Gripping the Briar pipe in his deep outer pocket by the bowl Steven pushed his way through the wood door, inlaid with stained glass, with his = left foot and emerged into the dark little tobacconist from Ravenswood Lane lea= ving a dark foot print on th

The Fairy Queen's Lover=

by:

Valentino Incanto Profferi

The story told here is utterly, fictitious and any resemblance between the characters herein or the events depicted and any true incident depicted by = the Fairy tale is completely coincidental and unintentional.

Dedicated to Anna and Jean

Chapt= er 1

Gripping the Briar pipe in his deep outer pocket by the bowl Steven pushed his way through the wood door, inlaid with stained glass, with his left foot and emerged int= o the dark little tobacconist from Ravenswood Lane leaving a dark foot print on the outside of the door. Shaking the water droplets from th= e cap in his hand now, he shook his head slowly as the big man mad his way across= the smoking room to the far side of the counter.

From two of the leather wing= back chairs came a familiar greeting from an unseen face with a friendly voice.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Steven grunted back without slowin= g his pace and disappeared through a little wooden door with no handle that swung= out over a narrow staircase leading into the basement. Trailing his large hand along the = wall of the narrow and dark staircase, he found and tugged the drawstring that turned on the basement light as he stepped off the last step.

For a few minutes, Steven st= ood before the thick white iron water radiator under the window with his trench coat still dripping into the dark spot his wet boots and coat had made on t= he rug while he warmed himself. = Now that he was warm and back inside he was glad that his adventures for this n= ight were over. Steven felt that h= is hair must be a little whiter already tonight and that by tomorrow there wou= ld see age wrinkles on his face from the fright.&= nbsp; After placing his cap on the knob at the top of the coat stand he re= moved his dark brown coat, took out his pipe, tobacco purse, wallet, lighter and = nail and placed them on the table and then slung the coat over one of the large hooks by its collar. Taking u= p his pipe and wallet he stuffed them in his trouser pockets of the soft brown wo= ol slacks. Steven adjusted his b= elt then picked up his other belongings in one very large pale hand.=

With his customary wide gait Steven made his way back up to the shop thumping the face of the steps with= his toes before raising his feet. He came around the glass-topped counter and took a seat in one of the leather wingback chairs with a little round table next to it with a glass ashtray s= et in the center of the wood. As= he settled into the thick warm brown leather seat he deposited the tobacco pur= se, lighter and nail on the table and pulled his pipe out to sit on its flat-bo= ttomed bowl. He closed his eyes and remembered how the forest had looked as he had run through it in the rain earlier. As he remembered, St= even went pale and began to exhale heavy damp sighs feeling the fear and tension= in him again. He had got away finally.

He suddenly stood up with a heavy sweat on his brow and a chill in his spine. What a relief it was to be standin= g in the cozy smoking room of Mary and Roger's Tobacco Supplies in Menlo-Atherto= n. He pinched the side of his right h= and just to see if it would hurt, it did thank goodness. Waddling slightly he took a few st= eps up to the row of mason jars atop the counter, neatly labeled and full of vario= us types of tobacco. Behind the = row of jars sat Mary in her blue and white full-length dress in matching pumps and ribbons around her waist and her ponytail.= With a smooth smile and a quick push of one freckled arm, she stood = up before Steven with her full lips turned up at the sides smoothing her dress with one hand. Her long red h= air was neat and well fixed like the rest of her. She politely asked Steven how he w= as doing and pointed out that it had been months since they had seen him in town. Steve had just been pla= nning to ask for a fill of his regular Bourbon blend when he felt the shock of her comment.

He went pale again and put a heavy arm down onto the counter for support. "Months" he croaked with alarm. "What is the date today?" he asked feeling unsettled.&n= bsp; Mary stood up a little straighter and pressed her hip into the count= er as she leaned closer showing concern on her face as she spoke.

"Steve, are you alright= ? It was over eight months ago that = you stopped in here last. Eight m= onths ago you stopped in saying that you were on your way to visit an aunt. Your last words were," "= See you tomorrow". "But= after that nobody saw any more of you. Your business partner Martin Roper came round looking for you on the Monday following wondering why you had not opened on Saturday or on Monday. None knew where you were."

As a footnote Mary mentioned that Roger had gone out when he had walked in to let Martin, the chief of police and Mayor Rosenbeck know that he had appeared. While Steve stood at the counter transfixed with confusion Mary took his pipe scraped it clean with a nail i= nto an ashtray and packed it with new, moist Bourbon tobacco. Placing her hand gently on his, Ma= ry wanted to ask him what had been happening to him but asked him if he wanted= her to light the pipe for him too, instead.&nb= sp; Steve replied slowly with a very precisely enunciated, "No, tha= nk you Mary."

Steven was staring disconcertingly through Mary's freckled red hair trimmed face as he raised = the pipe to his lips and lit it with the matches on the counter. Between slow puffs of bluish gray = thick smoke, Steven began to speak automatically at a metered pace, very much like if he= had been reciting poetry from memory.

"Eight months ago, I wa= lked into the forest of Santa Clara County Municipal= Park. It was a shortcut I had= been using since I was a child to get to the back gate of my Aunt Winnie's house= in Redwood Hills. Once upon a ti= me, I would ride my bike into the park, push my bike through the trees, and lean = it on the inside of her fence before wandering across her grounds to the back porch of the big house. Yeste= rday, I thought it was, I was strolling along the trail to her house when I unexpectedly ran into her, I think, the old woman, I could have sworn it was her. She was tall and elderly= with long white hair let down and combed out.&n= bsp; She was wearing a beautiful white lace and embroidered linen dress t= hat covered her feet and her long thin arms.&n= bsp; It was amazing how strong, healthy, beautiful and young she looked.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> When the light was right I thought= she looked like a tall and thin silver blond with brilliant green yellow eyes smooth white yellowish skin and to be only about twenty. In the same instant, she suddenly = seemed ageless, timeless, and as old as the hills on this side of the Bay Area. She could have been thousands of y= ears old with her fine boned chiseled face like a Magpie almost. I was sure it was my aunt Winnie, = I knew her and yet, yet I had never seen her like this before."

Mary took Steven's hand as he talked and led him back to the chair where he had first sat. As she listened absorbedly she eas= ed the tall man into the leather chair and then sat upon the arm of the chair faci= ng him. Mary was feeling the fear coming out of him and felt with a silent part of her mind that if she let g= o of his hand that he might just vanish, into thin air. She had heard from the police investigators when they had been searching for him that the aunt that he ha= d been going to visit had passed away a couple of months earlier. She had made a statement to the po= lice that Steven had never appeared at her house, on that Friday after noon as expected. She had even asked = her butler to cross the property and make sure the back gate was open and check= if Steve had been waiting outside. Not even the butler had seen any sign of a single soul in the forest by the gat= e. There had not been any footprints = beyond the first mile of the trail from the park entrance. Mary continued listening carefully= in case she would have to relay some of the story.

While he had been talking, t= he witch came in unheard and unnoticed. Unexpectedly Steven interrupted his tale and asked Mary if she knew = who this aunt Winnie he had met might have been, she had been mystifyingly identical to his aunt and inexplicably different. A high girlish voice answered Steve from behind h= is chair. "My friend, I thi= nk you might have run into the Fairy Queen Sequoia." In the silence that followed, Stev= e held his breath as Mary looked over the seat back. She discovered the unfamiliar voic= e to have come from a very short, but stout young woman with soft full figure, a smooth tanned face a thin fine nose with high cheekbones, surrounded with l= ong wavy dark brown hair that hung to the middle of her back. She wore a tan canvas blouse under= a thick brown wool cardigan and a heavy looking dark brown pleated skirt that hung = over dark leather boots of an indistinct color.= Mary could feel that the fear she had sensed in Steven had left him.=

A harmonic chord of sound se= emed to ring a bell of recognition in Mary's mind when she saw her. A little voice in her head told he= r this was the Witch of the Woods that was talked of to little children to scare t= hem away from walking in the woods alone. Mary's adult mind laughed at herself and she said, without further thought, "Oh don't be silly, there is no Fairy Queen and no Witch of t= he Wood." Mary was more try= ing to quell her shock at what was passing through her mind than to really engage anyone in a discussion of the subject.&nbs= p; Fortunately for Mary, Roger walked in the door followed by the chief= of police and three officers, a young journalist that always shadowed the chie= f on behalf of the Almanac weekly, Martin Roper and the secretary of public relations for the city of Menl= o-Atherton.

Mary quickly retold to the e= ight men what Steve had been relaying to her and glanced at where the unknown yo= ung woman had been standing before telling about the exchange she had just had,= but to Mary's great disconsolation, she was gone, so she did not mention it. Feeling frazzled she announced tha= t she would go make some tea in the basement and that she would be back behind the counter in about a quarter of an hour.&nbs= p; The pretty red head in blue and white disappeared down the stairs; s= he was going to enjoy her break, part of her was hoping to not run into the yo= ung unknown woman again and she did not.

The men all huddled close to Steven and loomed over him buzzing with agitation as they asked Steven ques= tion after question well into the evening as the sun set outside and it began to rain again. However, answers = were not easy to come by as it became clear that to Steven it was only Saturday,= the day after he left and that he could not explain his whereabouts for the past eight months. As far as he co= uld tell, he had fallen asleep in the woods in the arms of his aunt Winnie and woken up late this afternoon lying in a hollow under a fire ravaged giant redwood tree. He had felt los= t and disoriented after waking up. = He had suddenly fled through the trees in terror when he had met a silver white wo= lf amongst the trees. With the s= ound of his heart, pounding in his ears Steven had heard the voice of a girl screaming shrill, "Keep left and you will get out". He had obeyed without a second tho= ught and had run through the rain all the way down the hill and down the Ravenswood Lane into the Tobacconist. It had = felt inexplicably safe to go into the tobacconist shop, so here he was.

The others were silent with lines of concern upon their brows as Steven lapsed once more into thoughts = and memories of his time in the forest. Mary occupied herself by bringing cups of tea for every one in the s= hop during all this inquiry. A th= ought flickered in Steve's mind that the high voice of the unseen woman behind his chair earlier was unmistakably like the high shrill scream he had heard that afternoon among the trees. So= mehow, this comforted the large man who ordinarily would have had nothing to fear = at all. Leaning back into the wa= rm padded leather seat and drawing distractedly on his pipe Steven was glad th= at she was near even though he did not know where exactly.

He made eye contact with Rog= er, the thin wiry pale man in short sleeved plaid shirt and loose fitting denim trousers, tasseled loaf= ers with straight brown crew cut hair parted on the left. He asked the worried shop owner if= he could please stay that night in his shop. He did not yet feel well enough to leave; he just could not explain = what was afflicting him. Martin ob= jected and insisted on taking Steven to the emergency room at the Stanford University= Hospital tonight. Fortunately for Steven none of the officers could justify forcing him into the hospital when he showed no sign= of injury. Mary stepped in brisk= ly in a commanding motherly way ending all further discussion on the matter, Steve was welcome to stay at the shop as long as he liked if he felt safe there; = that was her decree.

With a maternal finality, Ma= ry pushed through the semicircle of men with a large steaming mug full of sweetened Orange Pekoe tea with a dollop of cream on top and set it next to= the ashtray and resting pipe on the little round table next to Steven's chair.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> She sat once again upon the armres= t of the large leather chair and shooed the men away from Steve. Conspiratorially she curved her ba= ck to look into Steve's pale green eyes, smiled and whispered to Steve to take th= ings easy and rest tonight and see how he felt tomorrow morning when she came ba= ck to open the shop. Comfortingl= y Mary told the big man to help himself to the kitchen in the basement and ruffled= his hair in her hand before going down to collect her coat and hat and then loc= king the shop door behind her as she left. In her mind, Steve was locked inside with no way to get out without breaking the windows. She wav= ed a farewell to the young police officer that had been charged with keeping wat= ch over the shop and Steven in this unusual circumstance and was gone.

Chapt= er 2

Inside the tobacconist Steven sipped from his tea sl= owly then rose with his pipe in his hand and took a few steps to the counter whe= re the mason jar with the finely cut blended and seasoned Bourbon tobacco stood amongst the other varieties. As he absent-mindedly refilled his= pipe, a very short young woman stepped into Steven's field of view and stood befo= re him quietly waiting for the alarm in his demeanor to subside. "Hello, who are you?" he= asked eventually once he realized that he felt even safer in her company than he = had sipping tea at his chair.

She offered Steve her hand a= nd waited for him to take it. As= he cupped her fine hand in his large palm, he introduced himself as Steven Palk one of the owners of the stationary on Santa Cruz Ave. As she put her other hand around h= is she exclaimed, "Well done Donny!', and leaned a little way over the counte= r as she drew him with her back to his chair.&n= bsp; "Call me Lobina," she said as she sat on the armrest of his chair with his hand in hers. = Feeling safer with her every moment Steve began to wonder at what had happened to him. Exactly as if she had he= ard his thoughts the young witch told him to stay calm, as she would show him something to help revive his memory since reviving it would be easier than explaining eight months of his life. Still holding his hand in one of hers she stood up before him and transformed herself into the same silver white wolf he had seen a few hours before and from it, he heard her sweet high voice again telling him to stay calm as she transformed herself back into a woman.

Taking a seat on one of Stev= e's knees, the witch gave him a peck on the cheek in an intimate, loving way. Then she stated in a matter of fac= t sort of way that now he would remember everything in time even why he trusted he= r. She addressed him by his childhood nickname again, Donny, based on his unused middle name of Donovan. Then she added, "Donny, I have known you all your life, I always watched out for you when you were a child= in those woods. I am sorry that I neglected you thinking you would be safe as a grown man. It took me weeks to break Sequoia'= s trance over you. Her glamour is very strong. Finally, you fell asl= eep in the woods by my hut. I had to= weave a Fairyland counter reality net around my hut, lure you into it, get you to fall asleep and wake you with a fright to drive you helter-skelter out of Fairyland and out of Sequoia's clutches.&n= bsp; She wanted you to stay with her and to pretend that you were the Fai= ry King in her realm until the boy you had with her was old enough to take your place at fifteen. I was able = to free you only because Sequoia's attention had been distracted with birthing= the baby boy. She named him Rowan= .

Steven was astonished that he now had a son. He had always = loved those woods and could remember how many times he had been scared out of them only to feel it comforting him and soothing him as soon as he was in an open glade or on the fields of the park that edged on the woods. It had always been that high shrill voice and the phantasm of the silver wolf that had done both. Putting his warm large hand on her= face, he felt Lobina's unearthly soft beautiful skin and whispered a heart-felt t= hank you. Steve felt certain that despite his emotions and words of gratitude the human language was wholly inadequate for expressing, properly, how grateful he felt, and the amount o= f love he now felt for his old friend and guardian. A thought crossed his mind; he cou= ld invite her back to his house and offer her one of his delicious pasties tha= t he had left in the fridge.

When Steven looked at the wi= tch, again, he discovered there were tears streaming from her eyes. The big man became immediately distraught and began to babble apologetically. The witch put her fingers over his= lips to shush him and leaned her head on his shoulder lovingly. Between suppressed sobs, she whisp= ered to him not to worry but that she had sad news for him. She wanted him to knock on the doo= r so that the officer could open the door. Then, she told him to ask the officer to escort him to the Stanford = Inn Hotel on the corner of the high street with the thoroughfare El Camino Real, where he would take a room for the night charged to the city hall of Menlo-= Atherton. The witch promised him that she wo= uld meet him at his room when the officer locked the door behind him.

Obediently Steven did all th= at he had been told. Forty minut= es later he was undressing in room number 28, planning to shower while the off= icer resumed his watch at the end of the elevated causeway outside his room. He had gotten the distinct impress= ion from the young officer, who had listened to him without ever responding verbally to him, that he was under arrest, but that since he could not be charged with any crimes he was experiencing house arrest. Just as Steve began to wonder why = they did not take him to his house, he heard the witches soothing voice answering his thoughts.

"Yes Donny, you are und= er arrest. You were proclaimed dead three mon= ths ago and the investigation had been closed as an unsolved mystery. Since your body was never recovere= d, they held a memorial for you on your birthday and tied up all your loose ends. The life insurance paid= Marty to cover the hypothetical losses. They sold your house on Valparaiso Ave, your Land Rover in the garage, the Porsche they found abandoned at the park, all the belongings in the house and your = investments at an auction through city hall. "

She continued speaking as the shock filling Steven made him sink onto the large soft bedspread. "Marty took care of all Aunt Winnie's needs with the butler and acted your part all the way until after = the two funerals. Everything from= Aunt Winnie's estate was transferred to your adoptive niece Silvia, as dictated = by the Trust/Estate you had arranged with your aunt and the lawyer Alfred Baxt= er as her godfather. Nobody expe= cted to ever see you again. I hope= you understand that with all the scary stories people tell about me, I could not really just appear in the mayor's office or the chief's office and declare = that you were being held magically as the Fairy Queen's Lover in the forest with= out your consent. I know you will remember agreeing to stay with Sequoia, but you thought it was Aunt Winnie = and she had you charmed anyway."

He lay with his shirt open a= nd in his briefs upon the comforter speechless and stunned as he looked up at = the witch standing over him on the other side of the bed with his chest heaving= . Every muscle in his body felt tens= e and in a knot as he felt the reality of having lost everything in his life. As he felt the warm soothing touch= of her hands on his massive shoulders, something snapped inside. With the flood of love, that he fe= lt coming from the beautiful witch into him, the six foot five giant burst int= o blubbering tears. His dirty blond hair b= ecame dark with the dampness of constant tears streaming over his face. Once again he felt comforted, supp= orted, loved, terrified, and safe like he had when a child wandering through the w= oods and then fleeing from the silver wolf into a clearing. Finally, he knew the silver wolf.<= o:p>

When the tears eventually st= opped, he opened his eyes and was glad to find his long time friend, guardian, som= etimes wolf, sitting by his head with her loving soft hands still holding his quak= ing shoulders. Steven just accept= ed without trying to understand that he just loved her at first sight and knew= he could trust her with his life without ever needing any substantiation of her accounts. Intuitively he just knew she had been protecting = him all his life and had never meant to show herself to him except that he need= ed her help so desperately now. Finally, he spoke, "I need you; may I stay with you, please?&qu= ot;

For a long while, they looked into each others eyes as Lobina stroked his chest reassuringly. She at last answered him after put= ting her fingers lightly upon his lips. Steven sucked lightly on the fingertips with his lips. She promised him to not go far. She would be invisible to him and = to others around him most of the time, but she wanted him to remember that if = he felt safe, as he had done at the tobacco shop it was because she was close. For the foreseeable fu= ture he would have to stay where the city put him so that he would pass through = the social system and get reincorporated into normal life. Later, she promised him, he would = be able to stay with her if he still wished it, but there would be many things that he would have to learn a= nd get accustomed to before he could be able to choose her company. As before, he was charmed, she swo= re that she would continue to help and protect him whether he wanted her compa= ny later or not, it was her duty and her passion.

Following the exchange she t= old him to go shower and go to sleep since he would have days of meetings, test= s, observation and evaluations ahead of him.&= nbsp; Steven obediently rose and walked into the bathroom where he showere= d, rinsed his mouth, and donned the white bathrobe over his cotton pajamas as provided by the hotel staff at the request of the officer. As he stood before the mirror look= ing at himself the tall, well-built man noticed, to his utter astonishment, that h= is hair, beard, nails, teeth, and skin looked clean, trimmed, and younger than= he remembered being when he had left at four in the afternoon of the Friday wh= en he had disappeared. He discov= ered that even though he still felt safe he could not see the witch in his room.= Though he wanted to ask her how he= could look younger and better cared for now than before, he snuggled under the covers, turned out the light and went to sleep.

Chapt= er 3

As soon as Marty left the tobacconist and Steven's company he made his way over the mountains on rout= e 92 and then down the Cabrillo Highway in his large, raised, black SUV to the beautifully set home of Silvia just north of Pebble Beach but closer to Pescadero. =

The twenty year old had boug= ht herself this fabulous seaside retreat after the double shock of losing her adoptive godfather and his elderly aunt.&n= bsp; She had already lost her parents when only seven to a catastrophic highway pileup outside New Yor= k City. They had both been away on a busin= ess trip, meeting with prospective clients for their venture capital business w= hile she had stayed to attend school.

After having lived with her adopted great aunt and being cared for by Steven as well, the young woman wanted a peaceful and uneventful life next to the sea that she loved. She had arranged to collect her sustainable income from the returns from investments she purchased in bulli= on, bonds, and fortune 500 dividend stocks. She had leased the estate of her great aunt out to a successful spa = and health club owner that wanted to use the property for a new, expanded spa/c= lub for his more exclusive clients. That also provided a bounty to the already affluent living allowance.=

It had been in Martin's mind= to find a way of attracting Silvia's attention and marrying her. Half of him knew that marrying her= would be a great financial move for him. The other part of his mind, that he would rather just forget, had be= en gnawing at him for trying to get the money without really loving the girl.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He just pitied her. As he pulled up to her driveway, h= is two sides battled silently within while the stereo blared angry rap and rock mu= sic loudly. The former business p= artner was angry because he knew that Steven would not allow the marriage, neither before or now. Simultaneously= he felt some relief for Silvia since she had not lost her father figure after = all.

Marty honked a few times bef= ore parking and locking his car with the headlights on. He waited in the beams of light for Silvia to come out onto the raised balcony. He knew that she was going to resp= ond in a hostile way to him, but she had to know.= Just for once Marty wanted to be the first to give her good news in = the hope of improving his image in her mind.&n= bsp; Of course, he had no way of knowing, but Silvia had figured out Mart= y's plan after only the second time he had taken her out to dinner. She had deliberately stalled every subsequent invitation for the past five weeks.

With a resigned irritation filling her body, Silvia donned her "I Love Kitty" robe and walked out to the inaccessible balcony in Taz slippers with her hair down. "What do you want so late Mar= ty, its past midnight?" Her = high musical voice came out sharp and impatient. Once Marty had told her that Steve= n, her godfather had been found, the girl stood silently for several long slow min= utes with her head hanging. The lo= ng auburn hair obscured the dark green eyes and pale face. From the irregular jerking of her crossed arms, one could infer that she was crying. However, Marty was too busy hoping= that she would invite him in to notice. <= /span>He stood outside, silent and immobile awaiting her response.=

After a long insufferable wa= it during which all his hopes to have her company inflated like a hot air ball= oon they all came down in flames like the Hindenburg. She yelled out for him to go away = and slammed the door behind her as she fled into the interior of the enormous house.

With his bubble burst, Marty made his way back to his home in the Los Altos Hills without any more thoug= hts, listening to the loud music. = Silvia, feeling distressed and angry called her childhood best friend Liza, and ple= aded that she come and stay the night. After having told Liza what was potentially happening, with Steven having been fo= und, maybe alive or dead, Liza had come with her mother from Cupertino to comfort her and afford ext= ra support. Eventually, after ma= ny strained hours of conversation and late night snacks, Liza and her mother h= ad soothed her to sleep shortly before the sun rose.

Together the three awoke lat= e in the morning with the ringing telephone in the family room. They had all slept on the luxurious leather sofas that littered the room and surrounded the home theater instal= led against one wall. They all fe= lt groggy and were reluctant to take up the receiver. When the answering service picked = up, they listened to the deep bass voice of the young officer announcing his station and purpose. When the= y herd the announcement that Steven had been discovered alive and well at a tobacco shop in Menlo-Atherton, Liza took up the phone as Silvia burst out with laughter as tears began to stream down her face.

Once Silvia had settled, eno= ugh to hold a conversation Liza let her speak to the officer herself. It was about eleven in the morning= when the three women pulled into the Stanford Inn Hotel in Silvia's dark green A= ston Martin DB9. Leaving the car r= unning and her friends to lock the car Silvia sprinted up to the upper level cause= way where she could see the young officer standing. Brandishing her identity at him, s= he asked to be let into the room with Steven enthusiastically.

As the door to his room was opened following a rapid knocking, Steven braced himself for the first inquisitor. He had just falle= n into the recliner on the opposite side of the room when the sudden knocking had = made him expect a hostile M.D. in a white coat when Silvia came rushing in and f= ell in his lap with her arms arou= nd his neck. The mutual sense of rel= ief was immense for both. Neither= one could speak for several minutes. Holding onto each other firmly they hugged lovingly, glad to know of each other.

Chapt= er 4

It had been nine in the morn= ing when Steven awoke out of his dreams about the beautiful young and ageless Fairy Lover of his. Again, she had = been in the linen embroidered and lace dress that seemed to be so real, but stil= l, he had never married and had not been in any relationship for years. Steven had just stayed a wealthy business-owning bachelor past his thirty-fifth years when he had mysterious= ly vanished. <= /p>

As Steven rose, he saw the witch s= itting in the recliner in the corner. She beckoned him to come to her. = In a reversal of the day before Steven sat upon the armrest of the recliner. Reaching up her hand, she stroked = his face, neck, and shoulder with a reassuring gesture as she told him to not w= orry she would help him through the coming tests. Then she sent him off to shower and dress himself while she performed an easy chanted charm to clean and press Steven's clothes as she stroked them with her hand. As she did this, she felt some rel= ief that Steven would make a good impression on the medical and legal troops th= at would be investigating his reappearance and condition. She felt remorse at his having to = endure this strange reincorporation into society because of her lapse of magical protection.

