by H.L. Shaw
(10/18/00)

Luna: The air that night turned blue as the sun went down. I cupped my hands together as the last of the salmon-colored streaks died away in the west, and the air seemed to pool there as if I was holding water. I stood in my backyard, watching the moon nose its way over the hills in the east. The blue in my hands deepened into a deep aqua color until the moon cleared the hills. At the first hint of moonlight, the air reflected silver the way water goes gold with sunlight.

My phone rang.

"Sara and I had a fight. I really need to talk to someone," Allen said.

"I'll meet you by the statue downtown."

The water treatment plant is only a short walk from the action of downtown, if you know where to look. I walked just ahead of Allen, leading the way. I imagined he watched me carefully, comparing my neat walk to Sara's boyish one. I turned and grinned at him encouragingly from time to time, distraught to see his mind was still mulling over Sara.

We came to a railing and a huge concrete structure. We looked out over the fall of treated water over the dam. It dropped only 8 feet or so before rushing in a thick carpet over a slanted buttress. The buttress was our goal.

First we had to lower ourselves, scuttling and falling until we reached a small, graffitied clearing in the woods right by the falls. Here we caught our breath; he smiled at me, his interest piqued by the stealthy way we'd arrived.

"So, here's where we'll leave our shoes." I started to pull off my tennis shoes and socks and roll up my jeans so they wouldn't get wet while I was wading.

"Now, the bottom is mossy and slick, so you have to go slow and grip with . . . "

It was then I noticed he wasn't wearing any clothes.

"Avalon Park," he answered to my surprised gaze. "It's made me much more comfortable with being naked."

I nodded sensibly and tried not to notice my discomfort. Avalon Park was the pagan retreat they went to monthly during the summer. It was something Sara had been complaining about lately, his hippie inclinations; she had even convinced me to accompany them to the harvest festival the following weekend to distract her from the frenzied hippies.

I swallowed thickly and told myself I'd better get used to casually naked people. Besides, he was beautiful, standing freely in front of me. In my nervousness I kicked a shoe and we both bent down to retrieve it.

"Last one in is a rotten egg!" I swung around the corner of the dam and onto the flat.

The water rushed around my ankles, lapping up my calves and soaking the rolled bottoms of my jeans. It was cold. I stood for a moment, steadying my head while my feet learned to compensate for the flow of the water. I began to walk out towards the middle, lifting one foot and placing it down securely before moving the other.

The moon was full, or near to, and had risen high above us. The air I moved through was as silver as when I'd held it earlier, reflecting the water like thousands of tiny dolphins arching their way down the slope and into the dark of the lake. I stopped and raised my arms, enjoying the moonlight on my pale skin. I turned, slowly, placing my feet carefully, and noticed he was following me about ten feet back.

His entire body was glowing pale in the moonlight. His blond curls glittered like the water below, his hair bleached silver in the reflected light of the moon. He moved more surely through the water than I did, his sinewy body loping towards me as if he was moving through high grass. He stopped in front of me, too close, and raised his arms in imitation of mine.

I put mine down, quickly, and dropped my chin. I was suddenly terribly nervous. Looking down was a bad idea. He was noticing, quite obviously, that I was female.

I looked up, away from his erection, only to have him catch my chin in his hands and lean down to kiss me.

His lips were soft and wet, and they didn't so much kiss me as relax into mine. His big fingers groped along my jawline and I could feel him move closer to my body. I tentatively put the tip of my tongue under his top lip and ran it along inside.

Suddenly, he was gone.

He must've lost his balance, for I saw him next sliding down the not-quite-level flat, his hair streaming out behind him like a pale flag of surrender. He was rushing towards the tree-rimmed lake and with a little bump he hit the edge of the dam and was gone, swallowed up by the dark of the lake.

I stood motionless until I couldn't see him anymore, then gave a cry as I hurried back to our clothes, picking my way carefully through the thick silver carpet of water. By the time I swung back around and into the clearing, he was pulling himself into the shallow water by the edge, sputtering and flipping frightened silver fish out of his way. I was amazed by how many fish there seemed to be, all white and flopping around him as he waded out of the water and into the reedy border of the lake.

Sara: Of course I saw them. When I left after that fight, I was heading over to Luna's for comfort. She was our best friend, our mediator, our third wheel for balance; it was normal for one or both of us to turn to her when we were fighting. I had stopped on her porch and heard her talking to Allen on the phone. This time, I decided to see for myself, so I followed.

As far as I could tell, he kissed her. The bastard. Not that I cared for him, mind you, but he knew perfectly well how hot I was feeling about Luna these days.

