Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 The Solitary Arrow by Mack the Knife

   Part Four

   The sunlight piercing the trees struck Harlen in the eyes, and brought
him to wakefulness quickly.  Hyandai was still asleep, which, he thought,
was just as well.  His manhood was swollen in his sleep, and pressed
between her thighs.  He gently tried to pull loose, and he felt the muscles
of her thighs tighten on his handle.  "Leaving me so soon?" She said with a
tone of accusation.

   He could not speak, so stunned was he.  Finally he said.  "You're
awake?"

   She half turned to him and smiled.  "I have been awake almost half an
hour." She said.  Her hand crept between her legs and the tips of her
fingers stroked the glans of his penis.  "As has your soldier, here." The
feeling of her fingers almost made him twitch into an orgasm, but he
controlled himself.

   Harlen murmured.  "Would have been nicer to have invited both of us
over."

   Her fingers caressed the shaft under the head.  "It was his idea, he
would not be told no." She said, her voice noticeably deeper in tone to her
norm.

   He noted that he was no longer trying to pry himself loose, and pushed
back to her.  Using his arms about her to pull her tight to him.  She
moaned as his shaft slid over her opening.

   `Even through two layers of cloth,' Harlen thought, 'she is so
responsive.'

   Her hand left the head and shaft of his swollen pole and slid over her
hip to his belt buckle.  It worked clumsily behind her own back and finally
unfastened it.  Harlen pulled back a bit, and she pushed his pants down a
bit, letting his manhood spring free.  He then pushed back to her, feeling
the ultimate softness of her thighs on the sides of his organ, and the
wetness of her...she was not wearing her loincloth!  What he felt was her
opening, sliding slickly over the top surface of his throbbing member.

   Her juices were flowing quite freely, from what he could feel, and as he
slid forward, she gave soft gasp, then moaned, clenching her thighs
together.  He pulled back, exhilarating in the intimacy of the contact. 
When he pushed forward again, the swollen glans of his penis tried to part
her labia.  She pulled forward, gasping.  "No.  We cannot do that yet." She
said.  "As much as I wish it, we must wait a few more days."

   Harlen, without any fuss, pulled back again, and lifted his trousers. 
"We probably shouldn't rush you, then." He said.  "I can't guarantee I
won't try if we're that close."

   Hyandai rolled over and kissed his cheek.  "I understand." She said. 
"But it was fun for that moment." She smiled widely.  She pushed his
shoulder and forced him to his back.  She leaned up, then, onto her arm, so
that she was surveying his person.

   Her hand touched his chest, and started tracing a line down it.  The
fingers slid over his stomach, then his pelvis, eventually, they found and
enwrapped his erect member.  Harlen felt his pants being lowered again. 
And laid back with his eyes closed.  If she wished to stroke him again, he
would never think of stopping her.  Her hand felt cool on his pole, and the
breeze was even more cooling.  Then, suddenly, he felt warmth engulf the
glans, warmth and wet.  His eyes popped open to see Hyandai's mouth
stretched wide and taking him into her.  His head fell back as he groaned
deep in his chest.

   Her sharp little teeth scraped his flesh and her warm lips held him.  He
could feel her tiny tongue flicking over the glans, and under it.  Then she
slowly started to take more of him into her mouth, inch after inch, until
just over half of his organ was gone.  He looked down again, and saw her
eyes watching over her head, and at him.  She started to move up and down,
slowly, and gently.  Her hand went to his scrotum and played gently with
his testicles.  When next he looked, she was watching his face.  He moved
one hand to her cheek and caressed it.  She smiled with her eyes, then
grabbed his hand with her massaging hand, leaving his stones unturned.  He
felt his release building, starting at his balls, and working its way up
his organ.

   "Hyandai." He said, struggling to even produce understandable noise. 
"You must stop if you do not wish me to spend within you." His voice was
now strained, he was fighting his orgasm to hold it back until she had time
to stop.

   However, she seemed to have differing plans.  She started moving her
head faster, and the sensation of suction increased.  She began to moan as
his hips bucked and he started to climax.  Pulse after pulse of semen shot
out, he felt, yet she did not seem to slow at all.

