Part 5

"Jah-Jaheira?" Khalid stared.

"The same," she told him, smiling, the sight of white teeth amidst bark a little disconcerting.

"You've... changed."

"Barkskin," she explained, "one of my defensive spells. It gives me a layer of protection against weapons and blows. And," she continued, mischievously, "it is also very useful for camouflage."

"Useful indeed," Khalid said, impressed. Not for the first time, he wondered what practical spells he might have used to supplement his swordplay if he had succeeded in his study of magic.

"It will wear off in due course," she said. "It shouldn't be too much longer now."

In the shock of her return, all his hurt and confusion had momentarily disappeared, but now it crept back, filling him with doubt. "I didn't think you would come back. You said this was a mistake, you told me not to come looking for you."

"I know," she said, in a tone that almost sounded like regret. She sat down on the bench, staring at her feet, a pose which didn't seem to match the defiant spirit he had seen within her. Jaheira looked up again, and patted the bench beside her. "Will you join me?"

He sat warily, placing his sword on the bench beside him, as he went to pull on his tunic.

"Don't," she placed a hand on his arm, forestalling him, "please. I..." her voice grew faintly rough, as if she was breathing too hard, "I like the view."

Khalid felt like he was blushing to the roots of his hair, and at least partway down his exposed chest. "I..."

The power of speech had pretty much abandoned him for the moment, and Jaheira took advantage of the fact to continue her explanation. "I... yesterday was very sudden. I tell myself I am prepared for anything, but I did not prepare for this. I was not supposed to... I have duties, I can't speak of that, except to say that I felt that being with you at this time would cause distraction I could ill afford."

A sinking feeling settled into Khalid's stomach as his speech returned. He looked down at his hands, and at hers, still covered in bark, and folded in her lap. "Are... are you *married*?" He spoke the last word as though it were the name of a vile thing that lived under a rock.

"No!" she laughed. "Was that what you thought?"

"Well, how should I know?" he stuttered in exasperation. "When you can't tell me anything?" He stared down at his hands again.

"There is one thing I can tell you," she said. He felt the roughness of her bark skin as her fingers slid under his chin, lifting his gaze to hers. "This may not have been the best time for this to happen, but it is too late now. There is no use worrying about mistakes or distraction, because I realized that I would be even more distracted if I let you go without taking the chance."

"The chance for what?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"This." As if on cue, the hard covering on Jaheira's body vanished and her hair and skin returned to their normal texture and hue, and before he could recover, her lips had captured his again.

She kissed him until he was breathless - though he had remembered to breathe this time - then drew back, looking a little breathless herself.

He sighed unconsciously in disappointment, and she chuckled.

"Don't worry," she told him. "There will be plenty of time for that later."

"There will?" he asked in disbelief. Yesterday had been amazingly wonderful, and since then he had been through just about every emotion possible, in alarmingly quick succession.

"Oh yes," Jaheira told him, her voice filled with promise, "believe me there will. But first I want to show you something. Come."

She lead him to the trees that surrounded the courtyard, examining them all with particular interest, and he wondered if she was seeing something in them that he didn't. After studying them all, she lead him back to one in the middle.

"Sit down," she said, and he complied. "No, a bit further back." He scooted onto one of the flagstones at the edge of the grass. "Good, now stay still and quiet, and don't move unless I tell you."

The tree she had chosen was a lemon tree, and one, that, considering the long lifespan of trees, had been recently planted. Though its branches spread wide, and were covered with leaves and fragrant blossoms, its trunk was still slender enough that he could span it with both hands. As he watched, she sat down in front of the tree and whispered to it, rhythmic words he couldn't understand. A shiver went down his spine.

Then she addressed the tree in the common tongue, as quietly and gently as one would speak to a small child. "Come out," she told it, "it's alright. We won't hurt you. Come out and visit us. We are your friends. Talk to it Khalid," she whispered, out of the corner of her mouth.

