See Part One for Disclaimers.

Part Two

Siro agreed with Taja's suggestion when they reached the water.  "He looks so peaceful," he commented, glancing back at the young man.  "I don't think I've ever seen him like that."

Taja nodded as well, a faint frown lining her forehead.  Siro felt a sudden urge to wipe the tiny lines away, and repressed it.  Then the red-headed ex-thief looked at the water.  "So is it safe for a dip?"

Siro smiled.  "Perfectly.  A few minnows, but no turtles to be found and it's far too small for any big fish."

Taja grinned suddenly, wickedly.  "Kind of like OutWorld, huh?"

Siro groaned, then felt his breath abruptly catch as Taja caught the sides of the dress and started to pull it over her head.  "What are you doing?"

Taja stopped and turned to him, frowning at the startled look in his eyes.  "I'm going for a swim."  At the continued gape to his mouth, she frowned more.  "C'mon, Siro, you've seen me almost naked before.  Remember, when you barged into the bathing room?"  She smiled, but for some reason that memory bothered her as much as his lack of reaction had then.  "You didn't seem to find much to be fascinated with then."  She almost winced at the sound of her words.  A bit bitter?  Where did that come from?

Siro had the good grace to blush, even though he didn't really know why he was doing it.  Or why remembering that glimpse was making his pants as tight as the thought of her stripping in front of him now, or the implication that there was nothing under that dress.  "I . . . I didn't want you to be embarrassed."

Taja raised an eyebrow.  "You didn't seem worried about that," she countered, definitely feeling a touch bitter.  Indeed, Siro had simply stood there while she glared and shouted at him to turn around and leave, then given her a purposefully long, slow once-over before smirking and obeying her order.  Taja remembered that she had been caught between a rush of desire and almost overwhelming humiliation.  Granted, that had been when they'd been more enemies than friends still, but. . .!

She wasn't aware she had said any of that aloud until Siro's blush deepened and he said, softly and sincerely,  "I'm sorry.  I was an ass."

Taja stared at him, then looked away to hide the blush that rose on her own cheeks.  "It's okay.  We weren't exactly friends then."

"But we are now?"

It was a question, almost hesitantly asked, and Taja looked at him in surprise.  There was something in his eyes, something she couldn't quite read but that seemed to be more than just a need for reassurance about their friendship.  So, instead of answering the question, either spoken or silent, she just smiled and turned away.  "No peeking," she threw over her shoulder, and lifted the dress quickly.

~*~

"Having fun?" a voice asked from over Cyreen's shoulder.

The undine turned and smiled, delight radiating from her in the way that only her kind had, her eyes shifting from pure green to sky blue and all the shades in between.  Hair that resembled water in both color and texture slipped across her shoulders, tumbling down across small breasts to a slender waist.  The hair was part of the scant covering the lithe, aqua-and-moonlight-skinned form; the rest was a gossamer dress that flowed and rippled like the waters of the pond below them, making a half-hearted attempt at covering the delicate humanoid body from shoulders to just below the tops of her thighs.

"Lord Rayden!" she exclaimed, her voice and laughter echoing the joyous tumbling of the waterfalls.  "This is quite a surprise.  Though I suppose it shouldn't be, considering the thoughts of the three down there -- Mortal Kombat is a dead give-away to your involvement."

Rayden, God of Thunder and Protector of Earth Realm, chuckled and took a step down the rocks lining the waterfall's path.  "Speaking of which: I'd prefer you didn't do them any harm."

Cyreen frowned.  "Harm?" she repeated, raising a fluid eyebrow.  "Are you mistaking me for one of my Cousins?  I don't  do 'harm'."

Rayden shook his head.  "I know.  I'm just rather protective of them."

Cyreen frowned again, then smiled, her expression lightening as she came towards him, sunlight rippling across her in little wavelets.  "If you were truly concerned for their welfare under my influence, you wouldn't have let them come here."

She came towards him and Rayden was forcibly reminded of how small the undine truly was, as well as how attractive.  The top of her head just barely came to his shoulder and the hand she laid on his chest could easily fit inside his own, child-like.  But the rest of the undine, and her very nature, were anything but child-like.  Those changeable eyes were exotically long-lashed and set in a fine-boned face with a slender nose and most definitely kissable mouth.  Rayden knew; he remembered kissing it.  He also remembered the other things that mouth could do, and the knowledge was affecting him as much as if the undine had influence over him as she did mortals.  The thunder god swallowed hard and forced himself to remain still as Cyreen smiled up at him.

