Numair Salmalin stood up, stretching out his long limbs. "What a day!" he thought, remembering his experience the previous afternoon.. Pirate's Swoop was back to it's previous splendor, with a sun beating down on him. He looked at the gorgeous young woman lying on the sand, her mouth slightly open, as it often was in slumber. He smiled, remembering how he knew that. He thought of the many times he had snuck into Daine's bedchamber, just to see the way her lips were slightly parted, the way her fingers were curled in, the way her thick curly hair fell over her eyes, those stormy gray eyes that he had fallen in love with at the first glance, those eyes that grew dark when she was angry, and became almost blue when she was content...

Those eyes opened, and that girl rubbed them, pushing off the soft blanket of sleep to stand up next to her teacher, friend, and lover. Those fingers curled around his much longer and rougher ones. That hair brushed against his shoulder as she rested her head there. Those lips smiled up at him before coming up to meet his. Those eyes shone as blue as they ever were.

Daine laughed at her lover as he looked disoriented. She loved being able to do that to someone with the slightest touch. She knew by that look and this feeling burning inside her that this was true love. At that moment, she knew something. She knew she was young, she knew she was not ready for marriage, but she also knew that the only man she would ever marry would be him, Numair.

"Numair?" she spoke. His head, with those amazing eyes and that wonderful, glorious smile, turned toward her. "I just want to say that...well, that Daine Salmalin sounds awful good."

His eyes widened. He opened his lips to speak, but she put her finger up to his lips to stop his speech. "For the future." she whispered. He nodded, looking slightly disappointed, but understanding. "But I still want you to be here with me until the future arrives," she whispered. He smiled at the girl who he loved more than anyone else and kissed her.

"As you wish, magelet," he replied, kissing her on her lightly freckled nose. "Now, what shall we do as we await the return of our powers?"

"I have a few ideas," replied Daine as she sat down, pulling Numair down with her. She pulled off her shoes, grabbed his hand and ran toward the ocean, towing him behind her. Numair pulled off his socks as he ran, tripping. Daine, upon reaching the ocean, dove in, especially thankful for her breeches in place of a skirt at this moment. Numair, after being tugged into the water with her, rose to his full six foot five, sputtering.

"What's the matter, old man?" yelled Daine. "Gonna let a girl half your age kick bubbles on you?"

Numair, accepting the challenge, swam to Daine, leaping on her. Daine, surprised, went under easily. Competitive now, she turned into a crab. She swam up to Numair, who was looking very confused at the moment, and pinched him right in the rear end. She turned back into a human in time to see his embarrassed blush.

Daine, hanging onto Numair's head, about to push him under, saw those eyes that always made her stare, and kissed the eyelids that they were nestled in. Next came those cheeks that had burned so fiercely a minute ago. By that time, Numair was kissing her back, desperately hanging onto her, as though afraid that he would lose her. Daine, needing more, pulled off Numair's soaked shirt and admired the muscles there. Numair, thinking that Daine would regret this, pulled away.

"Daine, you do realize that, once you give this gift away, there's no way to take it back. It don't want you to regret this happening."

"Numair," gasped Daine, "I've regretted one thing before in my life; that we weren't together sooner. My second regret would be to not be with you like this."

Numair, at this statement lost the last bit of self-control he had and let things continue.