And I couldn't let him have her.

The next Thursday the she and I drove down to Avalon Park for the big harvest festival. Allen had wanted me to wait, since he still had to work his day job on Friday, but I like arriving on Thursday. Pagan festivals dont get crowded until Friday night, and by then there's too much socializing, too much unchecked sexual energy running amok, too many guys. I much preferred the quiet solitude of the woods when there weren't three-hundred drugged-out wanna-be hippies rampaging through them.

Besides, I wanted to get her alone.

The day started out rainy. By the time we'd driven down there and struggled into our ponchos it had stopped, so we joyfully stripped them off and headed down the hill into Faerie. They call the woods on the hill Faerie, and they've got me saying it too.

The way down is steep and difficult even when it's dry, and we found ourselves clinging to one another as we stumbled down, stopping at roots and stepping and sliding over flat wet rocks.

At the bottom is a little sign pointing to the left for the creek and to the right for the mud shrine.

And Luna, fascinated by what one might do at such a place, chose the mud.

I had to keep my voice level as I explained to her that during festivals people came down here, stripped down, and covered themselves in mud before heading back up the hill and across the festival campgrounds to the showers.

"They walk naked through the camp?"

"Well, you're covered in mud, so you don't really feel naked. Besides, there'll soon be a lot of just plain nude folks."

She giggled in her sweet, tinkling way and said, with an uncharacteristically devilish look in her eye, "Well, there's no one here yet but us girls, huh?"

Poor Luna. Whichever one of us got her, she was going to have to loosen up quite a bit.

She pulled her t-shirt over her head and stood with it entangled on the ends of her arms. I watched her close her eyes and I knew she was savoring the sensation of the forest air against her body.

"It feels even better without the underwire," I told her, tugging my own shirt off and freeing my breasts. The breeze picked up and rustled the leaves. I rubbed away the sweat beneath my breasts, lifting them to feel the cool air drying my skin.

She unhooked her bra, her t-shirt still hanging from one arm. She slid both shirt and bra down the same arm and balanced them on the split-rail fence surrounding the mud shrine. Then she let go, bending her arms behind her head and letting the breeze tickle her armpits.

We peeled off the rest of our clothes. I almost lost my balance trying to nonchalantly watch Luna pull her small, white legs from her jeans. She was so graceful; every movement was effortless. Fully nude now, she let out a squeal of delight and spun around on one foot in the shallow mud near the edge of the pit.

"I love this place, Sara! I've never felt so free!"

I nodded, "The regulars say the land is magic. I personally think that's a bunch of Wiccan crap, but I have to admit, between festivals, this place is the most peaceful I've been to."

She shook her head, gazing around at the leaves glistening in the emerging sunlight. "There is something magical here, I can feel it. I keep expecting elves to run out and steal our clothing while we, uh, bathe." She giggled again and I felt indulgent.

"Yup, there've been elf sightings here. Fairies too. Keep an eye out, or I might just have to take you . . . uh, home, nekkid."

She smiled at me and held out her hand. I clasped it and together we stepped into the mud.

She was delicious, standing ankle deep in red-brown mud. It had spattered up her legs when she stepped in, and the streaks made the pink under her skin seem to glow. She carefully pulled up her long dark hair, piling it on her head and securing it with a band. She scooped up a handful of the clay-like muck and looked at it with consternation.

"Here."

I turned around and offered her my back. With a shout of glee she pushed it at me and splattered it across my back.

I gathered my own handful and smoothed it over her hip and down her thigh. Bent over like that, I had to resist the urge to lick her tiny pink nipples before they were covered in mud. I felt her hands smoothing more mud down my back and, avoiding my ass, circling my waist, spreading mud along my side and over my abdomen.

I wanted to grab her hand and push it up -- or down.

I straightened up and piled more mud on her shoulders, smoothing it down one of her slender arms with both of my hands, massaging as I went and working mud between every one of her tapered fingers.

She let me attend her.

Eventually I got over my own shyness and, as clinically as possible, I spread mud along her collarbone and worked it down over the swell of her chest. Luna seemed to have fallen into some sort of trance, or at least was treating the situation very reverently. She lifted her arms so I could work the mud around and into her armpits. I covered her back by reaching around from the front, and she stood so close I could feel her breath on my cheek as I slathered mud down the swoop of the small of her back and then, stooping to gather more mud, over the swell of her buttocks. I stayed in my squat, working mud between her cheeks and then, sorry that I had finished so quickly, I began to cover the backs of her legs.

