Tales of the Fae

by L. J. Hamlin

  Lisa gives a delighted gasp, and shyness seemingly gone, Lisa kisses her again. Rosepetal lets her hands explore, finding hair like silk where it's long, and soft and almost fluffy like a baby chick where it's shaved. Lisa has warm skin, and the weight of her body on top of Rosepetal feels more right than any sensation ever has.

  Rosepetal draws back, but keeps her arms wrapped firmly around Lisa's waist, her fingers trailing over skin where Lisa's shirt has ridden up, exposing the dip in Lisa's back above the tempting swell of her rear.

  "Can you sing like this? I want to hear your voice while you're above me, touching me," Rosepetal requests.

  "If I-I lift up on m-m-my arms a little, so my chest has room."

  "Sing something old? That Celtic lullaby you sang once; it was what woke me up." Rosepetal strokes Lisa's back as she makes her plea.

  Lisa rises up, so she can draw more breath to sing. Looking a little nervous, she starts to sing. Rosepetal doesn't know the exact meaning of the words, despite being older than the song itself. She didn't live with Celts.

  Lisa sings, her voice filling the air with its rich alto, and Rosepetal's joy spreads out from her. The leaves turn green on the trees around them. Flowers bloom from lush grass, and in this small patch of forest, it no longer looks like autumn, but spring.

  Rosepetal moves her hand slowly, finding the heat between Lisa's legs, making sure her touch is welcome before she continues, making Lisa's voice hitch as she tries to keep singing, only stopping for a moment when orgasm hits.

  Lisa finishes her beautiful lullaby and looks down at Rosepetal with wide eyes.

  "Y-your hair, the leaves are green, and there are flowers in it now." Lisa reaches out and touches a small pale blue bud.

  "I'm happy," Rosepetal explains.

  "Because I sang, o-or because I came?" Lisa sounds shocked.

  "Because you sang for me, to me, and came for me. My soul has been alone for so long. I was like a seed without the spark needed to grow. You're that spark. Please don't be scared off. I won't try to keep you here," Rosepetal assures. She feels as if she's is in love, but she'd never force Lisa to be with her.

  "C-can you leave the forest? I want to see you again. I'll come b-back if you can't leave. I want to get to know you b-b-better. I feel like my h-heart knows yours, but I need to know you," Lisa says softly, and Rosepetal is glad she's not the only one feeling the connection.

  "I can leave the forest if I wish, and I want to know you too, to share my life with you." Rosepetal has seen many things in her time on earth, and she'd like to share all the wonders with Lisa. She wants Lisa to see that in all that time, Lisa is the purest, most beautiful person she's ever seen.

  "B-but the way you look, p-people will know you're not human. W-what if they hurt you?" Lisa asks, looking genuinely scared. Rosepetal can't remember the last time someone worried about her, if they ever had. Her family had loved her before they went to sleep beneath the earth, but their relationship had been complicated. They never quite seemed to be reading the same book, whereas Rosepetal feels like Lisa, an almost stranger, is on the same page as her, reading the same lines.

  "Stand with me," Rosepetal says, and Lisa climbs to her feet, hands out to help Rose to stand as well. They stand together in the circle of each other's arms, and Rosepetal calls on her powers to produce a glamour. The leaves and flowers in her hair turn to copper red curls. Her purple eyes become moss green, and her skin changes to match Lisa's olive-toned skin.

  "Y-you can stay this way around other people?" Lisa asks.

  "Yes, so if I may, I'd like to take you on a date. Only you're going to have to decide where as I've not left the forest in sometime. I've kept up with the world in ways; things came to me in my dreams. But the world outside this place is mostly a mystery to me." She hasn't thought about it in so long. She'd grown bored with the world, but now she feels less weary, like she's seeing things through new eyes.

  "I want to show y-you all my favourite places, b-but when we're alone, can you be you? I like you as a fae," Lisa says shyly.

  "Whenever other people are not around, you'll see the real me. Now come, show me your world. I've been sleeping far too long." Rosepetal takes Lisa's hand, and takes her first step away from her tree, her home for so long. It looks like such a lonely place when she looks back, one large tree on its own. Rosepetal uses her powers once again, sending a seed into the ground and giving it the spark to grow. When she glances back, a sapling has begun to grow close to the old oak tree.

