Good

[Description]

Naomi has always been good.

Good grades. Good choices. Good daughter.

Getting lost alone in the mountains wasn't part of the plan.

Neither was the hidden hot spring.

Or the two beautiful nymphs waiting inside it.

Saelis is gentle. Nerya is trouble. And somewhere between their strange golden drink, wandering hands, and the realization that neither woman expects her to be anything at all, Naomi begins to wonder what might happen if, for once, she stopped trying so hard to behave.

She only meant to stay the night.

Tomorrow, she can be good again.

[Tags]

#Sapphic, #WLW, #Lesbian #Fantasy #FxFxF #Threesome, #Nymphs, #MythicalCreatures, #Supernatural, #HotSprings, #SexualAwakening, #FirstTime, #Innocence, #Corruption, #GoodGirl, #PraiseKink, #GentleFemdom, #Seduction, #DubCon, #Exploration, #ShyProtagonist, #ExperiencedWomen, #Aftercare, #ShortStory

I was lost.

I was almost certain I was lost.

I stopped walking and unfolded the map again. East, I needed to be going east. I looked down at the map. Then at the trees. Then back at the map, as though one of them might have become more helpful in the last thirty seconds.

Neither had.

"Okay," I whispered. My voice sounded strangely small out here. I swallowed and tried again. "East."

The compass on my phone said east was to my right, that was something. The little No Service at the top of the screen was considerably less helpful. I held the phone higher--nothing. I stood on my toes and held it above my head, still nothing. "Come on."

One bar appeared. My heart jumped.

It vanished. "Oh, come on."

I lowered my arm and stared accusingly at the screen. The man at the mall had promised me I'd have service in the mountains. Excellent rural coverage, he'd said.

I had specifically asked about the mountains. Twice. Apparently I should have asked whether excellent meant standing alone in the middle of the wilderness with seventeen percent battery and absolutely no way to call my mother.

Actually, no.

Calling Mom was the last thing I needed. Hi, Mom. Remember how you said hiking alone was a terrible idea? Funny story.

I put my phone away.

I wasn't calling her. I couldn't call her, obviously, but that wasn't the point.

I could handle this, that was why I'd come out here in the first place.

I was going to university in three weeks. I was an adult. I couldn't spend the rest of my life being afraid to do things just because I'd never done them before.

I just needed to find the trail.

Or...

I looked through the trees at the rapidly fading light.

Okay. Maybe I needed to find somewhere to sleep first. My feet had been aching for hours. There was definitely a blister forming on my left heel, my shoulders hurt beneath the straps of my backpack, and every time I stepped over a root my legs trembled unpleasantly. I was tired, really tired.

And it was getting dark. That was the part I was trying not to think about. Through a gap in the trees, I could already see the moon, a thin crescent barely brighter than the evening sky. I had maybe an hour of daylight left. Probably less beneath the trees. I needed somewhere flat. Somewhere dry. Somewhere I could put up my tent before I couldn't see what I was doing.

I adjusted my backpack and winced. "It's fine." The trees did not seem convinced. "I know what I'm doing."

That was a lie.

A small one.

I hoped.

I checked the compass again. East was still to my right. "Great."

I picked my way between two enormous cedars, ducking beneath a low branch.

My phone buzzed faintly in my hand.

I looked down.

The compass needle was turning. Slowly at first, then faster, circling once before shivering to a stop. East was behind me.

I frowned. "What?"

I hadn't turned around.

I lifted the phone and turned in a slow circle. The compass followed normally now.

East remained behind me.

"That's not helpful."

Sixteen percent battery. No service. Apparently the compass was giving up too.

I locked the screen and shoved it back into my pocket.

Then I saw the roof.

It wasn't much of a building. A hut, maybe. Dark wood, low roof, one side raised slightly above the ground. It looked old enough that I couldn't imagine why it hadn't appeared on the trail map.

Then again, I had apparently managed to stop appearing on the trail map myself several hours ago, so perhaps I wasn't in a position to criticize.

The hut became stranger as I got closer. I'd been expecting one of the little emergency shelters I'd seen online while planning the trip. Something practical. Maybe a sign with the park's name on it, or a notice board, or at least one of those ugly metal boxes for keeping food away from bears.

There was nothing like that; the building sat quietly among the trees as though it had grown there with them. Its wood had gone almost black with age. A deep overhanging roof sheltered a narrow raised porch, and pale sliding panels covered most of the front. Moss softened the stones around its foundation.