Half an hour later, Steven emerged from the bath in his miraculously clean and pressed clothes. His boots were also polished. Steven wore a quirky smile on his face. He looked at the witch = who was still seated patiently on the recliner. Steven was feeling amused at how h= is only possessions, his clothes and contents of his coat's pockets, had been impeccably cleaned, dried, pressed and laid out for him without having left= the room at all.

Feeling his gaze, Lobina loo= ked up and asked him if all was well with his attire as she looked back up at h= im with crinkled eyes and a warm flush all over her face. The big man leaned over at his mid= dle in a hind of uncertain bow and expressed energetically with satisfaction, but = with confusion, with partial words, that the clothes and boots felt as clean as = if they had been new and thanked her. <= /span>He put away his coat and cap in the vestiary

Steven stepped up to the door and said he would ask for breakfast and asked her if she wanted anything in= particular. Lobina replied while looking up af= fectionately, that she would like toast and a bowl of fruit, and to ask for a pot of coff= ee so they could both have some. As Steven knocked on the door, he saw the witch thinning herself and fading ou= t of sight as she sat with her feet on the recliner holding her knees to her che= st girlishly.

Leaning his shoulder restful= ly on the window frame behind the curtain Steven watched the young officer, through the glass, smartly dressed and occupied with some radio transmissio= n. In a couple of moments, the satisf= ied and serene officer ambled over to discover his needs. After taking the request for food,= the young man demonstratively called the request down to the hotel staff. Feeling confident and self satisfi= ed he added a comment as he half turned. "The first doctor will arrive at eleven forty five this morning= and the DA will be with you this afternoon for a couple of hours through lunch.= Lunch will be brought at one thirty." He then walked = away to his usual station at the end of the causeway after locking the door.

Steven only had to wait twen= ty minutes for the large tray to arrive upon a wheeled cart. They delivered a large dish with two hot waffles, a pot of cream an= d one of syrup, a large serving of sliced fruit,= a plate heaped with several halved toasts, a tall pot with coffee, one mug, a variety of jams and preserves, one hard boiled egg in an egg-cup, and a neat little bundle of silverware. The witch showed herself again, and enjoyed the meal with Steven, but the two did not speak. Periodically she would reach out a= nd rest her hand on his arm, knee, or cheek with an amused and loving expressi= on masking a deeper concern.

Much to his surprise, she produced a tall thin cup that looked almost like it was made of stone from = some where inside her cardigan, along with a short but deep-bowled wood spoon, a= nd a delicate but tough fine bladed knife. She ate and drank with him until they were sated. After washing her belongings and p= utting them away, she sat next to Steven on the bed with the big man's head in her hands.

It was three quarter past ten when she finally spoke after having held Steven's head for quite a few minutes. "Donny dear,&qu= ot; she began almost apologetically as she put an arm around his middle. "I will do what I can with suggestion into the mind, to make this all as smooth as possible. Soon you will be able to be with f= amily and maybe you will start over with a new business. When Rowan, your Changeling son, is five, you will have a visit from him and I will be with you then. Once more, he will visit you when = he is ten, and I will also be there. On = the eve of Rowan's fifteenth birthday, Sequoia will come with him to see you. You must not be alone with them un= der any circumstance during their stay, I cannot tell you more yet. I will teach you what I can that c= an will help you in the next few years. I am very sorry Donny, but your life will never be quite the same.&q= uot;

Steven had nodded in reply before falling silent for a long while.&nb= sp; He had inclined his head to rest on Lobina's as he thought about how much she did for him and how much he desired to be with her. He had never felt such a strong lo= ving attraction and a sense of destiny with any person except his niece that he = had helped to raise. He had silen= tly raised himself after affectionately rubbing the witch's back. He sensed from her that it was tim= e for her to make her disappearance. He had sunk into the recliner on the opposite side of the room thinking of Sil= via, when there had come the quick knocking at the door.

Chapt= er 5

Eventually they began to chat and Steven told her what he remembered from his missing months and his sudd= en reappearance. He became incre= asingly aware of how safe he felt and realized that the witch was very near to them= . His demeanor became suddenly grave= as he felt the witch was warning him without knowing how. Feeling the unexpected change in h= im, Silvia hugged him close again. She had always felt utterly safe next to him, even as a full-grown woman. Steven was so large that even as a 5'6" curvy thin woman she looked like a teenaged girl next to his 305 = lb bulk.

Steven spoke again finally a= nd said that he would have more to tell in the evening, that she should get her sleep and return after eight thirty when his exams and meetings were over.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Silvia did not want to leave and f= elt like she was being treated like a child.&n= bsp; Perceiving her mild feeling of rejection the big man gave her a sque= eze and told her that if all went well he might have something new to share with her after the sun set. After knocking to be let out, Silvia made her way down. She saw the first doctor making hi= s way up the stairs to the causeway with his assistant as she reentered the drive= r's seat.

The mother and two friends t= ook a lazy lunch at Drager's Café on the second floor of the upscale gro= cer on Santa Cruz Ave. They each enjoyed a generous dish = of fresh vegetable with either warm turkey with gravy or Chicken Parmesan foll= owed by a strawberry and chocolate mouse served on a Meringue disk. They each took a fresh squeezed ca= rrot and orange juice blend with the meal as they looked out over the oak and ash tree laden city park.

Feeling relieved, satisfied,= and exhausted from the stress and lack of sleep the friends headed home to Silvia's. They rested there u= ntil the late afternoon when Liza and her mother departed after having eaten aga= in, knowing that things were improving rapidly for their young friend.

As the sun, set, Silvia set = off again for the Stanford Inn Hotel. She felt refreshed and like a young woman again after having spent the last thr= ee months getting accustomed to feeling prematurely aged like if she was a wid= ow some thirty or forty years older than her twenty years. She had done her hair, makeup, nai= ls in the late afternoon, and donned one of her long forgotten, youthful looking Channel dresses with matching gold and green high-heeled slippers.

For months, she had been wea= ring black, brown, blue, grey, and dark olive suits with long black boots. Her makeup had been minimal and da= rk, the long hair had always been in a tight bun, and she had stayed home most = of the time. Even the groceries = were ordered online; they were delivered into her garage in the back of the hous= e, without her ever-laying eyes on the driver. She would walk up and down the bea= ch late at night and at dawn enjoying the lonely darkness and the cold damp fo= g on the coast. Her sleep had alternately been broken into short bursts or prolonged though the day for twelve hours or more at a time.

Slimmer now than ever before= but energetic and happy at last, Silvia felt like she had won the lottery and t= he Ms. Universe Pageant on the same day. She puttered up the coast and over = the hills in her rumbling sexy car enjoying her youthful vigor and wealth. The nightmare was over and she was relishing her beauty and sensuality when she began to wonder what Steven me= ant with having something new to share. Her subconscious suggested that maybe he had learned something magic= al or made a magical friend in the forest that he was going to show her. Laughing softly to herself Silvia dismissed such childish notions as too much imagination for an adult. She consoled her self with the rat= ional and reasonable notion that he had been on a secret assignment for the government and that he was going to tell her even though he was not supposed to discuss it. Her ego liked the notion = that she was that important much better. Besides, her adult mind and ego did not believe in magic and had disbelieved the stories of the Witch of the Wood since she had been eleven.=

****

Steven, sitting comfortably = on the bed next to the witch, felt very glad indeed that he had help with this social evaluation process. He leaned his head on the witch's shoulder and began to wonder what would have happened if he had stayed with the Fairy Queen in the forest. Imagining the beautiful and gentle= Queen as a delicate flower of love some of his entanglements with her came to min= d.

He had frolicked for hours w= ith her by, and at times in, a creek beneath some elms and redwoods. After having begun their games and= play with the rising sun, it had been well past midday, when she had begun to co= uple wit him. They had gone back a= nd forth between play and coitus until the moon rose, when they had broken off= for supper.

They would eat what looked l= ike bark but tasted like honey pound cake with bunches of berries and grapes fr= om the woods. For their drink and refreshment, it looked like they drank spring water, but tasted like a blaz= e of light mingled with honey. He = fell asleep in a drunken stupor every night and awoke as refreshed as if he had lived the life of a training athlete. There was only one meal a day. Once a week, some animals such as rabbit, squirrel, deer, or other herbivore was caught, ritually sacrificed, and eaten. He could not remember any fire for cooking or for warmth, but he had never been cold and the meat did not taste raw. Everything was divine and delicious.

The queen too, was delicious= , he remembered how they would indulge and feast over each other for hours betwe= en the endless days of play. At = times, she would lead him on a chase through the forest as she enticed him to purs= ue her with energetic yearning. = When, at length, she permitted him to seize her, they would make love with wild abandon wherever they might be.

Everything had seemed so per= fect that part of him longed to be back and could not feel why it should be preferable to be back with humanity. Hopeful and optimistic images of a happy and fulfilled life full of = love and beauty were a temptation to his imagination, as much as the fairy glamo= ur charmed him. A deeper, sooner forgotten part of his mind spoke also to him as it played a melancholy sweet tune of harmonious sadness, melodious tragedy, discordant misery, and cacophonous catastrophe. This= was a profound call of his subconscious survival drive calling the battle rally f= rom a very long way away.

There was grave danger in Fairyland that some forgotten part of his mind was trying to recall. A silent portion of that brain had awoken with the cries of his heart. A chill north wind bringing the message broke over him, forcing him = to realize that ultimately, if her were to stay there it would have been fatal. Of course, for fifteen= years it would have been a never-ending bounty of joy, pleasures, and contentment= . With every passing year, getting f= ree of the charm would have been increasingly difficult. After a certain number of years, e= ven if he were to escape the intoxicating charm would drive him mad with desire to= return to the Fairy Queen, as he had just experienced, but stronger.

I t would be like being a meth-hea= d and crack addict that was trying to quit, but who was continuing to take LSD recreationally. It would be virtually impossible to stay away. In the end though, just like being a drug addict, he would lose his life. The difference would on= ly be that he would have a fixed life span of fifteen years; most addicts do not = know when they die suddenly. To ma= ke it more frightening, he would be sacrificed to the Fairy King in a magical liv= ing flesh ritual, and he would go willingly and happily by then.

Lobina reached with her hands and pulled his face around to look at her.= Holding his face with one hand, she comforted him by squeezing his t= orso in her free arm. Steven, who = was feeling uncertain but also more comforted, bowed his head to touch hers and felt a warm weight filling his heart as her lips, damp, soft and warm kissed his forehead gently, yet lingering. It was relieving to be in her sure hands, knowing that she had saved= his life.

Reaching without looking, Steven's large and long-fingered pale hand extended to hold her upper arm warmly. He wanted to give her= some of the love he felt for her through his touch. However, he missed his mark having= misjudged his relative position and discovered his hand sinking comfortably into a so= ft and luxurious round breast beneath the layers of the cardigan and blouse. Lingering a moment as he fondled h= er unaware; he suddenly realized he could feel her nipple hardening in his palm. Pulling away from her embracing arm and jerking himself upright, he turned his back to her with a blush rising to his pale fleshy cheeks. Spluttering and stuttering he immed= iately began to apologize and beg her pardon.

The witch stood up and held = both his arms just below the shoulders stilling him. Once he had calmed himself, he hea= rd her soothing voice again reminding him to not worry, that she knew he had not m= eant to make a pass at her and most importantly, that she would not leave him for such an accidental transgression. Once his calm restored him to his seat on the bed Lobina told him th= at the doctor would arrive soon, so she was going to stay out of sight until t= he evening.

She asked him to save a litt= le lunch for her on the bathroom cabinet.&nbs= p; She assured him that the DA would take him for a long walk in the ho= tel grounds if he asked, giving her some time to eat. Then she put her hand on his foreh= ead as she stepped back and pushed his head up slightly to look into his eyes. She spoke "Any way, don't str= ess, your hand felt nice." The witch smiled warmly and vanished before his eyes with a smile on her lips.<= o:p>

Chapt= er 6

The psychiatrist and his nur= se had left, after having occupied most of the afternoon and evening with test= s, questionnaires, and exams, in Steve's room and at the hospital. The officer had just locked the do= or after taking his dinner request of three dishes and three deserts. Steven had justified himself expla= ining that he was expecting his niece later.

With relief, Steven heard the witc= h's voice clear in his ear a moment before he felt her hands sliding over his shoulde= rs and down his back. With a gro= wing smile on both their faces, her hands finally made their way soothingly arou= nd his stomach. They came to rest firmly on the belt strap, with her thumbs looped into the hem on his slacks. The warm surge of lov= e and affection flooding his body was reinforced by the congratulations she award= ed him on how he had performed.

The two stood there for a few minutes relieved that both doctors and the D.A. had found no cause for conc= ern. Steven could feel her soft curving= shape pressed into his back and legs; it made him feel secure, as if a large cozy blanket wrapped all around him on a cold winter morning. It was like the pleasant sensation= as one walks out to fetch the milk jugs and fresh baked bread, delivered to the gate at the end of the drive in a warm robe and slippers.

He had just begun to wish he could ask her to marry him when the witch reminded him that they would have quite a few tests yet. She al= so mentioned that Silvia would be arriving soon. With the thoughts of Silvia in his= mind, Steven asked if he could risk telling his niece about what had really happe= ned in the forest and how she was helping him.=

Abruptly, before he heard the witches reply the big man turned in her arms to face her, and he stated tha= t he would like to introduce her to his niece with strong certainty in his voice= but a meek pleading in his body. = The witch could feel his body as if he were a child asking a parent whilst know= ing the inevitable answer. The momentary wait for her reply seemed to stretch an eternity to Steven, but actually came almost instantly

. "Yes, tell her and introduce = me Donny," came her singsong reply with a warm smile.= She gave him a peck for a kiss and stepped away into the bathroom. In a boyish and happy frame of min= d, he sank back into the recliner near the door and stared at the table and two chairs that had been brought into to room upon the request of the first doc= tor. He could see his belongings strewn= on the table as requested by the D.A., who had his assistant photograph everything.

The wallet was open with its contents laid out next to it: a no longer valid California drivers license, three canceled credit cards, an organ donor registration card, a contact ca= rd with his family, business and legal representatives on it, and a number of Dollar bills arranged like a fan spreading ranging from ones to fifties. The tobacco purse and pipe had been inspected and samples taken for the lab.&n= bsp; The lighter had been tested and samples take as well as the fabric of his cap and coat. The pipe na= il had only been photographed and largely ignored.

Wanting some of his old comf= orts, Steven stood up slowly and retrieved his pipe, filled it with his favorite tobacco and brought it, the lighter and nail with him, back to the recliner. Blankly he studied = the grain of the wood table as he lit and took deliberately spaced puffs from t= he short stemmed Briar pipe. Enj= oying the growing warmth of the smoothly polished wood bowl in the grip of his fingers, his mind wandered through the forest he had spent eight months in = with the Fairy Queen. She had look= ed so much like his aunt but so beautiful.

He had felt so ecstatically happy there all the time. She= had been with him nearly all the time. He felt he was remembering only a series of dreams that seemed to me= rge into a blur of lucid daydreams. His conscious mind strongly resisted the reality of his memories; it kept questioning the fantastical dreams of striding through the trees, sleeping = in the crooks of high branches, making beautiful love under the stars.

He remembered making slow ge= ntle love to an ageless beauty. Th= ey had simultaneously seduced each other after waking from their dreams entwined in each others arms and legs. Se= quoia's long silvery blond tresses seemed to change tone as she moved her hair on h= is shoulder. Her pale, almost translucent skin glowed, a healthy golden light from within, which fixed yo= ur attention on her splendor. Th= e face was long, narrow, and finely chiseled with high cheekbones and a finely sha= ped beautiful nose and mouth.

The Queen's body was short and slim= with strong, smooth muscle noticeable beneath the semi-Rubenesque magnificence of her extraordinarily broad hips. The chest was narrow, compact, and firm with rounded breast bearing long dark nipples. Her limbs were long = and thin with delicate, fine boned structure dramatized, by the narrow wrists, ankles, feet, and hands. It s= truck Steven that in fact, Fairy Queen Sequoia was utterly unlike his aunt and th= at there was hardly any hair on her except upon her eyebrows and head.

It was only as he revisited = his memories that he began to understand what Lobina had meant by charm. Their lovemaking had stretched on through the setting sun, the rising and setting moon, the next rising sun a= nd on thereafter. He could not remember how long it had gone on nor when it had stopped. It had been magical, fantastic and= simultaneously beyond belief, but, unfortuna= tely, there had always come a time for resting.

Sleeping there, in her caressing de= licate arms in his memory, he felt a searing pain in his heart and his throat was suddenly dry and painful as he recalled the dreams, from when he had slept = in the forest. They were more li= ke nightmares that he would rather never have remembered. There had been visions of the Quee= n laying in his arms the size of a small child of six or seven, completely naked; ye= t she was also developed like a woman. Other times, he had dreamt of her court taunting him for his mortal = yet wanton human flesh. They had = teased him and molested him in a horde. All the fairies of the court had come into his dreams to enjoy him however they pleased.

He felt alone and isolated, the onl= y man amongst a dozen or so Fairies that made up the enchanted court of Sequoia t= he Queen. He dreamed of being imprisoned in a glass box in a clearing and of awaking imprisoned within wh= ile the troop of merry fairies danced about him. With a gay stride and respectful p= ride, they chanted.

"The King Father lieth therein, lusting after = the Queen, hee hee, ho ho. Apart = from his Love, apart from the Land, there he will tarry without his Fairy. Sempiternally staying sequestered, Steven's sole soul searches severely, so sourly seeing salacious stunning Sovereigns shagging satisfyingly. In dreams, he is with company and away when awake, mating the Queen. Waiting with him, we m= ay not tell when the fifteenth bell hath tolled what a great end there will be with the promised beginning! Hahah! Hahah!"

With that haunting chant in = his mind, he suddenly felt again, certain that he would have died or otherwise perish= ed if he had stayed there until Rowan's fifteenth birthday. He felt a terror of what his life = may have been like, despite the sweet loveliness of his entranced awake condition. The imaginings and= reflections of happiness, joy, plenty and satisfaction overcame him utterly while there= .

However, when he actually sl= ept his subconscious mind had been trying to warn him of the danger he was in w= ith the carefree Fairies in the woods. <= /span>Suddenly he was jolted into awareness from his wandering memories as he became under= stood the message in his dreams, he had to both not reflect the Fairies to be abl= e to escape their charm in future and how fortunate, yet unlikely, an escape he had been handed by the wit= ch because she did not reflect. = Steven turned to look at the bathroom mirror.

Chapt= er 7

In it, he could see the refl= ection of the youthful, but ancient, beautiful little witch putting on the final touches to her long and wavy brown hair.&n= bsp; He regarded her with longing love and admiration. She had subtly changed her clothes= . Her leather boots seemed cleaner, brighter like a polished golden hide. The brown canvas skirt appeared lighter and more voluminous as it billowed with luminous yellow-brown pleats and seemed to be of fine linen now. The brown cardigan had t= ransformed into a dark olive cape with a hood and train that almost touched the ground= . The tan canvas blouse glowed faint= ly of gold filament woven into light tan linen with dramatic gathered sleeves and= a provocative décolletage.

Sheepishly, he exclaimed that she looked even more beautiful and that he did not think that was possible.= With a wide grin on her face and h= er eyes crinkling with satisfied amusement, Lobina turned rapidly and dramatic= ally to face him. In a flurry of f= lowing soft fabric she twirled and then curtsied responding with a formal and arch= aic expression of gratitude that Steven did not catch. As he looked on with puzzlement, admiration, and desire, she stepped up to him with measured strides.

Once she stood in front of him, sh= e was only just taller than Steven was when sitting. She clarified herself, "I said thank you kindly my dear young man."&= nbsp; Simultaneously as she spoke, she placed her cool palms on the sides = of his face and then kissed his brow lightly just once. While she continued to gaze into h= is eyes whilst holding his face warmly, Steven put his arms lightly around her waist. In this partial embrac= e, Steven and the witch lingered for a few minutes; they took pleasure feeling= the energies flowing through each other and between them. It was the first time that Steven = had been aware of such a sensation while touching someone else. Eventually they disengaged.

Walking briskly away to the = bath, she had just disappeared beyond the mirror when there came a knocking once again. The door was opened, a= nd in walked Silvia. In her light g= reen and gold swirled, knee high, dress with a low cut décolletage and sh= ort puffed sleeves that accented her exposed rounded shoulders and supple thin = arms she loped in with slow bouncing steps.&nbs= p; The young officer lingered a little before closing the door as he ga= zed wantonly at the young woman. = With a jerk and startled embarrassment, he slammed the door and walked away without locking it when Silvia turned to look back at the door with a smile on her lips.

Steven and Silvia hugged for several minutes and then took their seats at the little table. In a few minutes, he had told the = now pale and alarmed niece the whole story of being enchanted by the Fairy Queen Sequoia. He described the mem= ories he had and of the dreams, he had recalled.= As he told her of the baby Fairy King, Rowan, Silvia began to tear a= nd sob irregularly. <= /span>

While holding her head close= to his chest, he said, "But darling, I have told you the truth and I have= a friend here for you to meet, without whose help I would not be here and I w= ould certainly die without within fifteen years. With tears still in her eyes, Stev= en helped Silvia to her feet and supported her facing the bath. On cue and without having to say m= ore than, "Lobina," the little witch paced out into view like if performing a dance and curtsied to the young woman. Feeling confused and overwhelmed b= y the stories whirling in her mind, she returned a clumsy half curtsey.

The forgotten stories about = an old, ugly Witch of the Woods that kidnapped little children that wander in = the forest alone filled her mind. The reality contrasted so severely that for a few minutes Silvia swooned in Steven's arms. Only a few min= utes later, she awoke on the bed spread with the young looking little witch cool= ing her brow with a damp towel. <= o:p>

Her first question shot out without conversational preludes. "Are you the Witch of the Woods?" Softly and with a gentle touch, Lo= bina held one of Silvia's trembling hands while dabbing her brow a few more times while she nodded affirmatively. Then she leant down, kissed her between the eyes with a maternal tou= ch of loving concern, and told her to not worry about that.

Steven was sitting on Silvia= 's other side, on the bed, holding her hand while balancing a cup of cool water intended for Silvia, on his thigh. <= /span>Steven began to tell the stories of his encounters with the witch in the woods, and how many times she had saved him, from Sequoia, without his even knowing it= . He had always just thought that he= fled from a white wolf. He told of= how she had been helping him since his escape.= The girl learned of the improbable, magical realities, and how the witch's generosity made their happiness possible in that moment.

With a jerky imbalanced lung= e, Silvia sat up and embraced the little witch without saying a word. Lobina extended her arms around he= r and returned the embrace while she stroked the young girl's head resting on her shoulder. For the first time = since she was a seven-year-old girl, she felt as if she were in her mother's arms. Like Steven, she also f= elt safe in her company. In addit= ion, the generosity of spirit and love that warmed her like the first sunny spri= ng day at the end of a snowy winter, electrified the girl. She had forgotten how much she mis= sed her mother all those years past. Silvia asked her to come and stay with her at the beachfront house some times, but= the witch could not promise that she would, until after Steven had gotten his freedom.

The witch explained how it w= as that Steven had come to be charmed by Sequoia in the first place, and how s= he had discovered the unfortunate event. It had been three month after his disappearance when she had spied Sequoia bathing with an unusual looking companion in a stream. She had been traveling through the= woods as a wolf as usual. She was f= airly safe from Fairy glamour, and its charms because she did not reflect the fairies, but there were spells and curses that fairies could set to which s= he was still vulnerable despite her heritage and high lineage. "However," she continued= , "as a wolf, even those spells cannot affect me. The Fairies would have to catch the animal and cast the spell while making eye contact to have an affect over a wolf form. Wolves are not bot= hered by Fairies usually, though."

"Besides," she add= ed, "I can run five times faster as a wolf and have significantly better night vis= ion."

She continued her tale describing how she had cautiously approached the Queen and her lover engage= d in coition in a tidal pool downstream, over a flat-topped stone. With a coy smile, she added privat= ely to Silvia that she had never seen Steven's large body unclothed before and win= ked at her mischievously. Silvia = being the open-minded, and casual person that she was, smiled smugly back while s= he glanced at Steve with a quick scan. L= eaning over toward the witch, she whispered into her ear that she should tell more about it later. Silvia touche= d Steve's knee lightly before she leaned back where she had been lying, on a pile of cushions and pillows.

A quick tapping at the door = was followed by the door opening slowly. In the blink of an eye, the witch vanished as she stood up off the bed. She usually stood or sat= on the wood floor when invisible to not give herself away with an inexplicable depression on the mattress or recliner.&nb= sp; The officer swung open the door and a young man from the hotel kitch= en wheeled in a cart with a few covered trays on it.

