Anna watched John wake and smile at him as he blinked in confusion. "You're freed from many cares when you're asleep."

"What?" He blinked at her again and Anna nodded at his nude form. John's speed at sitting up and searching for something to cover himself made her laugh. "It's not funny."

"It is, a bit." She shook her head, "There's no need to worry. The only person to see you here is me."

"And anything else that flew by."

Anna grinned and slid onto the ground, crawling toward him. "You mean you're afraid that a bird might be watching?"

"Maybe."

"Afraid they'll learn from us what you learned from others?" Anna stroked a finger down John's chest and he shivered. "Afraid to share what you learned?"

"I only want to share it with you." He grabbed her hand, pressing a kiss to her palm before biting at the skin there. "If you want me to."

Anna leaned over him, "I'd be a fool to refuse you."

"Well," His fingers only intertwined with hers, not moving them one way or the other. "I'd like to see you take the lead. To tell me what you want."

"I want you." Anna frowned, "Am I supposed to want more than that?"

"No." John leaned up just enough to kiss her knuckles. "But I worry that I push you. That perhaps you don't want me the way I want you."

"How could you think that?" Anna released his hands, pressing on his abdomen instead to situated herself on his thighs. "I've never wanted anything as much as I want you."

"Not even your revenge?"

Anna bit the inside of her cheek before crossing her arms over her body to pull her dress over her head. "Nothing."

John tried to sit up but Anna put a hand on his shoulder, keeping his back on the ground. "I want nothing as much as I want you."

"Then why'd you leave?" Anna stopped, noting the shadow in John's eyes. "In the night, you left."

"I tried to set something right." Anna forced a smile, "Something I thought I could solve but I couldn't."

"What was it?"

Anna shook her head. "Not now." John tried to speak again but she put a finger over his lips. "Not now, please. I can't… I want to think of good things right now. Please let me… Let me think of good things."

John nodded and kissed Anna's finger. "What good things."

"Anything's good when you're here." Anna removed her finger, curving her hand around the back of his head and draping herself over his body to kiss him.

John's hands held at her head, cupping around the line of her jaw and meshing in her hair to stroke through her tresses and manipulate through her locks to find a hold to support the kiss. A kiss Anna quickly wove into her control when she tipped her head sideways to take more of his mouth with a slant. But John knew the game slightly better than she did and used his tongue to take control again, sucking deeply on her before mapping the interior of her mouth with his touch.

She tried to return the gesture, sucking deeply as if to steal his taste and breath and soul in the same motion. But no matter what she did in the kiss, John kept her on her toes and at the edge of a pleasure she wanted to chase with abandon. A pleasure, Anna was sure, John determined would taste sweeter if gained after great struggle.

So she broke the kiss. John blinked at her, the swell to his lips leading her to trace the redness with a finger. A tingle of gold leaked from her finger and Anna pressed her lips to his cheek so he could not see the hint of a tear in her eye. Tears she blinked away as she continued to leave the trail of her lips down his body.

In the few times, over the years they worked together, he took his time to adore her. To show her what a lifetime of watching humanity at their more sensual games had taught him. But Anna knew a few things that she wanted John to know as well. A few things she learned through his experience.

The first was that their bodies held similar places for pleasure. Flicking her tongue at his nipples or caressing her hands over him left him as delirious and desirous as it left her. Using her teeth to graze or tug at his skin had him shuddering and quivering under her. And using her hands at his arousal brought the sounds from his throat that he usually tore from her.

But there were so many differences as well. The swell of his chest expanded further than hers did and his sounds were deeper. And she could not get inside him, the way he could her, to drive him mad. But as her hand learned the shape and size of his arousal, Anna wondered if the soft skin that contained him would respond to similar actions.

She slid down his legs, bringing her kisses down his chest, and stroked him gently with her hand. Each movement had him twitching and shunting against her while his knuckles whitened their grip in the grass. Anna rounded the base of him with her kisses, taking them over his hips as if to leave traces of herself over his skin, before risking one on him.

John jerked and Anna almost froze but their eyes met. The darkness there, not the shadow of confusion from before but the expression he so often showered on her, had Anna continuing her map of kisses. They rounded him, wrapped him, and eventually covered him until the only place she had yet to kiss was his tip.

There she let her tongue dart out to investigate the hood of skin and the slit that gave her a salty taste of him. A taste she tried to find more of before realizing she needed a better way. A way, she realized with a mischievous grin, that would mimic what her body did when he brought them together. Placing her lips around him, Anna sucked gently at him.

If John's body had jerked before, he almost bent in half at the force of his reaction. Anna paused, waiting for the swift rise and fall of his chest to subside, and then continued to suckle at him. She copied the motions she'd learned from him adoring her breasts, or sucking at the nerves between her legs, or kissing her deeply enough to almost swallow her soul. Those were what she tried to use when John lay under her. The motions and actions that she needed to prove the depth of her affection for him… And her curiosity about him.