  Rosepetal thinks she'll be spending a lot of time hand in hand with Lisa, watching this human grow, and her life grow entwined with Lisa's and bloom into beautiful flowers.

  The Fae by the Lake

  Not everyone gets to have a job they love, but Annie does. She's a nature photographer for a magazine and they've sent her to a lake in the middle of a forest where there had been sightings of some rare flowers.

  Annie loved being out in the middle of nowhere with just her camera and a backpack, but she was a little nervous about the lake because she didn't know how to swim. She edged closer to the water and took a snapshot of the cabin on the other side of the lake. She could only imagine how lovely it must be to wake up in that cabin and look out the window to see the sun shining on the blue green water.

  She spots a little dock and heads towards it. She can see some flowers toward the centre of the lake and she wants to get closer to take a photograph. The flowers are a dark blue with orange spots, like nothing Annie has seen before.

  The old wooden dock creaks beneath Annie's feet and her stomach flips as she gets a bad feeling right before there is an almighty crack. The wood beneath her feet gives out and she is plunged into ice cold water.

  Thoughts race through Annie's mind as she sinks, her bag weighing her down. She's alone out here, she hasn't seen a person all day, she can't swim and she's sinking. Water is stinging her eyes, she can hardly see, there are plants wrapping around her leg and it feels as if they're pulling her down.

  Her lungs feel like they're going to explode as she holds her breath. It's so cold but she fights, thrashing her limbs. Just as she opens her mouth, letting in more water she sees something – or maybe someone – moving in the water toward her.

  She thinks she must be hallucinating when she sees a woman with blue hair and gossamer wings cutting through the water towards her like a dolphin. She can't be real, she's too beautiful to be real, but then the blue-haired woman's hands close around her forearms and when they start pulling her up, she kicks because she wants to help. The woman is strong and a good swimmer, pulling Annie back up from the deep until they break the surface.

  "Just hold on to me, I'll get you to the edge. You can't swim, can you?" The woman has a beautiful voice, musical and with an accent unlike any Annie has heard before. Her skin is fish-belly pale with a blue tinge, and her wings are a shimmery blue.

  Annie is half-convinced she has drowned and this is some kind of afterlife – as a bi woman, being rescued by a beautiful woman is a great dream to have – but she holds on anyway. They swim toward the edge of the lake together and the woman helps her out of the water. Annie stands, camera somehow still around her neck and bag heavy and wet on her back. She stands there shivering in the weak midday sun and looks at the woman, still there, still real, and not shivering.

  "Are you okay? Can you breathe?" The woman reaches out and gently pats Annie's back.

  "I can breathe, you saved my life, I can't swim, and my bag was so heavy, it all happened so fast. This is a rude question, but what are you?" Annie says in a rush.

  "I'm a water fae. We've kept hidden from most of the world for a long time, but now the time has come to reveal ourselves. But even if I was still hiding, I had to come to your aid. I couldn't let someone drown in my lake. I'm the guardian here; I protect the lake and all that is in it. I saw you looking around and thought I'd come say hello, but you'd already fallen." She brushes back her lovely blue-green hair; it looks like a rippling wave
of water.

  But her words are a lot to process, and Annie thinks she might be in shock because she doesn't question that something she thought was a myth is here and real in the world, right in front of her.

  She shivers, still freezing cold. "Thank you for saving me."

  "Come to my cabin, you can put your clothes in my dryer and warm up. It's a chilly day, okay for my kind to be in the water, but not yours."

  "That would be very kind of you. Uh, my name is Annie. " Annie asks as they start walking.

  "Lily, like the flower. We'll have you warm in no time, but may I ask what brought you here? This lake was much neglected when I found it, not many people have come to visit since then, and you're not from town." Lily reaches out and Annie stumbles at the same time and is caught by Lily. The blue tinge to her skin makes Annie think of cold things, but her touch is warm.

  "Thank you again. I'm a photographer. The magazine I freelance for sent me here to take pictures of all the beautiful wildlife that's been spotted."