It was beautiful--it also very obviously belonged to someone.

I slowed. A pair of sandals rested neatly beside the step. Something hung beneath the eaves in several small bundles. Plants, I realized. Their stems had been tied together and suspended upside down to dry.

"Hello?" I stopped a few feet from the porch, waiting to see if someone replied. Nothing. Suddenly finding a stranger's house in the middle of nowhere felt considerably less miraculous than finding an empty emergency shelter. What was I supposed to do, knock? There wasn't really anything to knock on.

"Hello?" I called again, a little louder. "Is anyone here?"

Still nothing.

I shifted my weight and immediately regretted it when my left heel protested.

I couldn't just leave. Well, I could, obviously, but it was getting dark, I was lost, and there was a perfectly good building directly in front of me. Whoever lived here would understand that. Probably.

I could ask for directions.

Maybe they would know where the trail was.

Maybe they had a phone.

My hand went automatically to my pocket--seventeen percent. Sixteen now, actually. "Great." I turned the screen off.

That was when I noticed how warm it was.

I frowned.

The evening had been cooling around me for the last hour. I'd even been thinking about stopping to pull on another layer. But here, beside the hut, the air felt different. Warm. Damp, too. A strand of hair had stuck to my cheek. I brushed it away and looked around. There was a smell I couldn't place at first. Earthy. Mineral. Not unpleasant, exactly, just strange. And underneath the quiet rustle of the trees, I heard water. My whole body seemed to notice it at once.

I stepped around the side of the hut.

The sound became clearer. Not a river. I'd crossed enough of those today to recognize one. This was gentler. A soft trickle somewhere ahead, followed by the occasional quiet lap of water against stone.

Steam drifted between the trees.

I stopped again.

"No way."

For the first time all afternoon, I forgot about my feet.

#

The trees opened.

For a second, I forgot how tired I was.

A pool of water lay nestled into the mountainside, enclosed on three sides by dark, moss-covered stone. Steam curled from its surface in pale ribbons, catching what remained of the evening light. Water slipped continuously from a narrow channel in the rock, disturbing the surface with little rings.

A hot spring. An actual hot spring.

"Oh my gosh."

My legs hurt. My shoulders hurt. My feet felt like they had been beaten with something... and here was a hot spring.

I took one step toward it.

Something moved in the water.

I froze.

At first I thought it was an animal. Then the shape at the far side of the pool lifted its head.

A woman.

"Oh!" I stumbled backward so quickly my backpack nearly pulled me over. "I'm sorry!"

The woman blinked at me. She had been resting against the stones with only her head and the very tops of her shoulders above the water, dark hair floating around her in long, loose strands.

I caught the strap of my backpack in both hands, suddenly unsure what to do with them. "I didn't know anyone was here. My name is Naomi, I'm hiking the range," I rushed on, "I got a little turned around and saw the hut, and I called out, but nobody answered, and then I heard the water, so I thought... I mean, I wasn't trying to..."

She sat up and my apology disappeared. The water slipped down her. I saw shoulders first. Then the graceful line of her collarbones.

Then... more. I looked away so fast my neck hurt. "Sorry."

Heat rushed into my face. Don't look. Obviously I shouldn't look, she was bathing.

She was also apparently completely naked.

Which was fine.

Of course it was fine. It was a hot spring. People didn't usually wear clothes in hot springs. I knew that. I had just never actually been in one. Or accidentally walked in on a naked woman in one. Especially not a woman who looked like...

I stopped that thought.

"I'm really sorry," I said again.

There was a soft sound from the water. It took me a second to realize she was laughing. "You apologize often."

I stared determinedly at a fern beside my boot. "I didn't mean to interrupt you."

"You haven't."

I risked looking at her face--just her face. That was allowed. She was looking at me. I immediately became very aware of the fact that I had been hiking for hours. My hair was probably terrible. My face felt grimy. There was dirt on my pants. I was sweaty and exhausted and standing there with a backpack approximately the size of a small child strapped to me.

She, meanwhile, was... I swallowed. Pretty. Very pretty. Her face was unlike anyone's I'd ever seen. Long dark hair clung wetly to her neck and shoulders, and there was something almost sleepy about her eyes. Calm. Like finding a strange girl wandering out of the forest at sunset was not particularly surprising.

I realized I'd been staring. My eyes dropped.

Straight to the water. Which was a mistake. I caught another glimpse of pale skin beneath the rippling surface before jerking my gaze back to her face.

