Thayle sat on a log wrapped in nothing but a towel. She had begun to bathe using the water they had brought from Avashire. When that started to run low, Gersius produced a bucket and offered to get more from the river below so she could wash her hair. Now she waited in silence for him to return while Lilly hovered overhead.

Gersius stumbled a few times as he struggled his way up the slope from the river. The ground was muddy and overgrown, making the job treacherous. He carried a bucket of water from the river below and tried not to spill any.

“Thank you,” Thayle said as he walked around Lilly and placed the bucket at her feet.

He saw her eyes when she glanced up at him. They were red from crying and full of pain. His heart broke to see her like this and to see the black mark on her face. He tried to speak to lighten the mood, anything to break the silence.

“The river is stagnant on the shore, the water is a little green,” he said as she looked into the bucket.

She lifted a hand and made a musical tone as she chanted a light song and then touched the water with a fingertip. Instantly the green color fled her touch, and the water became clear and pure.

“I can call on my power again at least,” she said with a sniffle. She splashed her hand around in the water a little. “Why is it so warm,” she said, looking up at him.

“I put a blessing of warmth on a small stone and let it sit in the water until it was hot,” Gersius said.

“You are very thoughtful,” Thayle said, smiling.

She leaned over and picked a cup she had gotten out of her pack. She used it to scoop the water up and poured it over her hair.

Gersius saw Lilly gesture with her head, and he looked up at her. She made another sort of nod with her chin at Thayle, but he wasn't sure what she wanted. He reached out a hand and put it to her side and saw her mind. He looked into her thoughts and saw clearly what she was thinking. Lilly held an image of him washing Thayle's hair.

He nodded and walked over to where Thayle was pouring another cup of water over her head as she leaned over the bucket.

He caught her hands and took the cup from her and filled it himself and more carefully poured the water slowly over her head using his other hand to catch it as it rolled down her neck.

She quietly put her arms in her lap and let him pour another cup.

“Where is your soap?” he asked her softly.

She reached up with one hand and gave him a small white ball. He worked it between his hands and fingers until they were coated in foam and then gently worked the white bubbles into her hair.

He could hear her sigh as he tried to gently work the soap through her dark hair. He rubbed at her scalp with his fingertips and caressed behind her ears. He took his time rocking her head gently as he rubbed at her. He could feel her over the bind. She was a mixture of sadness and relief. He was angry over what had happened. Thayle did not deserve to be marked, and the thought of it made his blood boil. He swallowed his anger and focused on what he was doing. For the moment, all he cared about was washing her hair.

When she was thoroughly lathered, he took more water and began to pour it gently over her head again washing the soap out. He poured cup after cup until the water ran clear and her hair hung down in a straight wall of black.

She sat up and leaned her head back, and he gently squeezed her hair, pressing the water from it and helping to dry it.

She looked up at him with wet hair and red eyes as he squeezed the water out. She reached up with a hand and wrapped it around his neck and pulled him down. Her lips came to his again, and they opened to give him more. She held him to her lips for a long moment, and he could feel Lilly in his mind blazing with excitement.

She let him go and silently watched him lean back up a delicate smile on her face.

“I will go behind Lilly while you get dressed,” he told her and stepped back her eyes following him as he went.

When he was on the other side, he bent over to put his hands on his knees and just breathed.

“You did that so sweetly,” Lilly whispered to him as she hovered just over his head.

“I was trying to comfort her.”

“I think you did that very well.”

“When we get a chance, I will wash your hair,” he said, looking up at her.

“Please!” she said, and she lowered her head to rub on him.

“I think I will wash your feet as well,” he said, standing up and putting a hand up to cradle her head.

“Like at the farmhouse?” she asked.

“Yes, but I will wash your feet for much longer. I will take my time to rub them while they soak in the water,” he teased.

“You really do love me,” she said softly.

“I really do,” he replied.

They whispered for a for more minutes until they heard her call out.

“I am dressed you two,” Thayle called from the other side.

Lilly looked over quickly and glanced down at Thayle, who was adjusting the fit of her armor on her shoulders.

“Were you two having an intimate moment without me?” Thayle asked with a smile.