  Lily nods. "I had hoped my efforts would bring people back to the lake. It was a sacred place to my people, long forgotten by yours."

  "The flowers, you grew them?" Annie guesses.

  "Yes, I did. Do you like them?"

  They finally reach the cabin and Annie is glad because she's so cold, she wants to warm up, but mostly she's captivated by Lily and her magic. It's not every day you get to meet someone who could fit right in to your childhood story books.

  "I love them, I was trying to get a picture of them when I fell."

  Lily opens the door. "I have vases of flowers in my home, maybe you can take pictures if your camera still works?"

  "Thank you, that's really kind." Annie follows Lily into the cabin and it's a beautiful space, full of colours and flowers, lots of pillows and blankets. Her camera is toast, so she's upset, but her camera was insured, and she can get most of the money back; she's mostly relieved she's alive and with a beautiful fae.

  "I'll get you a robe to wear while your clothes dry. It's just me here, so no one will watch you change – apart from me if you ask nicely." Lily smiles over her shoulder, heading for what Annie guesses is the bedroom.

  Annie hesitates. She wants to get out of the wet clothes, but she's not used to strangers flirting with her and she’s sure that's what Lily was just doing. Lily, who has paused in the doorway.

  "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, forgive me. I spend most of my time alone here working on bringing life back to the forest and water. I forget not everyone is as forward as me. I meet a beautiful woman and I flirt. I would never touch you if you didn't want me to, and I won't take advantage of you being here," Lily promises.

  "It’s fine, I was just surprised." Annie dumps her wet backpack and starts peeling off her clothes as Lily walks into her bedroom.

  Lily comes back with a fluffy blue robe when Annie is in her underwear. Lily doesn't stare, just hands over the robe. Annie puts it on and then takes the remaining wet articles off under the terry cloth cover.

  "It's okay, you can look now," Annie smiles and when Lily looks back up her sparkling blue eyes are so beautiful, and Annie feels a gut punch of lust that makes her knees feel weak.

  Lily looks pleased. "I can take your clothes to the dryer?"

  "Yes, thank you." Annie picks up the pile and hands them over.

  Lily disappears into another room again and calls out from there. "Would you like some tea to warm you?"

  "Yes please," Annie calls back. She's feeling warmer now she's inside and out of her wet clothes, but she's still not comfortably warm.

  "I have cinnamon tea if you like, it's very warming,"

  "Sounds lovely." Annie is grateful for Lily even though a part of her is convinced she died in the lake or is unconscious and this is all a dream, because can a fae be real? Lily is so beautiful, unlike any person Annie has ever seen. She seems real, the way she talks and moves; it all seems so real, so Annie has decided she'll just go with it and try to stop questioning everything. If Lily is real, it means Annie is alive and that is the outcome she wants.

  Lily comes back with cups of tea and places the cups on her coffee table. Annie comes over in her borrowed robe and sits. When Lily does the same on the couch, Annie notices Lily's wings disappearing with a shimmer.

  "Your wings?" Annie blurts hoping she's not been rude.

  "They get crushed when I sit if I don't use my magic. Fae can look human if we wish, which is part of why we have been able to hide for so long, but it's uncomfortable; it doesn't feel natural to dress in a human guise. Would you be more comfortable if I looked human? I can do that for you if you wish," Lily offers, sipping her tea, which reminds Annie to take a sip.

  The hot liquid warms her throat and chest and Annie shakes her head. "No, don't change. You're beautiful as you are, and I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable."

  "Thank you. Would you like me to dry your hair?"

  "You have a hair dryer?" It would be nice to get her sopping wet hair dry, so it stopped clinging coldly to her face and neck.

  "Not exactly." Lily raises a hand. "Can I?"

  "Okay."

  Annie is a little nervous about having magic used on her, worried it'll hurt or go wrong, but something in her trusts Lily, maybe because Lily had saved her life and trusted Annie with her secret. Lily holds her hand close to Annie's hair and moves it up and down and Annie can feel something, a change in the air, nothing painful or scary, just a tingle and within seconds her hair is bone dry.

  "Thank you so much. That must come in handy if you like to swim," Annie smiles.