"This place is not about harm, nor about control, as you well know," the sprite murmured.  "It is about love and sharing and freedom from fear."  Her hand was cool and warm at the same time, and she left it comfortably settled against the cloth of his robe.  "What holds most mortals back from finding the love they dream of, seek, is fear.  Of rejection, of not having that love returned, of it not lasting.  They get so caught up in their fear, held back by it, that they never take the chance -- and so, most times, they miss what could have been the love of a lifetime."

She tilted her head, looking first at him and then at the figures below, two of them swimming now in the center of the pond, the third sleeping serenely by the shore.  "These three, they are connected in ways they don't even understand, bound by ties that they created willingly and yet are afraid to pursue or strengthen.  They love one another, yet they are afraid to act on that love: afraid it won't be returned, when in fact it  is.  They will miss a great chance if they do not lose that fear, even for an afternoon."

Rayden looked at them as well then down at the undine with a small smile of his own.  "And that's what you're here for."

Cyreen looked back at him and grinned abruptly, like sunlight dazzling on water.  "And why you allowed them to find this place."

Rayden fought it, then gave up and grinned back at her.  "That too."  He moved his gaze back to the warriors below.  "So.  What are you going to do?"

Cyreen winked at him, her grin widening to reveal benignly sharp teeth.  "Watch and learn, thunder god," she replied as she turned to face the mortals.  "Watch and learn."

~*~

Siro was having a hard time concentrating on his swimming.  It was bad enough that Taja seemed so damned comfortable in bare skin, but the girl seemed to be having  fun watching him keep his distance.  Not that Siro had a choice; even with the chill of the water, he found himself trying in vain to fight down an erection at every flash of alabaster skin seen through the amazingly clear water, every imagined revelation of what lay beneath the water, between those thighs.  And Taja, damn her, did not help matters any by continually doing those little flip-dives under the water.  Siro had the sneaking suspicion that she was not only enjoying his discomfiture but trying to catch a glimpse of  him.  It was impossible to cover oneself and still tread water!

Siro was, unfortunately, right.  Taja darted heavy-lidded glances at her swimming companion, drawn to the play of light on his water-flecked skin, the little glimpses she could catch of the considerably paler skin below his waistline.  She wanted to see what was beneath that tan-line, what lay between his legs and behind, wanted to know if the skin was as tantalizingly smooth as she imagined it to be.

The red-headed ex-thief floated leisurely on the water, watching in amusement and arousal as Siro tried very hard to  not look, idly moving her hands as she drifted on invisible currents towards one of the small waterfalls.  Let him try to ignore her when she stood up on that ledge she could see just below the surface of the water.

She needn't have bothered.  Siro had been watching her, carefully hiding his glances so that she saw only half of them, but when she headed for the waterfall, his eyes seemed unable to tear away from her.  He watched her find the little ledge, watched her stand and appear half-beneath, half-behind the cascade of water.  Sunlight covered her with golden-white tones, augmenting the pale length of her legs, the curve of her hips and buttocks, the swell of one breast while the other lay in shadow.  Steam seemed to slide across her skin in tiny, impossible wisps as the heat of the day sought to burn off the droplets that clung to her skin.

Taja paused under the waterfall, tilting her head so that the cool water pushed her hair back and away from her face, tumbled down her skin like a lover's caress.  The comparison was aided by the way she arched her back slightly, letting the water have a clear path as it crashed down on small, pert breasts, pebbling her nipples with cold, and continued to travel downward, sliding languorously across her ribs and belly, then nuzzled down into the shadow-hidden depths between her thighs.

Siro watched with air straining to enter his lungs, each breath shallow and tortured as he stayed where he was, frozen in place in an agony of arousal and desire.  He  wanted her.  Desperately, wildly, feeling as though the world would explode if he didn't have her.  Unconsciously, one hand traveled down his own body, to where his cock pulsed impatiently, throbbing and rock hard.  Before he could even think about the first obliging stroke, however, he heard Taja let out a sharp cry, her hand flying to the back of one shoulder.  Her pain snapped him out of his mesmerized state.

Continued

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