.Lydia woke to the smell of wood smoke and the gentle cracking of a fire. She felt drowsy and sated as she sat up, stretching her arms. She pushed her black hair from her face where the riotous curls had taken over. Shenyo was spitting a rabbit and she realized that she was hungry. Looking down, she realized that she was unclothed and a blush spread, not just over her face but it felt like over her entire body as she remembered their joining.<br/><br/>She wondered if the experience had been for him what it had been for her. She smiled his attention was fully on his task. His tail around coiled neatly around his feet and his broad back was a solid comforting presence.<br/><br/>“Good morning, Shenyo.” She said softly.<br/><br/>Her voice was as at home in the soughing of the wind in the treetop and in the quiet bird song as if she were part of the fae.<br/><br/>Lydia saw small animals, fox kits perhaps, poking their inquisitive black noses from the surrounding ferns but none came to investigate further. Life surrounded them, clean, wholesome life. There was a natural order here. While prey were taken by predators, only enough to sustain life was culled.<br/><br/>One could argue that the nobles were simply the highest order on the food chain and that they were no different than the large cats or the bear, but Lydia knew there was a superhuman evil about them. They didn’t take one or two of the old or the weak, but they sought to contaminate the world. Their mission was to enslave anyone they could exploit. How many more were out there like Shenyo? Like herself? How many were already forfeit? How many could they save? Could they even save themselves? She decided that if she had to choose that Shenyo would be the life she would choose to save.<br/><br/>Her dress had been put close to hand so she tossed it over her head and arranged her skirts modesty. She then bent her knees and wrapped her arms around them as she watched Shenyo discard the entrails.<br/><br/>“All my life,” she began as her eyes never left him,” I was raised on my own personal prophecy.<br/><br/><em><strong>“When a day is within a night and they that sleep awake, <br/>He will come and together they will partake</strong></em><br/><br/>I did not know what that could possibly mean. But I think I’m starting to understand. I think it is a little backwards, but I think you are the one prophesied to come and we partook last night. But I believe the first line is about the nobles. The day within a night sounds like an eclipse of the sun and I know from the charts I have been studying, that one should occur sometime in the next two weeks. That will give the nobles the power to walk the Earth during the day, when the people will be the most vulnerable and exposed.<br/><br/>We could try going to the cities and warning the leaders but do you think they would listen to us? I imagine they would lock us up and send us straight to Bedlam.”<br/><br/>She stood and brushed the twigs and leaves from her skirts. A blue jay’s feather was sticking up from the back of her hair. Lydia’s barefeet padded soundlessly to Shenyo and she ran her hands over his shoulders, bringing her face down to press against his cheek.<br/><br/>“or we could find a nice place to wait it out and make love five times a day.” She kissed his cheek and ran her hands over his chest. “ The fight with the nobles is coming. The question is, do we try to prepare the people to fight with us, or figure out if this is a war that we alone can win? “<br/><br/>The rabbit was smelling good and Lydia’s mouth was watering but before she could concentrate on the meal , she had to ask.<br/><br/>“Did you feel the Earth move last night? It could have been the plates of the Great Tortoise moving deep underground, but if it happens two more times during our time together, we need to see if our joining is creating magic.”<br/><br/>She kissed his cheek softly again, “How could we not create magic? The power of three overcomes the world , so you, me and if we count your tail,  that is three.” She giggled softly.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>