  Lily looks thoughtful. "I don't mind my hair wet. I don't feel the cold, and I swim on the coldest mornings if the lake isn't too frozen."

  "Your hair is beautiful," Annie can't help blurting out. She picks her tea up and drinks to hide her face, hoping Lily will think the blush on her cheeks is due to the steam and heat of the fragrant tea.

  "So is yours. It's how I first spotted you, that flash of red like a fox darting about my woods. I don't like how foxes get called sly; they are kind and smart, sweet creatures and so brave. You remind me a little of a fox," Lily says with a warm smile.

  Annie laughs. "I've been called foxy before but never an actual fox."

  "Foxy?" Annie cocks her head looking slightly confused.

  "It means sexy."

  "Oh, well then yes you are very foxy." Lily nods and Annie blushes. "You're like a delicate cherry blossom, always blushing pink," Lily says with a twinkle in her eye.

  "I feel like a tongue-tied school kid; it's just not every day you almost drown and are saved by a beautiful and magical fae. I find myself quite captivated with you, and I don't know what to do about it," Annie admits.

  Lily lifts her hand slowly, giving Annie time to stop her, and brings her hand to rest on the robe over Annie's chest. "What does your heart say to you? Listen to the whispers between beats and see what it wants…"

  Annie would swear she can feel the warmth of Lily's hand through the thick robe. She finds herself closing her eyes as she tries to do as Lily said and listen to her heart instead of the frantic thoughts in her head that are telling her she's being foolish. Her heart aches and sings; it wants, oh how it wants to feel life close to it, to feel a heartbeat close to its own.

  "How do I know you want the same? This is so rash, today has been like none I've had before. I nearly died and now I'm here with you, and you're so beautiful and I want to be close to you. Does this even make sense?" Annie hasn't had a lot of one night stands. She doesn't rush into things, but since work means she's always moving, always somewhere new, she has to take chances where and when they come. Something in her is telling her to take a chance here, that she won't regret her choice.

  "I didn't mean to cause you stress. I get lonely here, you're lovely and interesting, and I would enjoy more of your company. But if that would not make you happy, we can talk instead. I don't often get the chance to simply talk with another person," Lily
says.

  "Can I kiss you?" Annie blurts.

  Lily smiles. "Yes, I would like that."

  Annie leans in and does so; Lily's lips are slightly cool, but still spark warmth in Annie's chest and lower in her core. Lily slides an arm around Annie's waist; she can feel the weight of it above the bathrobe.

  She moves her hand from where they have been glued to her lap and uses gentle touches to draw Lily closer, to feel the strip of skin showing on her stomach in the halter top worn presumably to allow room for wings. Annie runs her fingers back and forward over the slight swell of Lily's stomach and the skin over flesh is so soft, like fine silk. Lily gives a happy sigh into Annie's mouth and her hands start to do their own exploring, but Lily seems bolder, sliding her graceful hands under slightly rough cloth to stroke up Annie's ribcage to her breasts and feels her nipples peak.

  With slightly clumsy hands Annie finds the ties of Lily's top and undoes them, both of them catching fire, lust in their veins as they quickly strip each other and stand. Lily offers a hand and leads the way to her bedroom. Annie feels bold walking through a stranger's home nude, but she feels oddly unselfconscious around Lily.

  Lily's room is full of the scent of different fresh flowers, and there are even stray petals on the bed as they lay down together, and without even trying it feels like the most romantic setting for sex Annie has ever had. Bright light streams into the room and it feels decadent, no shadows to hide in and it feels good.

  "I want to please you," Lily says as their lips part, hot breath fanning between them.

  "You're already doing that." Annie giggles, feeling breathless as Lily starts kissing a path down her body. Her skin had still been damp and cold, but the last of the chill leaves her with every touch Lily gifts.

  Lily settles between Annie's legs and teases with lips and tongue; usually Annie would feel self-conscious sprawled naked with a stranger between her thighs, but it feels so natural with Lily. So Annie lays back and just lets pleasure send her heartbeat racing as each touch brings another level of pleasure.

  Eventually, though, Annie feels selfish and so, taking charge, she moves on the bed so that she can give Lily the same pleasure she is receiving.