Because they were so different and yet so similar. Their pleasure rose and fell differently, she so often succumbing to the weight of his adoration before he could fall under her spell. But the gold on her fingers traced his skin, wrapping around him as if trying to settle on his skin to bind them together. Anna watched it, fascinated as she licked a stripe up the underside of his pulsing skin, and wondered for a moment what it might mean.

She knew her people considered this their place. This tree was her home, had been the home and sacred space for her people for generations. But what did it mean that she brought an outsider here, sought to find their mating pleasure here, and that the gold light of her magic was stronger with him here? With no one to tell her all Anna could do was hope, with that distant part of herself that still believed in those kinds of things.

Her focus distorted when John's hands moved to her arms, urging her up. She let her tongue take a last lick up the length of him before following his lead. A lead that placed her at his abdomen so his erect arousal rubbed against where Anna wept wetness over him.

"Please take me now." John pleaded, the cords in his neck straining as Anna dug her knees into the earth to rise above him. "I can't bear it."

Anna sank down slowly, her body adjusting with each motion, and spread her legs in the grass until their hips met. The vibrations of his tight breathing sent ripples through her and Anna focused on trying to mimic the cling and hold he enticed from her so naturally. A motion that had John's eyes rolling into the back of his head and his hands clutching hard to her hips. She did it again and John's eyes opened to meet hers.

Before Anna could do it again he sat up, holding her as close to him as he possibly could, and put his lips to her ear. The growl in his voice sent a shiver through her that tightened her muscles around him even further. "Where'd you learn that?"

"From you." Anna raked her nails over his shoulders, sliding forward to hold even closer to him as they ground against one another. "I thought what worked for the duck would work for the drake."

"It won't work for them." John nipped at her ear before kissing down her neck. "But you were right. It was wonderful."

"Yes." Anna's nails carved little furrows in his skin.

"But Anna," John's motions paused and she turned her head enough to see her eyes. "I want you to feel wonderful now."

He did not flip them, as she expected, but instead lay back down to better his angle. John's legs bent behind him and Anna leaned back onto them to stretch herself over him. Each motion now, every thrust and grind, struck her nerves until Anna's nails clawed over his chest.

The golden light from her fingers increased, wrapping them both in a cocoon of light, and when Anna fell over the edge she watched the echoes of the light disperse with a shock wave. It left her drained and she slumped forward over John. He held her to him, moving much more slowly now, but Anna gyrated just enough to bring him over the edge as well.

An edge that struck differently than before.

Anna blinked, noting the haze of gold from her mixing with a sparkling silver. A silver Anna reached out to touch but it just swirled around her hand. She sat up, trying to comprehend the origin of the mist, and then looked down to see John glowing with it.

"John?"

He frowned and tried to sit up but the silver sheen dispersed, taking the glow of gold from her with it. "What?"

"Did you…" Anna let her fingers curl in the air, as if to try and bring the sensation of those colors joining back to her memory, but they vanished as if they were nothing but a shadow at the corner of her eye. "Did you see that?"

"See what?"

"That silver color. The one that sparkled like the night."

John shook his head, "Maybe it was yours?"

Anna shook her head. "Mine is gold. Always has been. Like the fruit my parents ate before they made me."

"What?"

Anna stood up, sighing at the stretch in her muscles and pointed to the tree over them. "Man has a story about how the first of their kind ate fruit from a tree and were cast from a special garden. My people had a similar legend but instead of leaving the garden they were welcomed into it."

"The Moors?"

Anna nodded, "At the dawn of our peoples time, some of them chose the responsibility of protecting the world, cultivating it like a garden, and they were given the Moors. To seal the pact they made they ate the fruit of this tree and became fairykind."

"But no other fairies eat fruit from this tree." John stood as well, risking a hand to touch the tree. "And, as far as I can tell, you've never eaten fruit from this tree either."

"The tree's not bloomed or flowered since before I was born." Anna sighed, "My parents used to whisper that it was because hate seeped into our kind and poisoned the tree. It wouldn't let us live forever with hate in our hearts."

"Do you believe that?"

Anna shrugged, "I don't know. I do know that my people, given they had more power, were charged with protecting the Moors. Charged with defending these first gardens and the fruit of this tree."

"Makes you sound more like angels than fairies."

"We're missing flaming swords." Anna held her arms around herself, pacing around the base of the sprawling tree. "But there was another story, one that said the tree was poisoned by something else."

"What?"

"A human taking the fruit that didn't belong to them." Anna ran her tongue around the inside of her mouth. "When they did, without giving back to the tree, it began to die. My people had fewer and fewer children while more and more of them died in the defense of the Moors. We did not have the numbers to replace those we lost."

