Again, a few months passed. Spring was coming to Ankh-Morpork again. The city's smell varied a bit. And the relationship between Rincewind and me became more and more intensive. Since this special Hogswatch Dinner, we were sleeping more often in the nude, and I had discovered some very sensitive parts on the wizard's body: his belly and his spine. When I was caressing him there, I could feel his arousal growing stronger. Yet, we didn't rush things.

Then, the night was coming when we reached the highpoint of sensual lust. As usual, we had snuggled close to each other and were trusting only to our sense of touch when I felt the nimble-fingered hands of the wizard touching my bosom.

First, he touched it only with his fingertips, in a very diffident and precautious way. But then, his touch became more confident. He bent across me and kissed me. His lips touched mine before they moved further downwards.

A good and warm and pleasant feeling crept into my belly, and I felt a tingle along my spine. The wizard's touch seemed different to me.

It felt thrilling, it felt more sensuously, and most of all, it felt the right way.

I closed my eyes halfway and let my hands wander across Rincewind's body towards the lower parts of his. Despite of his scars, his skin felt very soft to me.

Just as usual, we took our time to enjoy every touch. When the next morning was dawning, we had made love for the second time.

My eyes were still closed when I put my forehead onto Rincewind's throat and opened my legs very slowly to enjoy every second of the good after-sex-feeling. Rincewind was panting hard. Then he sighed deeply and slid down next to me. He took a deep breath, put both of his arms around my waist, laid his head on my shoulder and closed his eyes. A very pleased smile crept into his face. I put one arm underneath his neck, pulled him as close as possible and put my chin onto his forehead.

Slowly, the rhythm of my heart slowed down again. I dared to open up my eyes again. Dreamily, I watched Dawn entering the room and making the night vanish. I lifted the hand and caressed Rincewind's hair. The wizard uttered a small and very pleased sound.

Here, in the wizard's arms, I felt as happy as never before in my entire life.

"Thank you," I said when I was able to speak again and kissed his forehead.

"For what?" he wondered, raising his head.

"This has been one of the most wonderful events of my life, you know."

The wizard freed himself from my arms and straightened up on his elbows before he looked at me in complete disbelief.

"I can't believe it," he said.

"Well, it is true," I said, "You know, Sex hadn't been a good part of my life so far." Astonished, the wizard shook his head.

"I could never treat someone like you in an uncivil way."

"Most of the men I met could. They weren't as empathetic and considerately as you were. In fact, they were far from it."

Rincewind gave this a very long thought.

"So... everything I did... was right?" he asked. Now it was my turn to look surprised.

"So... you don't have... much experience... with sex, too?" I asked. The wizard shook his head. I gave him a loving smile.

"Everything you did was alright," I said.

"Was it?" Rincewind brightened up.

"It was," I assured him, caressed his cheek and kissed him again.

We stayed in bed until the first rays of sun had lightened up the room entirely. Then Rincewind asked if I wanted tea.

I nodded and watched him getting up, going to the oven, heating water and brewing tea. He added sugar, stirred and brought both cups to me. Carefully, he gave one cup to me, before he went back into the kitchen and fetched a small bowl of milknuts. He handed me the bowl, too, before he came back to bed.

Since Discworld was my home, I had become very fond of milknuts. Their taste is rather similar to cashew nuts, hazelnuts and walnuts. We drank and ate slowly and let our eyes wander off.

"I wished we could do that more often," I said quietly. The wizard's smile indicated that he shared this wish.

"If I had it my way, I'd love to share every morning with you. But there's still one big problem," he said. I didn't have to think to know what he meant.

Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully wouldn't cope with a wedding between Rincewind and me. After all, we had said that we didn't want to marry. Besides, a wizard still wasn't allowed to commit himself to a woman.

"Ridcully has grudgingly given into our love," I remembered, "But I really doubt that he will turn a blind eye on this."

"He certainly won't," the wizard sighed, drinking from his tea, "Well, I can understand him partly." It stroke me odd to hear him say this.

"What do you mean, you can understand him partly?"

"You know, a wizard in love is very vulnerable to Sourcery. And once Sourcery starts, it will result into Mage Wars. Nothing will unsettle the structure of the Disc as much as that."

"Is it really this bad?" I raised my brows. The wizard nodded and said, "The entire Disc suffers from a battle like this, I can tell you. We have seen it before."

Rincewind told me in short words how he had seen a Mage War once with his own two eyes.

"Take my word for it," he finished his tale, "Ridcully would rather die than allow this again."

For a while, I was loss for words. We were lying close to each other underneath the blanket, drinking tea, eating nuts and cherishing the feeling of togetherness.

Suddenly, I heard a scratching sound and looked at Rincewind. The wizard was scratching his head hard. His hand slid lower to scratch his shoulder and the shoulder blades as well. His eyes were half-closed. For a moment, I wondered what might be wrong with him. Then it came to me that he was thinking. So I waited.

"There might be a way," the wizard finally said, "Esmeralda Weatherwax."

"Esmeralda Weatherwax?" I repeated. Rincewind nodded insistently.

"Explain."

The wizard smiled as he snuggled close to me. He caressed my ear with the tip of his nose and whispered, "I might if you could caress my ears a bit." I agreed and let him put his head into my lap. Then I ran my fingers tenderly over the skin behind his ears and through his hair – the touch he liked best.