“Gersius was just promising to wash my hair like he did yours,” Lilly said as Gersius walked around the hill of dragon scales.

“He did a very good job,” Thayle said, smiling at him as she stood up.

“I just wanted to help,” he said as he approached her.

Thayle wrapped her arms around him suddenly and held him close. “You keep doing things like that, and Lilly will have her day with both of us sooner than you think.”

Gersius smiled and shook his head. “I am not washing her hair every day, Lilly!” he called out to her as she hovered overhead.

“Awww,” Lilly bellowed.

Thayle giggled, “Was she thinking it?”

“Yes, she was,” Gersius replied with a nod.

“I wish I could share the link like you two do,” She said, breaking the embrace and moving to shake out her bedroll.

“I wish you could too,” Lilly said with a sad note in her voice.

“I do not know if I could survive the emotion you two put out if you were both so strongly connected to me,” Gersius said as he emptied the bucket of water.

“I’m sure you would find a way to live with it,” Thayle said as she finished tying her bedroll back up.

They took a moment to put things away and tie the packs back up and then stood beside Lilly.

“Come, let us get going,” He said.

He took Thayle’s hand and helped her up on to Lilly’s back and then climbed up behind her.

Lilly watched them settle in and sighed.

“You don't want to fight through the trees, do you?” Thayle asked.

“No, they are so tightly packed. If I could have moved around more, I could have beaten that snake. I feel trapped in here.”

She struggled to move forward, breaking small trees and tearing brush as she trudged along the hillside. They made slow progress for the first few hours as she plowed through the forest. Close to noon, the hill slope began to level out, and the riverside became shallow and stony again. They moved back to walking in the shallows of the water's edge, and they breathed a sigh of relief.

They walked for hours surrounded on both sides by walls of brush and branches. The sky was overcast, and a slight wind blew, causing the trees to sway and groan. Thyale and Gersius rocked in the rhythmic motion of Lilly's walk. The splashing of her feet adding to the noises of the forest.

Bird calls filled the air and Thayle tried to look for them as they passed along the wilds of the north.

“It is a shame so many dark things inhabit the wilds,” Thayle said as she spotted a small yellow bird singing from the trees across the river.

“Humans inhabit very little of the far north or far south,” Gersius replied.

“I doubt even dragons would live here, this place is too overgrown,” Lilly added.

“I suppose you need space, maybe that's why so many dragons are rumored to live in the mountains,” Thayle summarized.

“I am not even a big dragon. The larger ones would find this impossible.”

“The larger ones would be walking over the trees,” Gersius said.

“That's true; my mother would be tall enough that these little trees would barely reach her chest.”

“Your mother is huge then?” Thayle asked.

“She is a very large dragon, and she has an enormous horde.”

“Where do dragons get their hordes?” Thayle asked.

“Many dragons will dig out the metals from the ground. We can smell them, you know,” Lilly said.

“I did not know that,” Gersius said.

Lilly turned her head around to glance at them. “I never told you that?”

“No, you never mentioned it at all,” he said.

“Well we can,” Lilly replied, turning back around. “Most dragons sleep on piles of ore they have dug out. We dig caves into mountainsides because most things can't reach them and then we tunnel deep. We can smell the metals in the rocks and will often dig them out and pile them up.

“So your mother has a pile of ore?” Thayle asked.

“No, my mother had mostly coins,” Lilly replied.

“Where did she get them?” Thayle asked.

“My mother said most of them were gifts,” Lilly said. “My mother has all sorts of strange things I would never have in my horde.”

“Like what?” Gersius asked.

“Well, she has stacks of books, ceramic pots, and urns full of scrolls and maps. She has human furniture, I never knew what it was when I saw it before, but now that I have learned I realize it was a table, chairs, bookcases, many chests.

“That does seem odd for a dragon to have,” Thayle said.

“She had statues and mirrors and rolled up banners and even paintings.”

“I accused her of robbing a merchants house,” Gersius said.

“She has piles and piles of gold and silver. There are swords and other weapons and some armor stacked along one wall of her cave.”

Thayle wondered if she had killed the people wearing it.

“She told me that most of it was given to her and that she keeps some of it safe.”