Steven thanked him as Silvia, now leaning provocatively over the tray cart on her hands and knees, slippe= d a fifty into his hand and asked for two bottles of Rieslings. With a look of astonished surprise= , the server slipped the bill into his coat without taking his eyes off her exoti= c, revealing dress. Blushing sli= ghtly he turned and walked out. As = the officer closed the door, whilst he peeped in, they both heard a loud yell of wow, followed by a whistle and a couple of hoots. Then there was silence again. Soon the server returned with two bottles and two enormous wine glasses, deposited the opener from his pocket, and left again with an enormous smile on his red face. A few seconds later, once the door= had been locked once more, Steven and Silvia began to laugh.

Interrupting the laughter wi= th a broad grin over her face, the witch materialized herself before them and as= ked who was hungry. Suddenly awar= e of her again Silvia jumped in alarm, and then she began giggling as she looked= at the witch conspiratorially. L= obina apologized for vanishing, but explained that her presence was not known to = the staff or the police. Silvia questioned her on what other such skills she had as they ate from the three very large dishes. The sautéed vegetables, gnocchi in pesto and croquettes de poulet were deliciously accompanied by profiterole with cognac C= hantilly. After draining the second of the w= ine bottles that Steven had opened, Silvia asked the witch if they could chat privately for a few minutes.

Chapt= er 8

Graciously Steven excused himself and took himself into the loo, where he closed the door to give them privacy. While the two ladies chatted loquaciously, Steven groomed himself meticulously with the toiletri= es he had been provided, after speaking to the amused and sympathetic District Attorney. <= /p>

To begin there was trimming = the hirsute growths in his nostrils, ears, and pelvis for hygienic and aesthetic reasons. He shaved, brushed, = and flossed taking care without attention to time. Immersing himself in warm, relaxing water, he bathed unhurriedly building a rich lather that made his skin ting= le pleasantly. Finally, clean in every accessible= area, Steven tended to his nails and cuticles.&n= bsp; With satisfied relief, he reflected on his past habits finding himse= lf unable to remember ever being so clean.&nb= sp; When all was done, almost in a trance of satisfaction, Steven sat on= the edge of the tub naked as he began to drift into more memories of his stay in the forest.

His musings did not get far though. As he sat there remembering, Steven did not notice the quick knocking on the bath door. He also was unaware of the unlocke= d door being opened until he felt the witch's soft hand touching his brow with a concerned stroking caress. On= ce she had roused him she quieted any reaction of surprise or embarrassed alarm, he may have had by putting one hand on his lips and the other on his upper inn= er thigh where it wais so sensitive his organ immediately stood to attention. Briefly, Lobina enjoyed caressing = the aroused flesh in her hand to Steven's unsuspecting surprise. With a swift bow, she kissed the swelling in her hand before standing straight before the stunned naked man = once more.

Following this, she gave a light ki= ss to his lips, reddened and swollen by the warm bath; then she deftly took up his clothes. The witch smoothed t= hem again with a stroke of the hand that was accompanied by a quiet chanted cha= rm he could not hear. She handed= him the freshly pressed looking garments and asked him to dress. The warm feeling she had put insid= e him, still remained as he walked back into the room watching the swaying walk of= the temping witch woman ahead of him.

*****

As the two women chatted unrestrain= ed to their heart's content nearly two hours elapsed. They had initially discussed what = Lobina had seen the Fairy Queen up to in the forest. She had been leading Steven throug= h a merry dance of games that titillate followed by wanton chases for miles thr= ough the quiet and isolated forest. When she had aroused her pursuing lover enough she would allow him to capture her and to copulate wildly with her like a Tom catching the she cat in heat. After the rabid fornication, the energies would subside into leisurely and enduring foreplay after a brief a= nd intensive cuddle.

After, what could at times be hours of foreplay the Queen would induce a transition to non-copulative sex= . The oral, manual, and other forms of stimulation, such as the foot, would occupy the royal couple for untold hours. At irregular intervals= , the stimulating antics would lead to coitus for some time, usually the time it = took to induce an ejaculation. The= n the entangled pair would return to non-copulative sexual activity for another protracted period.

With Silvia's attention utte= rly engrossed, Lobina put her hands on her shoulder and leg where they sat toge= ther on the bed. As she began to t= ell what roles Steven had been found playing, she described his state of complete un= dress, and the abundant visible musculature she had the pleasure of observing.

As she began to tell about Steven, the witch stroked and caressed the attractive shoulders, neck, back, and chest of Silvia with the one hand.&nbs= p; This attention provoked the little dress to fall to her waist, expos= ing the ineffectual strapless brasserie and the hardening nubs where her nipples pushed through the thin embroidery. With the other hand, she massaged and stimulated her calves, thighs,= and hips. The caressing touches w= ent on as she spoke bringing forth both whispered questions and muffled moans from= a receptive Silvia. =

Silvia slowly became engross= ed with, imagining the body that the profligate witch described, and how it mu= st feel. His broad, muscular and finely haired chest was dwelled upon then his long, well defined arms and massive, powerful hands covered in an even finer down-like fuzz over the up= per surface. The firm, rectus abd= ominis muscles, with a deeply recessed umbilicus were remarked on, as they complemented the slim pelvis and compact gluteus muscles very well. The conversation even exaggerated = the width of his broad shoulders. Such long legs as Steven had they bore such attractive lines that merged into hi= s compact and contracting body, coupling the Queen, that he may have been a Greek sculpture come to life in Lobina's mind.&n= bsp; The witch's attraction and arousal at Steven's physique infected the listening Silvia as her hands molested her.

In her agitation and arousal= , Silvia shifted to kneel upon the bed, raising he seat a few inches to offer Lobina= 's wandering hands easy access. = She leaned lightly on her companion as she continued to be ravished by the witc= h's hands as she spoke of Steve's affairs. Lobina's hand = that had been attending to Silvia's legs, hips, and rear found its way past the dainty embroidered silk brief as the subject approached the man's particular appendage. With Lobina's othe= r hand still caressing the young woman's upright exposed torso, the witch's lower fingers wound their way into her furtive, moist labia. While stimulating the hooded nub g= ently with her thumb the description of the penetrative appendage used to impregn= ate the Queen grew in detail.

The long, soft, furry scrota swaying gently as they swung in between the legs of the two joined lovers w= ere expounded on by the molesting witch. When talk of the enticing length and girth of the engorged flesh the Queen had pleased herself with, was over, the stimulated Silvia gave the wi= tch a time consuming and invasive, exploratory kiss before asking her to contin= ue.

The fathering of the new Fai= ry King, which was not only a matter of impregnation, but also one of ongoing mating, even during pregnancy and after, for over a decade, was clarified as the Queen's habit. However, t= he Fairy Queen would only conceive when she wanted to. It was because the King was the onl= y male who could impregnate her without her willing it, that she did not have a Ki= ng unless he was needed.

All the other fairies in her court could be either male or female as the whim took them to have sex with each other as they wished. Wh= en the Queen had no man all her court and residents of her dominion would oblige h= er as a male partner if they could, whenever she pleased. The Queen was always female and wa= s, also, the only one that could conceive while in Fairyland. Habitually, she would mate with me= n of her choice to add changelings to the cities around her forest.

She would either swap her changeling birth with the baby of an unsuspecting and inattentive mother at= the park, or in her own house during the night. Occasionally, she might live with a= chap or marry him if he insists on it and then have a child or two with him. When she is satisfied, she will si= mply leave him or disappear, usually leaving the child behind. Rarely, she may either offer her changeling for adoption or become a surrogate mother to an unsuspecting and very pleased barren couple. <= o:p>

Invariably, in surrogate cas= es, the couple would know the Queen for a month or two and then begin to share = the Queen as their lover. Both wi= ll enjoy staying with their lover bringing the Queen to bed with them. Over time, she weaves her enchantm= ent on both husband and wife. By the= end of the friendship, she always has both present as she has each making love = to her as the other watches. It = is only when she has enjoyed the audience and the loving affections of both husband and wife together and separately several times that she conceives f= rom the husband's ejaculations. I= n rare cases she even brings in other friends of the couple that eventually also fornicate with them and the Queen. As agreed, she turns the child over to the couple after she births t= o be raised as their baby.

What having a Fairy King wou= ld mean in the forest was not quite clear, but only the Fairy King has the mag= ic to unmake or convert a troll back to its original state. Because of a rise in the number of= trolls, the Queen had wanted to mate with a man to bear a changeling that would be = made into the King. Currently ther= e are a large number of people among the population, such as Martin Roper, who ch= oose the "biggest stick," approach to getting what they want. That is as close as a non-magical = person gets to becoming a troll unless a wizard or witch Troll make them into Goblins. However, for those w= ho have magical abilities at their disposal, the employment of troll methods, leads to becoming a troll over time.

The little witch continued explaining that there are a very small number of fairies born that grow into trolls as they mature sexually. As the signs show themselves, the Queen will banish them from her realm and ca= st a permanent confusion over them. That is why Trolls do not only seem stupid, and slow, but are so easily confused despite their brutality and strength. However, magical people that chose to turn into Trolls have to be de= alt with by the Fairy King. =

He must unmake the Trolls th= at chose that state. With his su= perior physical and magical strength he over powers and unmakes the men by either taking away their magic or turning them into imbeciles like natural born trolls. Interestingly, it is = the man's choice that dictates the outcome.&nb= sp; The women that turn into trolls are unmade more gently. Over time, he will bring forth the= woman within and draw out her magical nature.&nb= sp; Whatever particular type of destruction the woman troll was fond of,= it is that magic ability alone, he will take away. By this method, the King ensures t= hat there are still enough witches to serve and protect the population. This way he gains witch lovers tha= t bear him changeling and fairy children that increase his reach into the populati= on.

Eventually, the conversation= al ladies even discussed personal tastes, preferences, likes, and quirks in th= eir experiences. Clearly the two = were on the path to a growing friendship. Silvia even suggested that Lobina might make a very desirable step-godmother, urging her to consider marriage with Steven. Silvia was seeking other ways to h= ave the witch become more a part of her life and to learn more. The witch assured her that from no= w and ever after, she would be much more prominent in both her life and Steven's.=

At the end, after having explained how she would direct, protect and instruct them in the future she added the emphatic truth that both she and her godfather had some magic within. The only reason neith= er one seemed magical was their unaware refusal to believe that magic was real. The consequence of this refusal to believe is that the abilities are never properly awake and at the disposal = of the conscious mind. If they b= elieve, their magic will not only rise within them from the subconscious in emergen= cies, but be available for them to harness with will and desire. Furthermore, they could be instructed in employing their particular skills to the greater good and advantage of those who need their services.

Eventually the witch rose to release Steven from his self-imposed solitary confinement. Both women were in excellent humor= . When he emerged, following in Lobin= a's wake, Silvia surveyed the slightly flustered godfather almost with envy for= the witch and the pleasures she would have with him. For another hour or so, they chatt= ed before Silvia chose to leave for home at almost two in the morning. Steven changed into the pajama in = the bath. As he came out thinking= about what Silvia had said about marrying Lobina, and how well the two had gotten= on, he asked the witch if she would not prefer to lie on the bed to sleep better. Steven did not really expect her to answer. With on= e part of his mind, he felt it would be impolite to not offer. The other wanton portion of his th= oughts that lusted for the witch, he tried to suppress and not hear. To his bemusement, she accepted the offer without a second thought, nor the slightest unease.=

The witch had also been keen= ly aroused by the descriptive talk and lecherous foreplay and masturbation of = the young woman. The vivid memori= es retold, of the big man's carnal entanglements gave her a lusty appetite she= had not felt for some time. She h= ad last had sex with one of the Queen's lovers as a wolf when he had been on h= is way back into the forest as a dog. <= /span>She had recognized him as a fairy by the odd, skipping gait and the still exten= ded erection.

As he had mounted her, she h= ad asked about his whereabouts. = It had turned into a fabulous orgiastic tale of a whole family. He had spent the day with the daug= hter in the park, where they had met. In the evening, he had accompanied her home and engaged with her in the bathro= om of her parents house.

While he had been sneaking d= own stairs unclothed, her sister had discovered him and succumbed to his Fairy charms. In her enchanted fren= zy, she had offered herself to his pendulous loving protuberance on the stairs. The other sister, who= had been his regular lover at the park for some months, discovered them and rou= sed her mother in a jealous rage. The single, divorced mother, who was still a youthful looking and vigorous lady= in her mid fifties with slightly graying hair came to investigate the sibling disturbance. When she had been younger, she had also been his lover and recognized him when she had appear= ed on the top of the stairs in her minimal night shirt. She had informed her daughters of the past and what they were dealing with and left him to conti= nue loving the sister on the steps as she applauded.

When both girls had been sat= ed by the fairy steed, the mother had taken him away into the dark garden. She had also taken his pleasures b= efore retiring back to continue her disrupted sleep. He had been turning into a dog gradually, for the lope back to the forest when he had encountered the household golden retriever locked in the side, gated path because she was in heat. Naturally, he could not= miss this mating satisfaction, so he had mounted her as well.<= /p>

As a gray wolf, she had been mounted by the dog fairy next to her cottage in the woods. She had always liked this kind of copulation with the Fairies since they could not look into her eyes and feed off of her like another Fairy. However, it was simply not arousing or truly satisfying to engage li= ke this.

It had been decades since she had had a man lover. The last= one of many had been dedicated to her for forty-eight years before he had died = of old age without children. Twi= ce before, in her long life, she had even married to her lovers who had been resolute= . To both husbands, she had borne ch= ildren. To one husband she had borne, a now elderly wizard son. He lived = in Champagne, France with a witch, two unma= gical daughters, and was expecting a son in a few months.&n= bsp; One daughter had been a witch that had passed on at one hundred twen= ty one years, childless, while residing on an island off the coast of Gloucester, Canada.

The other daughter had not received the ability and had enjoyed a happy, prosperous married life in Santa Cruz, California. She had five children that had liv= ed into adulthood and two that had died before the tenth year, from illness. That had been a very long time ago though, and she only had great-great grandchildren remaining from that marr= iage. Since it would be too disturbing t= o know of their ancient and magical, Fairified relative still living, she had left them to conveniently assume that she had died without the family knowing wh= en nor where.

Chapt= er 9

Steven lay under the sheets = and settled himself in for the night while Lobina put the lights out and undres= sed herself. She folded her skirt, blouse, and cardigan into a neat little pile in the dark room. Putting the little pile on the rec= liner by the bath, she carefully arranged her boots next to it and concealed it w= ith a simple, one worded, shroud spell. Padding softly on the hard wood floor in bare feet, she came to the = bed and climbed in, under the covers in the darkness. Stretching out her left hand, she = felt for him under the covers.

Resting her hand on his ches= t, she slipped her hand under the pajama collar to feel the fine, downy hairs = that covered his softly curving large pectorals. His cool skin was slightly damp as= she felt his chest rising and falling regularly with strong deliberate movement= . Only a minute passed by before she slowly slid closer to Steven until her thigh pressed into his hip and she f= elt her breasts press into his side. She could smell his musky sage aroma. Feeling cozy warmth being shared between their bodies, she enjoyed h= is scent, letting it fill her senses until she felt giddy.

Sliding her arm over his che= st and tight muscular stomach under his shirt, she whispered her desires into = the ear of the big man in her arms. After a light kiss to his side just below the quivering pectoral, she rested her head on his upper arm. Slowly his immense body turned onto its side to face her, but still in her arm. Equally gently, the arm her head r= ested on moved beneath her to cradle her back, hip, and thigh in a soothing and caressing embrace. The witch = took out her arm from beneath the supple cotton shirt and undid the large buttons one at a time, with care.

As soon as the pajama shirt = fell open, she felt his great strength as his muscles rippled along her bare ski= n. Tenderly, he had lifted her body i= n his one arm, just high enough to not rub her delicate, exposed flesh, harshly on the sheet as he raised her until her face was almost level with his. When he had first started to move = her, the witch had lowered her arm to his covered pelvis and felt for his level = of arousal.

Softly brushing his lips on = her forehead, he kissed her as they embraced. His arm and hand that had cradled her, now stroked her back while the other arm, folded between them, caressed her soft and rounded shoulder with its long fingered hand. So it went, wi= th gentle touches and loving caresses until they both fell asleep in each othe= r's arms. Deeply they slept, with satisfied smiles on their faces. Even in their dreams, they were together.

Not even a full five hours later, the little witch awoke. She was still in his loose embrace as they spooned. She could feel his swelling presse= d into her as he was quivering with = some dream. Feeling her own dampne= ss she thought of the dreams she had of his loving her as she slid down his length. Knowing he slept heavily she grasped him a= nd placed him where she could enjoy the rigid product of his dreams, then she = slid down more purpose fully upon her object of lust.

Now she could experience eve= ry quiver and every twitch that passed through his body more distinctly. They rested engaged and in each ot= her's arms until his dreams lifted his state to a throbbing pulse. With his arms around her body and = his body curved around hers touching her along the back, rump, and thighs, she could feel every wave of increasing excitement traversing his body. All his defined muscles rippled pr= ovocatively over her skin. The traveling = waves of energy in the sleeping man's body infected her as he throbbed ever more intensely within her.

She pushed herself more stro= ngly against him and began to contract her muscles to provoke him. Having succeeded at taking from hi= m, in his sleep what she would make him wait for when awake, she turned to face h= im, releasing him from her lusty grip. With massaging hands and thighs, she stroked the sleeping body and kissed it to rouse him from his fulfilled dream.

Once awakened, he continued loving her as earlier that night. As the midwinter sun rose outside, she gradually led him toward ever more carnal pleasures. In tim= e, they became entwined again. While perched upon him with her fine fingers entwined through his chest hairs, she joked with him about having found her stallion mounting a white mare by the river, while walking through the forest.&n= bsp; The pleasures were mutual as she felt him convulsing beneath her as = she held him down with her light and loving weight.

The passionate explorations = and loving continued as they made their way to the bath. Before they even reached the tub, = they were entwined again over the sink cabinet.= From their position, they could both see themselves and the other as they adored and indulged in each other. From the prone perch over the cabinet they adjusted to be more comfortable, with Lobina crouched atop the counter and her weight leaning on Steven's stomach and chest. In a naturally choreographed dance= of love, they performed the ballet of wanton passions before the impersonating reflection. As she felt his l= arge body shudder against hers, flooding her with his love, she asked him to rem= ain her lover after all the formalities were through.

Without needing his audible reply, she could feel his affirmative answer as a second flood of love expl= oded out of him. The shuddering, throbbing body supporting hers was exuberantly responding to her request despite the prior spending of its energies. Following the subsiding of his rea= ction the big man took her up in his arms while still engaged and took her to the tub, where he let her feet down gently as she slipped off her mount on his engorged flesh. As the refres= hing warm water ran over them, she could still feel his close presence pressed i= nto her and the engorged, still throbbing point rested against the yielding separation between her posterior cheeks.

With her in his arms, he was= hed and gently soaped every thing in reach bellow her chin. Turning within his delicate touch,= she allowed the comfortable washing hands to care for her back portions. With the engorged implement now, p= ressing gingerly into her abdomen, she took it with her coaxing lips, making him in= hale sharply and drop the soap. Wi= th him leaning back on the tub wall, the randy witch enjoyed a pleasure she had not had in years.

After the bathing was comple= te, the two returned to the room intending to retrieve and don their clothes. Finding her irresistible as she be= nt over the recliner to unmake the shroud and take her attire, he joined with = her, unexpectedly. After her gasp of surprise and his initial, perfunctory thrus= ts, she turned abruptly to face him. &nbs= p; As she turned, she grasped the offending flesh forcefully with a chi= ding scowl on her face. Apologetic= ally, he stepped back, still in her grip, and endured her instructional words aga= inst his actions. Feeling his remo= rse spreading over him like a cloud of shame she smiled up at him and reminded = him there would be time for more in the evening, after Silvia had come and gone= .

The official visits continued for the next six days with the same rituals. After breakfast Silvia would visit. When she left, the med= ical doctor and assistant would come. Some days this would lead to hospital visits. By one in the afternoon, one of the legal staff would meet with him and have lunch.

Steven would leave some lunch for a snack in the bathroom, and ask to go for a walk. During this intermission, the witch would have her meal. From half past three to four, he would rest and then t= he psychiatrist and assistant would come.&nbs= p; On some of these visits, they would also go to the hospital. All, the bureaucratic proceedings,= would end by, no later than, quarter to eight.&n= bsp;

Dinner would be requested and Silvia would return with two or three wine bottles, to enjoy dinner with St= even and Lobina. Each evening the = three would talk late into the night. It became almost an unconscious habit of Silvia to snuggle up to the witch as = they talked. Unobserved by Steven,= the witch would pleasure her young companion beneath her billowing skirts and dresses. Toward midnight, the= witch would seat herself, with a skirt raised in the back only on Steven's lap, w= hile he sat on a recliner. Using h= er concealment spell, she would raise him through the breach of his trousers, = to satisfy herself without arousing Silvia's suspicion.

Every morning they would wake into a flurry of passions that occupied them for a few hours before the next day began. Silvia had the good sense and generosity to ask for Steven's measurements and preferences on the second night. The following evening, she brought him three new sets of finely made slacks and shirts so= her godfather would have other vestments to reflect his wealth and social posit= ion better. The sudden change of garments did not fail to have its desired effect on the inquisitors. Three days later came the court de= cree that Steven had been deemed healthy, sane and a free man, having committed = no crime in having been inexplicably abducted while walking in the forest. He was reissued his licenses and permits.

The court made a statement t= hat reflected their relief that they would not be expected to restore his former position, wealth, and possessions through further proceedings. It had been very simple for Silvia= to restore Steven's rights to access all the wealth she had inherited through = his supposed death, on paper, for the court's sake. The attorney, Baxter, helped them = with the paperwork. In actual fact, everything was, and remained, in the trust and both were made trustees with= out any fuss. <= /p>

As soon as the legal nonsense was over the police guard was removed from the hotel, and Steven was issued= his key. The same night, Steven c= hecked out and packed into the sleek dark green DB9 with Silvia and the witch. They headed for the park immediately, to visit the witch's cottage.

Chapt= er 10

From the parking area it was only a three quarter mile walk to the little log cabin where she lived. It would have been impossible to f= ind though, if she had not opened the door to show the interior. By ancient spell work, the cottage= had been concealed within a little hollow, like a divot on the top of a hill. The ground sloped gently where it = had been built, and there were four passages in the four cardinal directions, through the hillside into the divot. The dark mossy logs were covered in brambles and vines. To those who did not know it, it w= as just a little hedge covered in vines or an impassable thicket.

Ducking as they stepped thro= ugh the low, damp door both Steven and Silvia gasped at the enormous space within. The floor sloped into= a high roofed sitting room littered with old wood seating, upholstered reclin= ers, and writing tables with chairs. Three of the walls were covered by heavy wood bookshelves, overflowi= ng with new and old books. From = above the shelves came a soft natural light from long thin windows near the ceili= ng over the bookcases. They could smell the faint odor of old paper and aged leather coming from the bookshel= ves, where they stood. Every recli= ner was upholstered in a thick, old, brown leather with brass buttons, and each had a blanket or throw ne= atly folded and draped over its back like a pillow.

Between two towering bookcas= es on the opposite side of the square room was a dark opening that seemed to l= ead to more of the house. Without explaining the enchanted space within the little log cabin, Lobina motioned= for them to take their seats as she disappeared down the obscure dark opening.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> In a couple of moments, she poked = her head in again and asked if either wanted tea or coffee, as she was boiling water. A few minutes later she returned with a tray that seemed too large for her to carry.

Setting it down on one of the little tables with a clatter, she turned to the two seated guests with two steaming, brown pottery mugs, brimming with a rich and aromatic coffee. They helped themselves to the bubb= le like, brown clay pot full of brown, crystalline sugar and the similar pitch= er, half-full of thick, whole cream of a delicious looking, yellowish white color. The witch handed them two little b= rown plates, like their mugs. Push= ing a long and heaping, elliptical clay plate at them, covered with raisin scones, almond biscotti, and apricot topped short bread, the witch waited for them = to help themselves.

Lobina excused herself to disappear down the dark opening again as they enjoyed their coffee and cakes. Feeling irrepressibly curious, both of them left their coffee half drunk to explore the bookshelves. Amongst the many= books they could make out, in every size and color, they discovered countless, leather and parchment volumes in various other languages.

There were some modern Ameri= can books and older texts from British presses. They discovered French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Greek leather bound editions. Additionally, they fo= und Finnish, Gothic, Latin, and other forms of alphabet they could only guess at. Some looked Celtic or Gaelic, othe= rs could be Arabic or even Sanskrit, but neither could be sure. Some volumes even looked like parc= hment stacks of manuscripts that were bound by twine with marks of various length= s, some vertical, and others angled; neither could imagine there was such an alphabet that could be read. = They hesitated at taking any of them out as every book seemed to hold up those n= ext to it and those above it in nearly tottering stacks.

They returned to their seats befuddled and in complete silence as their minds tried to make sense of what they had seen. There were nov= els and reference books like on their shelves, and books about magic; they had expected that. They had also = seen texts that seemed to be about every other subject from engineering to basket making, there were even medical reference books and manuals on mines and grenades. With a bouncing ste= p and glowing rosy cheeks the little witch returned with a soft satchel slung over her shoulder into the silent room.