Her mouth curved. "You are lost, Naomi?"

"A little."

Her smile deepened.

My face grew warmer. "Maybe more than a little."

"Then you should rest."

I glanced back toward the hut. "I was actually hoping whoever lives here might let me put my tent somewhere nearby. Just for tonight. I can leave first thing in the morning."

"Your tent?"

"Yes."

She looked past me, toward the enormous backpack hanging from my shoulders. "You carried your shelter with you?"

I laughed uncertainly. "Well... yes."

Something about this seemed to delight her. "Humans are peculiar."

I blinked. Humans? Before I could decide whether that was an odd thing to say, she moved through the water until she could rest her arms on the stone edge of the pool before me. "You are tired."

"I'm okay."

"Your legs are trembling."

I looked down. They were. "I've been walking for a while."

"Then come in."

I looked at her, then at the water, then very deliberately back at her face. "In?"

The woman glanced around the spring as though there were some other possible interpretation. "The water will help."

It would. Every aching part of me wanted to climb into that pool immediately. There was only one small difficulty.

She was in it.

And she wasn't wearing anything.

I pressed a smile back onto my face. "Thank you, really, but I didn't pack a swimsuit."

The woman stared at me. For a moment she looked genuinely bewildered. Then she laughed. "I'm not wearing one."

My face burned. "Well, yes, I know, I just meant that I..." I stopped. "It's only that I've never..."

Never what? Bathed? Seen another woman naked? Taken my clothes off in front of a complete stranger?

There was absolutely no civilized way to finish that sentence. Thankfully, she rescued me. "Perhaps you could leave your shirt on?" She considered this, then brightened. "Or you wear..." Her brow furrowed with concentration. "What do they call them? Brassieres?"

She looked rather pleased with herself. I couldn't help it. I smiled. "Bras."

"Bras," she repeated carefully.

"Yes."

"Then you may wear that."

Somehow, that settled it. I wasn't entirely sure how. Maybe it was because she said it so simply. There was no teasing in her voice, no impatience with how ridiculous I was apparently being about something she didn't find embarrassing at all. Or maybe I was simply too tired to keep arguing with warm water.

She turned her back without my having to ask and then I was taking off my backpack. Then my boots. Then I was folding my hiking clothes into a neat little pile on a dry stone because leaving them crumpled on the ground felt wrong, even though nobody was there to care.

I hesitated longest over my shirt.

It's just like a swimsuit. A bra and underwear covered almost exactly the same amount--probably. Close enough. I folded the shirt quickly before I could reconsider.

The first touch of hot water around my aching feet nearly made my knees buckle. "Oh."

I lowered myself another step. Heat climbed my calves, my thighs, my waist, and every muscle it touched seemed to loosen at once. "Oh my gosh."

By the time I sank down until the water reached my shoulders, I could have cried. I closed my eyes. For several wonderful seconds, there was nothing in the world except heat.

Then a woman's voice spoke directly behind me. "Who did you find, Saelis?"

I screamed. Water splashed everywhere. I twisted around so quickly that one foot slipped against the stone, and I only just caught myself on the edge of the pool.

Another woman stood at the edge of the spring. She was beautiful, with long golden hair, a rather generous figure, and a smile that suggested she found the whole situation terribly amusing.

Her eyes widened when she saw me. Then something in her expression changed.

Delight. Immediate, unmistakable delight.

"I did." She sounded pleased about it.

"Nerya."

"I didn't mean to."

She absolutely had not meant that apology. I sank a little farther into the water.

Nerya was carrying a small wooden tray. Two shallow cups sat upon it beside a dark glass bottle, something golden clinging thickly to the inside when she moved. She looked at me, looked at the cups, then crouched beside the spring and held one out. "Here."

I blinked. "Oh. No, that's okay."

"You don't want it?"

"I don't want to take yours."

Nerya glanced at the cup as though this were an objection she hadn't considered. "I will use the bottle." A little smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"Oh. No, no, You don't have to." I said it quickly.

"I know." She continued holding it toward me.

I looked helplessly at Saelis.

Saelis's annoyance had clearly already faded. She was watching us with something suspiciously close to amusement. "You may take it," she said gently.

Somehow, thirty seconds later, I was holding the cup.

I looked down at it. The liquid inside was a deep, luminous gold, thicker than wine. When I tipped the cup slightly, it clung to the sides before slowly settling again. It smelled sweet. Honey, maybe, but there was something else beneath it. Flowers. Herbs. Something warm and unfamiliar that caught at the back of my throat when I breathed it in. "What is it?"