“Safe?” Gersius said. “Safe from who?”

“She didn’t say,” Lilly answered.

“I wonder who was giving it to her?” Thayle pondered.

“She never told me that either, I never asked to be honest. Now that I know so much about humans, I wish I could ask her.”

“Lilly, when this is all over if you want to visit your mother I will go with you,” Gersius said.

“I will too,” Thayle added.

“It will take a long time to get there, she is past the sands to the east, way out in the mountains along the ocean.”

“We will just travel like we are now, and Thayle and I will keep you company on your trip.”

Lilly shuddered as she thought about it for a moment.

“What is wrong? You feel tense now.” Gersius asked.

“I was just wondering how my mother was going to react when I introduce her to my human husband, and then my human wife?”

Thayle blushed a little. “I can imagine that might be awkward. You don’t have to tell her about me if you don’t want to.”

“You are my wife, Thayle. I am not ashamed of that. Besides, my mother spoke about humans a lot. She was determined we needed to learn your language, and she told us to avoid fighting with you. She told me never to eat the animals inside your walls, or you humans would come looking for me.”

“So she does know something of us,” Gersius said.

“She knows something, but again I was a dragon, I never asked. I didn't care much beyond food and gold. I can't believe how single-minded I was. I wonder how much she really knows?”

“We will find out when we meet her,” Gersius said confidently.

“Yes,” Lilly said as she ducked under a tree branch that hung out over the water, “I would like that. Maybe she will get to meet a baby too,” Lilly added.

Thayle suddenly tensed, and Gersius chuckled.

Lilly turned to look back at her and laughed as well. “I only said that to make you jump.”

“I should know better by now,” Thayle said, shaking her head.

“Thayle, you don't have to do this,” Lilly said, turning back around to watch where she was going. “I have thought about it for a while now. I am asking too much of you.”

“You are asking a great deal of her,” Gersius agreed.

“Well it is a little late for that isn't it?” Thayle said, looking up at Lilly and then over her shoulder at Gersius. “I am already a wife to you both. I have already made up my heart to honor that.”

“I just don’t want you to do something you are afraid to do,” Lilly replied.

“Lilly, how many things did I make you do that you were afraid to do?” Thayle remarked.

“You mean like snuggle up with Gersius in the camps, come back to him on the road, ask him to bind me again in the gardens?” Lilly laughed as she counted them all off.

“Exactly,” Thayle said with a commanding tone. “You didn't force me into this; I wanted into it. Gersius tried to turn me down on that hill outside the city. He took me out there to tell me no. I changed his mind, and he gave me a choice, I took it instantly.”

“You did give me your name very quickly,” he said.

“I wanted to be a part of this love. Yes, I prefer women, and I am afraid to have children, but none of that stopped me. Despite how afraid I am, I know I am going to do it because I love you both.”

Gersius smiled broadly, and Thayle turned her head to look back at him.

“Why do you feel so pleased all of a sudden?” Thayle asked him.

“That is the first time you told me you loved me.”

“It is?” she said, confused.

“Yes, it is,” he answered.

“It is certainly the first time I have heard you say it,” Lilly remarked.

“But I say I love you all the time?” she said confused.

“To me you do,” Lilly said as she splashed along.

“I am so sorry, Gersius. I didn't realize I wasn't giving you any attention.”

“Thayle, when you reached up and kissed me as I dried your hair, that was all the I love you I needed.”

She smiled and dipped her head a little. “I did enjoy that.”

“I promise I will wash your hair again, and Lilly’s too.”

“He promised me a foot bath,” Lilly added.

“So she gets a foot bath!” Thayle said, turning to look at him with wide eyes and an open mouth.

“You can have a foot bath too,” he said chuckling.

Thayle shook her head out and fixed her eyes forward.

“If you really want a treat Lilly, you need a scented oil massage,” Thayle said.

“I have no idea how to do that,” Gersius said.

Thayle smirked and gave him a sideways glance over her shoulder, her angles eyes looked mysterious and enticing. “Don’t worry, I know how. I will show you on Lilly, and then you can practice on me.”

Gersius felt his blood start pumping, and he suddenly felt hot in his armor.