Wearing a newer looking dres= s of thickly layered, fine muslin that billowed and swirled around her heels and hands she curtsied low and dramatic. As she curtsied, one could see a delicately woven wool cloak with ho= od that looked like an overcoat of three quarter length, when she stood. Once she had surveyed them briefly= , she smirked and then burst out laughing. When she had gathered herself, she spoke to them as the two, smirked uncomfortably. "Tell me what books you have questions about and I will= see if I may answer you."

It was several hours later a= nd another coffee mug round before the three bustled out into the dark forest. Steven and Silvia had learned that most of the books had been accumulated over the centuries, by herself and other related witches that had now, after very long lives, pass= ed away. Each of them had been g= ifted books and manuscripts by lovers and admirers on the subjects that particula= rly interested them and their magical pursuits. A few texts and manuscripts had be= en coerced from prominent or influential officials or nobles in exchange for favors. All books served as a guiding tool depending on the times and circumstances. She did admit that she could not r= ead more than about five languages and four scripts and ciphers in addition to English. There are alwa= ys ways of interpreting languages one does not read though, but it takes some effort of course.

In the dark silence, all they could hear as they walked was the rustling of their feet over the trail and= the whistling of the wind in the tops of the trees. As they came up on the park picnic grounds and play field, the sounds of crickets became audible. The familiar noises of the park an= d the Woodside Road through traffic comforted the two. A cozy feeling of the familiar made both flush warmly as their muscl= es relaxed. The three companions= took their seats once more, on the opulent tan leather of the Austin Martin's interior as they set off for Pebble Beach.

Tranquil and sociable as they all felt, they conversed voluminously as Steven sped down the route 84 to t= he coast and turned south on Highway 1. Along the coast, they traveled until they reached Pescadero. Steven pulled off the road just by= a little white building he and Silvia knew well as a delicious, home cooking, seafood eatery they had been enjoying for years. It was open late as usual, and the= three enjoyed a fabulous meal that started with mussels and clams served in a cle= ar, seasoned broth. They each pol= ished off their dishes of various white fish prepared as they wished, served with baby potatoes, sauté of carrot, onion and green beans, and tomato sa= lad with a balsamic vinaigrette. =

After all the white wine they had drunk with the meal, they felt particularly bon vivant, so they chose to share a large helping of Pain de Gènes with raspberry and boysenberry heaped over the white chocolate mouse.&nbs= p; They took their time spoon-feeding each other indulgently between the conversation and espresso coffee.

Once Steven had cleared the effects of the drink and rich food, the affectionate little group departed = for the beachfront house. Roundin= g the tall house on the stone paved drive, they left the dark green car in its shelter, at the back and climbed the shadowy wood staircase to the terrace = that overlooked the iridescent, moonlit beach.&= nbsp; For some time they stood there together, huddled against the misty f= og and cool ocean breeze. Leanin= g on each other for warmth and feeling responsive to each other, they felt the w= aves of emotion that emanated from each person as they stood together lost in th= eir thoughts.

The relief at having gotten = free of the Queen's enchantment followed the relief of regaining freedom and identity by legal and medical scrutiny.&nb= sp; The affection they each had felt and cherished for the other two companions made them feel a tender impulse to embrace the one who was press= ed into their side. The little w= itch found herself embraced about her middle and shoulders by both Steven and Silvia. When they had stood t= here, reveling in each other's company and touch for nearly an hour, the three tu= ned together, as if having the same thought, and walked together to the door holding hands. Silvia opened = one side of the ornately carved, doublewide, front door.

They made their way through = the cool, marble tiled foyer and sitting room.= It was furnished with off white Italian leather sofas and reading ch= airs and matching olive wood coffee table and buffet inlaid with colored Florent= ine glass. The rooms and corridor= s were softly illuminated by warm recessed lights, set at head height, in the walls making them resemble torches. All the rooms and walk ways seemed to be tiled with marble or another light col= ored stone. They made their = way up to the third floor, which consisted of one en suite room and an enormous veranda tiled with a dark stone flecked with white, brown and yellow. The floor was almost black and smo= othly polished like the rest of the house.

This was clearly Silvia's retreat and had served her well these past months. Across the ceiling were three large skylights, one of frosted glass was fixed over the corner with a California King bed beneath, richly covered with sea green and sunny yellow patterned quilts. The colors and shapes= were repeated over the numerous pillows that littered the large bed, the chaise = langue, wingback, and desk chair. By = the mahogany desk and chair was set an undersized, matching cabinet and diminut= ive round table with three chairs.

From the top door of the lit= tle cabinet she took three small wine glasses, bowls with equally dainty forks = and a decanter with a richly colored, tawny port. Bellow she revealed a miniature fr= idge from which she took a bowl with sliced fruits in a light sauce. She served three portions of fruit and then handed out the three little glasses. Offering a toast of = thanks for all their good fortune the three raised their glasses together and dran= k. Once the second serving of port was poured they sat together to enjoy the after dinner snack.&= nbsp;

Silvia presumed correctly th= at Steven and Lobina would like to be together, so she showed them to the room beneath her terrace, from which they would have the pleasure of watching th= e sea from a cozy full size bed. Th= e two settled in for a relaxing rest after a pleasant shower in the oversized dou= che with three adjustable heads. = They slept peacefully in each other's arms well into the next morning.

Chapt= er 11

With the clouds thick and a misty shower trickling down the windows the witch awoke to Steven's gentle kisses on her neck and comforting caresses of her hips and leg, by his great hand. For some time they enjo= yed frolicking together in the cozy comforter, away from the chill morning. As the sun finally broke through t= he gray morning, they rose and took deliberate pleasure in another lengthy dou= che during which they copulated beneath the warm spray of the six showerheads.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>

On their way back to their r= oom wrapped in a towel each, Silvia passed them in the corridor and announced t= hat she had provided them with robes, all in pink satin she pronounced apologet= ically, but comfortable. Steven had n= ot really paid attention to how he had wrapped himself as his attention had be= en focused on the beautiful little witch, and so had left his swollen appendag= e to work itself out of the fabric as he walked. This careless revelation did not e= scape Silvia's attention. She blush= ed, a deep crimson as she passed the enormous, gifted man and winked coyly at the witch as she passed her. Lobi= na gave Steven a playful wallop on the bum and whisked his towel away as she closed the door behind her.

Deftly, from behind, the wit= ch took the joint of the erection and scrota in two fingers, and gave a precise pinch that brought the erection crashing down. She warned him about what he had s= hown Silvia and told him to be more careful.&nb= sp; Steven was pale in response to the news, and his breaths came short = for a few minutes. He had grown accustomed to thinking of Silvia as a daughter even though they were not actually related.

Without a word more, Steven dressed the pink satin robe that made him look like a giant in a slightly l= oose tutu. The witch turned to fac= e him after dressing an identical robe and burst out in giggles. Still sputtering she took his hand= and led him down stairs in search of the kitchen on their bare feet. Silvia was found leaning over the = broad gray stone counter reaching for the bread knife, attached to a magnetic str= ip with many others. She had alr= eady set upon the gray granite topped kitchen table an olive wood cutting board = with a long, dark tan baguette and fat loaf of a nearly black rye. Next to it lay a delicate Delftwar= e stack of plates, a butter dish and a little, matching set of Delftware butter and cheese knives.

From the counter she returned with the bread knife and a little tray with three kinds of cheese and two j= ars of fruit preserve. When she t= urned and discovered them, Silvia nearly dropped the little Delftware tray as she shook with laughter. To distr= act himself from the duet of bubbly giggles emanating from both women now, Stev= en scuttled to the huge, refrigerator and took refuge in the buzzing hum inside its door, where he looked for something to distract him.

When, after a few moments, he returned with a large, matching Delftware jug, filled with an orange and ca= rrot juice blend, both women were containing themselves. They stood close together, shoulde= r to shoulder, pursing their lips and averting their eyes apologetically. He turned back into the kitchen ho= ping to occupy him with making coffee or doing anything. Before he had taken more than one cautious step, the witch, and his niece, each took him by one elbow and sang their apologies between burbles of giggles. They dragged him, tenderly, to the= table and onto one of the robust wooden chairs of the same light oak as the base = and the cabinets.

After having soothed his discomfited state sufficiently, with complements and reassurances, they bus= ied themselves with preparing the servings.&nb= sp; The witch and the niece worked in such unison that it resembled a choreographed dance. Steven e= ven thought, for a flitting moment, that perhaps they had rehearsed this. Without speaking a word between th= em, and with every action leading, flawlessly into the next three dishes were prepared, each matched to a Collins glass brimming with juice and a fine and broad mouthed Delftware cup with coffee on a saucer.

Thoroughly distracted from h= is former self-consciousness, Steven enjoyed the company and a hearty breakfas= t. Once the three thick slices of rye= with cheese, the length of baguette, half buttered and half with preserve had vanished off his plate, the big man sank into a pondering silence as he dra= ined his glass. Setting his glass = down, he looked with loving contemplation at the ladies in his company. As before, engrossed in banter, th= ey were unhurriedly consuming their food.&nbs= p; He waited for them, enjoying their enchanting voices, joyful company, and irreproachable beauty.

As the two ladies raised the= ir cups to drain them, Steven did the same.&n= bsp; With the clatter of the cups broadcasting an end to the meal, Steven spoke in his much deeper, rumbling voice.&= nbsp; To him it seemed an absurd contrast, to the light and high voices of= the cheerful women. He stated tha= t he would go out for a long walk and then spend some hours in the reading room gathering his thoughts, after having had to talk endlessly with the inquisition. Without wanting = to be rude or wanting to push the women away figuratively, Steven just felt he ne= eded a bit of quiet, solitary time, to choose his course from this unexpected new start. Silvia nodded directly= and made an invitation to the witch to go out on the city with her.

*****

As the two women set off in = the rumbling DB9, up the Cabri= llo Highway, Steven wandered off onto the rocky be= ach with a wave. The sun was brea= king up the mist and he could feel the warming rays through the soft Merino wool sweater he wore over bare skin. Rejoicing in his new freedom, he began to ponder his former life run= ning the shop with Marty. He remem= bered how much satisfaction he used to feel opening and closing and the numerous headaches that distributors and deliveries would give him. Inventory had been a never ending,= rote task that had kept him away from most of the bookkeeping.

He and Marty would always au= dit each other quarterly, before the tax paper work was submitted. That was the thing that had caused= him the most grief. The quarterly= tax reviews with the accountant and the annual burden of an even bigger pile of= tax workbooks at the close. At le= ast now, he would only have to touch the Internal Revenue gobbledygook once a y= ear and then only to review and sign. He looked forward to just letting things develop as they might. It was a nice change from constant= ly thinking of work, to thinking amorously about a woman, after so many years.

Steve recalled briefly, that= the only relationship he had had, while in high school, had been with a tall, t= hin, blond chick on the cheerleader squad. He had been a defensive back on the school football team. Ever since he had set up the shop = with Marty, three years after graduating, she had badgered him to marry her. After three years of that, he just= could not stand the relationship. W= ith the business growing, and the shop adding floor space and inventory, Steve found he did not want to take the time out for the relationship any more.

Now, Donny, as the witch lik= ed to call him, felt very differently. Now he knew that his shop had reaped its rewards after fifteen years= of unending work on the business, this added to his growing feeling of readine= ss. The receipt of an inheritance with= the unfortunate death of his aunt only intensified his desire to spend time with and take pleasure in the company of this lovable witch and his niece. Even her choice of endearing appel= lation brought him a glowing joy within.

It was time, he knew, and he= was now ready for a relationship. He would invest as much time as was needed to give Lobina the same happiness s= he had brought him. However, simultaneously he was aware that it was not possible to spend all his time = with her. She had her life and obs= cure magical work to do. Steve pro= bed about in his mind for what else to occupy himself with as he made his way b= ack into the house. With a tray b= earing some miniature tortes, a thickly layered rye bread and cheese sandwich, a g= lass of juice and another cup of coffee, he set off to enjoy investigating his options in the silence of the reading room.

For the rest of the afternoon different ideas filtered into his mind on the winds of the communal mind, or bubbled up from his past and experiences and formed swirling, colorful pools. Through the pool= s of ideas and breezes of inspiration, he waded until the sojourning women roused him in the early evening. Amo= ngst his thought experiments, Steve considered such possibilities as going to college, teaching himself several languages, fishing, writing books, taking= up photography, and many other things. It was unlikely that he would chose the occupation that would fill y= ears of his life in one day, but it was a start. For nearly two decades, his though= ts had been filled by only one focus. It felt clunky and disorderly to seek for a new occupation, but as he set out on his investigations, there was a quietly confident smile across h= is lips most of the day.

At the end of the day, when Steve was brought out from his mind's wanderings, he had formed a short lis= t of ten interests to look into first. With it, he had compiled a, slightly too long, list of questions for Lobina. He quickly scanned it before getting up for dinner with the ladies, and decided to ask them over the cou= rse of weeks instead, a few questions each week. Intuitively, he felt he would do b= etter with the answers he would get.

*****

Silvia took Lobina on a love= ly scenic drive up the Cabril= lo Highway into San Francisco on the Great Highway. They stopped at the beach for a wa= lk on the broad, sandy expanse of beach before the Beach Chalet on the edge of Golden Gate Park. For several of the morning hours t= hey strolled from the Cliff House to Sloat, by the city zoo, and made a loop into the gr= eat park to visit the buffalo enclosure and the Dutch windmill on the way back.=

It was well into the lunch h= our when the two chatting women took a table by one of the large windows of the= Beach Chalet. From the little table= they took delight in a delicious linguini with grilled chicken and pesto dish th= at they shared and a gorgeous, windswept seaside view. Well satisfied and rested from the= walk, they set off up and over the hill in the rumbling sport car, taking O'Farre= ll all the way to the overpriced, subterranean garage beneath Union Square. From shop to shop, the two ambled, making cursory stops to gaze inattentively at displays and eccentric individuals or tourists as they conversed.

The absorbed friends did man= age to purchase some more clothes and shoes for Steven, including a more fittin= g, forest green, terry robe, and wood slippers. They amused themselves greatly wit= h the lingerie selection, but did end up with a small selection for each of them. With the sun beginning = to sink into the horizon in a blazing multihued, flush of colors setting the s= ky alight, they set off for Lakeshore, where Lobina had a half sister known as= The Lady of the Lake.

All the way through the city streets, Silvia felt the witch's tender touch caressing her thighs and groin with a stirring, careful pressure. By the time they parked near Lake Merced, she felt a growing moistness beneath her silk skirt.&= nbsp; Led by the witch's warm and humid hand, cupping in Silvia's, they walked about one third of the way ar= ound the lake to a growth of dense reeds edging around a little hillock.

Stepping through the reeds careful= ly, a narrow gap about half their height was visible in the sloping side. It resembled a little cave, only b= ig enough for a young child to fit through with any ease. Still grasping Silvia's hand, she = positioned the toes of both their feet in the shadow of the opening, and beckoned her companion to do the same. Onc= e they were both properly aligned, she spoke a rapid, unintelligible phrase, so quietly, that Silvia could not catch a single word despite, standing with touching hips beside her.

Without even perceiving any movement, she felt giddy for a moment, and then she was standing inside the hill, on a narrow stone path leading down.= Looking behind her, she could see the light coming in the opening, i= lluminating her leather boots' heels. For= a few meters, they walked down a steep slope in the darkness. When they reached the bottom, they= found a tiny arching wood bridge over a trickling creek with ferns and lilies edg= ing it densely. There was a delic= ate light that appeared to come from the sparkling water itself that illuminated the ascending path on the other side.

On both sides of the upward = lane was a lovely garden with little flower beds and shrubberies with lush greens. Silvia had begu= n to wonder if the sides of the hill were truly letting the sunlight through into the garden, when she was distracted by a soft and friendly alto voice greet= ing them. As she focused her eyes= ahead of her, she saw a delicate and finely drawn elderly woman approaching her i= n a loose fitting white dress. Th= e lady of the lake seemed almost to look like her, but with dark grey, long hair a= nd an indefinable look of great age. Silvia and the Lady were both the same height, with thin bone structure and slim, curvy body. Somehow, it felt = like looking at her own, yet aged, but beautifully well preserved reflection.

The time from when Silvia fi= rst touched her hands to when she found herself stumbling through the tall reed= s by the lake again in the dark, seemed a blur of dreams. For a day or so she was not even s= ure it had been real, her memory kept constructing stories for what had actually happened instead of allowing the reality to be accepted.

She did remember having plea= ded with Lobina to teach her how to be a witch once she had been told that the ability was dormant within her. I t had been clear from the witch that she could sense her latent witch talent = that was not in every person. Silv= ia had even been told that developing it would be easy, just time consuming, painf= ul and required her committed faith.

Silvia also recalled having = been taken to visit the Lady of the Lake to b= egin her learning. What had happen= ed came back to her only in fragments and images for five days during which her dreams retold her, the tale of the five day and five night ordeal in Fairyl= and that seemed to have only taken a few hours of real time. However, to assure her that her re= collections were concrete, she had received five marks upon her body that would fade wi= th time.

The two had headed straight = home, from Lakeshore to Pebble<= /st1:PlaceName> Beach. Silvia was in such a state after t= he proceedings that she did not feel fit to drive. Despite not having been issu= ed a lawful driver's license, the witch drove them home as well as if she practi= ced driving daily, which she almost never did.

Chapt= er 12

Having collected Steven from= the reading room, and his tray of empty dishes, Lobina conducted both Steve and Silvia into the kitchen. "Donny darling," the witch began once they were both seate= d, "you wanted to be with me, and if you still choose to, I will be with = you, I did ask you already to remain my lover.&= nbsp; Silvia has asked to learn with me, so she shall." Taking Silvia's right hand in hers= she showed the yellow mark of the circle quartered by a cross in her palm.=

Steven, feeling taken aback,= was silent, but a rising expression of pleasure and pride spread over his face gradually. While still holdin= g her apprentice's hand she spoke to her gently, but with the intonation of comma= nd, beneath. "The first less= on, and one that will be repeated this week, is to have no shame as long as your will is good, now show all the signs to Donny." Silvia, understanding without thou= ght for all the meanings of each word, pulled off her silk dress as she stood u= p stepping to the side of the table. To = her surprise, neither her bra or briefs were on her in addition to not having h= er boots, but she had not noticed this before when she had dressed in the room with the bed inside the hill.

Steven, distracted by his ni= ece's sudden nudity did not perceive that the witch also undressed before him. He snapped out of the brief trance= when Lobina began to explain to both, the significance of the five signs and how long it would take each to fade. Starting with the yellow circle qua= rtered by cross on Silvia's right hand, Lobina proceeded, explaining it was an old mandala signifying the sun and its projective power. "As the sign is absorbed over= five weeks, the carrier receives vitality and self-confidence within it."

Taking Silvia's left wrist, = the witch turned the under side of her fore arm to show a gray, nearly transpar= ent caduceus with the point to the wrist. "As a sign of Mercury, the sign will fade in five days, promoti= ng her communicative and divining abilities.&= nbsp; These abilities, when mastered will combine with other understanding= to amplify healing work, both physically and spiritually."

With her palm now on Silvia's forehead, she pushed the over-hanging locks back to reveal a white quarter = moon. "In five new moons, it will f= ade while encouraging lucid dreams, intuition, and rhythm. It will also have some effect in promoting fertility in her and through the healing work, in others." She smiled warmly at her pupil and suggested that she may have quite a few children, but warned her to be wary= of conceiving with the Fairy King, Rowan.

Without allowing Steve to br= eak in with his questions, she moved on to the next sign absorbed with her pupil. With one hand, she rai= sed Silvia's large, soft, and well rounded left teat. Beneath it, over the heart, a black Pentagram was clear and it would be with her for five quarters; or one could alternately say fifteen months. "It embodies the four elements of magic conjoined, Fire, Air, Water, and Earth.= The elements span the many ways th= at magic may be channeled through one's body, mind, and soul. The four also cover the four cardi= nal directions abstractly and all the forces that come from or to them and thro= ugh the cross roads that is also seen on the symbol of the sun."

While she had been talking, Steve noticed that the witch fondled the breast and nipple affectionately.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> In addition, he became aware that = the witch had her other hand resting on his Silvia's pubes and was massaging her groin, but that was, somehow, hard to be sure of for Steven. He = too was learning quickly to trust his perception and understanding of what he experienced without needing absolute proof and knowledge to believe it. Part of his mind was wondering abo= ut what he did not yet know about the beautiful little witch that was now his lover. The less conscious lev= el of his mind lunged out at him, forcing him to realize both that the witch was putting an idea into his mind to also remove his clothes, and that despite = the presence of two gorgeous, naked women, he was not at all aroused.

Aware that he wanted to do f= or the witch what she asked of him, he stood up. While listening to the witch speak= , he undressed, still feeling his subconscious communicating with him. Once stripped, he looked at = the witch and saw her face crease with a smile and her left eye, wink at him.

With Steven standing, feeling more relaxed than before, the witch related that the last sigh, the mark of Venus, was the most personal. Simultaneously she turned Silvia with a hand on her hip to show the = sign of the female in green on the small of her back with the cross at the bottom curving over her rump. Little= more was said about it except that, if she could learn how, her animal form woul= d be the she goat. The particular talents that came with that sign would come though experience and independe= nt learning. It will be with her= for five years.

For reasons Steve could never explain, on sight of the mark of Venus on Silvia's back and rump, he had an immediate physical and emotional reaction.= His phallus sprung to attention with clear secretions surfacing with= in seconds. The fact that the beautifully shaped hips and bum, interrupting the smoothly curving back and legs belonged to his niece were completely erased from his mind at once. He became instantaneously, a raven= ous lusting man that only recognized a desirable, available and fertile woman before him. As he stepped forward, a= rching his back with hungry cupidity in his eyes, he flushed lightly with a rising pulse.

The witch took his aroused p= rojection without hesitation, into one hand and encouraged Silvia to turn to face them with the other. As soon as he= lost eye contact with the mark, the spell was broken, but the witch had seen the first signs of the force within Silvia's sign outside of Fairyland. Silvia had just caught sight of St= eve's spell bound condition before it vanished with the mark turned away. She sat herself on one of the kitc= hen chairs with a satisfied, confidence warming her that relaxed her mind, and = let some images from the visit to the Lady of the Lake wake in her. She was aware of Lobina and Steven in the kitchen with her, but she was so pleased with being marked a witch that she paid no attention to them until Steve declared he w= ould make dinner for them.

While Silvia sat, lost in her own thoughts, Lobina had salvaged the enormous erection from being lost with the breaking of the spell. She kept Steve stimulated in her hand while she told him what had occurred. She warned him to n= ot allow himself to look on Silvia's lower back under any circumstances for at least five years. If he did, = he might wake from his trance to discover his manhood to have sacrilegiously impregnated his niece without his knowing what he did. She added that there would normall= y be a belt to help with this complication.

With a severe look up at his face, her warning came out clearly, as she sat before him with the engorged erection still in her coaxing hand. The witch proclaimed disastrous consequences, the details of which s= he could not see clearly, to Steve and the young witch if he were to ever enga= ge with his niece, even if by the spell of the sign. Then she proceeded to enjoy the st= iffly sprung implement with her mouth. When she had drawn out from Steve's flesh every enjoyment, and all h= is seed, Lobina declared with satisfaction that despite the wonderful drink she had just benefited from, she was still ravenously hungry.

Steve responded with an enthusiastic announcement that he would make dinner. He used the energetic announcement= to distract his mind from the disturbing swirling left in his mind by what the witch had told him about his reaction to the mark. Turning away into the kitchen, sti= ll naked, he was so relieved at averting his eyes from the danger of his niece= 's newfound magnetism, that he did not notice that he was still unclothed. He set about peeling potatoes, cho= pping lettuce, tomato, and olives, seasoning, and breading the veal filets and preparing white gravy. Distra= cted by preparing a Vienersnitchzel dinner, he did not notice the two women leave the room with their clothes, copper belt, staff, and shopping bags in hand.=

Silvia led the way, holding Lobina's hand, and brought her to her room. While they showered together washi= ng and massaging each other, they discussed the events at the lake that she could remember and Steve's reaction to her sign.= Silvia began to see what the witches had meant by the learning invol= ving pain, and she realized that the force of her fifth sign was only the top of= the iceberg concerning its magic. As they talked and increasingly fondled one another, she was glad of the belt = the fairies had given her.

To soothe Silvia, the witch began to play with her as they showered.&n= bsp; They continued the erotic frolics started in the bath, in her room, and tried on the vario= us pieces of lingerie in a playful but arousing game before making love together. A couple of hours later they were = so deeply focused on pleasuring each other orally when the knocking at the door came, that neither one heard it, or responded. This forced Steven to open the doo= r to announce that the dinner was ready. To his amusement and entrancing surprise, he found the two gorgeous women occupied, facing each other with their faces hidden between the other= s' thighs.