   Finally, spent, he laid back, and looked down.  Her throat was working
furiously, swallowing what he had just put within her mouth.  She looked
up, lifting her mouth from his now drooping tool.  She smiled.  "I hope you
did not mind that." She said.  "I wanted to see what the fuss about that
act was."

   Harlen stroked her hair.  "What fuss would that be?" He asked.  Suddenly
feeling very worn out.

   "They say that doing that will make a man do anything you wish." She
said, smiling at him.

   "I can see why." Harlen replied, still stroking her hair.  "It was
marvelous."

   She giggled.  "So, I did it rightly then?"

   Harlen shrugged.  "It felt wonderful, so I would say yes.  You did." He
looked down at her.  "Did it not bother you to eat my seed, though?"

   She pulled his pants up and fastened his belt.  "Not really, no." She
said.  "Though, I will admit that it was not the most pleasant tasting
thing I have eaten." Then she looked at him.  "Nor the worst." She sat up
and caressed his chest.  "I did it to please you, not my tongue." She
concluded, nodding.

   Harlen sat up as well, and kissed her.  "Then you did it perfectly, for
I am totally pleased." She kept her mouth shut for the kiss, causing him to
pull back and regard her with curiosity.

   "Kissing me for a few moments would be a bad idea, unless you wish to
taste of yourself." She explained, smiling brightly.

   He shrugged again.  "If you can force yourself to do it..." He let the
sentence fall off and kissed her soundly, she opened to him this time, and
her mouth once again filled with his tongue.  After a few moments, he
stopped and regarded her.  "I didn't taste anything but your own taste, of
cinnamon." He said.

   She giggled.  "Then you are fortunate." She said.  "As I said, it is not
the most appealing of tastes." Then she hugged herself to him.  "But, I
will do it when you like, until my body is whole again."

   Harlen stroked her hair again, and put his other hand on her back. 
"Hardly seems fair." He said absently.  "For you to serve me thus, and I
cannot please you as well."

   Hyandai looked at him with her head slightly tilted.  "Can you not?  You
pleased me quite adequately last night." She said.  "I have no complaint on
that count." She stood up, and started putting her loincloth back into her
skirt.  Harlen made no effort to look away, in fact he watched her with
fascination.  Her pubic mound was indeed hairless, and very smooth.  The
barest of clefts separated the two halves of her groin.  Then below, the
thin folds of her labia protruded very slightly.  She noticed his stare. 
"Fear not, you shall get ample opportunity to look at my body." She said,
smiling gently as she tugged the loincloth into place.

   He blinked a couple of times, then stood up.  The morning was clear and
very bright, as if the rain yesterday had cleaned the air and made it more
transparent to the sun.  The couple gathered up their goods and began to
trek northward again.  As they walked, Harlen, as usual, kept up a pattern
of scanning around them, and seldom spoke.  She simply walked alongside him
and kept her words until opportune times.  After two hours, they rested,
sitting beside a small brook, and drinking.

   Hyandai looked up from the water.  "How do you think your people will
react to me?" She asked, looking at him through his reflection in the
water.

   Chuckling, the hunter said.  "Very likely, they will be fascinated with
you." He looked at her reflection, too.  "Remember, they've not seen an elf
in nigh fifty years."

   She nodded.  "I hope the reaction is so positive." She said, touching
his reflection in the water and tracing his outline.  Tiny ripples spread
from her fingers, causing him to waver, like a mirage.

   He hefted his heavy pack.  "We shall see in about two hours more."
Harlen pronounced.  "I'm sorry for pushing you so hard yesterday, but it
did get us most of the way." His face took on a apologetic look.

   She stood and kissed his cheek.  "We will speak no more of it." She
pronounced, and left him smelling the cinnamon scent lingering in the air
as she stepped away.

   The forest was rich with sounds as they walked through it, and the floor
springy beneath their feet.  Soon, they passed a small farmstead, one of
many around Morrovale.  As they walked down its fence row, Hyandai saw a
group of three children playing in the yard beside the main house.  They
looked to be between three and six years of age.  She stopped and watched
them play.  There were two little girls and a boy.  The boy was the middle
child, probably about five.  The kids caught sight of the travelers and ran
toward them, screaming happily.