She let her glare linger on him a little longer then turned back around. “You can reach my pack, can't you?” she asked.

“Yes I can, why?”

“There is a brush in the left pouch. My hair should be dry enough now, be a good man, and brush it for me.”

“I love it when Thayle brushes my hair,” Lilly said.

Gersius leaned over and opened the pouch, carefully pulled her brush out, and started to brush her hair. Thayle closed her eyes and smiled as he gently worked his way up, brushing her hair as she swayed on the back of Lilly.

A few hours in and they reached another series of small waterfalls and rapids. Lilly carefully picked her way up the slick rocks and stood at the shore of a lake. It was a long narrow body of water that stretched out and bent slightly to the right. On the far side was a series of large hills at the base of a much taller cluster of snow-capped mountains. All of it was dense with trees and brush, but the lake itself was bordered by a broad band of grassland.

“Is this the source of the river?” Thayle asked.

“I expected there to be an obvious structure like in the mountains,” Gersius said.

“Are we even sure we are following the right river?” Lilly asked.

“Oh, goddess, I hope so,” Thayle replied.

“Walk around the shore to the left, Lilly. The river might continue someplace on the other side.”

Lilly walked out into the open air. The sky was still gray with clouds, and the wind was stronger here. The shore was nothing but stones polished smooth by years of lapping water.

They walked around the edge of the lake and peered into the tree line looking for anything that might be man-made.

“I see nothing,” Lilly said when she was halfway down one of the long sides.

“I suspect this is just a lake along the route of the river. As we get around the bend by the hills, we will probably see an inlet. I bet we have to pass through those trees on the other side,” Gersius said.

“At least it isn't the dense tangle like before,” Thayle said peering into the hills ahead.

“Your right,” Lilly said as she squinted. “Those trees look much taller, and they have reddish trunks.”

“How can you tell?” Gersius asked.

“I can see them,” Lilly said.

“I can see them too, but from here they look like a wall of brown,” he said.

Lilly shook her head. “I can focus my vision to see farther when I want to.”

“You can?” he asked. “When were you going to tell me that?”

Lilly turned her head around to look at them both. “I didn’t think about it.”

“Why would a dragon need to be able to do that?” Thayle asked.

“My mother said it was so we could hunt from the sky. She said many of the hunting birds could do it too.”

“Like a hawk,” Thayle said with a nod.

As the trees grew closer, the scale of their size began to impress them all.

“These are some tall trees,” Gersius said as they drew nearer.

“These are big enough for Lilly to climb!” Thayle remarked.

The trunks were as wide around as Lilly when she curled up. They had a reddish bark that ran in long broken lines up the trunk and curled at the edges. The canopy that towered overhead branched out in a thick barrier of green. Little light reached the forest floor, and the whole area was clear of nearly any brush except for hardy ferns and mosses, and some strange plants with large purple leaves.

“I see no river to follow from here,” Lilly said, holding her head high to look out across the lake.

“This must be the source then,” Gersius said.

“Please let this be the right river,” Thayle begged in a whisper.

“I searched for a map of the Silverwood. There wasn't anything to be found.”

“We know, Gersius,” Thayle replied. “This must have been the river. It passed right through the Silverwood.”

“I will keep walking around the shore,” Lilly said and continued following the water's edge as they got closer to the hills.

They pressed on with the towering trees to their left as they got closer and closer to the hills. They passed over a few small streams that fed the lake, but nothing they would call a river.

Lilly stopped to take a drink from the water of the lake while the other two stared into the trees.

“There is nothing here,” Thayle said. “It’s just empty forest.”

“It looks like this lake twists into those hills. What we are looking for is probably in there,” he said.

“If we came all this way for nothing,” Thayle said with a shake of her head.

“If Lilly nearly died, and you ended up with a mark of shame for nothing, I am going back to that temple and kill that dragon,” Gersius said angrily.

Thayle turned around as much as she could and put a hand to the side of his face. “Something good came out of this even if we find nothing.”

“What is that?” he asked.

“This,” she said as she pressed her lips to his.

“Your both making me jealous,” Lilly said as she lifted her long neck.

Thayle smiled and turned back as Gersius gripped her waist firmly.