"And now you're the last?"

Anna nodded, turning to John. "Even if I did have my wings, the power to procreate again, I couldn't save my people from extinction. Especially not now that I'm the last of my kind."

"I asked you once," John stepped toward her, "If you could've saved your people had you joined with a human, and you said no. Why?"

"Because they've not got the magic required." Anna turned back to the tree, putting her hand on the trunk. "To take from the tree is a promise to give back to it. It's why my people protected the Moors. The power we gained came from the fruit. I was the last fruit eaten by the tree and so I'm as much it's child as I am the child of my parents. I'm the last seed it sprouted, the last flower it bloomed, and the last fruit it bore."

Her fingers curled into the trunk, detecting the voice of the tree through its bark. "I'm the last."

"What if there was another?" John's chest pressed against her back and Anna took a deep breath, closing her eyes to revel in the feel of him wrapped around her. "What if the tree wanted to give another fruit?"

"You'd need magic." Anna shook her head, tilting just enough to see his face over her shoulder and run a hand along her cheek. "And there aren't any with the magic that I have... Or, had."

"I told you once," John's hands smoothed over her skin, holding to her as he kissed softly over her shoulders. "That there's magic in this."

"It's different." Anna tried to argue but one of John's hands kneaded at her breast, holding her closer to him as his other hand slipped between her legs to run along the seam of her folds to slick himself in the wetness there. "It's a gift, not… Not like this."

"Is this not a gift?" His whisper ran over her skin, sending her hairs standing on end as his slow assault continued. "Are we not giving to one another?"

"I don't…"

"Perhaps," John nipped toward her chin, leaving a line of buzzing stings up the column of her neck while his fingers finally entered her. "Your parents didn't have the chance to explain it all to you and the tree was reticent."

"The trees don't speak to me about such things."

"I don't doubt it." John growled near her ear, almost chuckling at the quiver in her body as his hand moved between her breasts. "I'd not want to tell anyone else about our intimacy."

"It's… It's not the same." Anna's legs spread as her feet slipped in the grass to give John more access to her. "If it was to save my species-"

"I'm sure, when the time is right," John's hand at her breast took one of her hands and spread it on the tree, his fingers landing between hers and the weight of his hand pressed her palm into the bark, "The tree'll tell you how to save it and yourself. It won't be silent forever."

Anna's fingers trembled against the tree, only in part because of John's continued motions and the weight of arousal sitting in the crease of her ass. "What if it doesn't want to tell me? What if… What if I've gone too far and can't come back?"

"You're never too far Anna." John kissed her cheek and nudged her head enough to bring their lips together. "Just ask the tree."

Anna did not ask the tree anything. Her hand dug into the bark, a flare of gold bright even with her eyes closed to enjoy the kiss she shared with John, and she pushed her hips into his hand. His thumb pressed and rubbed at those nerves he knew so well by now and she broke.

But John swallowed her cry in their kiss and continued to work his fingers in her. Continued until he broke the kiss in an instant. Anna's eyes widened, noting a flare of silver in his eyes before he dropped from view. Dropped to put his mouth on her as she did earlier.

Her fingers almost ripped at the bark, holding herself steady as John's tongue and fingers proved more than adequate at their job. Each stroke of his tongue along her, through her, and into her had Anna crying out and sent more golden tendrils leaking from her hand and into the tree. For a moment she blinked as she thought she noted the tree's trunk straightening slightly, the bends and knots in the wood growing and strengthening but a moment later she eyes shut as John's lips closed around her clit and sucked hard.

She broke again, her legs buckling, but John caught her. His hands joined hers on the trunk and held there as he thrust forward. The position tightened him inside like never before and the two of them groaned in unison, the vibration of his sound rumbling into her skin as his chest rested against her back. John's forehead pressed against her shoulders and his hips barely shunted forward but it was enough.

Enough to have her body quivering and trembling under him. Enough for her to fantasize that she heard singing from the tree. Enough for John to move his hands to her body so he could set a punishing pace for them. Enough for the piston of his hips to snap their bodies together with slick slaps of skin on skin. Enough for his hands to find her breasts, her clit, and her hips. Enough for them to come in a shower of bright color that temporarily blinded Anna.

They sagged against the tree, the dig of the bark there a reminder of their position. Anna shifted and John slipped of her hold to sit back on the grass. She dropped to her knees to join him, her head hitting the ground amongst the tree roots so she stared up at the branches. Branches that bore leaves thicker, greener, and larger than before.

Pushing herself to sit up, Anna narrowed her eyes at the leaves. She twisted, putting her hand to the tree trunk, and listened. But, as always, the tree was quiet and there was nothing she could do to bring the voice from it.

Sitting back and pushing a hand through her hair, she turned to John. "That was different."