"Drink it," Nerya said.

I looked at her. "That wasn't what I asked."

Her grin widened.

Saelis sighed. "It is safe."

That was not reassuring. "Is it alcoholic?"

The two women looked at each other.

"A little," Saelis said.

I narrowed my eyes. "How little?"

Nerya laughed. "You ask many questions."

"I don't know either of you."

That stopped them. It stopped me too, a little. I was sitting half-dressed in a hot spring with two naked women I had met less than an hour ago, holding a mysterious drink one of them had handed me.

Knowing their names did not make any of that more sensible.

My mother would have had an aneurysm.

"You know us," Nerya said.

"I know your names." I tightened both hands around the little cup. "That's not the same thing."

Nerya's brow furrowed, seemingly considering that.

Saelis reached across the water and rested her fingertips lightly against my wrist. "You do not have to drink it, Naomi." Her touch was warm. She didn't try to take the cup from me or push it toward me. Her fingers simply remained there, loose against my skin.

I looked down at the golden liquid again.

It did smell wonderful.

"But it is safe?"

"Yes," Saelis said.

I took a cautious sip. Honey was there, but not the sticky sweetness I'd expected. It tasted of flowers I couldn't name and something almost like ripe fruit, followed by a warmth that spread slowly across my tongue and down my throat. "Oh."

Nerya laughed. "You like it."

"It's good." I took another sip before remembering that I was supposed to be cautious. The warmth followed the second swallow farther.

Into my chest.

My stomach.

My fingertips.

I frowned at the cup.

That was fast. "When you said 'a little,' exactly how little did you mean?"

"Not very," Nerya said.

"For you?" Saelis said at exactly the same time.

I looked between them. Nerya was already setting the tray aside.

"Wait. What does that mea--" She pulled her shirt over her head and I forgot the rest of the sentence.

For one horrible second, I looked directly at her chest. Heat rushed into my face. I jerked my eyes upward. Her shirt was still caught around her arms, dragging her long hair up with it. And beneath it...

I stared.

Her ears were pointed. Actually pointed.

They rose through her swept-back golden hair in long, delicate tapers, too pronounced to be something I could explain away as an unusual shape.

Nerya pulled the shirt free and tossed it onto the stones. My eyes stayed fixed somewhere above her shoulders as her hands moved to her skirt.

She glanced at me as she bent to push the fabric down. A slow smile spread across her face.

I barely noticed.

There had to be an explanation. I couldn't think of one.

A moment later she stepped into the spring beside me. "You may keep looking, if you like."

"What?"

My eyes dropped. I realized several things at once. Nerya was naked, she had been naked for some time, and I had been staring at her for all of it.

"I wasn't looking at you!"

Nerya's smile widened.

"I mean, I was. But not..." My face somehow became hotter. "Your ears."

She touched one. "My ears?"

"They're pointed."

Saelis giggled. "You did not notice?" Then, with obvious delight, she swept her hair behind both ears.

I didn't realize my face could get hotter. I sank down to my chin in the water.

Nerya settled beside me and reached for the bottle.

I watched her take a drink, then looked at her ears again. "So you're..." I had no idea how to finish that question.

"I think you would call us nymphs," Saelis offered.

I looked at her. Then at Nerya. "Nymphs?"

"Yes," Saelis said.

"Both of you."

Nerya lowered the bottle. "Yes."

I looked between them.

They looked back.

There were far too many questions in my head and absolutely nowhere sensible to begin. I took another drink. Maybe it would be easier if I started with something I understood. I took another drink. "How old are you?"

Nerya paused with the bottle halfway to her mouth. For the first time, she seemed uncertain how to answer. "I don't know."

I frowned. "How can you not know?"

"I have never counted."

"Years?"

"Is that how you count?" Nerya asked.

"Yes."

Something touched my foot. I shifted it away without looking down.

Saelis considered my answer. "We have seen many years."

"How many?"

"Many."

I waited. Apparently that was the answer."Have you always lived here?"

"In our forest?" Saelis asked.

"Yes."

"Always."

Nerya's foot found mine again. I moved it.

Our forest. I took another sip. "Right."

Neyra's toes brushed mine. I looked at her. She was drinking from the bottle, apparently fascinated by nothing whatsoever. I looked down at the water. Her foot touched mine again. "You're doing that on purpose."

She lowered the bottle. "Yes."