Lilly eyed them both and then turned to look at the forest.

“I want to see these trees,” she said as she turned to walk inland.

She made her way into the massive trunks that towered well over her head. The ground was a carpet of red needles and pine cones with scarcely a weed growing.

“I want some of these in the valley,” Lilly said.

Thayle laughed. “You could build the house in the crown of these trees.”

“A tree house, I like it,” Gersius said.

Lilly went to sniff a tree and pulled back suddenly as her foot tangled. She looked down to see a tiny green plant growing rapidly under her foot. She pulled it out easily and watched as it continued to grow and bloom with flowers.

“What are you doing, Thayle?” Lilly asked.

“I’m not doing anything?” Thayle replied.

“Then who is growing the plants?”

Thayle leaned over to see what Lilly was looking at and saw the small plant come to life with white flowers.

“You are not doing that?” Gersius asked.

“Do you see me praying?” Thayle whispered.

There was a chirping of birds around them and a sound like a young woman’s giggle.

“Lilly, walk slowly back to the water,” Thayle said.

“What is it?” Lilly asked.

“Just please do as I say, Go back to the shore!” Thayle said as calmly as she could.

Lilly turned and headed back but looked all around.

“I don't feel any danger?” Gersius said, looking about.

“They are not usually dangerous, but they can be easily provoked,” Thayle said.

“Who can?”

“Forest sprites,” Thayle said.

Gersius gripped her waist more firmly and began to glance around as another wave of chirping echoed around them, followed by more giggles.

Lilly made her way out of the trees as flowers began to bloom all around her. She turned around and looked back into the trees from the forest edge. They watched as the chirping continued and then they saw her.

She leaned out from around a tree they had just passed. Her skin was golden, her hair looked green and silky, woven in little knots around followers. She had large, almost black eyes and a delicate little nose. She was dressed in what looked like white petals. She as a little shorter than Thayle Her ears pointed out through her hair and she smiled at them in wonder with delicate pink lips. Then another appeared from behind a further tree, then another and another.

“They all look like women,” Lilly said.

“They are all women,” Thayle said firmly. “Keep your hands tight on my waist,” she said to Gersius. “Don't let them lead you.”

Lilly reached down slowly with her long neck toward the closest one. Even at full reach, the woman was still ten paces away, and she cowered behind the tree a little and watched her with one eye.

“They seem so gentle,” Lilly said.

“That is the last thing they are,” Thayle said. “Go back to the water. They won't leave the trees.”

Lilly tried to sniff at the closest one, and it smiled at her. It waived a hand and made chirping noise like a bird. A blue flower grew up right under Lilly's chin for her to smell.

“These are fun,” Lilly said, and she intentionally smelled the flower.

“Lily, go back to the water,” Thayle said again.

Lilly lifted her head and looked back at them. “Why they are just playing.”

One of the women appeared from behind a tree to their right and pointed up at the riders on Lilly's back and made a shrill chirping.

“What are they saying?” Lilly asked.

“They are alerting the others to the fact there is a man on your back,” Thayle said.

“Why?” Lilly asked.

Thayle stood up in the saddle and waved her hands a the nearby women.

“Shoo! he’s not yours!”

“Not yours?” Lilly questioned. She looked down as Gersius who seemed almost pained. She reached into his thoughts and felt him. He felt strange almost asleep, and in his mind, she could hear the chirping.

Lilly stumbled back alarmed, forcing Thayle to sit down. “What do these women want?”

“They want our husband!” Thayle yelled.

Lilly lifted her head high and snarled. “Get back, you little mice!” she yelled as her eyes burned brightly. “Stay away from our husband!”

Around them, the trees exploded with chirping and Lilly stumbled as vines began to twin around her legs. Thayle broke into song and began to use her blessings to channel back, pulling the vines free and allowing Lilly to get clear of the tree line.

The chirping changed in tone. It sounded aggravated like a flock of startled birds. She turned to run off when a vine reached out and wrapped around Thayle breaking her chant.

Lilly whirled around at the woman's sudden cry and bit the vine in two.

“You insects are angering me!” she roared. “He's our husband, not yours! Leave us alone!”