Talk to a tree? Well, Jaheira seemed to have no trouble doing it. "Hello. N-nice day today, isn't it?"

Was it his imagination, or did he catch a glimpse of movement.

"Keep going," Jaheira hissed.

"So, y-yes... you're a tree. That's... good. I... I really must thank you, the shade you provide when I am practicing is very nice." There was a hint of movement again. "I hope it isn't too boring for you out here... then again, maybe you like it out of the way. I'm not bothering you with my practicing, am I?"

"No," a small, childlike voice answered, and a little girl, perhaps three or four years old, emerged seamlessly from the tree, though Khalid couldn't see how she had done it, or where she could have come from. Her hair was bright yellow, the same shade as a lemon, and her skin had a faintly greenish tinge. She was also completely and unselfconsciously naked.

"Umm, perhaps you could put on some coverings, little one," Jaheira suggested, smiling gently. "He is not a child of Nature."

"He is so!" the child lisped, stamping her foot. "I can hear him." Her lip curled in disappointment. "Even if he doesn't hear me." But she did as Jaheira suggested, and was suddenly clad in a short tunic made of leaves.

"No, I meant he was not a Druid."

"What's that?"

"We are the ones who are supposed to take care of you."

"The gardener takes care of me," the little girl replied, with the logic of the very young.

Khalid had been starting in mute wonder all this time, and now he finally tore his eyes away to look at Jaheira. "She's a Dryad, isn't she?"

"Yes," she affirmed, smiling with enjoyment at seeing the amazement on his face.

"I didn't know they could live in the city."

"All trees have spirits," she told him. "Nature is everywhere, and She is never caged in, even when we think She is."

"So you've been here all this time?" Khalid asked the little Dryad, who, apart from Jaheira, was the most remarkable creature he had ever seen.

"Uh-huh," the child said. Her eyes were a deep green, the colour of the foliage above, and held not only a child's innocence, but a strange, ancient wisdom. "I saw you when you were just like this." She cradled her arms together and rocked them back and forth, mimicking a babe in arms. "The pretty lady was always with you. She was always sad, but you made her happy. Then you got bigger, and you were sad too, but the pretty lady always made you happy. But when I tried to talk to you, you were still too sad to listen. Then the pretty lady stopped coming... and you were very, very sad."

Khalid listened now, listened to the childish voice recite in very simple terms, the story of his life. Tears began to fill his eyes.

As she saw this, the little Dryad stopped her recitation. "I like you," she said, stepping forward and hugging him with all her tiny strength. "I think you need a new pretty lady," she whispered, against his ear.

Khalid stifled a sob, and she patted him on the back. "It's going to be alright," said the child, with an assurance even most adults didn't feel.

Stepping back, the Dryad child looked at Jaheira. "You're sad too," she said, pointing at Jaheira's heart decisively. "You need a friend. Will *you* be his pretty lady, pretty lady?"

Jaheira swallowed. "I... yes, I hope I can be."

The little girl patted Khalid's head, making him look up, despite the tears still streaming down his face. "Do *you* want her to be your pretty lady?"

Fear mixed with remembered sorrow, tightening his chest.

Impatiently the Dryad reached out a tiny finger and poked him in the nose, making him go cross-eyed for a moment. "You're thinking too much," she warned him, sternly, "Don't you fib!"

"...yes..." he whispered, abandoning the last of his pride.

"Okay," said the Dryad, with a cherubic grin of satisfaction. "I gotta go now. Play nice." Stepping back, she vanished into her tree again, leaving the two of them alone.

"I'm sorry, I - " both of them began at once, then paused.

"I'll go first," Jaheira said, decisively, "it's rude but it saves argument. I want to apologize. Dryads can be very blunt, I didn't even think about what she might have seen, of what she might say to you..."

"How could you have known?" Khalid countered, wiping at his eyes. At least his nose wasn't running this time.

"I'm still sorry." Edging closer, she patted his knee awkwardly. "With your father like *that*, and your mother gone, you must have been so lonely..."