I had expected her to deny it. I didn't know what to do with the truth.

Saelis laughed softly.

Nerya's eyes brightened. "Now I have a question."

"You didn't answer most of mine."

"We answered all of them."

"'Many' is not an answer." I looked helplessly at Saelis.

"Yes it is," she said.

"Not a very useful one."

Saelis smiled. Nerya's toes brushed lightly against the side of my foot. "Why were you wandering alone in our forest?"

"I wasn't wandering, I was hiking."

"Alone."

"Yes."

Nerya tipped her head, studying me over the mouth of the bottle. "Do you like being alone?"

"Sometimes." I took another sip. "I've been travelling by myself all summer."

"Why?"

"Because..." I frowned into my cup. "I don't know. I thought I should. I'm going to university in three weeks."

"University," Saelis repeated.

"School. More school, I suppose."

The drink had left a pleasant warmth behind my eyes. Not dizziness exactly. I knew where I was. I knew what I was saying. Everything simply seemed to require a little less effort than it had before.

Nerya's toes brushed mine again. This time I didn't move.

"You travel before more school?" she asked.

"It's something people do. One last summer to travel and figure out who you are and..." I trailed off.

"And?" Nerya prompted.

"Then everything starts."

Her brow furrowed. "Everything?"

"University. Work. Life."

"Is this not life?"

I laughed... She didn't. My laugh faded. "Well, yes. Obviously."

"Then what starts?"

"I don't know." I laughed again, quieter this time. "You're making it sound strange." Beneath the water, Nerya's leg shifted until her calf rested alongside mine. "My parents thought travelling would be good for me."

Saelis tilted her head. "Parents?"

"My mother and father. They raised me."

"They take care of you?" Nerya asked.

"Yes. Well, not exactly anymore. I'm an adult." I thought about that. "But yes."

Saelis crossed the little space between us and settled against the stone on my other side. Close. Her arm rested lightly against mine. There wasn't very much spring left that didn't contain a nymph.

"They're good parents," I said. "They've done everything for me. Good schools. Tutors. Music lessons. My university tuition." I paused. "They've sacrificed a lot."

"So you must give something back," Saelis said.

"It's not like that." The answer came too quickly.

Her expression didn't change.

"I mean, obviously I want them to be proud of me."

"What makes them proud?"

That was easy. "Good grades. Making good choices. Working hard. Being responsible." I smiled faintly. "Not getting lost alone on mountains."

Nerya's leg pressed a little more firmly against mine.

"And if you do those things," Saelis asked, "they are happy with you?"

Something about the question bothered me. "They're always happy with me."

Saelis's fingers came to rest lightly against my forearm.

"They love me," I said.

"I believe you."

I looked down into my cup. "They do."

"I know."

The words were so gentle that something in my chest tightened anyway. "They just expect a lot because they know I can do it. They want me to have a good life."

Saelis's thumb moved lightly against my arm. "You are very careful with them."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Even here."

"I'm not being careful."

"No?"

"No."

Saelis smiled.

Nerya leaned closer. "You are very good."

I looked at her. "What?"

"You do what they ask. You make the good choices. You work hard."

I straightened slightly. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"I didn't say there was."

"I looked down at my cup. "I know."

Saelis's fingertips moved once against my arm. "Does it make you tired?"

I turned toward her. "What?"

"Being good."

"No." The answer came before I'd even thought about it.

Saelis didn't contradict me.

Her thumb moved slowly over my skin.

The warmth behind my eyes seemed heavier now. Nerya's leg was still pressed along mine. Somewhere during the conversation, her hand had come to rest against my knee. I couldn't remember deciding that was all right. Saelis's shoulder rested against my arm.

I could feel every place they touched me with a clarity that seemed unfair when everything else had begun to feel so pleasantly soft.

"Sometimes," I said.

The word seemed to hang there.

I took another drink. When I lowered the cup, Saelis was still watching me.

She was very close now. Close enough that I could see the tiny droplets of water caught in her lashes. Close enough that the dark hair tucked behind her ear had begun to slip loose again.

Her ear.

I stared at the delicate point. It was still strange. Even after everything they'd told me, some part of me kept insisting it couldn't possibly be real. I wondered what it felt like.

Then my fingertips touched it.

Saelis went still.

I looked at my hand. "Sorry." I started to pull away.

Saelis caught my wrist gently.

Heat rushed into my face. "I shouldn't have..."

"Why?"

I looked at her. She was smiling.

"I didn't ask."