It was by a chance fortune t= hat Silvia was still wearing a burgundy garter belt that concealed her sign mos= tly. She was lying over the witch with = her back to him. The witch had he= r legs dangling over the edge of the bed. Steve could not see the sign, so he could not be entranced completel= y by it. However, its force of inf= luence still aroused him and drove away any natural or conscious sense of caution about having sex around or in front of Silvia.

Unthinking, following the motivating force of her enchantment, he moved toward the women, naked, and = with the swollen flesh swaying languidly before him. As soon as the witch felt his body approaching the bed, she broke contact with Silvia's moistened labia and chanted a quiet and short charm to attract him. Lobina raised her legs into a crou= ching position around Silvia's shoulders and returned her attention to stimulatin= g her passionate pupil. =

Steven, subtly influenced by= the charm and the witch's suggestive thoughts, entered her womb, forcing Silvia= to take her lips away from Lobina's labia to entertain her navel and stimulate= the clitoris with gentle touches of the hand.&= nbsp; Steven loved the witch's body until she broke off the entanglement following a loud orgasmic outburst. While recovering from the violent z= enith resulting from the stimulus of two lovers, she suggested they go have dinner. She permitted everyon= e to go as they were, except for Silvia, who was told to cover her Venus sign wi= th the Copper belt. In single file, = they all followed the witch down and into the kitchen where they stuffed themsel= ves with the mouth-watering dinner and plenty of Viño Verdi wine.

It was late in the night when they all went to bed. Silvia,= after proffering them each two sloppy good night kisses went to her expansive roo= m. Falling upon her covers in a buzzed delirium, she fell asleep dreaming of fairy lovers and unimaginable, but fantastic magic with sex energy. Lobina and Steve bathed together and made love again in the hot tub looking out to the coastal mountains. Then the lovers cuddled together in their cozy room, where they eventually slept in each other's arms.

Chapt= er 13

While Silvia slept over the = next few nights, her memories retold the events that began with the hill in which the Lady of the Lake had led Silvia into= her dreams. In her dream, it seem= ed that time moved slower in that other world she had entered, but also faster= . She was sure that five nights came before she had left for the lake outside, but only a few hour had elapsed. = There were ceremonies and rituals f= or her all hours of the day and night. Some of the events were even led by creatures that were clearly not human. However, the Witch of the Wood and= the Lady of the Lake were always present and supported her with every rite and meeting in spirit if not in the flesh unt= il the fifth sign was sought. Wh= at puzzled her was the irrepressible sense that she must not miss her first ch= ance to go back at the new moon, or she might lose a precious love.

On the first night, she was taken = by the witches, one taking each of her hands, to a well with stone walls. They had stood on the wooden cover= of the well together. In unison,= the three had turned imperceptibly to the left and slipped in through an openin= g in the fabric of space-time. It had felt exactly like discovering a gap in an old barn gate, one checks aro= und to see if one is observed before slipping through and out of sight. They had emerged from what felt li= ke a dark tunnel, through a similar gap, into an unrecognizable place full of sm= oke and the scent of burning in the air. As they had walked toward a rising earthen slope, she could barely m= ake out the flickering glow of bonfires and the smoldering luminescence of red pools of fire that might have been molten lava. Even the ground itself felt hot and seemed to smoke like the burning fields of peat.

A Centaur greeted them reverently as they approached, bowing low.= When he asked whom they had brought to the Flame Pit, Silvia was introduced as the unborn sorceress. This provoked a courtly and reverent reaction from the tall man with= the body of a horse who put forward one hoofed foot and bowed low before taking= her hand as he rose. Her entire b= ody had tingled as she felt his hand holding hers. With a pleading note in his voice,= Lord Mavis Gyre, as he had introduced himself, bade that she mount his back as he would take her across the river of fire to the collar of coals at the edge = of the Pit. With encouragement f= rom Lobina, the Princess of the Redwood, and the Lady, Duchess of Lake Shore, Silvia had stood beside the lord Centaur and allowed him to lift her with one arm, onto his back with effortless ease.

The experience of sitting up= on his back had felt much like a separate dream. As when he had taken her hand, aga= in her body tingled all over and she broke out with goose bumps. She discovered herself becoming immensely aroused as she felt his muscular back flex in rippling waves with= in the grip of her legs. In her hallucinatory state, she imagined herself being ravished, and lovingly penetrated by his enveloping muscular body and rigid length. Part of her senses told her that i= t was in her mind, and part of them believed it was real. The part that sensed the hallucina= tion wished he truly were making love to her.&n= bsp;

She felt his strong arm arou= nd her waist again as he lowered her on the edge of a five foot wide bed of smoldering coals. Feeling a s= trong sense of disappointment at being put down, she scanned her surroundings. Before her was a wide ring of smol= dering coals with a stone ring at the center that looked like a well with a pillar= of fire shooting up from within. Feeling his tingling touch on her shoulder, she heard his deep, musi= cal voice speaking to her gravely. Her task was to walk across the burning coals to the Flame Pit and then to stand within the flame. He ur= ged her to keep the faith that had brought her this far. With faith, she would not be scorc= hed, and would not feel any heat from the cool, non-consuming flame. The flame would feel her and mark = her where her projective force would come strongest. In a more reassuring tone, almost conspiratorially, he inclined his head onto her shoulder and advised her th= at if she did her tests well, and if things went as the stars foretold, they w= ould meet again on the fourth night and her wish might come true before the appearance of the forth mark. Of course, Silvia had no idea what= he meant for she could not know = that the Centaur could feel her desire for his body.

As he departed from her, the= re was an aching longing within her as if she were losing some precious secret possession she had not had time to enjoy yet. When she blinked, she found both w= itches flanking her, almost touching her, and silently urging her to go on as if t= hey were speaking into her mind with a suggestion. Feeling safer and more confident w= ith their company, Silvia set out toward the Flame Pit over the coals without thinking specifically about what she did.&= nbsp; The vivid memory of the sensation of riding the Lord Centaur's's back occupied her utterly.

Silvia did not notice the ri= sing heat from the coals and was hardly aware of the Flame until she became awar= e of a tickling all over her body. The cool flame was feeling her all over like a swirling cloud of downy feathers= . In her mind, she thought the fire = spoke to her on a contralto voice that was impossibly high pitched, like the hard= ly audible clicking of porpoises. It was asking her questions that she could not catch with her conscious mind, but = that some other part of her was clearly answering. The tickling seemed to slowly focu= s into one point at the center of her right palm and then abruptly ceased. The cool yellow flame surrou= nding her in the pit seemed to waver and split into a dozen petals of fire, expos= ing her to the air as they leaned out over the stones ringing the Flame Pit.

With the brief splitting of = the flame, the palm of her hand began to gain heat and begin to burn. She raised her hand to cool it in = the night breeze. While this went= on, she noticed the colors of the twelve petals of fire, wavering and changing rapidly through the colors of the rainbow.= Once the flames settled on a brilliant bluish green the pain in her = hand ceased and the petals snapped shut around her. The heat rose suddenly very high, = almost burning her hairs, and scorching her skin. Equally suddenly, she felt a biting= cold surround her, and then she was outside the fire, standing between the two supporting witches on a grassy hillside in the early morning fog. She could see the Flame Pit blazin= g in the distance, on the other side of a river of fire. From beneath her feet, there was s= till the rising heat and smoke of a field of burning peat. Silvia knew that it had not been a= dream and that she was in the same, changed place that had brought out on her pal= m, a yellow circle quartered by a cross.

The three witches made their= way back to the fold in time-space and vanished into the darkness of the passag= e from the increasingly bright, bu= t cool morning on that desolate place. When they emerged from the next crease in time-space, it was into a bright world of thick blanketing clouds.&n= bsp; Silvia could feel the steeply slopping ground beneath her cloud-obsc= ured feet, but she had a disconcerting sensation that she was walking on the clo= uds themselves. Through her hands= , she could feel the reassurance of her two confident friends holding hers. In her mind too, she could feel th= em suggesting to her that there was nothing to fear in any of the places she w= ould go with them.

Within the clouds, she could sense creatures, great and small moving about unseen. As a break in the clouds appeared, Silvia witnessed a great crystal structure rising before her. It resembled both a castle and an enormous hall. Its top was hi= dden in more thick clouds high above her head. It felt to Silvia, as though they w= ere no longer walking, but being carried along on a conveyor belt of wind upon a s= heet of glass. Within sight of the great, curving crystal doors, they were suddenly stopped by a force that co= uld never be trespassed. Immediat= ely the three were faced by three magnificent creatures that landed before them.

Before them set down the breathtaking, sight of an appaloosa with broad, pale, feathery wings. With it came a bluish brown Griffin with the = midsized mustang body topped with a terrifying golden eagle's head. Taking her notice last, but the on= ly one to speak, there was a Harpy. = She had a gargantuan golden brown eagle body with enormous talons. Above that, the head and chest of a beautiful dirty blond with hazel eyes and a pronounced and pert woman's che= st with tanned teats and dark brown nipples that were fringed beneath by the golden brown plumage. She loo= ked suspiciously at the three and asked what they, "land-bounds," wan= ted at the realm of the Queen of the Welkin Sylphs and Nymphs. Lobina declared that they had brou= ght one newly awoken for the test of the finding.

With the hostile expression = on the Harpy's face changing into a wry smile disguising a dubious amusement, = the three creatures bowed their heads in unison. Into her mind, Silvia felt the commanding suggestion to curtsey with the witches. As the three creatures raised their heads, the three visitors returned the complement by curtseying deeply. The Pegasus stepped forward and the invisible barrier was suddenly gone from before them. As the Pegasus stepped up to stand between the Princess of the Redwood and Silvia, the Harpy told Silvia to ta= ke the mane so that she might be borne away to the Labyrinth of Black Mirrors.= She added that her task was to fin= d the Queen at the center and do exactly what she instructed without asking any question. Turning her attenti= on to the other two witches, she announced that as they knew well, they could sha= dow her passage and support her confidence; however, no help could be given in = the finding or the test.

While she listened to the instructions of the Harpy, Silvia wrapped a couple of fingers through the l= ong and silky mane that was hanging over the Appaloosa Pegasus' neck by her side. At once, she felt giddy= . Within the blink of an eye, the di= sorientation passed and she found herself upon the back of the winged horse, at eye level with the Griffin's dark, fixed, observant right eye. = She could feel a sense of pleasant encouragement coming from it as they gazed at each other. She knew suddenly that there would= be assistance of another kind for her to discover in the Labyrinth. The worry she felt about not being= able to get assistance from her enchanting companions dissolved as she found her= self smiling at the Griffin. With herself upon the Pegasus, Sil= via watched each witch rise onto the back of one of the other creatures; then t= hey rose into the bright, cloudy sky. Quickly Silvia lost sight of both other beasts, and was left to gaze over the neck and head of the striking animal as it parted the clouds and b= eat its immense wings with slow and powerful strokes.

Chapt= er 14

Through the thick white clou= d cover, they soared until, because the clouds began to thin, Silvia perceived they = were descending. By the time they = broke through the cloud cover, they were only about six feet from the ground. They set foot in a little circular= park, surrounded by rose and honeysuckle hedges.= In the center, there was a tall, but narrow stone fountain with a Phoenix perched a= t the top. The magnificent bird wat= ched her intently as she dismounted, turned to face the Pegasus, and curtsied thankfully to it. When the cu= rtsey was completed, Silvia heard an enchanting song from the bird that sounded l= ike it contained a note of approval. With the wings beating, the horse rose into the clouds once more.

Silvia, curious about the bi= rd, circled the fountain observing it intently, until she stumbled over a little pillar of stone on the far side of the fountain. As she looked up ahead of her, whi= le lying on the ground, she discovered the only gap in the hedge, flanked by w= hat looked like two enormous, smooth walls of black glass. The walls were several feet thick = and resembled stone, but they had an odd translucence that was characteristic of glass. Sitting herself on her= haunches, she rubbed the painful scuff on her left shin with her right palm absent-mi= ndedly as she gazed at the strange markings on the little obelisk she had tripped over. To her astonished surpr= ise, the pain vanished with the scuff in a few seconds, leaving only a reddish m= ark of a recently healed wound. L= ooking at her hand more carefully, she discovered that her mark was glowing faintl= y, and she could still see a trace of her blood on her hand from the scuff that was healed.

„∫∫„‚∫∫∫∫=

♪∕∕∕∕∕∫∫∕=

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′′′′′∫∫∫ ∫∫∫∫„„‚

♪∫∫∫∫∫„„‚̶= 1;

„∫∫„‚∫∫∫∫ͨ= 5;∕∕∕∕

◊∫∫∫∫„„‚<= /span>

′∫∫∫∫ ∫∕∕∕W= 25;∕′′′

∞

Looking carefully now at the marks, Silvia had the strange sense that each set of marks was a word and t= he phrase read from top to bottom with the words beginning from the right, she thought. Following an intuiti= ve sense that understood the stone, she put her right hand over the marks for a minu= te and felt nothing. She followe= d with the left switching hands. A m= oment after she had planted her left palm over the characters a phrase formed in = her mind and a searing pain consumed her entire left arm from fingertips to the shoulder joint. Rubbing her f= iery arm with her right hand vigorously, she wondered what the phrase she had perceived could mean. "L= ove from (the) Sylph Queen (to) find the Lover then (the) Heart."

She could not make the seari= ng heat in her arm dissipate with her massaging hand, so she decided to distra= ct herself with the maze, having forgotten about the Phoenix she had set out to gaze at. As she entered into the glass walls= she noticed that they rose high above her and disappeared in the clouds as the palace had. Once she was well= into it, she heard the same approving song from the enchanting bird. Turning briskly to look back, she = caught a brief glimpse of the trilling bird; then she was shocked to see the two e= nds of the walls close rapidly and silently.&n= bsp; She was trapped inside the labyrinth. With the shock of horror she screa= med and ran back to try to get out. Without a sound, or mark upon the ground, those immense stonewalls h= ad swung shut like a trap and looked as if they had always been that way from the beginning of time. Still shak= en, and with a painful left arm, = Silvia remembered that she had been told that nothing would hurt her and that what= she had to rely on was her faith.

With those thoughts in mind = she turned back into the labyrinth to find the queen. Thinking distractedly about the ph= rase she had inexplicably comprehended from the stone and about what she had bee= n entrusted to do for her second sign, Silvia meandered through the long corridors of b= lack glass. Finding gaps that led = into new corridors, she would turn down one or another sometimes. No longer feeling the pain in her = arm, she became increasingly engrossed in finding a pattern to the labyrinth. Once in a while she would look up = and discover the Phoenix soaring in and out of the clouds over her.= It gave her the impression that the bird was watching her progress.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Silvia wondered if this is what ha= d been meant by another kind of assistance, but her intuition told her that it was something else that she had to find. She felt the help was mentioned in the phrase, but that did not seem= to make sense to her conscious mind. &nb= sp;

It seemed that hours passed,= as she would find dead ends over and over.&nb= sp; She was getting hungry and the pain in her arm was starting to bother her again. With a growing sen= se of doom and despair, Silvia realized that the clouds were darkening and the sun was setting, somewhere far out of sight.&n= bsp; With a rising sense of failure, she huddled in a corner of another d= ead end and buried her face in her knees with tears in her eyes. For some time she cried out of fea= r, loneliness and despair. She l= ooked up abruptly, there was a noise of scuffling and snuffling echoing on the wa= lls around her, but she could see nothing in her alley. Feeling cautious but curious she b= egan to crawl toward the entry into the other corridor. With a tingling all over her, she = felt the thuds of lumbering steps between the scuffling of a dragging object vibrating the ground near her through her hands.

Hesitating to look around the corner, she suddenly saw the massive foot, shod in a rough leather boot like those of the middle ages, set itself with a thump, just by her. Recoiling with alarm, she looked u= p to see the enormous body, supporting itself on the wall with a hand, swing its weight forward to bridge the gap. The other trouser clad and boot shod foot was laboriously dragged ac= ross the opening until it rested limply next to the other. Silvia could see that it was a tal= l, stocky, fantastically muscular man, yet not really a man at all. He continu= ed past the opening in the wall with great effort as she watched with astonish= ment the swaying horns on his head. He had the head and shoulders of a bull, with the body of a man, but not quite= the musculature of either. He wor= e no shirt and she could see where the bull hide and fur transitioned into the d= ark olive skin of a hairy man.

Rising quickly Silvia discov= ered herself feeling no fear of the Minotaur, but was filled instead with a floo= d of compassion and sympathy. It w= as clear that he was severely injured and had been like this a very long time.= It took little effort for her to c= atch him up, but she discovered that catching his attention to stop him was much more of a task. Following him= , she tried yelling, poking, grabbing, and standing before him with waving arms.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Eventually she smacked his thigh a= s he was passing her again for the fifth time.&= nbsp; It had been unintentional, but she smacked his limp, injured leg bec= ause that was what she could reach. Instantly the Minotaur wailed in agonizing pain and fell flat upon i= ts face still wailing in pain.

Acting without thinking very hard where her intuition was leading her, Silvia pulled the trouser down to reveal his thigh. Upon it, she discovered a deep, festering wound as deep as his bone, filled with filth a= nd maggots consuming his flesh. = Still she simply followed her leading impulses without question, all her thoughts were for how she could relieve his insufferable pain, could she help him somehow? Putting her right ha= nd over the circular wound he had acquired from a disagreement the Minotaur had had with an irate, illtempered Unicorn, she focused on driving away the infection and infestation. Subconsciously she felt the repulsion of the squirming filth beneath= her palm. She raised her right ha= nd and shook it vigorously in disgust. As if it had been attached to her hand, the pillar of filth and magg= ots came out with her hand and were scattered down the path as she shook her ha= nd clean.

Placing her left hand over t= he wound instead, the searing pain she had been feeling in her arm pulsed once= as if compressed and then released by a piston. Like water, collecting around a dr= ain it was washed in a hot flood, down her arm and out her hand into his limp thigh. A few minutes passed a= s her hand rested on his wound. She= could feel the pain leaving his thigh and the relief filling the Minotaur. His body relaxed beneath her touch= and he seemed to breathe more evenly. She felt the heat rising back into her hand and arm, but now there w= as no pain in it, just pleasure and relief.&n= bsp; Several minutes later, she removed her hand to find the gash closed = and the skin healed with a thick scar where the whole had been.

She heard his hoarse and rou= gh voice thank her with poor diction and imprecise pronunciation. It was not the voice of a man, and= she was not sure he had spoken in an actual language. However it was, that she comprehen= ded what he said, it did not concern her, she felt awash with affection for the creature and was glad she managed to help him. Still with the trousers down about= his knees and boots, the Minotaur rolled onto its back and sat up. For the first time Silvia saw his = huge, deep, dark red eyes in the glimmering light that seemed to come from the wa= lls themselves.

They sat together without speaking for a long time. She= sat close to him and put her arms around his bulk affectionately. She was tired and hungry, but reli= eved to not be alone in the dark maze. In response to how she felt the Minotaur put his strong arms around her and dr= ew her close to him. With her sh= oulder resting snugly against the comforting body and her head leaning on his fury= shoulder, she felt him reach down to his trouser and draw out a little packet. He presented it to her like an offering. <= /p>

With him still holding her in his arms, she gently, unwrapped the fine muslin to find a neat stack of fine wafers. She knew he meant for= her to eat. Biting into the first= , she tasted the flavor of honey, almond, and a fine grain, maybe rice, but it did not really taste like any of them. It was delicious; with her mouth watering, she started on her second= and was astounded to find her hunger subsiding already. These wafers looked so insubstanti= al, tasted so wonderfully, yet were so filling that they could not be compared = to anything she had ever eaten before. After folding the fabric around the wafers again, she returned the packet to him and looked up at him as she lay in his arms.

In time, she noticed that he fell asleep. She knelt beside= him and looked him over carefully as his powerful chest rose and fell in his sl= eep. His black horns curved forward, we= re pointed, and hovered close over his bull-faced brow menacingly. The bullhead, much larger than the= head and neck of a man made him seem much larger than the man would have been. On his beastly face though, she discovered a softly curving smile on his tender, leathery lips, she kissed = them impulsively as she drew in his musky arousing scent of virile testosterone.= With her hand resting softly on his chest she also saw the lines and marks of long pain and suffering that shou= ld not have been on a bull's face if he had not also been a man. She examined and touched soothingl= y his strongly muscled body and took particular care to examine the way the bullh= ead and shoulders gave way to the massively developed arms and chest covered in curly dark hairs. =

Taking her time, she discove= red the generously formed body of what could have been a very attractive man in= his prime. As she explored him wi= th her hands and eyes in the dim light, her hands were the first to discover his trousers were still pulled down. Before she realized this, her hand had found the enormous, distended male organ she had not expected. Caressing it gently in her hands, she could not imagine why she shou= ld not have expected it, but her pleasure with its massive form made her forget all, even that he had once been depicted as a man-eating beast in the ancie= nt tales of the Greeks. Feeling = like an animal herself, she enjoyed what she had discovered.

Oc= cupying herself with her satisfying finding, she did not notice that she had woken = him from his slumber by massaging and kissing his expanding male organ. As she busied herself with the ple= asing flesh, the Minotaur's large and muscular hand found Silvia's corresponding organ beneath her rumpled, partly raised dress. The skirt of the dress had already= been sliding up, onto her rump, exposing her brief. Without any hesitation, he removed= the garment with one tug and a ripping sound.&= nbsp; At the sound of the tearing briefs, Silvia giggled to herself with satisfaction. She sat up brie= fly while he stimulated her and reached beneath her dress to remove the constricting brassiere. They continued pleasuring each other until Silvia felt the throbbing in his flesh. Like the creatures the= y both felt like at the time, they coupled in the labyrinth as if it were the rut.= As the sun rose over the labyrinth= , they awoke, still coupled together, where they had collapsed into sleep after spending themselves energetically in the night.

Si= lvia could feel his weight on her back, his arms wrapped around her and the brid= ge of flesh she had been ravished with, still held within her constricting cer= vix. Opening her eyes, she realized that because of his great height, she could see his horn, dug into the ground ah= ead of her, propping up his head off the ground. It was a strange effect too that s= he perceived just before he awoke, Silvia thought she saw the shadow of a midd= le aged man's face with a bushy beard and long hair within the bull head. The shadow also had a pronounced n= ose that reminded her of something. Before she could catch her memory though, the Minotaur awoke and kne= lt behind her and began thrusting into her belly once again. After he had brought her to another throbbing, convulsive, screaming orgasm, he stood up.

He was clearly feeling very much better than when they had f= irst met. He adjusted his trouser = and boots, and then offered her more of the wafers as he crouched beside her satisfied body lying on her side. Gently, he picked Silvia up in his arms after they had eaten, holding her securely, and close to his chest. Silvia breathed in deeply, fulfilled with her Fairy-lover, enjoying = the musky and arousing scent of his hairy chest and furry shoulders as he carri= ed her off down the labyrinth purposefully.
Chapte= r 15

Af= ter passing many corridors and making several turns in various directions, the = two lovers emerged into a circle that looked exactly like the beginning of the labyrinth. The only differenc= e was that where the little obelisk had stood, there stood a splendid looking, wi= spy woman with dark hair that reached her ankles; it blew in a nonexistent high wind like a king's standard. = She stood before them, naked; displaying her delicately shaped hourglass form a= nd softly rounded, small, but projecting breasts. Her grayish-bluish skin was irides= cent and nearly translucent. On her broad face with unpronounced, subtle features, was an expression of satisfaction mingled with happiness and knowing.

&q= uot;I see that you have already completed the tasks I had in mind for you Silvia,= you have your mark already." She spoke with a wispy, light voice that sounded like the wind singing over hil= ls and through trees. Raising th= e left arm Silvia had rested, dangling over the Minotaur's supporting limbs, she discovered the faint imprint of a Caduceus on the inside of her forearm. "Your lover of this night has= been my lover for many centuries past. As I can see, you have benefited from his adoring attentions and male magnificence. I ask you to te= ll me truthfully, do you will and desire to have the Minotaur as your lover, Silvia?" Still in the ar= ms of the great creature, she turned to look up at his bull face with the ancient marks and creases of pain and suffering.&n= bsp; Looking again into his dark red eyes, glittering in the morning light like two fires in his head, she was again filled with the sense of affectio= n, sympathy, and lust that had over taken her the evening before. Slowly she turned her head to face= the Sylph Queen with a loving smile and responded in the affirmative.

The Queen nodded approvingly at her choice and honesty. She told her that he must remain i= n the labyrinth, but that she would be allowed into the garden at every new, half, and full moon. Additionally, = it would be the Phoenix that would show her the passage from the barrier into the garden each visit, but she must never show her privilege to any other creature, beast, or man. After nine moons, she wo= uld conceive by her lover if she persisted with the three visits permitted by t= he lunar cycle to bear her first daughter.&nb= sp; The Queen even foretold her great gift of the mark of Venus for her fourth sign and told her to keep her head up for a great strength would com= e of her brazen ways. Silvia heard= but was not sure how to interpret her message.= From her perch in the arms of the Minotaur, she scanned the little p= ark, once the Queen had spoken, and discovered that Lobina and the Lady were both standing by her side with proud expressions blended with happiness upon the= ir faces.

