princess," he offered, realizing sharply they were in more public territory and to address her otherwise would have his tongue removed. He looked over her hair, air-drying and frazzling because of it, then towards the gardens before them. "Trust me," was all he said as he quickly drew her off the narrow path and into a clump of tall brush. "Where are we going?" she asked quietly as he drew her from the path. There was no fight from her, and not a word of objection. She did trust him, and surely he knew that if only for the fact that they were just swimming, alone, and without clothes. There were many things that could happen to a woman in a situation like that. But she trusted him. She ducked beneath a low hanging branch, and stepped more carefully in this area that was not meant to be walked through. Xylir only took her deep enough to keep any casual passerby from immediately spying them. "Shh�" he hushed her softly, "close your eyes. Whatever you do, do not open your eyes. The glare will hurt and might blind you for a few hours." Xylir waited then until he received her acceptance before stepping back just a hair out of arms reach, which was good because there was precious little room in the bushes he had picked. "I cannot teach you the trick I know, but I can use it on you. So stay still," he whispered. Abrianna was curling her lips to contain her smile, but still it grew slowly upon the corners of her mouth. She lifted her chin just slightly, and let herself be led to where he wanted her to stand. Her eyes slipped closed, as he instructed, and as he spoke, she peeked her right eye open just long enough to peer at him with her small, happy smile before she finally closed both and stood perfectly still. Xylir noticed the peeking and again reiterated his warning of keeping her eyes closed. After saying his peace and a silent prayer to the Goddess that was sleeping now, he lifted his hands towards her, his fingertips straining out but not quite touching her chest. His own eyes closed as he called up the patterns of the spell in his mind, shifting the cantrip's pattern just slightly to align it over the girl before him. Suddenly she felt a gust of wind where there had been none before. The air spun around her ankles, like forked waterspouts whipping up her calves, then consuming her thighs. But it was not just air she felt upon her skin, a soothing heat, a prickle of energy not unlike the air of a heavy thunderstorm, and the rejuvenating coolness of a swim like the one they had just left. The storm consumed her quickly, her clothing flapping wildly against her body and threatening to tear away from her. On the deep bass of a heartbeat the storm was over, the power gone, the exhilaration of being in its grip and surviving all that remained and that was quickly fading. She would feel more refreshed than the swim, cleaner somehow than any bath she has ever taken. Her skin would glow with health like his and feel as supple and soft as a newborn's without loosing the strength that came with age. Her hair gleamed now, bright as the copper that highlighted it, and was more luxurious than the finest silk her kingdom produced. It was even brushed and up in a style that spilled loose ringlets from the twisted rope along the back of her head held by the flowers of the bushes they stood in, their stems magically turned to silver and gold while their petals would remain ever living and fragrant. Abrianna's eyes squeezed closed as this swirling rush of air consumed her. She stood as still as she could, as still as he had told her to� and even when the storm had calmed and passed� she still stood as she was. It seemed so still and quiet to her ears after the rush of air, and her heart was pounding from the exhilaration, and her chest rose and fell quickly with her breath. She stood there for a long moment, in that quiet, before she dared to even speak� and then it was a soft whisper, "Is it alright to move?" "Yes," she would hear him whisper. He had never done that for another person before and had feared that he might harm her, so it was with slow reluctance that he opened his eyes to behold her. He gasped in shock at what he had done! Abrianna 's own eyes shot open at his gasp. "What? ... What happened?" she started, her blue gray eyes wide upon him, and then looking down towards her clothes. Her short skirt, and the sandals that wound up her calves. "What's wrong? That was wonderful... it felt wonderful," she laughed, and lifted a hand up to feel a lock of hair that lay against her cheek. Indeed was dry and smooth and soft, like his own, "What a marvelous trick!" Xylir twisted his wrist quickly, his open fingered hand flaring and spinning and in the flicker of light it took to become righted again he held a large silver hand mirror. Wordlessly he held it up for her to look. Not a single thing was wrong with her, on the contrary her features seemed to be accentuated ever more fully than her natural beauty allowed. With her dark auburn hair up, her eyelashes were fuller and longer, her lips more round and red and tempting. Even her skirt and top, they were cleaner and brighter and fitted a touch more suggestively along the curves of her pubescent body. Abrianna fell silent as the mirror was lifted before her. Her full lips falling into that gentle 'oh' of surprise and awe. Was this really how he saw her? "...I don't know why..." she began quietly, speaking honestly, and more easily here in this hidden away corner of the garden, "...but I always feel more beautiful