"Ah!" Ellysetta gave a shout of surprise at both Steli's sudden arrival and the distinct chill of the droplets. The Tairen had been chasing fish in water much cooler than the surface. With a blush rising to her cheeks, she slapped an arm over her br**sts and scolded, "Steli!"

Blue eyes blinked with complete innocence. «Sorry, sorry. Steli forgot knocking.»

Ellysetta blushed brighter. She had chided Steli once before about forgetting to knock before interrupting her and Rain in a private moment, but considering the way she and Rain had jumped on each other without a care for Steli's proximity, she could hardly cry foul this time.

"Nei, it's all right," she began. She didn't recognize the mischievous light in the great cat's eyes.

At least, not until the white Tairen reared up, raised both giant paws high, and brought them slamming back down towards the water's surface.

"Steli!" Ellysetta shrieked when she realized the Tairen's intent. "Don't you da—"

Whack! Enormous splashes of water heaved up in twin geysers and engulfed Rain and Ellysetta, sending them tumbling

"You wicked cat!" Ellysetta accused when she came back up for air.

Huah. Huah. Huah. Steli chuffed with Tairen laughter, infinitely amused with herself. Her wings spread wide and she pumped them in victory, accompanying the gesture with a triumphant roar.

Treading water beside Ellysetta, Rain was laughing, too, quietly, at first, but when Ellysetta turned on him in mock outrage, his smothered snickers turned to open guffaws. "You still have much to learn about Tairen, shei'tani." He flashed a dazzling grin at the white cat. "Well played, Steli-chakai."

"Ha. Ha." Ellysetta crossed her arms and pretended to glare, though, secretly, she was glad to hear Rain laugh with such abandon. "That water was cold!"

«Sorry, sorry. Steli will fix.» The white Tairen rose up again, opened her massive jaws, and blasted an area around Rain and Ellysetta with a sizzling jet of tairen flame.

The water's temperature shot up instantly—and so did the potency of the Source's magic. Ellysetta saw Rain's eyes widen a bare moment before the amplified power of Crystal Lake roared through her veins, once again electrifying her senses, stealing the air from her lungs, and leaving her shuddering in a state of hyperawareness.

"Dear gods. What is that?” She lifted trembling hands. Her skin's faint Fey luminescence had become as radiant as the moon.

She looked up at Rain and found him shining bright as a god come to earth. "Rain .. . Steli's tairen flame amplifies the effects of the faerilas." Her voice throbbed with throaty, seductive tones of shei’dalin compulsion that she hadn't meant to employ.

Rain's eyes flared brighter in an involuntary response to her power. "So it seems."

Ellysetta closed her eyes on a groan. The aural seduction clearly worked both ways, because each deep, velvety word he spoke brushed across her skin like a heated caress, it was as if, by breathing her flame upon the waters of the Source, Steli had spawned a carnal weave like the one Ellysetta had inadvertently spun on all the heads of Celieria's noble Houses several months ago.

Rain moved closer, glowing eyes fixed upon her face. "Are you complaining?"

Her br**sts and groin throbbed with each syllable that passed his lips. "N-nei" Dear gods. If he said another word . ..

"Then come here."

Lightning ripped through her. Ellysetta gave a gasping cry and her body began to quake. For the second time in a bare handful of chimes, she fell into Rain's arms and locked her shaking legs around his hips, as helpless to resist the seductive enchantment of the Source as Celieria's nobles had been to resist the compulsion of her accidental carnal weave.

"I like this new use for tairen fire." Cradling Ellysetta in his arms, Rain floated on a cushion of warm water and smiled up at bright tracts of cerulean blue sky peeking through the thinning cloud cover overhead.

Steli, who was floating on her back nearby, snorted and blew a short burst of fire into the sky. «Males.»

Rain grinned. Earlier, citing the need for more definitive proof of the effect of tairen flame on Source waters, he'd insisted Steli breathe fire upon the lake no less than eight times in a span of three bells. Each time the faerilas magic roared to life, so had Rain. And he'd discovered that one of the most beneficial aspects of mating in a tairen-fired Source pool was the near-instant rejuvenation of energy and... er... interest.

Ellysetta laid a hand over his heart. "You feel better, shei'tan. Calmer."

"Three bells of Source-enhanced mating will apparently do that to a Fey," he teased. But it was more than that. The pleasure had gone much deeper than mere physical fulfillment. Several times during their mating, he'd felt closer to Ellysetta than ever before. As if the secret to completing their bond were within reach, if only they could figure out how to grasp it.

Inexplicably, he'd also felt a strange, tingling awareness, like a memory long forgotten, as if there were more at work than just the restorative powers of a potent Source—more even than an irresistible (and thoroughly enjoyable) compulsion to mate.

His brow furrowed. There was something special about this Source. Something important. Why did it thrive so far from the Fading Lands when so many Sources inside the Fey kingdom had grown weak or lost their magic entirely?

"Steli... did the tairen often visit Crystal Lake before the Mage Wars?"

Steli's whiskers twitched. «Too near Eld. And too cold. Tairen's Bay is better for swimming. Warrrrm. Steli likes warm.» The Tairen extended her long, curving claws, then began to groom between her toes with leisurely licks of her pink tongue.