Si= lvia put her hand on the snout of the bull faced, man with a loving touch and as= ked the Queen if she might have an hour or so with him alone before she must de= part for the next seeking. The Syl= ph Queen obliged grinning immodestly, and promptly vanished by a slight turnin= g, with both other witches. An h= our later, the three returned to find Silvia joyfully impaled on the mammoth or= gan of her lover, next to the fountain. In her hand, the witch of the wood carried Silvia's dress and boots, left behind in the labyrinth after the night of passion. She dressed and stood by the three= women as she watched her Fairy-Lover withdraw into the labyrinth and the walls cl= ose behind him. Shortly there aft= er, three flying creatures that had first greeted them descended from the cloud= s, onto the little circular garden that was the beginning and the end of the Welkin Labyrinth.

Th= is time Silvia was offered the Harpy as her transport. She was pleasantly tickled by her = soft and smooth feathery back. Sil= via discovered the Harpy, despite her initial suspicion and ill humor, to be qu= ite chatty and engaging. The enti= re flight they conversed over the roar of the wind in their ears. She even invited Silvia to come ea= rly in the afternoon on the three nights she would visit the Minotaur, as there we= re other creatures that the Harpy thought Silvia would like to meet. Then she reminded Silvia that she = would bring her back to the gate, the barrier, after sunset for her to meet the <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Phoenix as they landed.

Si= lvia, Lobina and the Lady dismounted their beasts and set off up the now clear and wind swept hill, away from the crystal citadel. A short while later they came upon= a little, black glass obelisk with different engravings on it, but she was prevented from scrutinizing it by the gently restraining hand of the witch = of the wood. She told her there = would be another time to using that stone. Only when Silvia brought her newborn daughter to see her father and the Queen would he have need of the obelisk.= They turned into the space-time ga= p, just next to the obelisk, and were gone, in the blink of an eye.

It= took them a good deal of time to traverse the dark space to the next opening. Walking in silence Silvia held the= hands of her companions happily, as she thought of her impressive lover in the labyrinth. When they emerged = atop a lushly forested cliff top, it was dusk.&nb= sp; A short distance away, a quickening river could be seen glimmering a= s it careened over the cliff. They= set off toward the water in the light of the quarter moon. Stopping at the edge of the water,= they waited patiently, listening to the rumble and swish of the moving water. Into her mind, she felt the reassu= ring voice of her instructor telling her to remember that no magic can be suppor= ted by or withstand moving water.

As= they waited, Silvia discovered her eyes adjusting to the dim light. She began to see shapes moving in = the shadows; soon she thought she could make out animals of various sizes moving about at the edge of the woods. There was a rabbit that came toward the water unconcernedly, but it = was unusually large with oddly thick fur. Silvia thought at first that it might have been a beaver she had mistaken. With surprise, she = found it had antlers like a deer, which were covered by a velvety skin with downy fuzz that was very much like a deer's new growth antler. However, it was actually a lagomor= ph with the typical muscular haunches, big hind feet, and short bushy tail. Silvia watched the Jackalope have a drink in fascination. She was= so very absorbed that she scarcely noticed the Manatee Selkie approaching the edge = of the river where they stood.

It= was only when the manatee-skinned woman came ashore, splashing river water on Silvia's feet, that she noticed. Deftly, the Selkie stood up at the edge of the shore, stepping out of her manatee skin, as comfortably as if she were letting her bath towel drop. Standing before the thr= ee witches, nude but on dry land, she curtsied and addressed Lobina formally a= s my Princess of Redwood. She decl= ared that she was at her service deferentially.= Silvia began to wonder what she was Princess of, and why she never mentioned it. This princess w= as remarkably humble for how Silvia had expected a Princess to act. Then again, the Sylph Queen had not appeared particularly magisterial either, but there was undeniably an ineff= able power and inner strength to them both that was not in the others she had met. She reflected on the fantastical physical power and projective energy she had felt in the Centau= r, Lord Mavis Gyre, and in her lover, the Minotaur. Lord Gyre seemed very much like the Duchess of Lake Shore, sequestered into authoritative, managerial roles wit= h no real power, but one that is essential in its interstitial qualities.

Ge= ntly, Silvia came out of her wandering thoughts by the tender coaxing of Lobina stroking her face and hair. S= he suddenly shivered with a cool night breeze swirling through her fine dress. She was barefoot, and = felt the cool damp earth between her toes. Shaking her head to clear it, the apprentice found she was looking i= nto the gentle and softly featured face of a plump but stunningly beautiful, ve= ry young woman, like her. Her sm= all rounded nose, captivating dark brown eyes, dainty curving chin, and thick, = wavy dark hair matched perfectly with the softly rounded shoulders and dramatica= lly curvy body with strong legs. =

It= was clear from her expectant and pleased expression that the Selkie had been conversing with the Princess and the Duchess about Silvia's adventures in pursuit of the signs. The int= ent way she gazed at her was almost reverent and loving, like that of a much younger sister. She could not= help but return the affection. As = they exchanged warm gazes, without warning, the Selkie woman embraced her tightly and hissed her lips passionately. When the kiss broke off, she spoke in a husky and excited voice full= of arousal. She would take Silvi= a to the island stone at the center of the river, on the edge of the waterfall.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> To Silvia's alarm, she added that = after she had dived through the cascading water they would meet beneath the spray. She informed Silvia th= ey would then go together to the Gambol of the Lake-River Sprites at the Great Tellurian Hall.

Wi= th one smooth movement, the Selkie stepped into her manatee-skin and it closed seamlessly around her as she fell onto the ground and drew herself back into the water . Within a blink of= an eye, she was sliding back into the river, gazing at Silvia beckoningly. Silvia followed into the water wit= h the silent encouragement from her mistress, in her mind. She could feel the cold air on her= skin as she dropped the dress into Lobina's hands. The water was surprisingly warm co= mpared to the cool air, but the current challenged her to keep her footing as she walked into the water beyond the depth of her hips. Without forewarning, Silvia was sw= ept up by the Selkie as it passed between her knees. With her feet hooked on the flippe= rs, Silvia was conveyed through the rushing water to a broad, flat stone on the edge of the waterfall. It was only ju= st high enough to not be submerged. Once Silvia had pulled herself onto it, struggling against the strong current, she felt as if she were standing in the water itself.

She thought, as she looked out over the waterfall to the quieter river bellow, = how could she learn any magic from the water of a quickening river if moving wa= ter resisted it? Silvia did not h= ave to wait long before she felt a delicate feminine voice speaking to her mind as= if it were the rock speaking into her feet.&n= bsp; That was not quite it though, for the voice seemed to also whisper i= nto her ear from the light of the moon that glistened in the water next to the stone. There was something fa= miliar about the voice, Silvia had heard it before, in a dream she had, shortly af= ter Steven had disappeared. With = that memory, she suddenly knew it and understood the dream that had perplexed her for days before she had pushed it out of her mind. It was the Fairy Queen Sequoia tha= t had taken Steven to father Rowan, the new Fairy King. The confusing past had started to = make sense with the unexpected present.

Chapter 16

Si= lvia listened carefully to the story the Queen Sequoia told, but deep inside her, antipathy and rage rose to a boil as the tinkling voice elucidated her. In her dream long ago, Queen Sequo= ia had come to her private balcony displaying her extraordinary naked beauty. She had taunted her with the sugge= stion that Steven, her mentor, was alive but out of her reach. She had taunted her with his sexual prowess and the charms of coupling with him that she would never have. She had sounded threatening when s= he had said that they two were so alike, but that she had no way to learn in order= to save Steven. Yet she had also sounded sympathetic of her suffering and wanted her to not worry about his whereabouts. Sequoia had told= her he would be her lover for fifteen years and that the King would then rise to take the throne. Leaving her = dream, the Queen's last words were to expect the King, for she would send him to l= ove her. Now, Silvia was learning= , and she already had a great fairy lover.

Se= quoia began her tale over the waterfall by telling the story of the witch of the = wood and of the Lady of the Lake. Both were her daughters, but by different fathers. The former= Fairy King had been consumed by her and perished after she had been violated to c= onceived the Princess of Redwood, three hundred sixty nine years ago. He had caught her at the foot of t= he waterfall beneath where Silvia stood, where she had been bathing. It had been seventy-seven years si= nce his coming of age at fifteen years. During those seven decades, he had been occupied with his love affai= rs with mortal women across the countryside as he had pursued the trolls and goblins that had been plaguing the land for at least a hundred years.<= /o:p>

Sh= e had been fleeing from him for only seven nights when he took her by surprise in= the spray. The Fairy King, being = the only male she cannot charm and that can subdue her, made her with a magical child that was not meant to be. The Princess of Redwood is both a Fairy and a witch. She is not mortal, but suffers and enjoys pleasures like a woman. She can manage the world of humans like a woman, and can change the flow of time and reality, like a fairy. Wh= en injured or birthing she suffers pain and loss of blood. Through sex and food she can be st= imulated, satisfied and pleasured. She = feels the benefits and suffering that come with generosity. However, she also can take or give energy to others directly in any way she chooses, the way that fairies feed each other physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. The bark, wafers, fruit and fairy draught are how land energy feeds fairies.= The flesh sacrifices are part of that system too, but that is also h= ow fairies suffer with the land and for it.&n= bsp; The flesh invigorates and causes pain. The hunt gives pain, the killing c= auses suffering, and consuming the flesh is like dying in a way and then being reborn. Different Fairies undergo the task every week in a kind of rotation= .

The Duchess had been her daughter by the same Wizard that had fathered the last= Fairy King. When the Fairy King had= been only four years old, she had this daughter by her chosen man mate, as Steven had also been. However, the D= uchess was truly a changeling woman with the abilities of a witch. Her title shows that she was born = to a Queen, and as such, she will have an unusually long life, but is mortal. The Queen's tone changed without a= ny transition from the faraway, longing voice of the past into a crisp but mollifying note like that of rain falling on a lake.

The Queen began to address Silvia as "Luna, my child," and told her of the clarifying, magnetic powers of the moon that they shared. Likewise by the gaining of the lun= ar mark through the powers of water her natural daring disposition and fertili= ty of mind, body and soul would fulfill themselves.

In= explicably irritated by every word the Queen spoke into her, her fury burst out as the Queen began to tell her of the mark of Venus she would also share with her. It had been a pleasure t= o hear the Sylph Queen tell of the expected sign of Venus, but to hear it from Sequoia, the one that brought her so much pain and that shared so many qualities with her, brought out her temper. In a daring attempt to flee from t= he voice and the anger bursting in her, Silvia took the only way off the stone= and jumped into the stream of river water falling into the river bellow.

As= she fell, she could still hear the taunting voice chuckling as it taunted her, "= Just like the Queen, but just a mortal, a mother of many, a witch of plenty.&quo= t; Half way down the cliff, her head w= as the first to pass through the falling water, instantly the voice was gone. Momentarily relieved, Silvia sudde= nly saw the water swirling below her as the rocky cliff behind the waterfall ru= shed past her. For a flickering mo= ment, she wondered if she would survive the fall. In a flurry of lightning quick mov= ement beneath her she saw the dark shape of the Selkie emerging through the falli= ng water. Silvia hoped that she = would be caught, and closed her eyes. Her fall was suddenly broken; she had been caught and gently brought into the w= ater by an unseen pillar of energy projected from extended right hand facing the water.

Wi= th a tingling on her forehead, Silvia waded through the waterfall to the gentle = part of the river some distance away, accompanied by the Selkie who offered her support in the swirling waters and misty spray. In a silent gesture of friendship,= the Selkie signaled her to stop walking and offered her back to Silvia. Feeling somewhat shaken, she was r= elieved to embrace the Selkie as she lay onto her manatee-bodied friend's back. Keeping well to the surface of the river, the two traveled a good distance in the moonlight. Passing through the dappled light = of overhanging trees, they eventually emerged into a broad and long lake, the = end of which could not be seen. Moving through the water at a leisurely pace, Silvia could imagine t= he pleasures of being a Selkie. = In time, they reached the shore, beneath several overhanging trees, but they aimed f= or one Toyon tree with a portion of its roots exposed over the water where the soil had been eroded, exposing a little cave.

As= they got close enough for Silvia to walk, she could see a little cave opening beneath the overhang roots. <= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Silvia found that the only way to f= ollow the Selkie through the gap was to swim as well, even though it was so shall= ow that she was almost crawling. They descended through the dark little tunnel and emerged into a well-lit pool of water as large as several Olympic pools but shallow enough for her to stand in. It was full of fairies of= every description in it. Around its= edge was a vast hall of earth and stone in which were more fairies, cavorting, feasting, and some snoozing in the corners after having had too much drink. Leaving her pelt on the shore with many others, the Selkie woman joined Silvia at the table with the food and drink in all her voluptuous glory. The two chatted amiably as they ate. Silvia's spirits had been lifted significantly by her journey down the river, and had reached new hei= ghts with the frivolity and flowing energy in the feast hall. As the food and strong drink went = to their heads, the naked Selkie woman and Silvia began to kiss and fondle one another beneath one of the big tables.&nbs= p; After making love for a lengthy period of time, they rose to refill their goblets.

Sa= ted, and bearing enormous goblets with drink, they set about meeting the other attendees. The Nymphs, Sylphs, Gnomes, Dwarfs, Fauns, and Lam= ia all seemed to know her; she was recognized immediately as Luna. Inadvertently, the two river compa= nions parted as they engaged in banter with various different fairies. Silvia found herself engrossed by = the Lamia who spoke w= ith a peculiar accent mixed with a rolling purr.= She sat with Silvia like a large cat in her mountain lion body. From her smooth pale face, neck, a= nd shoulders rimmed by golden blond hair that hung beyond her tawny, fur cover= ed shoulders, her amicable small features that made her as beautiful as a young girl, spo= ke volubly with the student witch about Sequoia's realm. Her feminine head and shoulders bl= ended into a glowing tawny fur coat that partly concealed the alluring curve of h= er small womanly breasts upon her muscular mountain lion chest.

Mo= ving on after a long chat, deeper into the dark recesses of the cavernous hall s= he found couples and little groups dancing, copulating, playing games, and sleeping in numerous dark niches. Silvia was drawn into one of the dark niches where, in her own drunk= enness. There, she discovered a Faun entangled with a Nymph with whom he was making love passionately. Just out of sight, in another shadow within the niche, Silvia witnessed the Queen Sequoia enjoying the copulator= y attentions of Lord Mavis Gyre. Close by,= and wantonly watching his Queen being ravished, a lone Moose Faun lay with an anticipatory projection of his arousal lying on a ledge in a dark fold of t= he large niche. The moose man wi= th the antlers, man proportions and mixed features of a burly man with moose hide, hooves, tail and reproductive organs, awaited his turn with a beastly sized= protuberance perpendicular to his horizontal body. Already predisposed by the frivolity about her, she demanded the attentions of the well-equipped Faun. For over an hour she exchanged ple= asures with the muscular, horned man with the lower body of a bipedal moose. The Queen, having been dismounted = by the Centaur, came seeking the Faun's attentions and was pleased to discover the= two so intimately united . She suggested that Lord Gyre should fulfill his anticipated liaison as Silvia h= ad wished his penetrative attentions at the Flame Pit. With a grin of satisfaction and a dripping, swollen cleft, but few clear thoughts, Silvia took her place by t= he Centaur and the Queen had her attentions absorbed by the fecund Faun. Taking more drink from her massive goblet, Silvia took pleasure in teasing the well-endowed Lord as they cares= sed and conversed in the shadows.

As= their chat progressed, their caresses advanced into more intimate foreplay. Soon he had his forefeet firmly on= the wall as he penetrated, thrusting skillfully with his enormous length into <= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> the lovely young witch. Silvia, who was bent over with her= head by her knees and her back pressed into the soft earthen wall shuddered with pleasure and satisfied desire at every&nbs= p; plunge of the lord's equine implement into her womb. She asked her impaled Centaur to b= e her lover on a regular basis. He agreed, but requested her to always meet him in the <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">forest park at night as he took his res= t by day. For a good long time, th= ey were joined in passionate copulation. Departing from her new lover with yet more of the fairy draught in h= er goblet, and greater quantities of love potion seeping from the inflamed lab= ia, Silvia set off through the caves again. The amorous witch made a stop on the way out of the niche to give the Queen a l= ong, covetous, and exploratory kiss while she was ravished by the vigorous Faun. With a tingling heat in= her back, Silvia found a Nymph named Madrone, lying in another small, dark niche alone. She lay next to the de= licate sensual, naked nymph on a thick matt of woven green leaves, soft as silk an= d as lush as a thickly furred skin.

Wi= thout planning her actions, Silvia, in her state of arousal, found the Nymph irre= sistible. Touching the Nymph in her arms gen= tly and stroking her lustily, she felt the irritation in her back rising. Silvia asked the Nymph to see what= was troubling her back. Looking r= ound her shoulder at the Nymph, She witnessed the suddenly excited Nymph, transforming her feminine form into an equally androgynous looking male form. With Silvia leaning for= ward on her knees, she felt the engorged male flesh of her hermaphroditic lover piercing her womb and filling her belly.&n= bsp; Joined in satisfied lust the two were too preoccupied to detect the arrival of the Queen, the Princess, and the Duchess. Madrone was utterly natural with t= he provocative touches of the satisfied and wanton Queen Sequoia. When the Queen turned her attentio= ns to the newly marked witch, Luna the Coveted, she jumped slightly and settled comfortably into her inciting hands as the Nymph continued his attentions uninterrupted. The proceeding= s were brought to a close by the wanton kiss of the Queen who was also molesting t= he young witch as she was penetrated by a hermaphroditic male Madrone.

Lo= bina and the Lady of the Lake, both radiant and looking as if they had also been ravished satisfyingly by other lovers, proffered Silvia, who they now addre= ssed as Luna, her surprisingly clean and pressed dress that she had put into Lobina's hands in a rumpled heap at the edge of the river. Dressing her silk garb as they made their way out of the great earthen hall, Silvia was told she had received h= er personal, fourth sign, as the mark of Venus, ♀, on her lower back and extending over her rump, by sh= owing her true inclinations and colors to all the fairies at the hall. In unison, they both wished her ma= ny fruitful and productive affairs and loves.= Then Lobina gave a broad belt of greenish, oxidized copper encrusted with emeralds, tourmaline, and pearls with a sturdy silver clasp. It had been shaped perfectly, as if molded on Silvia's body, to wrap her waist and upper buttocks. It broadened markedly at the cente= r, where it would cover the entirety of her fourth sign.

Chapter 17

Af= ter a long walk up a gentle earthen slope, the three emerged, through an opening, marked by an ancient fire, at the foot of a giant Redwood tree. Deep in prattle about the virtues = of the exquisite lovers, they were bound to enjoy by the gift of their abilities t= hey ambled unhurriedly beneath the trees. Squirrels, both gray and black, scampered about them on their errands. From somewhere in th= e high branches an owl called, shortly thereafter, a little, gray screech owl fluttered down onto Lobina's shoulder.&nbs= p; She greeted it jovially and told it to not expect her at home for a = few days. After a gentle stroke t= o its back, the owl fluttered away, out of sight. Woodpeckers could be heard toc-tocing in the distance; G= rosbeaks, Goldfinches, and Sparrows could be heard singing above them as the made the= ir path up the hill. =

Th= rough the trees, they could see the sunlight fading once again. The slope was getting steeper and = the easy conversation began to wane as they breathed harder with the sharp incline. Instead of walking t= hrough soft, leaf covered, mossy terrain, the ground became more barren and litter= ed with stones as the tree cover began to thin. It was nearly dark, with a purple = and an orange band in the sky as they came out, past the tree line. At the peak, they found a small pl= ateau with a small lake at its center. Silvia saw that at the center of the lake there was a small irregula= rly shaped island. At the edge of= the lake they stopped. Both the D= uchess and Princess kissed Silvia with affection and pride. Lobina took her dress and belt onc= e more and kissed her tenderly as she stimulated her with a hand as she had done so often before. When the kiss w= as finally broken, Lobina spoke with tears of pride, joy, and anticipation wel= ling up in her eyes.

&q= uot;From here, my dear Luna, you must find the fifth sign alone on the island. No harm will come to you, but reme= mber that all that can frighten you here are illusions. Remember what you have learned, an= d the virtues of your marks, they will be your greatest assets. You will be tested with the four elements; in each test, you will prevail only with what is within you. Go now with our love, go!" She gave Silvia one more kiss and = the Duchess hugged her. Leaving S= ilvia there alone, the two turned together, hand in hand, and were gone in the bl= ink of an eye. =

Wa= tching the sun setting over the = lake Silvia wondered how= she should try to get to the island. She began to walk around the lake thinking of swimming the shortest distance from shore to island. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a large shape moving ominously on the island. Her eyes could not se= em to quite catch it unless she only perceived it in her peripheral vision while looking elsewhere. She though= t she saw a Dragon, black with a green sheen on its scales. She felt a shiver in her spine as = she thought it was preparing to take flight in her direction. Not sure what to do she stood froz= en as the enormous beast rose into the air and glided lazily after a few beats of= its wings.

It= was not very high above the water as it approached her with its eyes clearly fi= xed upon her and its tail dragging through the water. Low to the ground it swept close e= nough to Silvia that she ducked to avoid being struck by its feet and to feel the forceful gust of dislocated air around it.= It landed not far from her and just gazed, its glittering red eyes a= nd steaming breath gave her goose bumps as her hair stood on end all over her = body. This beast had a strange static fi= eld around it, in Silvia's opinion. It began to pace towards her in a threatening way and she felt fear fill her, = it was then that she turned her back to it crouching as she was, half expectin= g to be attacked.

It= was the strong and nobly hand of a Dwarf that took her shoulder instead. He pushed her forward onto her han= ds and asked her what such a lovely girl was doing at the edge of the lake, as he entered her. She was both sho= cked at what happened and so relived by the Dwarf replacing the Dragon, that she simply let herself enjoy the unexpected penetration. When the violating Dwarf had enjoy= ed his fill and filled Silvia with enough passion to wish to have him again in the future, he asked her more seriously, what she did at that lake's shore. When she told him that she was try= ing to reach the island to find her fifth sign, he understood and asked her to fol= low him. She noticed that he held= one arm oddly, as he walked along the water's edge.

She asked him to show her how he was hurt.&nbs= p; The Dwarf's wrist was broken and the forearm was marked with tooth punctures. Silvia, speaking i= n her deep breath, muttered a quizzical, "How?" exclamation as she stud= ied it. Almost ashamed of admitti= ng it, the Dwarf told a brave but farcical tale of having had a disagreement with a bear in the High Sierra, not long ago.&nbs= p; He added with an air of machismo that he had in fact won the brawl a= nd sent it tumbling into the river. Silvia could not be sure she believed that in the same way that she should not have believed she saw the dragon. With a gentle touch supporting the= hand and wrist, Silvia felt the punctures with her right hand. Carefully she switched hands and p= ut her left palm over each of the three groups of punctures in turn, pressing ligh= tly she felt the heat travel from her hand into his arm and then return a few minutes later when the punctures had healed. Following this, she aligned the wr= ist as straight as she could with her left hand supporting it. With her left hand wrapped around = the wrist Silvia pressed her right palm against the back of the Dwarf's hand. The force of energy flowing throug= h her two hands was so great that she felt her hands burning as the heat converged into the wrist. It was nearly= an hour before she felt the heat returning.&n= bsp; During that time, she listened patiently to the Dwarf's tales of adventure and the many fights he had won with trolls on the edge of the for= est with the wild lands.

Wi= th a sense of relief, Silvia took her hands away from his wrist. Then she noticed the black canoe w= ith a green sheen pulled up on the shore. She realized that the dragon had been one of the illusions Lobina had alluded to. With the two shor= t but broad oars in his hands, the Dwarf took her to the shore. Half way to the island an enormous serpent rose out of the water and loomed over the boat threateningly. The Dwarf seemed at ease, but Silv= ia could smell its foul breath as is swung its head in a manner not unlike a d= og chasing an elusive scent. As = the grotesque tongue brushed her face she saw that its eye sockets held no eyes, just pools of red blood where eyes had once been. In a gesture of panic, Silvia clas= ped her forehead and pushed her hair back as she searched her mind for what she= knew that would help her. With the exposed sign of the quarter moon the serpent changed into a pillar of water that collapsed into the lake to reveal a Griffin in flight and a Nymph swimming with exaggerated strokes of the arms.

Re= aching out her right hand to it with an open palm, Silvia felt a friendly pulse emitted like a smoke ring out of her sign that formed a floating doughnut of energy on the water. When the= Nymph reached it, the ring solidified into something like a life preserver. Calmly, the Dwarf took the ring up= with his oar and pulled it to the side of the canoe. Once the Nymph was aboard, he lift= ed the preserver into the boat. Then= , the Dwarf set of again, paddling toward the island.