   As they drew close, they started saying "Harlen!  Harlen!" And they
stopped at the low stone wall at the edge of the lawn, jumping up and down.
Harlen laughed and stopped beside Hyandai.

   "Hello there, children, is the household well?" He asked.

   The kids nodded in unison, causing Hyandai to giggle.  This drew the
kids' collective attention, and the eldest girl gasped.  "You're an elf!"
She said, smiling and her eyes went wide.  "You're an elf-girl!"

   Hyandai said, "Cormamin lindua ele lle." And bowed to the kids.  The
eldest girl giggled at that and bowed back.  The other two simply stood an
gawked.  She said.  "It means `My heart sings to see you.'."

   The boy asked.  "Harlen, is she your wife?" He was awestruck.  "She's
very pretty."

   Uncomfortably, Harlen said.  "No, she's a friend."

   Hyandai leaned over the low wall and beckoned to the boy with a finger.
He got closer, and she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.  "And you are
very handsome, young man." She said, her face serious, but smiling.

   The boy covered his cheek and blushed almost purple, then dashed toward
the house screaming gleefully that an elf-girl had kissed him.  Hyandai and
the eldest girl giggled at him.  "He's a silly boy." Said the girl.

   Hyandai nodded agreement.  "All boys are silly." She said.  "But they
are sometimes cute."

   Three small cloth-wrapped bundles appeared in Harlen's hand, and he
handed them to the oldest.  "Here, share with your brother and sister,
now." He said, and the girl took them and immediately gave one to her
sister.

   She unwrapped hers and it seemed to be some sort of sweet roll.  They
started eating them happily calling, "Darvid." Then the girl said.  "Thank
you Harlen." Then sped off toward the house.

   He watched Hyandai's eyes follow the children and watched them sparkle
as she did so.  "You like children?" Harlen asked as they resumed walking.

   "Oh, my, yes." She said, looking at him curiously.  "Does not everyone?"

   Harlen nodded.  "Pretty much, I suppose." He said.  "But you looked
almost like you wanted to run off with them."

   The elf-maiden blushed a bit.  "I did." She said.  "Children are such a
blessing.  We have few in our village at any one time.  The bane of a
long-lived race." They had entered a large orchard, the trees planted in
regimented rows.  They were pecan trees and not yet ripened.  The two
walked along at a brisk pace through them.

   Finally, they came to a unpaved road, just two ruts in the ground, half
muddy, but with a well-beaten foot-path alongside.  They followed this
road. "Just a bit farther, Hyandai." Harlen said.

   They were walking past several small cottages of the half-timbered
design that seemed to be favored by the people of this land.  No one seemed
about, and Harlen said.  "It is the day of the Market, so they're probably
all in town."

   Hyandai asked.  "Market day?" She looked at him.  "A special day?"

   He shrugged.  "Sort of, I guess." He said.  "We have it every week on
this day."

   She smiled.  "Will we be going to market?"

   "Yes, after we go by my home." He replied, then a moment later, pointed
off the road at a small house set back among some trees.  "And we're
there."

   She gasped and looked down the foot path.  The grass in front was tall
and lush, and the trees around it thick and heavy.  "It is lovely." She
said.  She examined the house, another half-timbered home, slightly larger
than most, smaller than some.  He opened the gate and they proceeded down
the path.

   He came to the front door and opened it.  There was no lock.  A boy was
dozing on a bench inside the door.  He looked to be about twelve to
Hyandai. When they came in he came to wakefulness quickly.  "Wha.  Huh? 
I'm awake." He said.

   Harlen laughed.  "Hyandai, this is Trevir, he's my groundskeeper." He
said, holding a hand out to indicate the blinking youth.  "One day, I'll
teach him to hunt, but until then he sleeps and runs errands for me, and
now for you, too."