Saelis considered that, then guided my hand back toward her. "Ask."

My heart gave a strange little jump. "Can I?"

"Yes."

I touched her ear again, carefully this time. My fingertip followed the outer curve, all the way to the narrow point. Warm skin. Soft. Completely ordinary except for the fact that it wasn't.

I traced it again.

Saelis's smile deepened.

"What?" I asked.

"You like them." she murmured, with a quiet satisfaction that made my stomach flutter.

My finger stopped. "Your ears?" She hummed. Heat climbed immediately into my face. "They're pointed."

Saelis laughed softly. "You knew that."

"Knowing isn't the same as..." I trailed off, because I wasn't entirely sure what knowing wasn't the same as. My fingertip was still resting against the delicate taper of her ear.

"Do you?" Saelis asked.

"Do I what?"

Her smile told me perfectly well what.

I looked down at my cup. "Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Yes," I muttered.

Saelis's fingers stroked lightly over my wrist. I could have taken my hand away. Instead, I traced the point again.

After that, things became pleasantly difficult to arrange in order.

I remembered telling them that I'd lied to my mother exactly twice and confessed both times before morning. Someone laughed. I couldn't remember which of them. I remembered Saelis asking what I liked to do when nobody expected anything from me. I couldn't remember what I'd answered. I remembered my head resting against her shoulder.

Nerya saying something that made me laugh. Saelis's fingers combing slowly through my damp hair.

I remembered the bottle passing between us, our mouths taking turns at its rim. I couldn't remember ever seeing it empty.

Warm skin against mine.

I couldn't remember when I'd stopped sitting upright.

At some point I looked up. The moon hung between the cedars, huge and silver and almost perfectly round.

I remember thinking how beautiful it was.

My head was resting against Saelis. Her fingers moved lazily through my hair. Nerya was saying something. I wasn't really listening anymore. Then her hand moved--higher.

A thought stirred somewhere beneath the pleasant fog in my head. Something about where her hand was. Something that sounded vaguely like my mother. Naomi, a young lady does not let someone...

Her fingers drifted another inch and the thought dissolved. Heat gathered suddenly low in my stomach. It wasn't the spring. This was different. A strange, tightening warmth seemed to spread outward from somewhere deep inside me, leaving my skin prickling in its wake.

My breath caught.

Then Nerya's hand slipped between my thighs. Her fingers brushed somewhere they hadn't before.

A small, startled sound escaped me and my legs drew together instinctively around her hand.

The haze vanished.

Not completely. Just enough. Enough for my face to burn. Enough for my heart to start hammering. Enough to know that whatever I had just felt, I had felt it because she had touched me.

I could hear my heart.

Too fast.

I stared down at the water as if I might find an explanation there.

Behind me, Saelis's fingers continued slowly through my hair. "Naomi."

I swallowed.

Her voice was quiet beside my ear. "Breathe."

I hadn't realized I wasn't. I drew in a shaky breath.

Nerya's thumb moved once against my skin, a slow, patient circle where her hand already rested.

"Again," Saelis murmured.

I breathed.

Nerya's thumb made another slow circle. Nothing bad happened. My heart kept beating, Saelis kept combing her fingers through my hair, and the water continued whispering over the stones as though nothing strange had happened at all.

Another circle followed, exactly as slow as the first, and gradually the frightening part of the feeling began to loosen. The warmth was still there beneath it, strange and unfamiliar and impossible not to notice, but it no longer made me want to pull away.

Nerya's thumb moved again and a tiny sound caught somewhere in my throat.

My face burned hotter.

My legs loosened a little.

She kept at the same slow motion while I breathed again, Saelis warm behind me and Nerya warm beside me, until I wasn't entirely sure what I had been frightened of anymore.

I could leave her hand there.

That was all.

I was only letting her leave it there.

Her thumb traced another lazy circle, and slowly the last of the tension left my legs.

Then, before I could think too carefully about why, I shifted a little closer.

#

I wasn't entirely sure when we left the spring.

I remembered steam. Dry leaves crumbling beneath my bare feet.

Nerya laughing.

Saelis wrapping something warm around my shoulders while I stood dripping on the stones.

I remembered insisting that I could carry my own backpack--I had absolutely no memory of actually carrying it.

After that, everything softened together.

Lamplight.

The whisper of a sliding door.

A thick towel rubbing gently over my wet hair. Damp fabric being carefully peeled away. Someone putting another cup into my hands.

Warmth.

So much warmth.