She saw more of them gathering at the edge of the trees and felt more vines pulling at her feet. She grew tired of this game and took a deep breath.

The forest exploded with frantic chirping as a gout of snow and ice blasted through the trees. She tried only to frighten them and watched carefully for any movement. Satisfied, she turned and raced back to the water's edge, leaving the trees behind.

When they arrived, Thayle was already turned in the saddle, shaking Gersius.

“Are you alright?” Thayle pleaded as he raised a hand to his head.

“I could hear them in my head singing to me,” he said. “They were calling me to follow them.”

“Wretched little creatures,” Thayle said as he started to clear his thoughts.

“What did they want?” Lilly asked.

Thayle sighed. “Much of what we know about them is lost. All we have left are a collection of stories and fragmented tales. Supposedly all sprites are part of the earth mother. She is the spirit of the world and the energy that gives birth to life. She creates different sprites to help keep the world in balance.”

“So?”

“The problem is all sprites are female. While they are created by the earth mother when needed, some types of them have a strong desire to reproduce. They can only breed with a human man, and they will steal them away when they find one that is worthy.”

Lilly glanced back a the distant trees. “So they wanted to steal Gersius?”

“They say that sprites can see aura's too. A good man has a bright aura, and Gersius's aura is very bright. They would have snatched him away and hidden him in the forest. There are stories of some men disappearing for ten years held prisoner by sprites.”

Lilly looked back at them both. “But they looked so gentle.”

“They are nature spirits, Lilly. They are gentle, but they can be terribly bothersome when they want something, and you won't give it to them,” Thayle said.

“And they won't leave the trees?” Lilly asked.

“Those are forest sprites. They are bound to the trees of the forest. They have no power beyond the shadow cast by a tree,” Thayle said.

Lilly looked back at the tall trees and wondered how long a shadow they cast.

“Are there more kinds of sprites?” Lilly asked.

“Oh yes,” Thayle said. “They come in dozens of forms. They are always based on some element of nature or natural force. There are sprites of the water, the air, the earth, of storms, and snows. I have heard there are sprites of the light and the dark. I am sure there are may more. Whatever is out of balance in the world will often have a type of sprite to bring it back.”

“In my homelands, there were tiny ones we called fairies,” Gersius said. “They flew around on delicate wings and would do funny things like change the color of a rose bush, or fill a bird bath with frogs.”

“We call those pixies in my land,” Thayle said. “They are very rare. It is said in the order of Ulustrah that pixies only appear where a garden is planted in love.”

“They could grow plants like you can,” Lilly said.

“They are a part of the magic of the world,” Thayle said. “Ulustrah gives her priestesses blessing to use the same magic. We are very much alike. There are even ancient stories of sprites traveling with priestesses of Ulustrah. Our stories say that at one time, we used to cooperate and work together.”

“You don't cooperate with them anymore?” Lilly asked.

Thayle shook her head. “and we don't even know why. The reason was lost thousands of years ago. Few of us have ever seen a sprite, let alone interacted with one. That is the second one I have ever seen.”

Lilly glanced back to the trees. “I wonder why it all changed?”

“Maybe it has something to do with this war of dragons,” Gersius said. “Numidel said the world was very different when it was over.”

“What a sad thing,” Lilly said. “It’s too bad they want our husband, I would have like to talk to them.”

“Well, on the bright side,” Thayle said, looking at Gersius. “They clearly wanted you, that is quite a mark of honor. A sprite only takes, and she isn't interested in just sex, they want love and passion. The legends say nothing is as passionate a lover as a sprite.”

“But they would all want him,” Lilly said. “There were a dozen or more of them.”

“Maybe we could go back in and talk to them?” Gersius suggested.

“I will tie you to that saddle and gag you!” Thayle said with a glare.

He laughed and shook his head. “I would never do such a thing to my wives.”

“Hmm!” Thayle said with a toss of her head. “Press on, Lilly. There is nothing here for us.”

Lilly took one last look at the distant trees and walked on following the stony shores of the lake. She wondered just how much of what Numidel said was true. Could sprites and humans ever have worked together? She laughed at the thought when she remembered she was a dragon asking such a question. With a glance at her lovers, she made her way into the hills following the shore of the lake.