   Trevir looked at him, then at his companion, then his eyes went wide. 
"Harlen, she's an elf." He stammered out.  Then he looked at her more, and
said.  "Gor, but she's pretty." Smiling and gawking quite unabashedly.

   Hyandai blushed at this.  "Thank you, Trevir.  I am Hyandai, and I am
pleased to meet you." She bowed low, and winked at him.  She followed her
elven tradition by saying.  "You look to be a strong and smart boy." She
said.

   Trevir gawked a moment more then said.  "Wow." Then sat back down.

   "You can go home early today, Trevir." Harlen said.  "Just after you
fetch me the perishables from the market." He added, and gave the boy a
small number of coins.

   Trevir absently took the coins, still staring at Hyandai.  "Sure,
Harlen." He said.  "The usual?"

   Harlen nodded, then said, "Yes, and please get a variety of fruits,
also."

   The boy looked at Harlen a moment, then locked back onto Hyandai. 
"Fruit, right." He said and started for the door, walking slowly, and
backwards.

   Hyandai simply stood with her hands behind her back and her feet
together, and smiled at the boy.

   "The fruit is for her, Trev.  Don't forget it." The hunter said to him.

   He blinked.  "No sir!  I won't then!" He turned and with one last glance
at Hyandai, bolted out the door."

   "Well, now you shall not be a great surprise to everyone in town."
Harlen said, grinning.

   Hyandai looked at him curiously.  "Why is that?"

   He chuckled.  "Because they are being informed even now by the
unofficial town crier." He pointed out the door toward where Trevir had
left the door ajar in his haste.

   She giggled.  "I see." She said.  "Perhaps you should have made for me a
cloak." She said, nodding seriously.

   "Well, let me show you around the house." Harlen said, waving her in
past the entryway.  They entered a large room that took up over half of the
ground floor.  "This is the common room." He said, waving his hand
expansively.  There was comfortable, but very functional-looking furniture
in here, a couch and two rocking chairs, along with a long table and chairs
about it.  A small kitchen led off to the right.  To the left was another
small room, with a closed door.  A stair led up and down to their immediate
left.  Harlen pointed to the closed door.  "Tanning room." He said.  He
pointed to the downward stairs.  "Root cellar." Then up the stairs. 
"Bedrooms." Then he led her to a door on the far side of the large room. 
Opening it he said.  "And the grand finale, the bath room." He waved at a
massive wooden tub set over a low, squat fireplace.  "My pride and joy." He
said, beaming at it.

   Hyandai looked at the massive water-filled tub.  "That is quite the
luxury, Harlen." She said.

   He smiled.  "The dukes bounty has been generous to me, and I always
wanted a bath." He said.  He bent and lit the fire beneath it with a lamp.
"It takes a while to heat, and I wish to use it later." He explained.

   Hyandai nodded.  "I would as well." She said, looking about the room. 
There were no windows at low level, but the entire upper two feet were of
large sheets of glass.  "The glass alone must have cost you dearly." She
said with some awe in her voice.

   "Not really, Hyandai." He said.  "I told you much has changed since the
elves have stopped visiting us." He pointed to the glass.  "A place in the
Ghant makes that stuff pretty cheaply, you order it and a week or two
later, a wagon brings it in." He said.  He pointed to the massive pile of
logs against the wall.  "That is the cost of this thing, keeping it hot."
He said.

   He led her back to the stairs then up them.  At the top were two doors.
He opened the right one.  "This is your bedroom." He said.  Leading her in.
It was well-furnished with wall-hangings and a large bed with a canopy.

   She looked at it.  "It is lovely, Harlen." She said, looking concerned.
"But I thought we would be sharing a bed, hoped for it, anyway."

   "We will." He said.  "But remember, that this is a village that
generally observes the Oneian ways." He explained.  "And it tends to frown
upon people sharing beds outside of marraige."

   She nodded.  "I see." She smiled, finally getting it.  "So, this room is
`mine' so that they will say nothing ill of us?"

   Harlen smiled and said.  "Exactly."

   He turned across the hall.  "This is our room." He said, opening the
door.  The bed was huge, and took up most of the room.