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak, but savouring the warmth of her hand on his knee. It didn't seem like she was used to casual gestures of affection any more than he was, and it found it endearing.

"As I told you before, I never knew either one of my parents. I was lucky that someone found me and rescued me before I met the same fate as they did. They took me to a Druid grove, and the Druids raised me." Her voice grew warm with the memories, sweetened by the exotic traces of her accent. "In a way, they were all my parents, and they were all very good to me. They taught me everything I know today. But sometimes I would look at the other children with their parents, and wish I had someone of my own, someone who would care only for me. It was selfish, I know..." She shook her head. "In any case, that was a long time ago."

Khalid placed his hand over hers, and it seemed for a moment she would snatch it away, but then she relaxed. "That Dryad did get right to the point, didn't she?" he said finally. "I w-was telling the truth, about what I said."

"I know," she replied, in a tone that sounded almost... frightened. "The Dryad's warning was genuine. If you had lied you probably would not have liked the consequences."

"That means you told the truth too," he said, amazed at how calm he sounded. He was in a sort of pleasant shock, the world around him, all the sounds and sights and smells had faded away until there was nothing but the woman sitting beside him.

"...yes..." she said. "I couldn't lie to her, even though I realize I've been lying to myself for a long time. I need someone." She paused for a moment, swallowing. "And even though it is too soon, even though it does not make any sense, the person I need is you." Jaheira had always seemed so confident, so in control, but now, at this moment she looked just as confused, as amazed, as dumbstruck as he felt. When she turned towards him, without masks, without reserve, what he saw in her eyes took his breath away.

/How is this happening?/ he wondered, but did it really matter? He leaned closer, feeling a little thrill that this time he was the one taking the initiative, and covered her mouth with his own.

The kiss was different than before, when demands had been made, surrender offered, a temporary truce. This time the surrender was unconditional.

He lost himself in the softness of her lips, the agility of her tongue, the slow, leisurely exploration. Her purrs were low at the back of her throat. He felt her hands running down his bare back, touching him as no one ever had.

It was almost as if they were one person now, one mind, one body that happened to exist in two separate pieces. Of one accord they moved off the flagstones and onto the soft grass in the shadows of the trees beyond. He let her push him back and touch him as she willed. Everything was new to him. Her lips were on his neck, his collarbone, a bite to mark him as her own. The moist exhalation of breath in his ear... her tongue... again...

"Do that again..." he gasped. And she did.

It was different from what he had heard. The guards boasted of their exploits, and his brothers often came home from late night excursions to some brothel or other drunk and slapping each other on the back. He was glad now he had never taken them up on their invitation - or rather Nabil's - to join them. Maybe they didn't know how much more there was? If so he felt sorry for them.

Jaheira continued her attentions, tracing slow circles on his chest, then moving lower. But when she would have moved lower still, she paused suddenly with a growl of frustration and threw herself on the ground beside him. "No, not like this..."

He rolled onto his side to look at her in confusion. "What? N-not like what?" The coolness of the grass tickled his side.

She turned over as well, fixing him with those remarkable eyes. "You're a virgin," she said bluntly. "I should be treating you better your first time. I don't mind coupling on the ground, but you aren't used to this. You're from the city, you expect a bed."

"I don't mind..."

"And another thing," she said, observing the garden with an inscrutable look in her eyes. "I don't want to make love with you in this place, worrying about being discovered... You learn to appreciate that later," she smiled predatorily, "but right now I think we should start simply."

"I- if you say so." He was a little disappointed, but she was right, although this was a beautiful spot, he didn't want this to be just one more thing that he did in the shadow of his family. "I take it you've done this before." He didn't mind the idea that she was more experienced, it was actually quite exciting, not to mention the fact that things might have been awkward indeed if neither of them knew what they were doing.

"A few times," her smile this time was impish and self-satisfied, and he vowed that he would be the next, the last, to put that look on her face.

"What was it like?"

"I told you, I'll show you later," she laughed, playfully punching him in the shoulder.