The next thing I knew, I was lying on my side beneath a thin blanket in the hut, staring sleepily at the flicker of lamplight across the wooden ceiling. My body felt wonderful; heavy, but not tired-heavy.

Loose.

Melted. I stretched one leg experimentally and discovered that nothing hurt.

"Better?"

I turned my head. Saelis was lying beside me--very close beside me. "Much."

I smiled. Then I became aware of an arm resting across my waist. I looked down at it, it wasn't Saelis's. My thoughts moved through this information with tremendous dignity and very little speed.

I looked over my shoulder.

Nerya grinned at me. "Hello."

My brow furrowed. "How did you get there?"

"I lay down."

"Oh."

I settled back down. Something felt strange.

I frowned.

There was the blanket, Nerya's arm, Saelis beside me, and...

I looked down. It took several seconds. "Oh."

Saelis's eyes flicked toward me. "What?"

I pulled the edge of the blanket away from myself approximately half an inch and flattened it back. A laugh escaped me. I clapped a hand over my mouth but that only made another one escape. "I'm naked," I whispered.

Nerya's arm tightened slightly around my waist. "Yes," she murmured, sounding altogether too pleased about it.

"I'm naked." I knew that wasn't new information. Apparently I simply found it very important.

"You were wet," Saelis said.

I considered this.

It was perfectly logical.

I wasn't entirely certain my parents would agree that she was wet adequately explained why their nineteen-year-old daughter was lying naked beneath a blanket with two equally naked women, but they weren't here. Another helpless giggle bubbled out of me. I buried my face in the blanket. And then, abruptly, I stopped laughing.

I became aware of Neyra all at once. The length of her body curled close behind mine. Her arm against my stomach. The warmth of bare skin wherever we touched.

Saelis was just as close in front of me.

There was no clothing between any of us.

My heart gave one hard, startled beat.

A shiver chased over my skin despite the warmth. My breath caught somewhere high in my chest, and my body seemed to draw itself tighter against Nerya before I could tell it not to.

My face went hot.

"Naomi?" Saelis's voice was soft. I looked at her.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes," I replied much too quickly.

Nerya's arm loosened around me. Immediately, absurdly, I missed it. The realization sent another rush of heat into my face.

"I'm not scared," I whispered.

"It's all right if you are."

"I'm not." It came out more defensively than I'd intended.

Saelis watched me quietly.

I swallowed. "I'm nervous." Even that felt horribly exposing.

"Why?"

I almost said 'I don't know', it would have been easier but there was something about Saelis's quiet attention that made lying feel strangely unnecessary. I picked at the edge of the blanket instead. "I've never done this before."

"This?"

My face burned hotter. I made a helpless little gesture beneath the blanket. It encompassed, as far as I was concerned, absolutely everything.

Saelis.

Nerya.

Nakedness.

Whatever was happening to my heartbeat.

"Any of this."

The faint amusement disappeared from Saelis's eyes. She brushed a damp strand of hair away from my cheek. "Then we can go slowly."

Nerya's fingertips moved lightly along my hipbone.

My breath caught again. For a moment her fingers paused before they continued their drift downward. Not far. Not enough that I could have called it anything except a touch, except now I was horribly aware of every inch of it.

I swallowed.

Saelis touched my chin. My eyes snapped back to hers. "You have freckles."

I blinked. Of all the things I had expected her to say, that wasn't one of them. "What?"

Her thumb moved gently along my jaw. "Here." She touched my cheek. "And here." Another.

My heartbeat stumbled. "I know."

"I like them."

My face somehow became hotter. "They're just freckles."

Saelis tilted my face slightly toward the lamplight, studying me with such quiet concentration that I immediately wanted to disappear beneath the blanket. "No," she murmured. "They look like little constellations."

I looked away, but Saelis still had my chin. "Don't say things like that."

"Why?"

"Because." I meant it to sound firm. It came out embarrassingly close to a plea.

"Because?"

Nerya's fingers traced another slow path along my hip and my thoughts scattered. "Because I don't know what I'm supposed to say."

Saelis smiled. Her thumb brushed my burning cheek. "You don't have to say anything."

Behind me, Nerya's hand drifted lower. Her fingers slipped somewhere they hadn't before. I made a sound--tiny. High and helpless. My whole body twitched before I could stop it.

Saelis's eyes stayed on mine.

"Oh." My voice broke around the word. Heat rushed through me so quickly that my eyes stung. I tried to look away. Saelis's hand remained gently beneath my chin. "Naomi."