"Mustrum Ridcully and Esmeralda Weatherwax have been a couple, a long time ago. It was before she became a witch and before he went to the University," he said after enjoying silently for a while, "And for all I know, there is still much feeling for her left in him."

"Ah," I said. But I failed to see the connection between them and us.

"If he had been able to, he would have married her then," Rincewind said. Now, Understanding dawned to me.

"So this was the reason why he gave into our love, wasn't it?"

"He said I have been young once myself, remember that?" Rincewind said. His left hand slid slowly down my leg, his fingertips hardly touching my skin and tickling me. I had to catch my breath to stifle the giggle when he reached the knee-cap and stayed there for a couple of minutes.

"So I think one of us might talk to Esmeralda Weatherwax," Rincewind said. He turned his head and smiled at me as his fingers went down my leg. I tried very hard not to laugh but I lost when his fingers reached my foot.

"Stop that, please!" I giggled, "That tickles!" The wizard stroke my sole once from the heel to the toes, making me really laugh this time. Then he stopped, straightened up and sat next to me again.

"I'm getting hungry," he said, kissed me and put an arm around me.

"Me too," I agreed, "What do you think about taking a bath while I fix some food for us?"

"Fine with me." Rincewind kissed me again and got up. I slid my bathrobe on and went to look over my supplies. There was a small jug of milk, some flour, a couple of eggs, salt, pepper, a piece of butter and a piece of ham cut into thick slices. And, of course, there was some mash left.

I fried the sliced ham in butter and made little pancakes from the mash, the flour, the eggs, the milk and the spices. When the food was almost ready, I went to set the table and suddenly heard someone clear his throat. Startled, I pulled my bathrobe shut, turned around and looked into the bony face of Death. I wanted to greet him as usual but I couldn't when I felt the difference in his expression.

"RINCEWIND IS HERE, TOO, I SUPPOSE," he said, not mincing matters. I swallowed hard and nodded before I called the wizard's name towards the bathroom. Rincewind showed up just a moment later, the still wet body clad into two towels. When he saw the Grim Reaper, he gasped hard.

"What are you doing here?" He knit his brows.

"I HAVE TO TALK TO YOU," Death said, "THERE MIGHT BE DIRE CONSEQUENCES WHEN YOU DO WHAT IS ON YOUR MINDS."

For one or two seconds, I wondered what he was talking about. But then I remembered him telling that he was keeping up to date. I was sure he could do easy with his library.

I wondered how much of the things we had done the Grim Reaper might have noticed. But then again it seemed to be ridiculous to think that way. Every step of a Discworld creature is written down in its book, promptly, fully and continuously until the day it would die.

"We love each other!" the wizard said, squaring his bony shoulders. He jutted out his chin and stood in front of me. Circumstances permitting, Rincewind really could put his foot down.

Death watched the wizard in silence and for some time Rincewind could face the glance from the empty sockets. But then he blinked and lowered his gaze.

"We love each other," he repeated, a little more quiet this time. Death remained silent. I plucked up my courage, came next to the wizard and took his hand.

"We love each other," Rincewind said for the third time, louder again. Still, the Grim Reaper didn't answer but kept holding on to his scythe and looking at us.

"YOU BETTER DRY YOURSELF PROPERLY," he finally said, "I DON'T WANT TO BE THE ONE TO BLAME IF YOU'LL CATCH YOUR DEATH OF COLD."

When Rincewind had dried his body and both of us were wearing our clothes again, Death, the wizard and me sat down around the table. Death just took a small helping of the potato pancakes I offered. Rincewind, however, was helping himself as much as he could eat. My own hunger wasn't big anymore. If Death wanted to talk to us in person, things didn't seem to look bright.

The Grim Reaper's arguments were quite similar to the ones Rincewind had brought up.

"NOBODY CAN ALLOW A MAGE WAR AGAIN," he said in a matter-of-fact tone, "AND THIS IS WHAT THE LOVE OF WIZARDS MOSTLY RESULT IN. THESE ARE THE RULES."

My heart sank into my boots. I had been searching for a man like Rincewind for all my life. I had been yearning for a man to have confidence in and to feel safe with. And now, when I finally had found him, all was threatening to fail.

"Is there really no way to avoid a Mage War?" I almost whispered. Death's empty sockets flickered with blue lights when he was giving this a thought. Then he shook his head, making my heart drop down even deeper.

"There might be a way, I think," Rincewind piped in after a small belch. Death and I looked at him.

"WELL?" said the Grim Reaper.

"For all I know, Barbara is a person Ridcully is giving great respect to," the wizard explained, "And his feelings are still very strong for Esmeralda Weatherwax. Everybody in the faculty knows that. In fact, Ridcully himself is the only one who thinks this of a secret. Well, be it as it may... I think there's a way to connect these two facts to succeed."

"I RATHER DOUBT THAT," Death said. Yet he sounded less encouraged. The wizard looked at us and explained what was on his mind. When he had finished, Death sighed.

"DO YOU REALLY THINK THIS MIGHT WORK?" he asked.

"I do think it's worth trying," the wizard said.

"WHAT ABOUT YOU?" Death looked at me.

Unlike the Grim Reaper, I wasn't sure of Rincewind's idea to fail. During the time I had spent with the wizard I had learned that he wasn't as headless and dumb as most people were thinking of him. Unlike the other wizards at Unseen University, he was the sort of person who wouldn't tell before thinking.

"I trust in Rincewind," I said, "And I think it's worth a try."