The Dwarf pulled the canoe ashore, so Silvia could disembark onto dry land. With the Nymph vanishing into shru= bs just beyond the sandy beach, and the Dwarf marching away along the curving beach, Silvia felt the wind picking up.&nb= sp; In just a few minutes she was surrounded by a blustering storm, which brought up the waves in advancing cascades over the beach. As she retreated toward shrubs on = the edge of the beach, she began to feel as if the threatening waves were urging her inland. When she tried to= move along the perimeter of the beach in the direction the Dwarf had gone, the w= ind became stronger and pushed against her.&nb= sp; Still struggling against the wind, Silvia raised her left arm with t= he sign facing out, to shield her face from the water spray and sand being las= hed at her by the fierce wind. Al= most immediately, it ceased and Silvia saw through squinting eyes the amused Har= py landing upon a boulder buried within the shrubs. In her lilting voice, the Harpy sa= ng her praises in a job well done. <= o:p>

Fe= eling bolder, Silvia asked her companion from the return from the Labyrinth where= she must go next. "Over the mountain and into the crater where fire, water, air, and earth weave togeth= er into the finest fabric, one that purges the unworthy and marks the faithful= ." Stepping up to the striking Harpy, Silvia embraced her, resting her head on the Harpy's soft breasts. Thankful, and feeling affectionate, Silvia kissed her pronounced nipple, eliciting a little moan of pleasure fr= om the eagle woman. Stepping away intending to go inland, toward the peak she could see, the Harpy brought her head down to her and gave her a passionate kiss full of encouragement. The Harpy took flight, and Silvia vanished into the undergrowth.

No= t long after setting off, Silvia discovered that she could no longer see the peak through the brush and undulating land.&nbs= p; Continuing on her course, certain that she was walking in a straight line toward the mountain, it took her over an hour before she emerged onto = the beach once more, on some yet unknown portion of the island's coast. Perplexed and confused, she sat up= on a portion of a fallen tree. She= felt around inside her for how to keep her bearings. Thinking over all that she had lea= rned, eventually, it occurred to her that the projective power of her sun mark mi= ght keep her true if she keeps her desire on the mountain top. Standing up, she turned to face the mountain and aimed her right palm at the peak. Focused on reaching the peak, she = felt a pulse traveling from her right palm up to her mind, into which a word sprun= g, one she did not know before. =

Ta= sting the syllables in her mouth that were in her thoughts, Silvia could feel the enduring strength and enchantment within the word. When she uttered it, a cold yellow= beam of light shone from the sign on her extended palm. She began to walk in the direction= of the light into the dark undergrowth once more. As she began to veer from her inte= nded course, she was reassured to discover the light kept pointing in the direct= ion she meant to keep. At the foo= t of the mountain, she found a single Elder tree surrounded by berry bushes. As she approached it, the Elder tr= ee extended a single, four and a half foot long and leafless bough, projecting from a lush lower branch into her path.&nb= sp; At first, she was not sure whether to proceed since this was very odd behavior indeed for a tree. A= fter a pause, Silvia took a few paces forward as if to pass the tree, but it swung= its barren limb as if to strike her, but stopped just as it touched her open ri= ght palm. As it made contact with= her hand, Silvia felt the energy from her illuminated sign enter the wood and emerge at its elevated end. W= ith the light emitting from the end of the stem, it detached from the Elder tree and fell to the ground at her feet before Silvia could catch it.=

Th= e tree seemed to have been offering her one of its limbs as a staff. Uncertainly, Silvia took it up in = her right hand and the light shone out of its top again. She could feel the goodwill of the= land encouraging her as she held the gifted staff. Placing its base onto the ground, = she felt that all of Fairyland was rooting for her. It was the final test she felt, an illusion with a solid gift to remind her of her generosity having earned her the affections of the land and its spirits and elements. With the staff planted firmly, she= faced the Elder tree and gave it a deep curtsey with her head bowed. Once she stood, Silvia almost thou= ght she saw the tree bow back to her. Choosing to believe this time, she spoke her thanks and turned toward the mountain once more. She followed the path the staff illuminated for her to the edge of the crater.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The light then faded, leaving her = in the darkness for her eyes to adjust.

In= time, Silvia discovered that she could see a swirling soup of mist in the crater,= but she could not tell how deep it was or how steep the sides were. There was an odd flickering lumine= scence in the mist that resembled the light of a bonfire within it, but it was not fixed in one place as a fire is. Pushing the hesitation out of her mind, Silvia leapt into the mist half expecting to fall, but found she never hit the ground.&= nbsp; She felt a cool dampness swaddling her as lights flickered around her and sand abraded her skin. Ca= rried on a strong wind she felt a cold stabbing her heart as she drifted. Soon, she was overcome with exhaus= tion. She fell asleep as the tempest aro= und her calmed, rocking her gently.

Wh= en Silvia woke with the Pentagram beneath her teat over her heart, she was on a mat of woven leaves, wrapped in a blanket of green leaves woven together li= ke fine gauze, but warm like a fur. Around her were seated Lobina and the Lady of the Lake, conversing quietly as they sipped from steaming cups of Basil Mint tea that= perfumed the little earthen room. She = sat up and took up the steaming cup that waited for her on a tray. When the tea had revived her she w= as not sure if she had been dreaming or not, but the signs were visible, reminding her. As she dressed, feeling uncertain and weak, Silvia found the memory of her adventurous dreams fading from her mind like water from a leaky cup.= By the time Lobina had led Silvia back over the little wood bridge a= cross the creek, not one of the events from the seeking remained in her memory, b= ut she had an Elder staff and an ornate, oxidized copper belt, and had lost he= r boots. Not feeling quite her old self, she stumbled through the reeds outside the hillock by the lake and did not feel= at all inclined to ask questions. In her heart she was certain that she was a witch and would learn what this me= ant to her in time, she also loved and trusted her initiator like a mother and sister.

Chapter 18

A = few days passed where Silvia practiced her abilities and learned how to conduct herself as a witch with Lobina's guidance.= At night, she would sleep heavily and have her lucid dreams, remindi= ng her of her adventures on the night of her initiation. On the fourth day, Lobina told her= pupil that she must learn how to find and use the time-space passages to move out= side of time itself for it would be her first new moon. As she listened, fond memories of = her joining with the Minotaur and the Centaur came back to her, which made her feel warm and flush a light pink all over. Lobina took her first to the woods around her hidden house in the park.

Th= ere she led Silvia to the various openings into the time-space channel. Firstly, one has to be able to rec= ognize the anomaly in the speed of time in your vicinity to be able to find it. Since the openings do not move, on= ce you know where they are one must then be able to fold into it. Lobina mentioned that there may be= such a gap near her home by the sea, but she must be proficient in finding them first. Then there was the bus= iness of clearing your mind and spirit of all intention before one can turn into = the gap. Turning in is akin to le= tting yourself fall without actually changing from the vertical orientation, you = lean in or relax into the gap and it takes you away into it. Navigating through the darkness is= a very simple matter of desire, not of will.= Will, Lobina reminded her, is a matter of accomplishing spells; it brings you pain, suffering, and misery in Fairyland. Desire takes you were you wish to = go in that realm.

Th= erefore, whether your desire in the channel is to reach the Sylph Queen, the Minotau= r, or the Harpy, the passage will show you an exit into the real of the Welkin Sylphs and Nymphs. Like wise = if you desire the company of the Centaur, Dwarf, or Selkie, you will be shown the entry into Sequoia's realm. However, desire alone will not take you to the Flame Pit on the edge= of the River= of Fire that takes one into the underworld. In order to reach= the realm of Fire, either, it must be your time to go, you must be taken by a F= airy of rank, or there must be some desperate magical need that one may or may n= ot be aware of. Unranked Fairies= and human witches that reach the realm of Fire are not usually expecting to find it, = and invariably, do not find their way back out until they have obtained what th= ey need.

It= was just past one when instructress and pupil took their meal at Lobina's house. Following two cups of = hot noodle soup, they enjoyed a pile of quartered cucumber and watercress sandwiches, a cranberry scone each, and two bars of shortbread with several servings of Lady Grey tea from the Brown Betty Pot with matching brown pott= ery crockery. They headed for Lob= ina's room after depositing the dishes in the kitchen for the Brownies to tend to them. The large house with a = tiny cabin exterior was kept spotless and tidy by the Brownies that Lobina kept = very satisfied. Stopping briefly i= n an open storeroom, they visited briefly with the Screech Owl, Rat, Mice, and Tortoiseshell Cat Lobina kept as Familiars and collected the finished dress= and cloak, that had been started when the initiation began. The two deposited their attire on = the back of a large chair in Lobina's room and cuddled affectionately before falling into sleep in each other's arms.&n= bsp;

It= was almost half past three when the Rat woke them to prepare Silvia for the vis= it to the realm of Welkin Sylphs and Nymphs.&= nbsp; After bathing together, Lobina massaged fragrant and very light oil = into her skin from face to ankles. The oil smelled like orange blossom honey spiced with a little orange rind and = the under tone of Orange wood sap. With a deft stimulating series of strokes, the oil was also spread inside her labia and on the walls of her vaginal opening. With no undergarments, Silvia put on her short skirted, sleeveless dress with a matching medium green cloak with golden yellow trim that resembled the gold thread embroidered into Venus Sigils and Runes on her dress. The dress was an initiation gift t= hat Lobina had arranged to be made by some of Sequoia's fairies while Lobina's = mice made the cloak.

In= bare feet, Silvia set out amongst the trees after an affectionate embrace and ki= ss from Lobina. Following her newly l= earned sense of time passage and relative speed, she navigated through the conifer= ous and deciduous trunks, some laden with evergreen leaves and others showing t= heir skeletons. Near the entrance = to the Great Hall beneath the Giant Redwood, Silvia found one of the gaps and slip= ped into it with ease as she let her desires take her to her lover's abode. This time she took pleasure in the mysterious darkness that wrapped her as she walked on the smooth dark floor. Beneath her feet it wa= s neither warm nor cool, smooth as glass but with the delicate traction of ancient stone. No sound traveled with= in the darkness; when she sighed with pleasure, the sound was muffled and seemed t= o be absorbed by a thick blanket. =

As= her desire grew for her lover, Silvia felt that the exit approached more quickly and that, the darkness closed in as if it were trying to hug her to feel her desire more distinctly. Soon = she stepped out by the little black glass obelisk onto the misty mountain. Making her way in the light of the setting sun, Silvia remembered the invitation the Harpy had extended. She hoped that she would have time= to meet the other creatures the Harpy had alluded to this time, but suspected = that she would not. Much to Silvia= 's surprise, it was in fact the Harpy that met her at the barrier. Together, they took flight and lan= ded in an enormous windswept field of clouds surrounded by a lush garden speckled = with brilliant flowers like stars.

On= ce Silvia set foot on the cloud-covered field she was immediately aware of doz= ens of creatures small and large emerging from the clouds and the surrounding garden. Several winged sprites lighted on her shoulders and arms in a friendly, conversational way. There were a few more harpies with= darker hair and eyes, one enormous black dragon that seemed familiar, and dozens of Nymphs that just floated toward her on imperceptible winds. Some Nymphs were easily observed, = others were almost invisible when looked at directly. Those were like clouds and gusts o= f wind with translucent or transparent bodies that hardly moved yet they were swift too.

Si= lvia could hear each fairy speaking clearly in her mind even though they seemed = to speak over each other in cacophony of voices speaking simultaneously on var= ious subjects. She heard one sprit= e with long legs for her size and jet-black hair that curled wildly trying to get = her attention. For just a moment = Silvia focused her attention on the little, long-legged sprite and into her mind c= ame a silent image of her being offered a single tail feather by the Phoenix. It was followed by an image of her stitching shut a subcutaneous opening as long as the feather, from beneath = her right breast to her navel. The third and final image was of her lowering her hands to the ground and transforming into a goat. Wit= h a look of astonishment, Silvia extended her open palm in a gesture of both invitation and thanks toward the Sprite, who landed on it.

St= anding very straight on her hand the wild haired, naked little sprite made a curts= ey and kissed the hand she stood on before introducing herself as Lady Cocotte Zephyr, "your fairy godmother dear Luna" Startled and with pleased surprise spreading across her face Silvia whispered a thank you and inclined her hea= d to her. The Sprite smiled broadl= y, wrinkling her small featured brown face and told her that in a way she was = her daughter since she had actually helped her infertile and unmagical mother conceive to keep her parents together.&nbs= p; She admitted it took quite a bit of magic, and that Queen Sequoia had helped her by distracting her father, but it was always worthwhile helping = when she could. Abruptly, Lady Coc= otte Zephyr interrupted the gathering, with a commanding note in her voice she u= rged the blond Harpy to take Luna to the Phoenix, as the last rays of the setting sun would soon be gone.

As= they landed on the fairyland side of the barrier before the Crystal Palace, the last glimmer of the sun faded behind the mountain. The Phoenix stood at their side on the grou= nd with an expectant and slightly impatient air about its cocked head and sway= ing crest. Once the Harpy had lef= t them in the new darkness on the moonless night the beautifully colored bird took= two steps to stand at her feet and looked up at her with a confident and reassu= ring glimmer in his shiny eyes. Following a few moments during which they gazed into each other's ey= es, Silvia had the chance to study the magnificent bird admiring its colorful plumage. Just as Silvia's admiration of the lovely avian brought up the image of the Phoenix that Lady Zephyr had put into her mind earlier, giving her its tail feather, the crea= ture burst into flame and was rapidly consumed into a little pile of ashes. Silvia let out a sharp scream of h= orror and stared into the pile of ashes with disappointment as she crouched by it.

Wi= thin a few minutes, she saw the small form of a young Phoenix taking shape from what looked l= ike an egg of ashes. As the newly fo= rmed and much smaller Phoenix stepped forward between her knees, a gust of wind took the pile of ashes aw= ay with it. From the dispersing = ashes, Silvia could see the much shorter tail feathers that were about the length = of that which she was to stitch into her skin from right breast to navel. Without a sound, the Phoenix turned its head and plucked a f= eather before offering it to her in his beak.&nbs= p; Letting the feather rest in her left palm while the bird held it, Si= lvia felt an obscure message from the bird entering her mind. "For a healer that heals with= love and loves any with good health a quill tipped with blood from love to love = with love from healing tears, a key to the gates." It was exactly the right length wi= th a very fine vein bearing delicate short barbs with a golden orange color and about a quarter inch of the quill tip filled with dark red blood. Flexible as the feather was, she t= ook it, and having no place to put it, Silvia tied it around her neck like a ch= oker necklace. <= /p>

Wi= th her feather necklace, Silvia stood up and followed the bird as it rose into the= air in a slow flight toward the Cr= ystal palace doors. When she was ni= ne feet from the great opaque crystal doors, they opened, swinging out on their own. On the other side, Silvi= a did not find the interior to a palace as she expected, she found herself in the little circular garden with a fountain at its center, surrounded by the hed= ge that seemed to always be in bloom. Behind her, the enormous glass doors closed and vanished with the Phoenix.

She walked around the fountain to find the open entrance to the Labyrinth. As she began to enter it, the Mino= taur turned the corner into the passage and approached his waiting lover. They began their amorous entanglem= ent in the glimmering light of the Black Crystal walls, at the entrance to the Lab= yrinth, with no moon light in the cloudy night sky. With the dress collected over her = waist, the two lovers occupied themselves all night and well past the new dawn unt= il the high afternoon sun beat down upon them. From their start at the gates to t= he Labyrinth, they traveled throughout the glass walled structure and found themselves in the garden for the third time by the time the high sun shone = and the Sylph Queen interrupted the joined lovers, it was her time and the hour= for Silvia to return to the mortal world.

Chapter 19

Steven enjoyed the time he g= ot to spend with Lobina, particularly at meals and in the evening. However, most of the subsequent da= ys, during which Lobina instructed Silvia, Steven was much occupied with his research into what he would do with the rest of his life. Quite naturally, he took to arrang= ing breakfast and dinner for the three. It was so relaxing to tend to the food and keep the kitchen in order, that he hardly gave what he did a second thought. It turned out that as Steve peeled, chopped, cooked, and cleaned, his mind could wander over the subjects that = he had been researching.

In a few days, Steven also t= ook over the selection of food ordered for delivery online. His interest with the quality of t= he meat cuts, freshness of the fish, and vegetables led him to personally inspecting all deliveries. As= rcompense to the delivery driver who had been accustomed to just dropping and leaving, Steven would hand him a Fifty as a tip for his patience and cooperation. Naturally, the quality of delivered goods rose quickly. On his fi= rst day of active investigations, Steve obtained a set of Cordon Bleu cookbooks with recipes and techniques for entrées and deserts, a reference boo= k on wines from around the world, a couple of books with Northern European recip= es, Gypsy and Turkish traditional foods and another of Italian Cuisine that included a variety of Deserts. In addition, a book and CD instructive set on German and another of French came home with the little collection of cookbooks.

Being a naturally organized = sort of man, Steven gave himself a two-week schedule to study these subjects with the intention of reevaluating at the end of that period. His hope was that by dedicating fo= ur hours in the morning, after breakfast, to one of the languages on alternati= ng days he would have a feeling for how comfortable he would be advancing with= the foreign languages after two weeks. <= /span>If he could be comfortable enough to study one or both languages diligently, he thought that perhaps he would be able to begin reading some of Lobina's anc= ient magical lore books. Furthermo= re, with German and French under his belt, Steve felt that many other options opened to him such as traveling through Europe without the limitations imposed by not comprehending any of the languages, setting up an interpretation and translation service business, and other su= ch things. Finally, there was th= e fact that once he had ability with a couple of languages, learning others was mu= ch easier.

At the end of the lengthy st= udy session Steven went out for a brisk three-mile run interrupted at the half = way mark by a series of stretching and strength building exercises, a habit he = had tried to keep daily whenever possible.&nbs= p; After taking his exercise along the beautiful windy coast of Pebble Beach, he would shower a second time, feed himself a light lunch, and settl= ed down in the reading room while the hired cleaning lady would tidy everythin= g in the afternoon. She arrived at= One forty five on the dot every day except Sundays, and made herself a pot of t= ea before setting to work. Steven would let her in, and have a cup of tea with her in silence while he thought about his plans. The robust a= nd well-groomed lady would cover the Brown Betty with a quilted tea cozy and s= et to work. She began by rinsing St= even's cup and sanitizing the neat, generously built kitchen before putting the laundry to wash. With all the= rooms cleaned, bed sheets changed, surfaces dusted or mopped, the plants watered,= she would set the laundry of the day to dry and return to have second and third= cup of tea. Going out to the gara= ge, she would quickly wash the car if it was home, with the pressure washer and take the delivered or stored foodstuffs up to the kitchen. With the laundry dry, she would ir= on, fold and put away the clothes into the clean closet. Finally the lady had her final cup= of tea and left the pot clean for its next use before leaving with any dry cle= an only clothes and her $150 in cash.

While the house was cleaned, Steve would review his cookbooks to plan the evening meal. Once the menu had been created and= the techniques required annotated, his mind would wander through his feelings a= bout how to tackle his list of interests. By the fourth day, when Silvia set off to meet the Minotaur, Steven = had settled on approaching photography first; it was one of his longest standing hobby interests that he had left by the wayside while growing and managing = his former shop. He had gone onli= ne to review magazines, tutorials, and available books on the subject of photogra= phy as he had been out of touch. Concerning photography, all he had at the time of his disappearance = was a disposable camera at his desk and another in his car for taking pictures = in the event of a robbery or other crime at the shop or in case of an auto accident. <= /p>

On that day, from the late afternoon when Lobina had returned in the Austin Martin until the next afternoon, Steven was distracted from his pursuits by the lusty and amorous witch he cold not help loving and seeking to please. Having the entire night and follow= ing morning to cavort with her lover without interruption, Lobina took her time= and advantage of the willing big man. Steve had been attempting to decide whether to take up traditional film photograp= hy or digital. His planned elabo= rate dinner of cannelloni stuffed with shredded marjoram cream chicken, baked wi= th a tomato cream sauce, accompanied by a tomato, basil, spinach salad and a strawberry, pecan spumoni to chase was abandoned. Instead, the lovers feed each othe= r from a bowl of concord grapes and a few bananas. They were so busy with each other = that neither noticed how hungry they were through the night. In the early, dark hours of the mo= rning, they awoke from their dozing absolutely famished. Steve prepared a quick dish of cor= ned beef hash and lovingly fed Lobina after serving her a strong cup of coffee. Sated and feeling ale= rt, they planned on watching the sunrise from the back terrace, but amorous emb= races and kisses led to more lovemaking right on the kitchen floor.

In the late afternoon, Lobina began to wonder when she should go collect Silvia when the doorbell rang. Lobina, much surprised, brought the ravished young woman in the beautifully embroidered dress and cloak, in bare feet with a feather around her neck, into the house, and brought her a stro= ng cup of tea from the Brown Betty on the kitchen table. Silvia was in excellent spirits as= she relaxed on one of the chaise langue in the sitting room looking out to sea, with her tea after having removed her extravagant attire, and donning the copper belt. She spoke enthusiastically about how she had found her way through the time-space gaps with ease after Lobina's instructions.&nbs= p; Silvia even announced that on her return she had been led to a gap t= hat brought her just three hundred yards from the back of the house, on a steep part of the slope, next to a shelf of stone jutting from the hillside. After her night and day of amorous activity, she had been so tired and hungry that her desires had led her straight home. Steve br= ought her a little plate stacked with buttered crackers with Edam, headcheese, or Chèvre and another cup of tea.

He excused himself to prepare the dinner according to the afore mentioned menu that had been skipped in f= avor of lovemaking. Steve to= ok his time and put all his loving care into the spectacular meal, sure in the kno= wledge that his witch niece would not= be too hungry given the aperitifs he had brought her. A little more than three hours lat= er, he collected the two lovely women from the sitting room to enjoy the feast. He opened a Vintage Chardonnay fro= m a little vineyard in Sonoma= Valley, to accompan= y the delectable meal. As they ate, Silvia retold of her meeting with her Fairy godmother and the gifting of th= e Phoenix feather.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Steven was fascinated and asked ma= ny questions about how the Welkin Sylphs and Nymphs were. He learned that Welkin and Telluri= an Fairies differed principally in material appearance and in how their magic manifests, which seems significant, but is as mundane a difference as that between a cantaloupe melon and a honeydew melon.

Steve was entranced by the t= ale of the Phoenix feather and the associated Fairy godmother. After a few cursory queries about = the Phoenix and his n= ature of rebirth, which Lobina was happy to answer, he fell silent for a few minutes. It was clear from his vacant expression and upward turned eyes, that the big godfather recalled s= ome long sequestered memory. The = two women ate more slowly as they fell into silence watching the questing man, = they could feel the eager mind whirring. &= nbsp; Following a seemingly breathless pause, Steve's clenched fist smacked upon the stone topped table with a jubilant excitement of new comprehension. With the wine glasses containing drink sent swirling by the shock of the table, Steven st= ood up abruptly with a broad and pleasant grin as he leaned over the dinner tab= le from his towering height like a little boy on Christmas morning. "Your real father is that Fai= ry godmother, he announced with certainty," and added with a chuckle, &qu= ot;I am sure of it, but I would never have said something that sounded like it m= ade so little sense, ever before if I had not known about these fairies."<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Silvia had already deduced this tr= uth, but was curious about how the two worlds interrelated in her case. Sensing how Silvia felt, Lobina as= ked Steve to tell them the story as it had happened in their apparently unmagic= al human lives.

Chapt= er 20

Retaking his seat and raising his refilled wine glass, Steve sat back in his upholstered dinner chair and began recounting what had been some strange events in his youth that he had pushed to the back of his mind.

**= ***

"When in high school, a= nd before that too, I had been best friends with Silvia's deceased father, Gregory. We had gone everywhe= re together until he had met the love of his life in his junior year. Elizabeth had come to Menlo-Atherton with her expatriate parents from Basingstoke somewhere in England= . Her father was a high-level software-hardware integrator or something like that, from the beginning of Mainframe computer development in government institutions and universities. He had come to = take over some developmental project where Stanford University= was collaborating with a couple of cutting edge companies."=

"At any rate, Greg had fallen head over heals in love with the dark haired brunette with reddish highlights and freckles. I sa= w him around campus at school, and again at church on Sundays, otherwise he was always with her. He even got = her dad to rent an apartment for them to live in together, who knows how he managed that. One year after they met, almost the same day, they were married at the Stanford Cathedral with tons = of pomp. I was his best man and = got to drive the four parents away in a rented, black Rolls Royce to the reception party a few blocks away at Myaki's Sushi on University Ave. The newly weds got to = go in a red Porsche Turbo that Greg drove himself. After the party, the two left in t= he Porsche for Carmel= , where her dad had bought a vacation home on the waterfront with a souvenir = shop downstairs. After the honey m= oon I hardly ever saw either of them except at school and church."

"It was almost a year a= fter we had graduated that Greg finally invited me over to their new house in Saratoga. Knowing how interested in the comp= uter business Greg was, and also what a great head for numbers he had, his fathe= r in law started up a little Venture capital company with his brother, who was a manager at Lloyds of London, and Greg as a junior partner. The couple was still childless aft= er being together nearly three years. It was a fortuitous time for us to meet. I had been working out with Marty = how to start the stationary shop while I worked at Drager's deli department. Greg had learned a few things from= his generous father in law and had made his first lucrative investment some mon= ths after starting the company. H= e was still not a full partner as he was learning, but Greg said he had made enou= gh to help me with some of the start up costs at the shop."