   Hyandai looked at it with wide eyes.  "You certainly like your bed." She
observed.

   He chuckled.  "My grandmother bought it for me when I bought the house."
He looked at the huge four-post bed, with its ornate canopy.  "She thought
it would attract me a woman."

   She looked at him mischievously.  "And has it?"

   He looked at her.  "I don't know, do you like it?" He asked.

   "Yes." She said, sitting on the bed.  "It is very soft." Then she
scooted farther onto it and laid down.  "Yes, very soft." She looked down
at Harlen.  "I would say that your grandmother was correct, and you should
bring girls up to see this bed more, they would indeed like it."

   "I'll be sure to tell her." Harlen said.  "She'll think it wonderful
that a woman had seen it, much less lain in it." He chuckled.  Hyandai,
however was seriously looking at the bed, examining it closely.  "Something
wrong?" He asked.

   Hyandai blinked and looked at him.  "I just wanted to memorize the place
in which my maidenhood will be lost." She said, and grinned at him.

   Harlen nodded, he liked that she refused to acknowledge her rape at the
hands of the orc.  "Well, if you were serious about your offers last night
and this morning, then yeah, this would probably be the place."

   A voice sounded from down stairs.  "Harlen!  I've your things!" It was
Trevir.  The two went downstairs to the boy, he had two cloth bags.

   "To the kitchen Trev." Said Harlen.  "We will unpack and then you can
go." He added.

   The boy followed the couple into the kitchen and set down the bags. 
They began to take things out and Harlen directed them to their
destinations about the kitchen.  At some point, Trevir was walking toward
the bags for another item, when he caught sight of Hyandai bending over at
the waist digging into the bag.  He froze solid and his mouth gaped. 
Harlen quickly glanced to be sure she was indeed wearing her loincloth, and
she was.  She turned about and stood, noted the boy's expression and smiled
kindly.  As she went by him toward the cabinet, she brushed her hip against
the boys arm, and his knuckles dragged across her exposed thigh.  She
smiled at Harlen with much mischief in her eyes.  He blinked a couple of
times, smiled a very small smile, and went about his chore.

   They finished, and Harlen gave him a couple more coins, and sent him
home.  "That was a cruel thing to do to a young man, you tease." Harlen
said as he closed the door.

   Hyandai's face went expressive with innocence.  "And what would that
be?" She asked.  "I simply needed to pass by him."

   Harlen laughed as he grabbed her and brought her unresisting to him.  He
pulled her close to him and kissed her deeply, grabbing her rump in both
hands and almost lifting her from the floor.  She pressed to him and put
her own arms around his massive chest, almost unable to reach her hands
behind him.  When they parted.  "You know, at his age, he's likely to think
of you for a very long time when he, well, lies in bed."

   She smiled sweetly.  "And that is a bad thing?" She asked.

   "I suppose it is a good one, actually." He said, letting her go.  "I
wish I had a beauty such as yours to imagine when I would be alone at
night."

   She walked toward the bath room, the water was starting to give off
steam.  "I think the bath is almost ready." She said, dipping her hand into
it.  "Oh.  It is quite warm." She added, smiling back to Harlen who was
still crossing the common room.

   When he came into the bath room, she was already in the water up to her
neck.  "Oh, by the spirits, Harlen, this is wondrous." She said, sighing as
she bobbed in the water.

   Harlen looked at her face, unable to see into the water from the floor.
"Well, when you're done, let me know."

   She hit him with a hurled rag.  "You are not leaving." She said.  "Get
in the tub, and we will bathe together." She held her arms out.  "Else, I
may fall asleep from the relaxation and drown." She had a mock imploring
look on her pretty face and her golden eyes flashed like bits of the summer
sun.

   Harlen made a circular motion with his index finger and Hyandai,
giggling, turned around in the water to face away.  He took off his clothes
and climbed up onto the platform and then into the tub.  She turned back
around now, and they regarded one another.

   For the first time, they were unclothed with each other.  She looked
about the tub and saw wash rags, and soft soap in a wicker basket.  The
soap was sweet smelling, not like the lye back in the cave.  "Turn around."
She commanded, holding up a rag and the soap.

