As much as Elissa was constantly on edge, dreading being forced to “mate” with Stone, the next several days were peaceful and relaxing. Even thought Elissa tried to steel her will, in preparation for whatever might happen, nothing actually happened.

Stone usually woke before her, and breakfast was already ready by the time Elissa stretched and got to moving around. The day was spent simply sitting around and relaxing, doing a whole lot of nothing. Stone, a terrible conversationalist by nature, spent a lot of his time just sitting and staring at her, as Elissa talked about her own life and dreams, in an attempt to fill the uncomfortable silence. When she did ask questions directly, Stone almost always responded in the most obtuse way – simply nodding, or giving a thumb’s up, or just by grunting some vague sound of agreement or denial.

Evenings were almost always spent outside, simply stretched out on the grass and watching the clouds slowly drift by overhead, and supper was some wild forest creature which Stone managed to bring in – though Elissa never was certain exactly how he caught them. Rabbit, squirrel, pheasant, and even fox – which she’d never heard of anyone actually eating before – filled their stomachs over the course of the next several days.

And then the nights – the time where Elissa’s nightmares of being ravished and broken by a giant of a man weighed heaviest on her – were simply spent laying side-by-side and sharing the warmth of each other’s bodies against the natural chill of the cavern while they slept. The most intimate intrusion which Stone ever inflicted upon Elissa was when he wrapped one large arm under her head, and then wrapped his other arm around her waist and squeezed her bare breast firmly with his hand – and how could Elissa object to that, when she was the one who placed it there the first night they were together?!

And then, quicker than she would have believed possible, Elissa found herself waking up to the natural warm tan of her own skin, rather than the pure white which the priests had dyed it, for the Festival of Chance.

Laughing gaily, Elissa half skipped as she rushed outside to inspect herself better. She’d fulfilled her obligation to the God of Chaos, and apparently her allotted time as Stone’s “servant” was up. Feeling as If a giant weight had been lifted since she no longer had to worry about the priest’s vague “she’s yours” – Apparently that just referred to the time of the festival after all! – Elissa twirled happily and spun several times around the entrance of the cavern.

She’d fulfilled her duty, and was free once again! Ten tan fingers! Slightly freckled arms! A small pink birthmark on her stomach, which looked like a fluffy rabbit’s ass. Perfectly light green nipples…

Blinking, Elissa slowly stopped spinning. First reaching to push her hair back behind her head, she followed up by gently wrapping her hands to cusp a breast in each and then lifted them for a better view in the morning light.

‘Unmistakably green,’ Elissa confirmed, rubbing first one nipple with and finger and then the other. Somehow, they seemed surreal, as if they belonged to someone else and not herself. “Yeouch!” Half jumping, Elissa gently rubbed her right nipple – pinching it had definitely proved that it was her own!

“Is this something the Earthmother did to me?” Frowning to herself, Elissa wasn’t aware she’d spoke aloud until Stone grunted from the entrance of the cavern. Looking over at him, he simply nodded his head up and down slowly, without taking his eyes off her.

“More,” Stone rumbled, after a long moment, slowly raising a hand to point towards Elissa.

“More?” Letting go of her breasts, Elissa began to thoroughly rub up and down her arms to examine them. “More, where?” Finding nothing wrong with her hands and arms, she leaned forward and began to rub and examine her feet, working her way up her legs carefully.

“Lips,” was Stone’s single syllable response, slowly drawn out in the deep voice which was so uniquely his own.

“My lips?” Standing up, Elissa turned to fully face Stone and gently ran one finger across her lips.

Stone nodded, then a half smile slowly twitched at the corner of his lips as Elissa tugged her lower lip out as much as possible and tried to stare cross-eyed down at it. “Both lips,” he assured her, helpfully.

“Bobh libs?” Staring down cross-eyed across her nose, Elissa pooched out her upper lip and tried to examine it.

Stone nodded slowly, then pointed up towards her face with his hand. “Upper lips,” he slowly informed Elissa, before moving his finger to point down much lower. “Lower lips,” he informed her, the smallest hint of a smirk on his face, as he pointed down below her waist.

