Faun and Games (46 page)

center.

Dawn nodded.
 
"Makes sense to me.
 
So let's go to the center.
 
Do we

know which way that is?"

Eve knelt down and touched the ground with one hand.
 
"Yes.
 
That way."

She pointed a direction.

"You can tell direction by feeling the ground?" Forrest asked.

"I can tell anything about anything inanimate.
 
The ground is inanimate.

So I just selected for its orientation.
 
The center of this face is that

way."

"You girls really do have formidable talents," he said.
 
"I didn't

realize how useful such magic could be."

Eve looked at Dawn.
 
"He appreciates us.
 
Shall I blush, or shall you?"

"It's my turn, I think," Dawn said.
 
Whereupon she turned as red as her

hair.
 
But since her hair was no longer red, but a shade of blue, her

blush was blue too.
 
However, it was a redder shade than the rest of

her.

Forrest wasn't sure whether they were teasing him again, and decided not

to inquire.
 
They might decide to make him blush again. They were being

helpful now, but they remained mischievous girls.

They set off for the center of the blue triangle.
 
However, they soon

encountered a body of water.
 
It was on the slope, and it sloped the

same way, but this no longer seemed odd, because the four of them were

oriented at the same angle.

"Oh, good, I'm thirsty," Dawn said.
 
"Is it safe to drink?"

 
Eve lay down at the edge of the water.
 
She touched its surface with

one finger.
 
"How come you got to be the one to blush?" she demanded

suddenly.
 
"I'm sure it was my turn."

Dawn was evidently surprised.
 
"Well, you can have the next turn. I

didn't realize-"

"And how come you rate the bright red hair and green eyes, while I'm

dull shades of black?"

"Well, we're both blue now, but-"

"And how come you always get to speak first, and I always have to be

second?
 
Ever since we were children-"

"Eve, I don't understand-"

"The water!" Forrest exclaimed.
 
"It did something to her."

Dawn nodded.
 
"Eve, what's with the water?"

Eve concentrated.
 
"This is the jealous sea.
 
It makes anyone who drinks

it or touches it jealous." Then she heard herself talk5ing, and was

startled.
 
"Oh, no!"

"Oh, yes," Dawn said.
 
"That's why you're suddenly jealous of me, when

you never were before.
 
That water's no good."

"Right," Eve agreed.
 
"Still, I don't see why you-" Then she stifled

herself, realizing what was happening.

"We had better not drink this water," Forrest decided.
 
"We'll wa Ik

around it.
 
There's bound to be other water."

"This way," Imbri said in a dreamlet, and trotted around to the side.

Soon the jealous sea gave way, and they came to another large body of

blue water.

"Should I try this first?" Dawn asked.

"Oh, now you're trying to do my work," Eve grumped.
 
She squatted at the

edge and touched the water.

Then she stood.
 
"I feel like doing something new," she said.
 
"Forrest,

look at this." She pulled off her blue blouse.
 
She dropped it, and it

dissolved into soul substance as it left her hand.
 
She was left wearing

a blue bra that hardly seemed up to the chore of containing her bosom.

"That must be the Indecen Sea," Imbri said, catching on to the symptom.

"You bet it is," Eve said, pulling off her skirt and letting it dissolve

similarly.
 
She wore a blue slip that seemed hardly better than nothing.

Forrest had been slow to react, but now he turned to face away from her.

He had had enough trouble when Imbri was in girl form; the last thing he

needed was trouble with an indecent princess.

"What, don't you like me?" Eve demanded, coming up behind him.
 
"Let's

do something really outrageous."

"Let's go find another sea!" Dawn cried.

"Why?
 
I like this one." Eve put her arms around Forrest from behind.

"Hey, I asked you a question, Forrest Faun."

"I think you're beautiful," Forrest said, struggling to free himself.

But the more he struggled, the tighter she clung to him, and the more

her body flattened against him.
 
She wasn't small, the way Imbri had

been on Ptero; she was almost his own height, and almost his mass, but

the distribution was way different.

