She could feel his body relaxing beneath her touch, any tension in his shoulders lessening while she listened to Théadan’s take on what Akhevan might have done when coming across a bathing Marut. His words at first brought a smirk to Navia’s lips, but then he added the question of whether Akhevan dragged Marut underwater, reminding her of him doing exactly that to her. She couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head, thinking of how he had done it to her more than once. Only Théadan denied such acts, claiming he would never be caught pulling women underwater and making love to them. Such an announcement caused Navia to pause in her massaging and look down at Théadan skeptically as he grinned up at her. “Oh no, never would such a proper prince do something so untoward,” she rolled her eyes before returning his grin, one of her hands going to gently rest at the curve of his throat and tilt his head back just a bit more so she could press a warm kiss to his lips.<br/><br/>Navia returned to working on Théadan’s shoulders much like she did her story, lightly and with purpose, “There was no tackling or dragging anyone underwater. Instead Akhevan approached Marut in his human form, for he was overcome by her beauty, overcome by the simple grace she exuded. He went to her as she stood at the river’s edge drying off from her bath, water dripping and black hair silky, and offered his dedication to her if she would be his bride. ‘And what would you offer for my hand?’ Marut asked. Now even though he was an expert at strategy as a god of the hunt and battle, this was not a question Akhevan had expected. He had thought Marut would jump at the idea of marrying a powerful god. He was quick on his feet though, and with the extension of his hand, the brightest blue gems filled his palm. ‘Spirit of the river,’ he called them before telling her, ‘These and all the riches in the world are yours to be had.’”<br/><br/>“’I have no need for riches,’ was all Marut told Akhevan before taking her leave into the forest,” Navia paused to guide Théadan into leaning forward some so she had access to his back. She took the time to slowly trickle a handful of water down his back before continuing, “Akhevan was discouraged, but he would not give up. In hopes Marut would return to the riverside, he gave a wave of his hand and the brilliant stones fell from his hand and landed in the water. From them sprouted water lilies.” Smiling to herself, she paused in the story to begin rubbing her hands down his back as well, “They’re very pretty in Mandira. We have several ponds dedicated to them. Anyway, sometime later, Akhevan came across Marut once more, this time in the dead of night when she was sitting up in a tree, gazing up at the full moon. She was ethereal there, sitting upon a branch, dark hair trailing in the breeze, shiny in the moonlight. Again Akhevan approached her, again he asked for her hand. ‘And what would you offer for my hand?’ She asked once more and seeing how she cherished the moon above, Akhevan gave a flourish of his hand and dewy pearls filled his palm. ‘Tears of the moon,’ he told her, ‘These and all the riches in this world and the next are yours to be had.’”<br/><br/>Hands dipped under the water to follow the curve of Théadan’s spine until she could reach no further and Navia had to work her way back up, her face close to his ear. “You can probably guess what she told him,” she said softly, “Marut did not want the riches Akhevan offered and left him once more. From his palm fell the pearls and from the earth grew<i>rajjana</i>, a brilliant white flower that grows in large fields, but only in the moonlight. They close during the day and are my favorite flower.” Running out of back to massage, Navia guided Théadan into leaning back against her again and bent to slide her hands down the front of his chest slowly, enjoying the spring-slicked musculature her fingertips found. It brought her face close to his, her cheek against his temple, “Three more times this happened. Akhevan found her lying out on a boulder, enjoying the warmth in the bright of day, and offered her rays of the sun, the brightest diamonds the world has ever seen. Marut turned them away with the same comment that she had no need for riches, so the jewels became these little white flowers called<i>keralas</i>that grow in our grasslands<i>. </i>Weeks later, Marut had joined a village celebrating a hunt by the fire. Akhevan visited them and again asked her, only to be asked what he would offer. Flames of the fire were his answer and Marut was presented with sparkling rubies that became hibiscus when she denied him, the very flowers we saw outside this grotto.”<br/><br/>A small smile formed on her lips then, and she nuzzled against her lover affectionately before continuing, “Then came one of the last times Akhevan happened upon Marut. She was out in a lush field, visiting a herd of elephants she had befriended, when Akhevan found her again. The same exchange happened, the same offer of riches, only this time he procured what he called the heart of the earth. In his palm were emeralds as brilliant as my lover’s eyes.” Navia paused to chuckle softly, taking a deep breath to enjoy the proximity of her lover, “But Marut was weary of his advances and begged him to stop. She wanted him to see no riches were ever going to win him her hand and after trying five times, Akhevan gave up. Despondent, he threw the emeralds into the dirt and from them came the jungle trees we walked past today, as large and impressive as his heartache.”<br/><br/>“Years later, as humans began to learn Akhevan’s practices, they grew more adept at hunting and he one day found himself hunted by the very people with whom he had shared his gifts. Akhevan raced through the forest, quick and agile in his tiger form, until arrows struck him in his neck and belly. From then on, arrow after arrow pierced his body. Too injured to return to his godlike form to heal, he fled, stumbling through the trees until he reached a river. He collapsed beside it and as the hunters closed in, he thought his last breath would be spent gazing at dainty blue flowers floating on the water, tributes to the woman he loved,” Navia sighed softly thinking of how wrenching that would be, the arms she’d draped around Théadan’s neck tightening briefly, “Then through the trees came a rumble like thunder and with it came an elephant, charging through and running off the hunters. When Marut returned to Akhevan’s side, she was human and tears were in her eyes. She knelt beside the dying tiger, hand going to rest upon his neck to soothe him with her touch as blood pooled around him, trickling into the river beside them. It was clear to them both the end was near for Akhevan.”<br/><br/>When Navia spoke next, it was a whisper, her gaze wandering off toward the small waterfall while she recalled the story of Marut and Akhevan. “’I can end your suffering,’ Marut told him, ‘You learned the hunt and battle while I have been studying the afterlife. I can take you to Sura, walk with you so you are not alone to where you will be in pain no longer.’ Accepting he could be with Marut for just that small bit of time, Akhevan could only nod. It was then she lifted her hand from his neck to stand and guide him when the arrow that had been there fell to the floor and the wound was no more. In that moment, Marut learned her place in this world. She could heal those in battle, or guide them to the afterlife if she could not. She laid her hands on Akhevan’s wounds and by the grace of Equos, she healed him enough that he could transform to his natural form and finish healing. He was weak from the endeavor however, and sat upon the earth, humble and shaken. He wanted Marut more than ever, and wanted her to understand how grateful he was, but was too weak to create more jewels. Instead he beseeched her, ‘I have no riches, but all my love is yours to be had if you will have my hand.’”<br/><br/>“This is what Marut had wanted to hear, what she had wished to the moon for night after night. So she knelt beside Akhevan, her lips covered his for a kiss, and she had simple words for him as she placed her hand in his own.” Smiling, Navia pressed a small kiss to Théadan’s cheek, then went to whisper in his ear, “’If I have your love, I have all the riches in the world.’”