Following his finger with her eyes, Elissa slowly looked down and then turned a light shade of crimson from head to toe. Quickly turning her back to Stone, she tittered lightly, trying to laugh it off. “I guess that’s not so bad,” she quickly assured herself. “It’s not like anyone will ever really see those parts, and I can just rub a little berry juice or such to cover my lips. It’s not a big deal at all, if that’s all Earthmother changed,” she tried to tell herself.

For several long moments, Elissa stood facing away from Stone and the cavern entrance, trying to convince herself that a few oddly colored bits here and there really wasn’t that big a deal. When she finally calmed down enough to turn back around, Stone was already gone once again.

Heading back into the cavern, Elissa was surprised to not find Stone sitting around the campfire like usual. The fire was still burning merrily – with a large enough stack in the corner to last them for another few weeks at least, if they stayed that long – and breakfast was laid out. Raspberries and blackberries sat comfortably atop a large pile of fresh leaves, to protect them from the wet muck of the cavern floor, and a large animal sat roasted whole upon a separate pile – which Elissa could now identify as being roast rabbit.

“Stone?” Calling out softly, Elissa walked back to the entrance and took a moment to check off left and right into the forest, but there was no sign of him there either. “How the hell can someone so big and bulky move so damn softly in the woods?” Irritated slightly that he’d just wander off on his own in the brief moment she had her back turned, Elissa snorted slightly and rapidly spun on her heels, heading back into the cavern, determined that she wasn’t going to wait to eat breakfast for him.

“EEEEEEK!” Half screaming, Elissa blinked several times after crashing into something that wasn’t behind her just moments before. Hands starting to sparkle greenish-red as she willed her magics into them, Elissa scooted back several steps closer to the exit. Looking up, determination and will to fight steeled across her face, Elissa waved her hands and prepared to blast…

Stone. Standing there, blinking stupidly, Stone was gazing down at his own massive chest, where Elissa had just spun and crashed into him. “’Lissa not like?” Eyebrow twitching in what Elissa could easily read as obviously a sign of half-question, half-annoyance, Stone stared down at a bundle of cloth in his arms. Frowning slightly, he turned and swiftly started to stride purposefully back towards the darkened tunnel to the right.

“Wai… Wait a moment!” Magics instantly fizzling out as she released her hold on them, Elissa quickly hopped up. Rushing, she hurried across the cavern, to catch up, and grab ahold of the back of Stone’s arm. “I didn’t say I didn’t like….” Half laughing, Elissa shrugged her shoulders slightly, before gently wrapping her arms around Stone’s massive waist and hugging him. “…Whatever the heck that is,” she finished, smiling lightly.

“’Lissa not not like?” Stone asked, turning slowly once she’d released her hug, to quirk an eyebrow up towards her.

“’Lissa not even sure what Stone gots,” Elissa laughed, half imitating Stone’s odd way of speaking. “How ‘Lissa know her like or not?” Putting her hands on her hips, she stuck her tongue out at Stone. “Pbbbbtttttb!” Giggling like a young child getting presents for her birthday, Elissa snatched the bundle out of Stone’s hands and quickly dashed outside the entrance so she could examine whatever it was in the full light of day.

“Gift,” Stone rumbled softly, coming out of the cavern as Elissa was unfolding the bundle of plain cotton, to reveal yet another bundle of cloth – this one much more vibrant in a rainbow of colors. Laughing merrily, Elissa gently grabbed ahold of the cloth and shook it softly, pulling it out from inside the cotton bundle. As it unfurled, a short, light dress, dyed and swirled all the colors of the rainbow flapped out and waved gently in the breeze.

A gentle aroma of various flowers and blossoms softly wafted on the wind, as Elissa stared silently at the dress in her hands. So short, Elissa wasn’t entirely certain she’d actually call it a dress. ‘Maybe more of a long shirt,’ she giggled slightly to herself. ‘I’ve definitely got nightshirts at home which is longer than this is!’