I worked down to her ankles, sorrowfully covering up those delightful first streaks, which had already started to dry. I covered her knees and the tops of her thighs, leaving a white diamond around her dark pubic hair. I circled her belly button three times before finally making my way up and filling in the still white bottoms of her breasts with red brown mud.

She let out a long sigh, which encouraged me until she stepped away.

I was done.

She covered me in much the same fashion, though she didn't linger as I did. Still, her small fingers brushed almost every inch of me and I bit my lip to stop from crying out to her.

We spent some time after that drawing tribal designs in the mud on one another. Too soon it began to dry, and Luna complained of itchiness. We gingerly gathered up our clothes in our mud-caked hands and made our way up the hill to the showers.

She was chatty, talking about the ritual we'd just performed. I fought mild irritation; when did she get so hocus-pocus on me? Still, I had to admit there was a magic in what we had just done.

We scrubbed one another in the shower, working off the mud. I took a deep breath.

"I'm breaking up with him."

Her long wet hair almost smacked me as she whipped her head around to stare at me with saucer-like eyes. She had been scrubbing her elbow and she left it hanging in the air, the other hand still in mid-scrub. She seemed suspended there.

Suddenly she was scrubbing at her elbow again, appearing casual though there was a vigor in her washing that hadn't been there before.

"Oh, Sara."

I could tell she didn't know what to say. My heart beat in my ears so loudly that the sounds of the water and the wind in the orchard next to us were lost to me. I was hoping -- praying silently to whatever gods might be voyeurs right then -- that she realized what I was about to say and was anticipating it. Oh, gods, please let her distraction be for me and not for thoughts of him. I swallowed thickly and tried to look at her neutrally.

"Luna, I think I'm in love with . . . um, with someone else."

She smiled at me then, a genuinely happy smile. Did she know? Or was she just relieved that I truly didn't want him?

I reached over to her and picked off a piece of dried mud near her right ear. She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.

"Sara, you can tell me. Who is it?"

My heart swelled. She knew! I put my hand back by her ear and pulled her forward to press my lips against hers.

Luna: She bit her lip slightly before pressing them against mine. I froze, I'll admit it. She was so...soft. The entire afternoon mud bath replayed in my mind and I realized the ritual I'd enjoyed was a sexual experience for her. I felt dirty even as the sun-warmed water coursed down my body, washing the mud away.

She was so soft. It felt...good. But wrong. Nice, though, in a way. My feelings were tumbling over one another in their attempt to get out. Get out. Get out. I almost started to kiss her back, when I thought of him, all silver and nude, striding at me through that thick water. She sucked at my bottom lip just then. Kissing her back would shut Allen off from me; I'd be joining her side of the breakup.

I wanted him, not her.

Well, this was as good a break as any. Easier, really, as she started this. It would be her fault.

I pulled away, letting confused horror creep over my features.

"Oh. Oh, no, Sara."

My conscience twanged and echoed in my head as I watched her hope crumble and rot.

Great. She started to brush the excess water off of her body, even though she was still lathered up. To rinse, she would have to step closer to me. She hopped over to her towel, turning her back on me to dry.

By the time I was reaching for my towel she was dressed, smoking a cigarette and staring blankly out over the fruit trees.

The sound of bees in the orchard was that of a loud, distant lawnmower.

"Didn't know you started smoking again."

She gave me a look I could not read. "You ready to go pitch the tents?"

"Oh, Sara, don't . . . "

"Let's go, then."

She spurned all conversation while we set up camp, though I tried several times. I gave up before we were halfway done. She looked so sad.

"Look, Luna, Im not going to stay through this weekend. After I break up with Allen tomorrow night, Im leaving."

I didnt look at her, but I nodded. She turned and busied herself with starting the campfire for dinner.

He'd better be worth this.

Allen: She'd shadowed me the entire evening. I could feel her following me, always at a safe distance; I saw her show up at the same fire circles, pretending not to have realized I was there, even though I had seen her dark form lurking among the trees, contemplating her approach.

True, I had invited her to come with us to this festival. And since Sara had broken up with me, I found myself leaning on Luna's goodwill. Luna was like a well-meaning puppy, and there were times, after sex, where I swear she would have licked my hand in gratitude for what I'd just given her.

And she looked so much like my Sara! Her long dark hair contrasted against her pale skin in much the same way Sara's did, and her green eyes echoed Sara's blue. They'd been close friends before all of this had happened, so sometimes a familiar Sara quip would pop out of Luna's mouth, matching her musical descending phrasing so precisely it made my heart ache for Sara.

But Luna was not Sara.