I couldn't look at her.

I couldn't think about Nerya.

My vision blurred. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

I didn't know. That made it worse. I blinked hard, and a tear slipped hot across my cheek.

Saelis caught it with her thumb. "Too much?"

Nerya went still. The sudden absence of movement made something inside me clench.

I shook my head immediately. "No," I whispered.

Saelis watched me for another moment. "Tell us what you want."

Oh God. My fingers twisted helplessly into the blanket. "... Don't stop."

"Good," Nerya whispered. "I didn't want to." Her lips brushed softly against my shoulder.

Saelis wiped another tear from beneath my eye. "You're all right," she murmured. "You don't have to do anything else."

I let my eyes close.

For once, I stopped worrying about what I was supposed to do next.

#

Eventually, I became aware of myself again.

Not all at once.

First there was warmth. Then the embarrassing realization that I was trembling. My thoughts returned considerably more slowly, scattered and hazy and apparently in no hurry to become useful.

Then hands were moving me.

My legs were gathered carefully together and folded across a warm lap. An arm slipped beneath my shoulders. Someone lifted me just enough to settle my head against soft skin, and I went wherever they put me without offering the slightest assistance.

I didn't open my eyes.

Someone touched my cheek and I simply leaned into it.

For a while, that was everything. Warmth beneath my cheek, fingers moving through my damp hair, another hand stroking lazily along my calf.

It took a while before I could breathe normally again.

Eventually, I opened my eyes.

I regretted it immediately. I was curled bonelessly across both of them, my head pillowed against Saelis while my legs lay over Nerya's lap. Nerya looked unbearably pleased with herself. She was watching me with a lazy, satisfied smile, one hand resting innocently across my shin as though she had absolutely nothing to do with my current condition.

My face caught fire.

Her smile widened.

Oh God. I made a tiny, mortified sound and buried my face against Saelis's leg.

Saelis laughed softly above me.

"Please don't laugh," I mumbled into her skin.

Her fingers slipped into my hair, combing gently through the damp strands. "I'm not laughing at you."

I pressed my face more firmly into her leg.

"You did very well, sweet girl."

Something warm fluttered low in my stomach. I didn't know why those two words affected me so much and I was much too tired to examine it. I hid my face anyway, suddenly grateful Saelis couldn't see how much hotter it had become.

Nerya made a pleased little sound. "Our sweet girl."

The warmth fluttered through my stomach again. Saelis' fingers kept combing gently through my hair, and I let myself go limp beneath them. Someone drew the blanket over me. There was a quiet shifting of bodies around mine. Saelis eased me carefully from her lap and down onto the bedding, only for me to discover that this apparently did not mean I was being given any personal space whatsoever.

Nerya curled against my back. Saelis settled in front of me. I opened one eye. "Do you always sleep like this?"

"Like what?" Nerya asked. Her arm slipped around my waist.

I tried to think of how to explain it. The thought seemed to take far too much effort. "Never mind," I mumbled, and let my eye fall closed again.

Saelis smiled.

I should probably have cared that I was still naked. I knew I should. Earlier, I hadn't even been able to take off my bra in front of Saelis. Now Nerya was curled naked against my back and Saelis lay just as close in front of me. I was too tired to understand how that had stopped feeling strange.

Nerya tucked herself closer. Saelis brushed a loose strand of hair from my face.

I didn't want them to move.

I sighed. "I should leave tomorrow." The words came out blurry with sleep.

Saelis's fingers paused against my cheek. "Okay," she said.

I relaxed.

Tomorrow was sensible.

Tomorrow I would find the trail.

Tomorrow I would charge my phone somehow. I would figure out how long I'd been lost and how worried my parents were and what on earth I could possibly tell them about tonight.

Not everything. Absolutely not everything.

My face warmed weakly against the pillow. Nerya's arm tightened around me.

"Maybe after breakfast," I murmured.

Saelis's thumb stroked once across my cheek. "Of course."

I smiled without meaning to.

The hut was quiet. Beyond the walls, water whispered endlessly over stone. Wind moved somewhere high among the trees, too distant to reach us.

I couldn't remember the last time I had felt so warm.

Or so tired.

Or so completely unconcerned with what came next.

Tomorrow could have me tomorrow.

I tucked my hand beneath my cheek and let my eyes fall closed.

Saelis kissed my forehead.

Nerya's breathing softened against the back of my neck.

And held between them, I slept. aaaaaaaaaaaaaa