Chapter 2

M'lar held her hand down to her sister while she sat comfortably on the back of the large black stud. Kait eyed him nervously, "Does he not blow boogers when he is upset?"

M'lar chuckled, "Kait come on, he is more apt to get you on the ground than on his back," M'lar held out her foot for a step up and her hand for a brace. Kait delicately hiked her dress up and tucked it into the belt on her dress. "Careful, you are showing some leg."

Kait looked down and flushed. "Oh my!"

M'lar did not give her a chance to cover her legs. "Those legs could glow in the dark as white at they are."

Kait harrumphed and said sullenly, "At least I will still have my virtue."

M'lar mumbled, "Who needs virtue when they could use you as a beckon in the light house for the storm swept ships."

Kait mumbled back, "Well a girl should have some secrets."

M'lar snorted, "Not much of a secret you have no color to you with legs like that."

She could feel Kait trying to tug her skirt down over her legs. Not wasting more time M'lar signal for Ebony to move forward with a light squeeze of her leg and a soft click of her tongue to the roof of her mouth. "Better hold on he is going to want to run."

Kait gasped lightly and held tightly to M'lar's waste as M'lar sent the horse into a cantor towards the path to Foothills Park. "Oh settle down silly goose." That is when she heard it the light little snit that was Kait's trademark sound of disapproval. "Oh get over it, come on Ebony take the hill."

She felt his body tense and then the muscles became fluid and he was off at a mad dash to make the hill and bring them over the rise so they could look down upon the splendor that was Foothills Park.

Below was a huge expanse of cleared green common area, a footpath that meandered from the city proper to the park entrance. Skirting the edge of the cleared section of the park rested wonderful woods that edged the park and a huge lake that lay like a pool of glistening diamonds under the morning sun.

The park was already active with mothers and their children that played along the pathways or sat visiting on the benches visiting with each other and in the lake she could hear that the lake had already enticed swimmers. M'lar searched the perfect area for them to lay out their blanket and spread their picnic basket.

With a squeeze of her legs she urged Ebony towards the shaded area only pausing a second to relish and loving the feel of the cooling breeze that now wafted over her already over heated body and the sweating body of her horse. "I think I will send Ebony back to temple, I am sure Brother William can see that Joey will easily attend to his needs and see him brushed out and cooled down properly."

Kait could not wait to get off the horse's back she never like the spirited animal that her sister had called the booger blowing bag of bones. For he did have a nasty habit of sneezing his snoot full of bug infested boogers at those he had perceived had done him some wrong.

M'lar eased him under the trees and allowed him to stand she slid off his back and to the ground taking the blanket and the picnic basket her sis had handed to her. M'lar waited for Kait to clear and she slid her leg over his back and jumped down landing with a solid thump to the ground.

Turning she lifted her staff from the horse's back and slapped his arse. "Temple!" She called and watched him start then trot off into the wooded path area heading to her temple. "Now, a swim, and then we will talk about the fashion show." M'lar moved to the lakes edge to the huge boulder that had a flat top to it and M'lar was sure had the imprint of her butt cheeks on it for the amount of time she spent sitting on that rock.

Taking her time she undid her breeches and pulled them off dropping them to the ground. Then sliding the tank top off she slipped her booties off and waded into the water relishing the feel of the water's cool embrace as she dove in and began to swim under water towards the center of the lake.

Getting to the center of the lake she surfaced and pushed the hair out of her face and then felt it, a strong tug and she felt herself being dragged under the water and with a soft and startled "Gulp", of surprise she went under and began to struggle against the hold of a vice like grip around her ankle.

Feeling her body drug down into the darker depths of the lake, M'lar struggled until her foot made contact with something solid and she kicked, then shot straight up to the lake's surface sputtering and pushing her hair out of her face she began a long and fast crawl back towards the shore when she felt the hand grab her ankle again only this time it crawled up her body to her waist.

The male was elven, with long blue hair that lay plastered to his head and as he opened his incredible blue eyes he smiled at her with a quirky smile. "ZACH! ZACH Stargazer!" She calmed her anger and was immediately happy. "You scared the hell out of me."

The pointed eared half-drow half silver elf male was young for an elf but old enough to know what he wanted and at one time he wanted M'lar. Turning in the water she splashed him. "Damn you! I did not know who it was that had grabbed me! You came damn close to getting yourself kicked." He grimaced as he held up his arm, which was now turning a bright red from her kick. "You did kick me silly girl."

