The Water Sprite

Flame on Flame

Mo Yuan removed his washed fur jacket from the tree he had hung it on and pushed it into his sack before slowly waking away.  From the corner of his eye he could see her watching him.  Hunched down low among the ferns, her form was trembling.  The scent coming off her was so intoxicating, he almost turned his head towards her.  The thick sweet scent of raw desire was pouring off her, but the low growl that came from the back of her throat when he passed her by only a yard away, was almost his undoing.

But he kept himself together and kept on walking.

By the time he had hit the beginnings of his part of the forest his mind was replaying everything that had just taken place. He had clearly heard the gasp when his clothing fell at his feet, but she would not have seen the wide smile on his face when he heard it.  But the moment he exited the water to collect his robes, he had purposely slowed down.  Because for a brief few seconds, he thought she was about to fly out of the ferns at him.  

Even from the waters edge he could sense her need.  He too had lived among the animals long enough to know that scent and aching desire for the sensation of touch, smell and taste.  The plants around her quivered against her trembling body, but not once did he look in her direction.  He kept his face calm and his eyes straight ahead, even though his heart was racing in his chest.

That night Mo Yuan did not sleep well.  On his mind was the low growl she had emitted.  He had heard that sound many times during mating season so he knew very well what it meant.  But unlike the animals, he did not rush at her or take her violently.  That is because he wanted her to want him.  He had done everything he could to gain her attention, to show her he desired and wanted her, but now it was her turn.  

If she wanted what she saw, then she was going to have to take it from him, he thought smiling to himself.

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 Usually they met every third day, so she had plenty of time to organize herself for their next meeting.  Hunting and foraging for all manner of meat, fruits, herbs and edible plants, she had managed to gather quite a nice selection of food which she did not take with her to their next meeting, instead she left it all at the cave.  

Heading out for the day, she entered his part of the forest where she spent the entire day laid out under the ferns watching the birds, the clouds the insects, whatever caught her eye, until the day began to come to an end.  She had spent the entire day, doing nothing, just waiting for the moment she would have to leave in order to meet him in her part of the forest while giving him the impression she was returning from another day of hunting.

Once she thought she caught sight of him heading away from her.  In all the years she had lived in her part of the forest, she had never really gone too deeply into his, and as she lay there thinking about him, she began to wonder where he lived exactly.  It had never occurred to her to even think about his home or what it might look like, how he lived, what he did and what he ate.  

Many of the things he swapped with her, were things she had no access to, or rather she did not know where to find them and that had her wondering where exactly he went to on the days they did not see each other.  He had given her many fruits that she had not seen before, herbs and scented grasses, as well as roots and edible leaves, things she had yet to find for herself.

And always there was fish.  He never seemed to have a problem catching them.  Sometimes he had several fish on him, but she never took more than one, because they were too big for her to manage on her own.  In fact she had never once wondered what part of the lake he fished, because she had never seen him there.  But he obviously fished at her lake, because he always returned from that direction and there was no other water source nearby.