   Harlen turned around and felt her small hands on his back, lathering him
up.  She smiled.  "I love your muscles, Harlen." She said, generously
ignoring the scars that marked his beating at some time in his past.  She
let her fingers trace over the muscles on his back, and down his spine. 
With the rag, she scrubbed his skin and rinsed him off.  She then washed
his rump, cleaning him thoroughly, eliciting a couple of gasps from him. 
Lastly, she actually dove under the water to wash his legs, holding her
breath for as long as she could while scrubbing each leg under the water.
She finished his legs and with her hair plastered to her head, handed him
the soap and rag.  "My turn."

   She presented her back to him, and braced her arms on the wall of the
tub.  He lathered up her back and buttocks.  Then rubbed the coarse rag
over it, scrubbing her skin.  She gasped at the roughness of it, but it
also felt delicious.  She arched her back as he ran the rag down her spine.
He then scrubbed her rump and then up the middle, causing her to gasp this
time.  Harlen took a moment to say.  "Your back is lovely, too, you know?"
He did the same as she on the legs, diving into the water to scrub them,
she obligingly parted her legs for him and he scrubbed all the way up, then
between them as he stood back up.  Her spine arched more and she moaned
loudly.  He leaned forward and put his arms around her waist, and kissed
her from above, so curved was her spine at that moment.

   Hyandai turned back around, a wide smile upon her lovely, heart-shaped
face.  "Now for your front." She said, taking the cloth and soap from him.
She soaped up and scrubbed his chest, running her fingers over his muscles
and down his stomach.  She then reached down into the water and soaped up
his manhood, liking how it slipped and slid through her hands.  When the
soap had dissipated, she said.  "See, two hands?" Harlen looked down, and
she did indeed have both hands around his shaft, and still almost
half-again another hand's worth lay before her fingers.  She started to
stroke him gently with both hands, small slow motions.

   Harlen's voice, slightly quavery, said.  "Uh.  Isn't it clean yet?"

   She looked down into the water.  "Perhaps it is, but I wish to be sure."
She said, kissing his neck as her hands slipped over his swollen organ.

   He gently moved her hands off of his engorged rod.  "Let's not make a
mess in the water." He said, smiling.  "Besides its my turn to wash your
front." He added with a gleam in his eyes.

   She leaned back against the wall and enjoyed the feeling of his hands
moving all over her, soaping her, scrubbing her, rinsing her off.  He moved
downward inexorably, then got to her soft opening, and with a soapy hand
washed at it, moving his fingers over her opening and clitoris repeatedly.
She gasped and leaned back against the wall more firmly.  He stroked her
that way for a few moments, when she gripped his wrist and pushed it away.
"Let us not make a mess in the water, hmm?" She said, giving him a playful
look.

   She moved to him and wrapped her long, slim arms around his neck,
pulling him down for a long kiss.  Her tongue teased his out and into her
mouth, then she sucked on it a softly.  His hands grabbed her rump again
and did lift her up this time.  She put her legs around his waist and
pressed to him with all her strength.  His thick pole was sliding over her
entry and rubbing her clit in passing.  She pushed her hips in and out,
rubbing them against one another, and she let out a small moan, and moved
her mouth to his neck, biting him gently, then harder as her movements
became more insistent.  He stroked her back as she slipped over him, and
then felt her teeth clamp on his neck hard, and she screamed into her
clenched mouth and his shoulder.  Then she shuddered and was still, gasping
for air.  Harlen, caressed her and kissed her hair.

   "Harlen." She said quietly.  "I feel I almost cannot wait." She said,
almost crying.  "If that felt that good, my mind spins with what the real
act will feel like."

   He said.  "I hope it will feel good for you, I know it will for me." He
put his arms behind him on the lip of the bath and lifted them both out and
onto the lip and turned and stood on the deck, with her still wrapped about
him.  She put her legs down and he held her waist and lowered her to the
floor, her legs were a bit unsteady, but he helped her to step off the
deck. He lifted large metal plates over the burning fire, covering the logs
where the lack of air would extinguish the flames.