"I've…" John's cheeks reddened slightly. "There was a farm hand and a milk maid who did it like that. It kept his britches up and her skirts high."

"Convenience." Anna smiled at him, "What a thought."

"Did you not like it?"

Anna kissed the worry from John's face. "I liked it very much. Don't worry yourself over that."

"But you-"

"We're creatures of the earth, John. I've not much worry about the convenience of clothing I only wear for function anyway." Anna brought up her knees, looking out on the waking Moors. "And thank you."

"For?"

"You've not pressed about the problem I couldn't solve and…" Anna took a breath, meeting John's eyes. "Thank you."

"Could you solve it now?"

Anna shook her head, "No."

"Ever?"

"I don't think so." Anna blinked at the tears coming to her eyes again. "I tried to revoke my curse from Mary."

"What?" John sat up in a hurry but Anna waved him down before wiping at the tears from her eyes. "And did you-"

"I tried. I tried all the power I could muster and all I heard, when I expended my energy, was my own voice taunting me with the words I spit out so carelessly all those years ago." Anna gave a bitter snort, "This curse shall last until the end of time and no power on earth can change it."

"Not even your power?"

"I played with forces I didn't understand and, in my anger and arrogance, I thought I could control them." Anna wiped at her eyes. "I can't take it back. I can't take it into myself. I can't reverse it or change it. The balance of nature must be met and that means the balance in my curse demands the price I promised. The power must be paid with the promised sacrifice."

"Mary's death?"

"Mary's eternal sleep." Anna sighed, "It would've been kinder to kill her with it, as I originally planned. It wouldn't leave her in torment for the rest of her life and all those trying to save her locked in an impossible, eternal struggle."

"Why didn't you?"

Anna laughed, the noise grating and bitter in her mouth. "Because I wanted to punish her father. I wanted him to suffer for what he'd done to me and I thought the best way would be to take his daughter far enough away from him that he couldn't reach her and yet close enough he'd have to see the result of his actions." Her fingers curled in the grass. "I only ended up dooming myself."

"You can't drink poison and expect the other person to die."

Anna nodded, "I know."

"But you'll find a way."

"I don't think I can." Anna went to stand but John's hand landed on hers.

"You will Anna. I know you doubt it but you will."

She shook her head, "I can't."

"You've already tried." John stood, cupping her face with his hands. "You tried to take it back. That means something."

"Not to the balance of nature."

"It means something to me." John's thumbs brushed over her cheekbones before pushing back into her hair. "And you mean more to me than I can ever begin to explain or express."

"Do I?" Anna let a few tears slide down her cheeks, sighing as John kissed them away. "I shouldn't. You shouldn't love me like you do."

"Because you've made mistakes?" His lips delicately followed the contours of her face, leaving no more impression than the tickle of butterfly wings.

"Because I cursed a child. Because I sought revenge on the innocent. Because I tried to drive you away."

"No," John paused, his lips over hers. "Those are what you've done, not who you are. Not to me."

"Who am I to you?"

"My mate, forever and always." John kissed her, pulling deeply before releasing to speak again. "For good and proper."

Anna clutched at him, holding his lips to hers as John backed her toward the tree again. Her back hit it, grinding the bark into her skin but Anna did not care. She wanted another fierce and ragged joining like they had yesterday, in the woods. Another affirmation of life.

But John pulled her to him and landed on the grass. They scrambled from the jumble for a moment to resituating themselves and John helped Anna run herself along his length. Their mutual moans echoed and rebounded from their position but neither one of them cared who or even what might hear them. Or see them as they rocked and rubbed against one another.

His hands urged her up and Anna sheathed herself on him, reveling in the return of the scorching sensation of his pulsing position inside her. Their bodies ground and slipped against one another as John held her close. This time he did not lie back but held her to him as if afraid she might somehow leave him.

But how could see. How could she leave him when he left her bare and exposed, in more than just body? How could see leave him when the trickles of silver wafted from his skin and mixed with the gold from her own? How could she leave him when she was nothing without him at her side? How could see leave him when he filled her with light in a world that had been dark for so long?

Nothing else mattered but him in that moment. Nothing would ever matter again. He was all she needed. The sounds they made together, the beat of their blood, and the shimmer of their shared essence as it joined and swirled around them. This was what mattered.

They lay together afterward, wound around one another as his fingers stroked through her hair and her fingers brushed at his skin. The sun rose higher in the sky and fell again but they did not move. Anna traced his face and John just watched her.

"I love you." He whispered and Anna only stared back at him. "I'd love you however, whatever, whenever."

"Me too." Anna scooted closer to him, finding herself whole in his hold. "I love you too, John."

He just kissed the top of her head and said nothing more. And they fell asleep like that, wrapped in one another, oblivious to the world and its worries. Leaving it all behind for one another.

They were all that mattered.