It was near the end of the night, that is to say, almost morning. I finally made my way down to the sweat that had been set up by the banks of the creek. There were two women tending the fire near the mouth of the sweat lodge, heating the rocks which were periodically carried in. The sweat itself was made of tarps stretched over tent poles -- not exactly hides and saplings, but perhaps more practical for these neopagans.

There was a pit dug in the center of the shelter where the hot rocks went, and I stopped near the entrance waiting for my eyes to adjust so I could find the water bucket. By this time the sweat only contained two other men, and Luna, who had somehow preceded me. The elder of the two men handed me a long-handled cup and directed me to the water, where I filled it. I sat, with some resignation, next to Luna, and took a deep, cleansing breath before I reached out and slowly turned my cupful over the steaming rocks. The hiss crackled through the muffled air of the small lodge, steam rising from the glowing red stones and filling my lungs with a damp heat. I returned the cup to the elder and leaned back.

Almost immediately I felt a small hand on my thigh. Luna. Under the shade of steam it crept up the inside of my leg and began toying with me without prelude. I sighed. My body, of course, responded.

I felt her hair cover my lap, and almost instantly she'd snagged my hardness between her tiny lips. Sara's lips were much fuller, much easier (and nicer) to suckle when kissing. Luna's thin lips soon spread and worked their way down my cock in teasing, biting nips, until her nose was buried in my pubic hair.

This wasn't going to take long.

My body was covered in sweat from the steam. She slid me easily in and out of her mouth, her head bobbing embarrassingly in the thinning air of the sweat.

The elder arched one gray eyebrow at me before reaching over and ceremoniously spreading another cupful of water over the coals.

I came silently and went.

Luna: I could still taste him, tangy, bitter and sweet, on my tongue. I took a deep breath of steam and could smell only the acrid odor of his pubic hair.

The steam was clearing again. I wondered if the elder had cloaked us intentionally. I peered across the pit at him. His eyes were closed in meditation. The energy at this festival had charged me sexually. I'd spent most of the night hours dancing half-naked to the drums around the fire, and my now glistening body had brought me here, seeking out this heat. I had just begun to relax when Allen came in, and I don't know what came over me.

And he made no move to stop me. I wasn't quite sure of the why, or what I had just done. I had tried so hard all night long to not follow him that when he had finally followed me, I thought it must be for a reason. He hadn't yet touched me outside our tent; I should be thrilled at the public display we just had.

Shouldn't I? I realized, suddenly, that the other man in the sweat had slid closer to me and was looking at me intently.

"Hey, sister."

Talking was forbidden in the sweat, and I instinctively looked over at the elder, expecting his immediate reproach.

The elder kept his eyes shut.

My heart started beating faster. Talking was forbidden, yes, but so was sex. I had broken the rule first.

Or maybe I just looked like one of those kind of girls now.

The dark-eyed man gestured down with a nod of his head, and I looked down into his erection. He put his hand on the back of my neck and began to push me down...

Allen: I came out of the sweat and slid silently into the icy water of the creek. The shock, after the heat of the sweat, made my body jerk in shivers, but soon the cooling soothed me.

I wondered when Luna would come out.

I moved into the deeper pool, under the low-hanging branch the kids jump off of during the day. I crouched slightly, so only my head was above water, and watched her emerge.

I waited for her to enter the creek. She had already seen me, but I was planning on moving up silently behind her, embracing her from behind. I wanted to hold her. I wanted to bury my nose in her Sara-like hair and rub my deflated ego against her slightly-too-skinny butt. I felt sorry for her, just a little.

The sun was rising, though it had yet to break the horizon. The steam rising off her pale body in that gray morning light made the edges of her blur and soften. A slight halo of steam seemed to cling all along the outline of her body. I watched her raise her arms as the sun slowly crept up over the hill in the east. Her halo became a coral-tinged aura. She hung in the morning dew like a fairy before dropping her wings and walking away from me, up the hill.

Luna: When the dark-eyed man's cock hit my lips, I started to struggle, but his hand was gripping my neck firmly now and he wouldn't let me go.

Ok, fine then. I bit him, not hard enough to break the skin. The bastard responded by yanking my head back by my hair and pushing me all the way down. The end of his dick forced its way past my tonsils, and I began gagging and scratching at him. He wouldn't let me go. So I threw up on him, hard enough to force his dick out of my mouth.

Luna came out of the sweat and saw Allen waiting for her in the deep part of the creek. Let him wait.

She turned away from him, away from the water. Water had rushed over their ankles and pushed him away at their first kiss; water had turned that earth to mud with Sara, and water still burned as steam in her nostrils.

She left him in the polluted water of the creek.