"No," he clarified, "your first time."

"Oh, that..." A nod of comprehension.

"Did you love him?" An unexpected hint of jealousy burned in his chest.

"Well, Khalid..." she began, "it wasn't exactly like that... we grow up with a great deal of freedom in the groves. A *great* deal of freedom," she emphasized meaningfully. "What a lot of people may see as shameful, something to be hidden behind closed doors, we see as completely natural. When a doe is ready to mate, a stag comes to her. Of course it is more complicated with us, because sex for us is also for pleasure, but it is simply taken as a matter of course that if a young man and a young woman are taken up by natural urgings, they will act when they feel comfortable. There are spells, of course, to prevent unwanted pregnancies and such..."

Khalid nodded, enthralled with her tale. Though he was a little shocked, growing up in a conservative society, he had to admit Druid ways seemed liberating.

"As for me, it was with a good friend, so it was more of an 'I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine' sort of arrangement. Except I think I did all of the scratching." Her wicked, elfin smile suggested some sort of humour that he didn't understand.

"Scratching?" Khalid asked in bewilderment.

"Well..." Jaheira began an explanation and then shook her head. "No, it's easier if I show you. Come here." Khalid scooted closer to her side. "Closer." They were face to face, and then Jaheira rolled over onto her back, pulling him with her.

Khalid looked down at her slightly flushed face, and felt his blush return full force. They were now in a very, very compromising position.

Then she brought up her arms and embraced him, running her fingernails down over his back in a slow, teasing motion.

He gasped as a deep, unexpected shudder ran through him, and he had to lock his arms to keep from falling atop her. "Will you do that to me?" he asked, when he regained his breath.

"Probably," she told him, "I have a hard time controlling myself."

"You're doing a good job now." He pretended to pout, grateful for the layers of clothes still between them, hoping they were disguising the effect she was having on him.

"That's what you think," she replied with a chuckle, then grew serious again. "Kiss me."

He hesitated, sure that any movement would show her what he had been hiding.

"What is it?" she asked. "Oh... that..." A movement illustrated her complete understanding of the situation and made him gasp again. "Don't worry... as you should know by now, it's perfectly... natural..."

With a laugh of relief he leaned down to do as she asked.

He wasn't sure how long they spent in the garden, passing their time in dalliance that nonetheless managed to satisfy at least some of his curiosity, and at least a little of the need she had aroused in him. For the moment.

The sun was going down by the time she pulled away from him, with flattering reluctance, he thought, and told him she had to go.

"When will I see you again?" A whole world of new possibilities had opened to him, and he wanted to share them all with this glorious, proud, and passionate woman.

"Tomorrow, perhaps." Jaheira pulled a few leaves out of her hair, and tried to smooth it down. "I wish I could give you a more definite answer..." She reached up to kiss him again. "Believe me I do."

"But you have to be somewhere, do something... you are so full of mysteries," he teased. "When will I get to know some of them?"

"I thought I showed you?" She arched one golden brow in challenge, and he planted his hands on his hips, staring down the length of his nose at her in a mock glare that made her chuckle. "Soon, I hope. I feel... I know I can trust you, but it's not so simple, there are other matters at stake." Striding towards the garden wall she looked back at him. "Will you help me?"

"What?" he was still admiring her beautiful features, and her long shapely legs, neatly defined by the scandalous leggings she wore. "Oh, yes..." He came to the wall and gave her a boost.

"I can do this perfectly well myself," she said, with a grunt, grabbing the top of the wall and hoisting herself up.

"I know you can, but why not use a resource if it is available?" he agreed amiably, then peered at her thoughtfully. "Why do I suspect this is not normally your way of doing things?"

Jaheira frowned down at him, like a kestrel eyeing a mouse, then cleared her throat. Her voice was harsh and warm at once. "You are different, Khalid, I knew that from the first moment I saw you." With that, she climbed over the wall and let herself down so quietly that he didn't even hear her feet hit the ground.