‘Still though, it’s undeniably beautiful,’ Elissa admitted to herself, slowly holding it up to breath in the fabric. ‘That smell is definitely coming from the dress,’ Elissa affirmed for herself, as she softly rubbed the material back and forth in her hands. ‘And I have no idea what it’s made out of either. It’s not cotton, like it was bundled in, and it’s not wool, silk, or satin either. I really don’t know what it’s made out of,’ she admitted silently to herself, lifting it to rub gently against her cheek, ‘but it’s smoother and finer than any material I think I’ve ever come across before..’

‘…And that’s even including the outfit the priests gave me to wear for the festival,’ she admitted, astonished, to herself, after a brief moment to take in and digest what she was thinking.

“Gift,” Stone rumbled again, patiently, now standing just a few feet from Elissa’s side. “’Lissa wear?” Question obvious in his voice, Stone titled his head to stare down at Elissa, unblinking and showing no emotion whatsoever on his face.

“What is it?” Elissa asked, dropping the cotton which it was bundled in, to hold the outfit up into the light with both hands. “I’ve never even read of anything like this,” she admitted, breathlessly, then giggled slightly. “Father wouldn’t even have a clue what to sell something like this for!”

“’Lissa sell?” Stone half hung his head and sighed deeply.

“No. No. No!” Rushing to assure him, Elissa half hopped forward and wrapped her arms around Stone’s massive neck, while leaning up to kiss him soundly across his nose. “I didn’t say I was going to sell it,” she hurried to correct herself. “I just said Father wouldn’t even know what to sell it for! It’s just too unusual to put any normal price on!”

“So no good.” Stone sighed even deeper, massive shoulders starting to droop now.

“It’s lovely,” Elissa assured him, punching him in the stomach, careful not to hit hard enough to hurt her own wrist or hand. Giggling like a young girl once again, she quickly worked both arms up and inside the dress, then pulled it over her head and down around her body.

Two thin straps, not much wider than a person’s hair, held the backless dress up over Elissa’s shoulders, letting it drape low across her chest, revealing more cleavage than she was normally comfortable showing. Almost a little too snug under the breasts, the dress clung like a second skin across her stomach and abdomen, before billowing out loosely and waving freely in the wind as it barely covered her ass and teasingly showed soft glimpses of her cheeks and hips as swayed tantalizingly back and forth.

Twirling, Elissa giggled slightly, not at all concerned at the moment about how the bottom loosely lifted and revealed everything while she spun. “So, how is it?” Swaying lightly from foot to foot, Elissa giggled while staring directly at Stone, looking for the subtle clues of his reaction.

Frowning, Stone titled his head slightly to the side and then nodded slowly, before softly asking, “Wrong?”

“Wrong?” Elissa blinked a few times, looking down at the dress in confusion. “What’s wrong? Doesn’t it suit me,” she asked, frowning a little.

“Wrong,” Stone slowly assured her, this time shrugging slightly himself. “Mother says ‘Lissa wrong,” Stone told her, sounding confused himself.

“What’s wrong? How’s it wrong?” Frowning, Elissa half twirled again, trying to see what could possibly be out of place, but not noticing anything unusual.

“Backwards,” Stone said, raising up a hand slowly, before clarifying. “Mother say ‘Lissa put dress backwards.”

‘Backwards?” Elissa blinked a few times, gasping suddenly, then half giggling. “I didn’t put it on backwards,” she assured Stone. “It doesn’t have a back! See?” Turning, Elissa lifted her hair to show the soft, uncovered curves of her shoulders and upper back.

“Backwards,” Stone snorted, crossing his arms stubbornly. “Mother say backwards, ‘Lissa backwards!”

Blushing bright red, Elissa laughed and stuck her tongue out at Stone again, before lifting the back of the dress up over her hips and shaking them back and forth towards the forest itself. “Doesn’t matter,” she giggled freely. “It’s my gift and I’ll wear it backwards if I want too!”

“Backwards,” Stone muttered moodily once again, half pouching out his lower lip in a pout.

Laughing, Elissa quickly squatted and picked up the cotton bundle her dress had been wrapped in, then skipped off back into the cavern for breakfast.

“Backwards,” Stone sighed again, shrugging his shoulders at the forest, which seemed to sigh and agree with him.