"Let go of him, sister dear, or I'll-" Dawn started, tugging at Eve.

"You'll what, sister dear?" Eve demanded challengingly.

"I'll jump in that water!"

Eve paused.
 
Then she let go.
 
She knew that if Dawn jumped in, she

would suddenly be twice as indecent as Eve, and therefore twice the

competition.
 
She didn't want that.

Forrest took advantage of his release to move quickly away.
 
Eve's

indecent proposal had interested him more than he dared admit.
 
He

needed to stay well away from her, until the effect of the water passed.

Imbri approached him.
 
"Maybe you should ride me," she suggested in a

dreamlet.

"Thanks." He hopped onto her back.
 
She was big and solid enough now so

it was no problem for her, and this would keep him pretty much out of

the Princess' reach.
 
That was of course why Imbri had suggested it.

They moved on, leaving the Indecen Sea behind.
 
They hurried, because

all of them were getting thirsty, and they didn't want to give Eve any

time to think of anything else to do.
 
As it was she remained without

her outer clothing, and was trying to catch Forrest's eye.
 
It was

obvious that the effect of the water had not yet worn off.

Then they came to a large blue rock.
 
It extended to the edge of the

sea, so that they had either to splash through the edge of the sea to

get around it, or make a long detour the other way.

They stopped before it, considering.
 
"Maybe we could climb over it,"

Forrest suggested.

"Maybe you could," Imbri said.
 
"But I would have to change form."

Which would put her back in girl form.
 
He knew she had adopted her

natural form so as not to tease him any more.
 
Her shape shifting

ability seemed to be pretty much limited to going between her two

"natural" forms.
 
He preferred to keep her as a mare.
 
"Maybe we could

make a ramp high enough to cross it," he said.

But there was nothing from which to make a ramp.
 
So Eve approached the

rock.
 
"I'll find out if there is any good way to get past it," she

said.
 
"But first, how about a little kiss, faun?"

That was more mischief.
 
Forrest faced away from her.
 
He didn't want to

offend her, but he knew that it was only the water that made her so

forward.

"Well, maybe after I get the answer," Eve said.
 
She bent over to touch

the rock, after making sure that Forrest was looking.
 
Her slip was

becoming shorter as time passed.
 
She was getting smarter about

herindecency.

Her hand passed through the rock.
 
She fell into it and disappeared.

"Hey!" she cried.
 
"This isn't real rock.
 
It's sham rock!"

Dawn tittered.
 
"You must be lying, then."

"It's not that kind of sham rock," Eve retorted.
 
"But you can lie if

you want to."

"Very well.
 
I don't want to kiss someone all over his fur."

"Neither do I," Eve said.
 
"I really hate the notion."

"Enough lying," Dawn said.
 
Then she walked into the rock to rescue her

sister.
 
In a moment they both emerged.
 
"We can walk right through it,"

Dawn called.
 
"Come on."

Imbri walked cautiously forward, carrying Forrest.
 
The blue darkness of

the rock closed about them.
 
In a moment they emerged from the other

side.

And there ahead of them was a third body of water.
 
Forrest hoped that

this one was good.

Eve walked toward it.
 
"Are you sure you should-?" Dawn asked nervously.

"Better than you risking it," Eve said, flopping indecently down on the

ground with her legs spread.
 
Forrest managed to avert his eyes just

before disaster.

She touched the surface.
 
A beatific smile crossed her face and drifted

some distance beyond.
 
"Oh, I feel so relieved!"

"What is it?" Dawn asked.

"It's a Mer Sea," she said in kindly fashion.
 
"It forgives everything."

"Then we'd better drink it," Imbri said.

Forrest jumped off her back, and they went to drink.
 
As soon as he

touched the water, a marvelous feeling of compassion washed through him.

Eve approached him.
 
"Forrest, I apologize for my unfortunate behavior.

I really should not have-"

"That's all right," he said quickly.
 
"It was the water."