when I'm around you then when I'm with anyone else." Soft blue eyes flickered away from the mirror, and focused upon him as a soft smile pulled upon one corner of her lips. It was indeed how he saw her in the waking world colored by the fantasies of his dreams. "I�" he trailed off, not knowing how to answer her, not knowing if he should. "I want you to keep this mirror then, please? And look upon it to remember this moment as I will always remember it. And when you are need of the comfort and feeling in your heart right now, gaze upon this silver and know without any doubt you are the most beautiful woman in the world." His voice had become softer the longer he spoke until it sounded sandy with dryness. Before that moisture from his mouth, which he had felt gathering behind his eyes, could leak forth he stepped around her and back upon the path. "I� must go, Princess. If you wish to study the Celestials tonight, I will be at the top of Mount Kuwa-atta." Who knew what drove her forwards? Even she wouldn't be able to answer that. Perhaps it was his words or the comforting feeling he could give her that at the same time it was warm and comfortable, it could spike with excitement for the way he could sometimes look at her. It was no lie earlier when she had all but said she was jealous of what Terri had. Her hands lifted, and the warm, slender fingers curled around his holding the handle of the mirror. They were supposed to be taking the mirror, but they didn't let go of his hand as he began to step around her. She merely turned with him, her blue eyes silent in their plead for him to not leave. Not yet. But she was impatient for him to comply, and to step back towards her. She was impetuous and instinctive. She suddenly stepped closer to him, and lifted onto her toes to press her lips to his. Xylir was pulled to a stop and turned by his own momentum into the rushing Princess. His eyes grew wide, the black volcanic glass wavering with the wetness of tears he could not understand and would not shed. At the last instant before her mouth met his he gasped for breath and shock, but it was too soft and too late to halt her tender onslaught. He was too late to stop her and too late to stop himself. His right hand was entwined in hers and about the handle of the fine mirror. But his other was quite free - free to dart out, to snake around her waist, to wrap his arm about her and press his spread hand against her back, to crush her against him as he returned his own growing passion for her while consuming her own. Abrianna was as much, if not more shocked at the return of her kiss, as she was at herself for starting it. But there was no stopping it now, and as her heart seemed to leap and swell within her chest and echo in her ears... she kissed him. It was somewhat awkward at first. This was her first kiss... while he, well, he had Terri. She was quick to settle into the rhythm he would set for them, and she would tilt her head to one side to allow his deepening of the kiss and show that she was as passionate as he was. But then with him standing half from the bushes� who would ever have seen Rezios walking down the path? Was he maybe in search of his errant, late Pupil? "XYLIR!" Rezios boomed from further down the trail seeing his young man half bent into the brush off the side of the path. "Have you lost something, boy?! Like your mind perhaps!" Xylir gasped in surprise and fear and this time it broke his mouth from Abrianna's. "Princess!" he squeaked! A few choice curses he had learned in his younger days down in the markets rose to the forefront of his mind along with every prayer of good fortune he could think of! "Quickly, go off through the brush around us and I will try to distract him for you to make it back to the Palace buildings. Go, please!" Abrianna fell back away from Xylir as she heard his name bellowed from down the path. "Rezios?" she asked quietly with eyes wide and worried. But there was no time. She couldn't even understand what happened herself, let alone be able to explain it to the Tsa if they were found like this together. Her mind was awhirl for what was happening, and it was just multiplied in difficulty. She nodded quickly to his request, and she spun about upon her heel to start and try to find another way through. Xylir waited just a moment to see that she was deep enough and disappeared into the foliage before turning back to the path he was on and his Master. "Master! I am sorry, I must have lost my mind and wits, please forgive me. I had been out here in the garden following a particularly lovely bird� her plumage was spectacular. Next thing I knew I was intrigued by another creature and another and had entirely lost track of time." "Ow!" Abrianna never did claim to be graceful. Most of her days were spent in luxury, and indoors, so it really couldn't be that much of a surprise that her foot would catch upon a low vine in her scrambled hurry to escape. It was a muffled cry, brief, and broken by the muffled sound of the foliage she fell into. Fortunately for Abrianna and Xylir, the Master and apprentice were already well down the path from where the young man and woman had left it so neither of them heard the crash in the brush. Certainly Rezios knew, but he would not let on just yet, letting the two play their little games a bit longer. ~*~*~*~*~*~ Sar & Jer _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com -- To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives & Other DMI Lists: http://islesofmyst.com/lists.php3