Kait having heard the squeal had glanced up from her needlepoint and glanced out to the lake. Most the afternoon bathers had already exited the lake and she watched M'lar in the water with Zach and she smiled. "Oh how nice she had company." Kait began to hum again and looked back to her needlepoint. She sat back on the bench seat that faced the lake and swung her feet which she had hooked together ankle over ankle.

She began to hum softly as she sat and thought about her life and that of her sister's. They had been close friends and finally had blooded to each other as blood sisters. M'lar had not been so quick to want to cut Kait's hand fearing that the sight of the blood and the pain from the cut would cause her harm emotionally and physically.

Kait had surprised her with how quick she cut her hand and held it out to her waiting for her to reciprocate in kind. M'lar had shrugged and without hesitation had cut her palm and pressed them together and together they had blooded and bound to each other as sisters. Since that day, Kait and M'lar had been practically inseparable.

Zach glanced to the shore following M'lar's line of sight. "She always hums like that?" M'lar had noticed it was not off key but soothing.

"Most the time she will do it if she is upset or wanting to not get involved in any disagreements. Then it usually is off key. So Mr. Stargazer when did you get back with Shade?"

Zach knew she referred to Shadrick Banare a drow knight of Myth Drannor and one of the island's arch mages. Shadrick had taken Zach an orphan to raise and train in his image and an unlikely friendship had bloomed between student and mentor.

M'lar knew that in his own right Zach was starting to show more promise of equaling some of Shade's talents as an arch mage. As M'lar thought of the handsome Drow that venerated the Ellistraee, she had to smile.

He was a complex individual who had gained a reputation of being a fierce warrior and a complicated individual with a taste for the exotic when it came to his sexual appetites he found he was equally matched by Catlindra an expert with a long rifle or short pistol. She not only equaled his sexual needs but she equaled him in battle as well.

Catlindra was a forthright human female that was extremely possessive of her lover and had been known to shoot any female that thought to lay designs on him. Thus, M'lar respected the relationship and stepped away from any encumbrances' with Shade no matter the encouragement he might have offered.

Which on one such occasion he had taken M'lar in his arms and planted a deep passionate kiss on her lips and left her stunned over what had just occurred as he began to whistle and teleported out in a blinding flash of yellow light.

Though Shayla, another adopted sister of M'lar's had warned M'lar about the jealous temper of Catlindra, M'lar was not about to divulge that Shade had been overly friendly and chalked it up to the possibility he had been inebriated that night. She knew that Shayla was not about to tell since he had come back in to plant a deep passionate kiss on her as well.

Both women had stared at each other in shock over what had just occurred. "Um that was good." M'lar recalled saying as she looked blankly at her sister Shayla.

Shayla nodded and smiled, "Um yah, it was. Well night sees you tomorrow." M'lar had watched her dance out of the inn and into the night. Shayla was more faithful to her shadows than she was to her men.

Now she floated in easy company on the lake having a nice pleasant conversation with Zach, Shade's protégé'. "So, how long until you leave us again? Oh and you own me a night of bar hopping you know."

Zach laughed and splashed her then dove under the water to come up behind her and dunk her down. Anticipating the playfulness of her partner M'lar had held her breath when she felt his hands come up on her shoulders. Bobbing down she propelled herself back up to come up behind him and whisper in his longer sensitive ears. "Boo, you need to be careful who you dunk Mr. Stargazer, because they may not take kindly to it and may reciprocate in kind."

She wrapped her legs around his waste and flexing her muscles she flipped him over her head using a well-developed technique for water wrestling. She curled her body under and using the impetus of the movement she flipped him up and over to land with a resounding splash in the water.

Stretching her arms out she made a quick dash to the shoreline only to feel her body lifted from the water and then she too was flying up into the air and lading with a hard splash to go under and surface with her hair hanging down in her face.

Screaming out with laughter she shouted. "Touché' Mr. Stargazer!" Then she dove under the water and made her way towards the shoreline to find stable footing and step out as Zach followed behind.

"So what are you going to do now?" He flung his hair sending an arc of water to fly over the area. Laughing as it splattered and caught Kait on the bench as she gave out a startled squeal and put her needlepoint under her skirt.

"Hey you two! Watch it!" M'lar rolled her eyes and sighed deeply, "Seems Missy Prissy is not in a fun mood. I think she is put out with me not wanting to do that stupid fashion show at the Dice."

Zach reached for a towel he had placed on M'lar's rock earlier and began to towel off his body as he looked to Kait and then M'lar.

"Why not I would bid on you." M'lar laughed, "Um, Zach what would Beau say about that? I know she has staked a claim on you and she is going to be in the show. You should be bidding on her."