   The gathered their clothes, and left the bath.  She asked.  "What shall
I wear while I launder my clothes?" He guided her up the stairs by hand and
into `her' room.  He opened a large wall-closet, and pulled out a dress. 
It had been his mothers, and she had been a relatively slight lady.  She
held the cotton dress to herself.  "This should do nicely." She said, and
slipped it over her head.  It's hem touched the floor, but not badly.

   He pointed to a large wall mirror.  "Take a look." He said.

   She stepped before it and gasped.  The dress was lovely on her, it fit
perfectly at the waist, and nearly so at the chest.  "Your mother must have
been a tiny woman, for a human."

   Harlen nodded.  "She was." He said.  "And she had great tastes in
clothes, if somewhat conservative." He added.

   She swirled in the long dress.  "I do not know, Harlen, this dress
leaves people wanting to see more." She said, smiling.

   He looked appraisingly at her.  "Usually, a petticoat is worn under the
skirt part." He said, digging a large mass of frills and cloth from the
closet.

   She looked at it with horror.  "Gods, no." She said.  "I have heard of
those terrible things, and corsets, I'll not subject myself to either, no
offence."

   With a shrug, he put it back into the closet.  "I'd rather see your legs
moving under the skirt." He said.

   "Would it terribly upset you to raise the hem a little?" She asked,
eyeing the floor-dragging edge.

   "Not at all, Hyandai." He said, smiling, I'll do several in the morning.

   She turned and regarded her still nude companion.  "Are you just going
to stay unclothed for the market?" She asked.

   He looked down and started as if he had not realized he was naked.  "I
suppose I should, huh?"

   She nodded seriously.  "I do not intend to have my companion spoken of
more than I when I make my grand debut." She said, then giggled.

   He went into their room and got out a pair of black linen pants and a
white cotton shirt.  He then pulled on socks and a pair of long shiny black
boots, that reached to his knees.  He stood and presented herself to her.

   She walked up and straightened his collar and said.  "Very nice, my
handsome man." She said, and pulled him down to a kiss.  She stepped behind
him and braided his pony tail into a tight, intricate weave.  Then put his
belt on him.  She added her small sword belt to her waist while he quickly
took up her hem.  He was surprisingly quick with the needle and he slipped
her boots onto her feet.  He rummaged in a box in his closet and found two
finely-wrought copper and silver bracers and slid them onto her wrists. 
She regarded herself in the mirror one last time while she braided her own
hair into a pony tail matching his.  When she turned to look at him, she
was wearing a incredibly lovely necklace.

   "Where did you get that?" He asked, his eyes wide with amazement.  "It's
almost as pretty as you." He said.

   She looked at it.  "I wear it always.  It is my fiamir" She said,
holding it out form her neck.  He leaned closer and looked closely at it.
It was even more intricate than it looked at first.  There were literally
uncountable tiny facets to the two-inch disk of gemstone.  Inside,
something was moving gently, like a colored blob of material inside the
gem. "You would call it my `soul-necklace." She said.  "But that is a poor
translation." She looked at it and laid it back on her chest.  "It is part
of our way." She said, nodding as if that explained all.

   "But I never saw it before." Harlen said.  "I doubt I would have missed
it."

   She grinned at him.  And it vanished as if it just faded from the world,
then it faded back around her neck.  "I can make it disappear and
reappear." She said.  "Else, the orcs or some other unscrupulous persons
might try to steal it." She shrugged.  "It is such a part of me, I often
forget about it like I often forget my ears."

   He looked at her sharply pointed ears.  "I certainly don't forget them."
He said, leaning in and kissing on one.

   She cooed, and then pulled away.  "We must to market, my strong man."
She said, putting her arm through his.  "Let us go show me to the people
and see how they react."

   They walked down the stairs and out the front door.  Harlen beamed with
pride as he escorted the incontestably most beautiful woman in the village.
His chest swelled and his step became rather animated, she noted, and that
made her smile.  She never had a companion just plain show her off before,
and it felt good.
   They opened the gate in front of his home and turned toward the village.