The distance she had placed between them did not last very long, though it was not out of Théadan’s doing. While he recovered from her smacking him over the head, Navia watched Wyndagar sidle back up to Vari. They seemed to be closer than they had been before, with Vari even nosing at the larger horse when he came near. Briefly Navia wondered what they had done while their owners were off enjoying the spa and beach. Théadan was grousing about her being a sore loser though, pulling her attention from the two horses so she could grin brightly at him. “This one isn’t,” she laughed when Théadan asked if a duchess was above being a sore loser, “This is a lot more fun than being a gracious loser and since you win so often, I have to enjoy myself somehow or racing would be no fun.” She went back to fanning him though, trusting Varinata not to take off unannounced when Wyndagar was at her side.<br/><br/>It was probably a good thing she did not have to fan Théadan while she navigated her horse at the same time, for having her eyes on Théadan’s newly bare chest would have been one thing too many. She saw opportunity there; more skin to tease with her new weapon, but Navia also had the chance to enjoy her lover’s physique. He was still getting onto her for all the lying she’d just done, calling her assumption outrageous. She nearly missed his question for him, her eyes had been wandering his scarred chest and back, so Navia flashed him another radiant smile when he pointed out he had been avoiding using a sexual wager against her. He was right that she had been worn out; she had woken up sore as well, but after the first hour of riding, those aches had been worked out and it was late enough in the day her body had recovered.<br/><br/>Any other time Théadan reached out to have a hand on her, to give her thigh a squeeze, would have had her smiling over at him with her heart tugging with affection. He was faking it though, using it against her to try to guilt her with all the teasing she had done to him, leaving Navia to narrow her gaze at him while her hands continued to let the tree leaf fan him. “You know, all of this could have been avoided if you had just kept your word about my reward last night,” Navia answered primly, pointing the tree leaf at him before waving it again, making sure it dipped low enough to graze his shoulder, just to bother him a bit more. “You had said we would be slow and sweet,” she reminded Théadan, “Then you had to go and be so rough that now you have to be concerned about me the next day.”<br/><br/>Shaking her head, Navia sighed dramatically and let the leaf brush further down his arm to antagonize him more with it, “You don’t have to be rough all the time, but I also shouldn’t be punished and have to perform such a demoralizing act because you were the night before and now worry I can’t handle you.” She had been bordering on the ridiculous before, but Navia knew she had definitely stepped over that line with her statement. She was unable to keep the silly grin off her face because of it, for in truth the leaf waving was kind of fun, especially when it gave her the chance to bother Théadan. She wasn’t finished with it either, and shook it at him vigorously instead of waving it slowly and laughed as she said, “I can, by the way.” There was no question of it in her mind and if they weren’t traveling down a winding jungle road, Navia likely would have challenged him to prove otherwise. Content to resort to more childish antics, confident he would not attempt more sexual ways of proving her wrong, Navia gave Théadan’s shoulder a short<i>thwap! </i>with the tree leaf he probably never should have handed her. “Tell me,<i>kamin</i>,” Navia said sweetly, “Have you<i>lost </i>the desire for me to fan you yet? Perhaps if you kiss me and tide me over until we stop for the night, I will be able to behave more like the gracious<i>sitvati </i>you seem to want.”