"Well who says I can't bid on another. I will bid on one of her gowns and then I could just as easily bid on yours." M'lar reached for her own towel and then felt a rush of warm air wash over her body drying her as Zach cast a cantrip to dry her.

"Thanks. I could have done that if I had wanted too."

He laughed. "Yeah right, you like walking around with harden nipples and making us go wild with our dirty thoughts. You know those things should be registered as lethal weapons."

M'lar laughed. "You wish. Look Zach, I don't like Morgan. I don't like the idea of standing up in that stupid ring of his and strutting around waiting for someone to bid on me. My fear is that no one would bid on me. Let's face it, I am not as beautiful as Beau, Cat, Kait, War, Feelena, or the other six ladies that will be wearing those gowns, and Kait expects us to wear at least three for three different dinners with the winner. Do you know how humiliating it will be not to gain any bids?"

Zach shook his head. "You don't get it do you M'lar?" She looked back at him as she began to draw on her top over her bathing costume.

"Get what?" Zach moved to stand in front of her and take two fingers to lift her delicate chin up to peer into her eyes. For that moment it was charged between the two of them. The sexual tension had always been there and deep down M'lar had wondered if Zach would have been the one she would end up with in her life.

He was full elf and now encumbered in a relationship with Beau. The moment was palatable for sure as he stared into her emerald green eyes and held that look.

"Damnit M'lar why did you not tell me earlier that you cared, it could have been us."

He was so close to dropping a kiss to her lips, when the moment was broken by another bright flash of yellow light of someone teleporting into the area. M'lar knew it was Beau. Beautiful wild, warrior woman Beau was there to claim her man.

Knowing her teleporting would disorient her enough to give M'lar time to step away and move towards Kait before Beau realized how close Zach had come to kissing her was a save. M'lar loved life too much to challenge or tempt fate and allow Beau an opportunity to kill her off.

Beau like Cat had a temper and what she claimed as hers no one would dispute it without tasting her blade or her glove with the magical spikes. Locking down her emotions, M'lar stepped away and moved to Kait.

"Okay let's talk over a glass of wine." Kait was humming and this time it was off key. "Oh stop it Kait."

She muttered under her breath. "Stop what?" She had looked up innocently to her sister as she laid her needlepoint down. "The incessant humming of disapproval! You are going to drive me to drink or worse yet you are going to drive me crazy."

Kait laughed softly and nodded, "Umhhmm I saw you and Zach, he was going to kiss you until Beau showed up."

"So about this fashion show. Has anyone talked to Finnlaya about using the Dice or for that matter talked to Morgan about it?"

M'lar reached for the picnic basket and opened it pulling out some slices of cheese, fruit and a couple of glasses and a bottle of wine. Even now her stomach began its gurgling sound because she had not eaten that morning and avoided the knowing disapproving stare of her sister. Grabbing a hand full of grapes she shoved them into her mouth and began to chew and spoke with her mouth full. "Immmm eaabing nowb!"

She swallowed and then reached for her wine and swallowed. "There see, I am eating. Now what is expected of us in this stupid show?"

Kait nodded then shook her head, "It's not stupid and it will benefit the orphanage. Now we have selected 3 gowns for you to wear, as well as the rest of us."

Kait when comfortable was astonishing hen communicating her thoughts to those she felt at ease. It seemed she had to talk her thoughts through to the end or she might forget. What was amazing was how she could get all that out without appearing to breathe.

"They will call out our names, we will walk on a raised walkway and the men in the audience will have a chance to call out a bid and the one with the highest bid will have a dinner date with you. So there will be at least 3 dinner dates for you to obligate yourself."

M'lar moaned softly and said, "Kait, you are putting me up there with a Priestess of Sune, a amazon woman of such great beauty and talent along with the others including yourself. Why in the world do you think anyone would bet on someone like me?"

Kait sighed deeply and then turned sideways on the bench and looked at her sister. "You have half the men on this island running after you just begging for a night with you or a date and all you can say is why? "

M'lar listened patiently to the running commentary, "Really M'lar you have no clue as to what you do to the men around here. They run after you falling over each other just for a smile, or a word from you. I watched so many of the men rush to help you with the door, or here is a prime example the last time the Nest was destroyed, you could not wade through to the bar for all the men offering to help you rebuild! Then there was the time that you fell off the end of the dock and had four, four of them jump in to try and rescue you. Little did they realize that you had not fallen but was testing that new spell of airy water? Why two of them nearly drowned had you not rescued them!"