"It was another full ye= ar before Marty and I were ready to spend any capital renting space, placing inventory orders, setting up the shop, and advertising. By the time I got back with Greg a= bout the shop, he just handed me a check for a hundred thousand dollars and made= me promise him to pay him back only the interest within five years or less, if= I could manage it. That money w= as more than three times as much as I had been planning to ask for and covered every expense for the first two years. Marty had an uncle who was an accountant that helped us save tons of expenses. At that time, the c= ouple was starting to become stressed about never having children."

"It was about that time that I first met Lady Zephyr, but she was calling herself Coco Zephyr. She was very interesting to talk t= o, and oddly, I was never quite sure if she was a man or a woman. Some days I thought I saw little b= reasts on her, other times not. It w= as not just the breasts though; it was her whole demeanor that seemed to change. I wanted to get to know her, so I invited her on a date, business at the shop kept me too busy to make it tho= ugh. When I introduced her to Elizabeth one day= , it seemed they had already met. = It was funny that, I felt as if Eliza= beth related to her like a man. Sh= e was obviously very attracted to him."

"When I knew Lady Zephy= r, she was a very long legged five-foot man-woman with the same wild dark hair= you described, Silvia. She was stunningly beautiful, but you just could not say= what made her so attractive though. Somehow, she never seemed to be at work, nor too occupied to be with Elizabeth or me when it took our fancy to see her. I knew that Zephyr was starting a relationship with Elizabeth by the time the shop was three years old.&= nbsp; I had shown up at Greg's house to pay him back his investment and fo= und Elizabeth embraci= ng Zephyr passionately. The frustration of not having kids was getting to them. A few months before, Greg had conf= ided in me that he had met this gorgeous woman called Sequoia. She was fertile, sexy, and great fun. However, Greg had commen= ted on how odd it was that she would never tell him where she lived or what she did for a living."

"He thought she was goi= ng to be his next wife since he was getting ready to start divorce proceedings. I got a lot clos= er to Elizabeth during = that time, and she started confiding in me about her affair with Zephyr. I did not want to rock the boat, s= o I listened and kept my mouth shut. A short time later, Elizabeth announced she was pregnant by Greg and all the stress dissolved into the sa= me happy life they had before the worry about children. Within the same week, I got distre= ssed calls from both Elizabeth and Greg; their lovers had vanished into thin air without a trace. Neither Sequ= oia nor Zephyr was ever seen again by them.&nb= sp; Zephyr came to me one last time in my shop one month before you were born. She just walked into my office as if we had only just seen each other the day before. She told me to not tell Greg or El= izabeth that I had seen her, to keep their wounds closed."

"Then she told me I had= to offer to be the godfather and guardian to the baby. I was told to tell Greg that being= the godfather was the least I could do for the great financial support he had g= iven me with such excellent terms. To Elizabeth I was t= o say I wanted to be the godfather to keep her secret safe, so that was what I did. I don't know why I obeye= d her to the letter, but something silent inside me told me to trust her and also that she would know and be angry if I didn't. I guess the Fairy godmother was lo= oking out for you from the very beginning. Come to think of it, this has never occurred to me before, but there= was never a godmother, not even at the baptism. I suppose that was the secret, Elizabeth knew Zep= hyr was the father and she thought that somehow I also knew, but I didn't."

**= ***

Silvia was on the edge of her seat by the half of the story, and with white knuckles as she gripped the tabletop by the end. With joy= ful tears in her eyes, she leapt up and embraced her enormous godfather, spilli= ng the remaining half of his wine he had forgotten to drink. She cried out with pleasure as she embraced Steve, making his ears ring from her exclamations, that she still = had a living father. Then she sta= rted laughing and corrected herself, a living mother and finally settled on Fairy godmother, as she felt unsure whether Lady Zephyr qualified as a father or mother. Breathing heavily, Si= lvia fell silent, still holding her godfather as her youthful breasts quivered w= ith her sobs against his chest. <= o:p>

Gently, Lobina came up to her and embraced her as well. Whispering in her ear Lobina clarified that even though Lady Cocotte Zephyr usually appeared more as a woman, she was wholly male when she had m= ade Elizabeth with chi= ld and was therefore the true father. Abruptly, Silvia turned into Lobina's arms with a frown and inquisit= ive look. Inside she was asking h= erself why had her father not been part of her initiation. Lobina answered her gravely before Silvia uttered a word of her question.&nbs= p; It is not allowed by the laws of the High Magic, for a parent to participate in an initiation for the urge to assist is too great. The initiate must fail of their own errors without interference or succeed of their own abilities if they liste= n to their perceptions faithfully and are naturally generous toward Fairyland.

With the sumptuous dinner ov= er, Steve went about cleaning up while in a daze in his stunned surprise. Silvia retreated to her room where= she looked forward to more of her lucid dreams after a refreshing soak and shower. Filling her enormous = tub with foamy, scented, warm water Silvia let herself relax in the massaging, fluid heat. As the water bega= n to cool, she stepped out, leaving the tub to drain whilst she scrubbed herself clean in the running shower water with a sea sponge. It was still evening when she craw= led under her cozy sheets and comforter and settled in for a great night's sleep. Having been awake most= of the night before, she was deep in dreamland in minutes with her eyes well sealed by sleeping sand.

Steve and Lobina began to wo= rk together on restoring the kitchen to order. While they cleaned, Steve began to= ask his first questions about magic and the magical world. Lobina took her time telling lengt= hy stories as illustrations of the principles that govern magic. The stories continued when they sh= owered and then relaxed in the hot tub. In time, the stories gave way to embraces, and then to kisses, which livened t= heir hands into caressing explorations. Whilst in the hot tub they joined, loving each other. It was well past midnight before t= hey made their way to their room.

Steve dreamt of fairies all around him and woven into the fabric of his life that night which could be = said to be the most accurate perception of life he had ever had. He dreamt of fairies helping make = his shop a success in the past, of fairies helping the Troll like, Marty, to ruin his business by employing whack-a-mole tactics in managing his employees and in handling irate or dissatisfied customers poorly. There were even dreams of traveling around the continents of the Americas and Europe= using his many languages and collecting photos of Fairies that would be compiled in a controversial book of images. It was because of his dreams t= hat when Steven awoke, he was decided on taking up traditional film based photography. The solid medium= was more suited to capturing the elusive and often immaterial presence of a Fairy. Despite the greater ea= se of digital imaging, it was simply true that two negatives do not necessarily m= ake a positive as far as Fairyland is concerned. The immaterial digital medium when combined with the immaterial Fairy made an image that would be logarithmica= lly less material than either element, or in other words, a weak and unbelievab= le product that would have no impact. <= /span>

Lobina's mind was occupied w= ith unfinished tasks that she had to go home to the forest to carry out, while = she slept lightly feeling an awareness of passing time and a closing window in = her list of duties. Having slept lightly, she was the first to awake, but she remained in her lover's arms w= hile he slept, planning how to manage her time and responsibilities. Silvia arose early as well, having= slept early and rested well. The yo= ung witch put on her belt, and nothing else, and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for her godfather and mistress.&= nbsp;

Chapt= er 21

Bearing a large tray with a = pot of coffee, three cups, a dish of warm, crisp rolls split and spread with butter, honey, or preserve, a pitcher of cream and a pot of sugar, she asce= nded to her room. Having deposited= the tray on a table on her private terrace, she rapped gently on the door to aw= ake Steve and Lobina. Lobina answ= ered the knock and accepted the invitation to breakfast on the cool terrace. She complemented Silvia on having = her belt on and disappeared behind the door to rouse the sleeping giant. In a few minutes, the three were s= eated in just their skins, except Silvia who wore the belt, having a delicious breakfast in the open air. It= was a bit chilly with the morning fog not having burned off yet, but pleasantly invigorating.

Steve took his language sets, Silvia's cell phone and a recently acquired laptop with him after the meal,= as he walked up the hill behind the house with Lobina, to where Silvia had indicated she had emerged the day before.&= nbsp; With Lobina's lead, he vanished into the gap with her to emerge in t= he forest where he had been held captive for eight months. For Steven, the trip was a mystify= ing and mind altering one that he recalled vaguely having sensed as a young boy= in this forest, but that his maturing mind had dismissed utterly. He recognized one of the Fairies from his dream, walking through the trees a little dista= nce away. This made Steven a litt= le jumpy and eager to get inside the house in the hillock. Steven was not ready yet to meet t= he Fairies that his niece had so fondly spoken of, his memories of escaping his charmed captivity were too vivid still.&nb= sp; With relief, Steve ducked through the low door in the wake of his inamorata with great relief overwhelming him. While he took a seat in one of the comfortable chairs and arranged his belongings. Lobina undressed, got a pot of cham= omile tea and a dish of cookies. On= ce she had served the tea, she went off into the house with her mug and a few cook= ies in her hand, leaving Steve to study at ease.

For nearly four hours Steve exercised parts of his face and voice that, he had never been so aware of, having always only spoken English. Lobina appeared at half past twelve, still nude, with the tray heaped with sandwiches and fruit. Wh= ile Steve had been concentrating, the tray had been taken away, fresh cream had been placed in the pitcher, and the teapot had been refilled with Lady Grey. Steve was sure that Lob= ina had not entered the room between leaving with a mug of tea and returning no= w, with a lunch tray. How the tr= ay left and tea was replaced without him seeing any one in the room was a myst= ery to him.

Lobina served him another cu= p of tea and a little plate with sandwiches while she waited quietly for his thoughts to settle. Once he h= ad begun to eat, she spoke answering his mind's questions. "Darling Donny, I had one of = the Brownies attending to you, it even put the warm slippers on your feet and t= ook your shoes away to polish and your coat to clean without you noticing. Once you become more aware of these things Donny, the Brownie will ask you." Steve was starting to get used to = this sort of unlikely magical thing happening around him, which left him quite at ease instead of disturbing him, as it would have in the past. Amidst banter about keeping Browni= es happy with food and drink offerings and the upkeep of a robust and healthy garden with vegetables, shrubs, flowers, fruit and a hive or two, they ate hungrily. Lobina added as the subject began to turn, that above all, the Brownies appreciated recognition= and praise with affection. <= /o:p>

For some time they continued= to converse and eat while consuming various cups of tea. Steven asked if he could take the = tray back and have a look around the house before going online to discover what he would need to start with the photography. Lobina had no objection and said it would be a fine idea, that way he would know where her room and bath were. Following= his ladylove through the dark opening into the corridor with the tray, Steve pa= ssed a pantry on his right and another corridor that seemed to lead out to a gar= den on his left. Following the pa= ntry, the next opening on the right was to an enormous dark wood kitchen with a w= ood burning stove and a huge rectangular table upon which Steve saw three Brownies squatting over a different type of dough each. One was preparing bread, one labor= ed over cookies, and the third had a dish in which he was cutting the freshly baked shortbread. Remembering= what Lobina said, he expressively made a showing of thanking each of them for th= eir delicious baking. They each b= eamed as they took the commendation. Unexpectedly, three more appeared as he turned toward the counter wh= ere the tray belonged. One asked = if he had like the tea and slippers, another if he had enjoyed the fresh sandwich= es, and the third rather boisterously proclaimed that he should wait and see the stew he would be having for dinner. Dutifully, Steve offered his complements to each with Lobina smiling approvingly.

Leaving the tray to be atten= ded to, Steve and Lobina continued down the corridor to the next right. The corridor ended in a T that on = the left, led to the large, but antiquated bath with no shower and two very cozy and sizeable guest rooms. The= ir walls were decorated with old tapestries, except where the enormous wardrob= es stood beside narrow windows onto the garden. Upon the large beds were thick com= forters obscured behind curtains on the four-poster beds flanked by recliners and b= edside tables on both sides. Beneath= the window in each room stood a pedestal sink with a little mirror propped agai= nst the window.

Lobina took Steve past the o= pen door of the storeroom with her familiars and magical supplies and into the = in suite room. Lobina had inhabi= ted that room since the construction of the house nearly three hundred years before, when she had returned from a fifteen-year exploratory and educational trip.= She had set out to find her Fairy a= nd witch relations and to collect magical lore after having studied the magic = lore of the North American continent for over thirty years already. That voyage had begun in Iceland, taken her across and around Europ= e, Asia, the Middle East, Northern Africa and ended in = South America. Her roo= m was as large as four bedrooms with an equally long, but narrow antiquated bath = with a granny tub, a toilet much like that of an outhouse, and a bidet. Her room was clearly, where she di= d most of her planning work. Apart f= orm an enormous circular bed in one corner by a window, there were numerous workta= bles, with stools, strewn with papers, parchment and rolls of wide paper with drawings, figures, calculations, recipes, and prose. There was also a myriad of paraphe= rnalia amongst the papers that Steven could not recognize and felt he was not read= y to know yet anyway. <= /span>

Lobina invited him to relax = in her room on the bed or in the recliner if he wanted to or to enjoy her bath= . Then she informed him that she woul= d be going out soon, but first she had to tend to the garden and a few matters w= ith her inventory of ingredients. She assured him that he would be well taken care of by the Brownies, that she w= ould stop by to wish him good night and that she would return before the first light, to warm his bed. Steve= n felt confident and reassured as he always was with Lobina, but he was also asham= ed to admit that he was a bit frightened of spending the night with all those magical creatures alone. As u= sual, when a discomfort entered his mind, the witch could sense it and tried to a= mend it. With a warm compassion in her voice, she tried to allay his fear by offering to send Lady Zephyr, to whom= he had once been attracted, to keep him company before the sunset. At first, the suggestion that he s= hould enjoy the company of, and lay with, another Fairy when his lover was unavailable repulsed him.

It took Lobina more time than she hoped to sway him from his staunch fidelity. They discussed loyalty, tr= ue love, adultery, dedication, faithfulness, relationships and the nature of affairs with Fairies before Steve was won over. Eventually, she had Steven aroused= with anticipation of the arrival of Lady Cocotte Zephyr. She had even promised to bring bac= k one of the Wood Nymphs for them to fornicate with together. Lobina left for the garden, where = she had plants to tend to and harvest at particular times and days, and to seed. It seemed to Steven tha= t it was only a few minutes before Lobina returned, wearing a dress with many pockets and pouches, and a bag over her shoulder, to say goodbye. In the garden, Lobina had spent nea= rly three hours working diligently. It was a similar kind of warp in time-space, into which the house had been con= structed in with some portions of the house in faster time and others in slower time= , as that in which Silvia had gone into when being initiated. When she returned she told "D= onny," to strip and await her in his birthday suit. There was no need for the complica= tion of clothes, after all, as he had observed, she did not don raiment in her h= ouse unless there was a ceremony, an uninitiated, or formal guests.

Steven, feeling oddly, asked= a Brownie for drink that would calm his nerves before going to Lobina's room = to take his clothes off. When St= eve had bathed to relax a bit, and returned to the sitting room in the nude, he found a little tray with a decanter filled with a light golden beverage that smelled of honey, yet was unlike anything he had ever tasted. It was similar to the Fairy Draugh= t, but made him relax physically without any intoxicating effects at first. Finding it particularly palatable,= he indulged with insufficient caution. Soon he discovered the objects in the room to appear to be breathing= and to be emitting sounds as if they were conversing. As the hallucinations intensified,= it seemed that the coffee table walked about and the floor itself was breathing beneath the rug. He felt an o= dd sensation in the back of his head as if the back of the chair was sucking on his head while the armrests of his chair tickled his arms with little finge= rs that rose up out of the leather. Once the hallucinations began, Steve had ceased to drink. In terror, he curled up with his f= eet up on the chair, afraid of looking at his own chair given that he might discov= er a toothy mouth with its lips attached to his head. All of it was only the result of t= he wormwood liqueur that had been used to spice the Mead, a particular drink in favor with Brownies, Dwarfs, Elves, and Gnomes, for whom the hallucinations were much weaker and a great source of hilarity.

It took some time for the effects to wear off, effectively keeping Steve from investigating any camer= a or darkroom equipment online. The Brownies, who felt a little guilty about not having warned Steve, brought h= im a large bowl of venison potato stew with two fresh, hot bread rolls. Once the effects of the wormwood b= egan to wear off, he was glad to distract himself with a comforting, hearty meal with a large glass of warm milk sweetened with honey. For such a meal, Steve was vigorou= sly fervent with his complements to the Brownie cook.

It was about sunset when the= front door opened, and in came the same five-foot Lady Zephyr with the wind blown dark hair and the extraordinarily long legs beneath her very compact pelvis= . Steve stood up immediately to gree= t her with an affectionate embrace and kiss.&nbs= p; Sensing his amorous mood, she took off her robe with out hesitation, which permitted Steve to observe her body changing from its normally hermaphrodite form into the eye-catching woman he had glimpsed a few times = with pert little breasts with long dark nipples. She investigated the decante= r and was surprised to find Steven drinking the Draught of the Little People as s= he called it. Steve explained ho= w he had come about it and told the tale of his hallucinations that was met with coquettish laughter that pushed his alarming experience out of his mind. She suggested that he ask the brew master Brownie to bring them a Decanter filled with Metheglyn instead. That was the name the various Fair= ies used for their draught, a variety that Silvia had tasted made from orange blossom honey and other portions of the orange tree. The Brownie brew master had a hear= ty laugh about the hallucinations now that Steve had calmed down, and returned with a variety of Metheglyn made from the honey of mixed garden plants with some wild flower and forest shrubbery that he referred to as Amalgamated Metheglyn, spiced by the flowers and seed of several of the garden's plants= .

Wi= th this drink, Steven felt the same fantastic sensation of well being and otherworldly awareness he had experienced while with Queen Sequoia. Without the loss of motor coordina= tion and subtlety of perception typical of human alcoholic beverages to impair h= is activity, but with an utter loss of judgment, the progressively more intoxicated Steve began to flirt, and rapidly became more intimate= , to the amused satisfaction of the ever lusty Lady Cocotte Zephyr. The two frolicked and pleasured ea= ch other in the sitting room for several hours while the sliver of the new moon rose in the sky. With the ris= en moon, Lady Zephyr entreated Steven to join with her and love her delighted = bodyuntil the early morning, when she must leave before the rising sun crested.
Chapter 22

Upon leaving, Lobina made her first stop at the realm of Welkin Sylphs and Nymphs to request Lady Cocotte Zephyr to make a visit to Steven at her house. She also checked in with the Sylph= Queen to concur on how Silvia had been conducting herself and if there was anythi= ng, she had observed that needed adjustment in Silvia's performance. She heard that the Sylph Queen fel= t that Silvia allowed herself to be too close to her animal side and not enough ti= me had been devoted to bringing out her healer and medicine woman. Leaving the Welkin realm, she head= ed to visit with Sequoia with the same questions for her, in addition to which Lo= bina wanted to see how Rowan was doing. <= /span>Sequoia had only observations, that like her, Silvia was prone to act rashly and th= at to her, as a human witch, she must master pacing in order to live out her f= ull life without catastrophes.

Lobina wandered throughout t= he Tellurian realm collecting leaves, stems, roots, seeds, insect and animal carcasses, = dew, and water that collected in pools, stream water, and stream water that had = come off certain stones. There wer= e even certain stones that she collected to replenish her stores with fresh ingredients with more recent land energy reserves for her potions, brews, i= nfusions, salves, and other preparations that were so often required by the many creatures that lived in the Tellurian realm. The bees could always be depended = on to take care of their own, as could the ants.= However, most other inhabitants would come to Lobina for treatment e= ven though she was not a medicine woman. She looked forward to Silvia taking on the healing work so she could return to her preparations, Fairy godmother, and regional lore interests she accumulated into the Gramarye tome, with more dedication. The last healer had passed some ten years before into the underworld, after practicing his art some ninety years.

With her dress and shoulder = bag laden with her ingredients, she set off through the late night for her house. Quietly and unnoticed = by Steven, she deposited her goods in the storeroom, and fed her familiars some treats she had collected for them. Once again, she passed the oblivious Steven as he copulated with Lady Zephyr adoringly over one of the large recliners, before leaving to find Al= iso, the wood Nymph she had as a lover some times. Making herself into a wolf, Lobina= began her search through the trees, expecting to find Aliso resting in or by one = of the Sycamore trees he was so fond of. Along the way, she was greeted by s= everal owls, rodents, and a mountain lion who had recently been the recipients of = her healing attentions. She start= led a couple of dosing does dreaming discretely, which sent them bounding away through the brush without looking back.&nb= sp; It took Lobina nearly until sunrise to find Aliso who had engaged wi= th Townsend by a Juniper bush from which they were eating while they were enga= ged in coitus, Aliso as the male. Without interrupting their congress, Lobina informed them of what she had promised Steven and extended the invitation to follow her home.

Both Aliso and Townsend depa= rted with Lobina to the nearest space-time gap, from which they headed for to ex= it nearest Lobina's house. As th= ey approached the hillock, where upon the entrance to her house was, the three= playmates came across Lady Zephyr who was leaving through the westward facing path. <= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> As Zephyr was clearly still in her = female variety and Aliso was still in his male disposition, the two paused at the = foot of the hill to commune while the sun rose, while Townsend and Lobina went inside to indulge the same carnal pleasures with an already vigorously empl= oyed Steven. Leaving the door open= for Aliso to follow when he was through with ravishing Lady Zephyr, Lobina led = both Steven and Townsend to her room with the enormous circular bed.

As the small womanly shape of Lobina displayed itself to Steven, he rose to attention once more and engag= ed with her passionately. Enjoyi= ng his lover, he hardly noticed Townsend's long and slender pear shaped body with beautifully smooth dark brown skin. After a few minutes waiting to receive the big man's attentions, she distracted him from his loving of Lobina with her touches and caresses. For the first time, Steve became a= ware of the tall, dark, attractive woman with black hair and a purplish blue hue= to her skin and hair. While still engaged in coitus with his lover, Steve's attention was split into caressing strokes and kissing of Townsend as she returned the doting favors from Steve. After some time, = having spent himself with his lover, he united with Townsend who occupied herself = with the inseminated Fairy witch, consuming all that was sown into her. When Steve finally withdrew, follo= wing another climax, Townsend immediately began to change into his male manifestation wh= ile continuing to stimulate Lobina with his mouth as he had. When fully changed, he plunged into Lobina's belly concurrent with taking hold of Steven's implement as he lay beside the luscious witch, exhausted from his marathon that had begun with = Lady Zephyr.

Steven fell asleep where he = was, next to Lobina while she was ravished by the enormous Townsend. A couple of hours later he awoke to discover Lobina breathing heavily with a look of euphoric satisfaction, impaled atop Aliso, who was sprawl= ed on one side of the large circular bed, with Townsend deeply implanted in her a= s he knelt over her quivering rear. In astonished surprise, Steven watched until Lobina demanded he come and compl= ete the triangle at her lips. Aro= used and flagrantly lustful, the three males rotated their places within the triangle until, Aliso declared that he wanted to switch with Lobina. To Steven's shock, Lobina was happ= y to oblige her lover of past, indicating with exhilarated enthusiasm that it had been many years that she had not transformed. Steve watched as Lobina's round br= easts faded, she developed a slightly leaner form, a male organ emerged from where her clitoris had been, and testicles appeared whist the vaginal slit closed. She was a male with a fervent erection in a minute or so. The member was not nearly as large as Steve's was or Townsend's, but= was obviously functional as Lobina was the first to plunge into the now open va= gina into the belly of Aliso. With= Aliso's caressing hands drawing Steve into her lips, he soon forgot about the chang= e as he reached new levels of arousal with his unexpected lover. In time, the three males ravished = Aliso repeatedly and rotated through the orifices giving and taking as much pleas= ure as was possible. Steven retir= ed to rest on the recliner after convulsing once again in pleasure as he spent himself. Naturally, he slept = for a second time, while the Fairies continued their games. Townsend had his turn at the center while Steve slept.

It was late in the morning, nearly noon, when Silvia appeared at the door to Lobina's house with a rece= ntly stitched scar across her torso where the Phoenix feather had been implanted. T= he Brownies were quick to open the door reverently for her before she had even knocked upon it. Silvia surpr= ised at finding Lobina changed and with her projecting appendage embedded in Townsend's rear while Aliso coupled with Townsend, laughed with delight at = the opportunity. After caressing = and playing roguishly with the three fornicators, she stripped her form fitting dress, leaving the copper belt in place, and drew the attention of all thre= e who all transformed into males. T= he three went around the Silvia merry-go-round for a good long time, changing = orifices every half hour or twenty minutes. Steven awoke to Silvia's extravagant vocalizations as she was couple= d by Lobina and sodomized by Townsend, who was particularly well endowed, and Aliso.

At first, Steve was shaken a= nd immobilized, but as his memory of the day's events came awake in him after several hours sleeping, he simply joined the romp by drawing Lobina to one = side and loving her as she transformed back into a woman. Aliso took Lobina's place and Town= send continued where he lay, with Silvia ecstatically impaled ove