Lord when would she take a breath? It was making M'lar's lungs ache watching and waiting for her to take a breath. Even a small breath would give her a hint she was really human. Watching her mouth she waited and when Kait had her lips parted wide enough to shut her up, M'lar shoved some grapes in her mouth.

" There now I might get a word in edge wise. Kait how do you do that? Without breathing you make my lungs ache. Now I do not do anything to them. Those are the silly men that run after me for a night in my bed, not for me."

Unlike Kait she had to take a breath in between her explanations. "Do not think that I don't know that they only want me to warm their beds and they would just as soon put a bag over my head for a night between my legs. I heard them on the docks the other day."

M'lar watched Kait swallow open her mouth to speak and did not give her a chance to respond shoving another hand full of grapes into her mouth. " Now you eat and listen to me. You are going to loose coins from using me. If I get any bids at all they will be nothing more than sympathy token bids. Your money maker will be War, the Priestess of Sune will garner the most attention and coin."

Kait swallowed and began to hum again and M'lar frowned turned and shook her. "Stop it! Don't do that!" Kait gasped and jerked her arms back. "You are hurting me!"

M'lar felt bad and dropped her hands and lowered her gaze. From where she sat she could hear Zach and Beau arguing and sighed. "All right Sis, forgive me. I will do your stupid show but don't blame me if you don't make any money off of the gowns I wear as the old saying goes you can't put lip rouge on a pig and make it any prettier."

Kait only heard the capitulation and squealed out reaching over to hug her sister. "Sister! Thank you! Thank you!" She stood up and twirled around happy she finally had her sister on the hook for the fashion show and she was more determined than ever to show M'lar she was going to be the most popular model there.

Watching her spin around, her dress flying out and up to reveal her legs M'lar smiled then mumbled under her breath watching Kait do her happy dance over the sandy beach. "Your legs are showing Kait."

Kait flushed deeply and quit her twirling like a top, smoothed her dress down and walked more sedately but happily over to the bench seat. "I am so happy and I am going to prove you wrong! You will see, you will get the highest bids and have three lovely young men to take you to lunch or dinner and you are going to have a wonderful time with all those young men and maybe one of them will be the one, the absolute one that will be your Mr. Right! Oh I am so happy for you my sweet dear sister!"

When she stopped her prattle M'lar looked at Kait and then away from her. She sighed softly and had to wonder what insanity had possessed her to agree? It had to have been guilt nothing else could have motivated her to this degree to give in so readily to voluntarily be in Morgan's place of business.

Now she was committed she thought a moment and figured that she should be committed to an insane asylum for being quilted into this hair-brained idea of Kait's. However with Kait's complete happiness it appeared she was stuck and would not be a part of this silly mess that was a fashion show for the orphanage. At least it was for a good cause.

Turning to find her shorts, M'lar slipped them on and her booties. She was growing tired of the bickering between Zach and Beau as they sat on her rock by the lake. "Kait I am going to head back to the Nest. Are you coming?" As she spoke she felt her body lifted and slammed back on the ground.

Stunned she looked up to see that Beau had released a magic missile on her and Zach was grabbing her and moving away from her and Kait. "What the hell?" M'lar looked over at the twisted angry look that Beau was shooting at her. "Hey! What the hell was that about?"

There was damage but at the moment M'lar was too mad to care. She stood up and brushed her bottom off and winced feeling she had a cracked rib. Chanting softly she laid her glowing hand to her rib and healed her rib and the bruising that was beginning to make itself known.

Looking more than a tad pissed, M'lar stood with hands on hips glaring at Beau. "What is your problem?"

Beau screamed out her frustration, "Stay the hell away from Zach you orc faced bitch! He is mine!" She watched stunned at the accusation about her and Zach.

"You crazy bitch we just swam together and nothing more! Why the hell don't you get over your insecurities and get on with your life? You are such a stupid cow to think I don't know who he is tied to? Gods above Beau, you won't keep him long if you act this jealous each time he is just near another woman. You need to learn to trust him and yourself!"

Zach had heard her begin to chant again she was aiming a stronger spell towards M'lar when he grabbed her and held her close then in a blinding flash of yellow light they both teleported from view. "Stupid cow, she could have been arrested for an assault on a council member!" M'lar sighed and looked down very upset.

Kait rushed up to M'lar. "Boy talk about angry!"

M'lar was more than half angry. "She got her man why is she taking her anger out on me?"

Kait shrugged. "Don't know, just think we will avoid her all together for a while." M'lar lifted the picnic basket and started back up the hill that led back to the docks and her inn. "No kidding. That bitch is psycho. Zach better get her under control before someone decides to magic missile her ass sometime."