"The Maid of Shadow."

"The Iron King names the Maid of Shadow," Talaitha intones. "May the spirits reveal the destiny which awaits him!"

Talaitha steps close to you, her eyes locked on yours, and her hands begin to touch your body. It is a strange sensation... her touches are pleasurable by their very nature, but it is obvious that they are not truly intended as such. Rather than seek out sensitive and intimate places, her fingertips brush over your temples, then press gently into your neck to feel your pulse through the strong blood vessels there... then her breasts press into your chest, but it seems that she does this only to breathe in the same time as you do; so that she inhales as you breathe out, and then again in the opposite manner. It may be your imagination, but it seems to you that she even somehow manages to match the rhythm of her heartbeat with your own. It is a strange intimacy, unlike that of a lover, more as if she seeks to become one with you than to share her body.

Her eyes close, and beneath the lids you can see them dart rapidly back and forth, as if she were suddenly asleep and dreaming. Her hands find your own, palm to palm, not lacing the fingers but aligning them with yours. Her lips are so close now that it is all you can do not to lean in just a hair's breadth further and kiss them... but you remember that Talaitha warned you to take no action without her instruction. Even if she has no true power or connection with the spirits, it feels unwise to disturb her trance again.

"The Maid of Shadow," she breathes, almost too quietly to be heard even so close. "Speak the name with me." With those words, Talaitha moves that tiniest bit closer so that your lips just barely touch, like a fresh dewdrop upon a blade of grass.

"The Maid of Shadow," you whisper, and her lips move in perfect unison with yours. Then she pulls away, and her brow furrows just slightly, concentrating hard, listening to whatever voices she alone can hear. Then she shivers, just slightly... and it may be your imagination, but it almost seems as thought the slight breeze which wafts around you forms the subtlest of sounds, which if you could only hear them a tiny bit more clearly, might be strange words in a tongue you have never heard before...

"Yes," Talaitha says, in a soft, melodious tone that drowns out the mysterious almost-sound. "Yes, I see her before me now. The spirits show her clearly, though her face is hidden to mortal eyes. As a girl she walked halls of stone... as a woman, her old name all-but forgotten, she haunts the woods and sleeps among the trees. Lovely as a faerie's child is the Shadow Maid, her eyes wild as the sea in tempest, but sharper than any sword - as are her black stings, which always strike true but never draw blood..."

The Vixen, you think to yourself. Surely, Talaitha could be describing no one else; many of your people live in the forest, some in hiding and some simply because it is their home. The Vixen, however, is certainly a Maid of Shadow. Almost nothing is known of her, only stories and rumors of a beautiful young woman in a black cloak, who fires obsidian-tipped arrows with uncanny precision. And, just as Talaitha says, the Vixen has never struck flesh with her arrows - though there is little doubt that her shots land exactly where she aims them. Neither you nor anyone else knows exactly what she looks like, only that she is golden-haired and of remarkable beauty... and yet, you find that an image forms in your mind's eye, not as you have ever pictured her before (a maid in a black cloak), but a silhouette of a slender young woman, unadorned by a cloak or anything else. Though her face is hidden, you know somehow that she is beautiful... but something about her feels terribly sad, and desperately lonely.

Talaitha's hands begin to roam over your body, up your arms and down your back, pressing both firmly and lightly as she goes. A memory comes into your head, a time when you spoke to Elyssia's most learned healer of his arts; one Master Sanjay Bhandari... he showed you his charts of what he called the Energy Streams, and described a **** called the Chi which moved through all people. His charts indicated the places at which this energy could be redirected and controlled. It is hard to recall exactly, especially under the circumstances, but it seems to you that Talaitha's fingertips press those same points as her hands come to them.

"Show me the future," she sings, "what will come to pass..."

Suddenly, you feel moist lips against your fully-hardened manhood, and you realize that Talaitha is spreading her legs around you to take you inside her. It is all you can do not to respond and thrust forward, take her in your arms, kiss the lips which remain so close - but through an iron effort of will, you remain still and allow her to continue. Ever so slowly, she slides down upon you, her warm and wet passage opening and allowing you to penetrate. An involuntary shiver runs through you, but otherwise you are able to remain still. Talaitha rolls her head back, her eyes closed and still flickering with the signs of dreaming.

"It is uncertain... in motion, blurred by shifting winds... I see her in chains, and yet I see her in fine silken gowns. She will strike at her enemies and her allies alike... skin of steel will not protect her from he who seeks her blood... iron from the sky will be her savior...

Talaitha's brow furrows in concentration, and she unexpectedly leans forward to kiss you upon the lips... but it is no lover's kiss, it is more as though she is forming a closer connection to you, trying to listen through your ears as well as her own. Slowly, she pulls you downward to the blanket upon the ground, for which you are most grateful; it was becoming difficult to stand! Somehow, she is able to gracefully lower both herself and you together such that you remain tightly embraced as a man to a woman, your shaft thrust deeply into her.

"Such confusion... love and ecstasy, **** and hatred, a reborn passion for life and salvation found only in ****..."

Suddenly, Talaitha seems to draw into herself, pulling away from you and crossing her arms over her chest, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, the tension in her face relaxing as she seems to strive to find an inner calm. Her lips mumble strange words, and her eyes slowly open, staring through you as if you are not there. Then, her hands reach out to touch your face, settling over your eyelids and holding them gently closed. She draws in her breath again, lets it out even more slowly, and you feel the tension melt away from her legs, which are still spread around you.

"Many futures, I see for the Maid of Shadow," she says in a voice which could not possibly be her own - it sounds distant and ethereal, as if the wind carries it to you from a mountaintop while you stand in the valley below. "I see her as Queen to the King of Iron, her life restored in glory... or wed in blood to the Lord of ****, her life taken by her own hand. Her fate now turns on the point of a knife, to fall by the wind... and by the will of the Iron King."

Her hands lift away from your eyes, and when you open them, you can see that she is focused upon you now, seeing you there. She does not seem to be entranced any longer, but you are still unsure if you should interrupt.

"King Xavier, the Spirits have spoken," she says to you, her voice normal once again. "There are times when I must summon all of my will to understand what they say, to divide the truths from the falsehoods and chart the paths which the future may take. This has been one of those times, and I still remain uncertain. I know only that you more than anyone will determine the fate of the Shadow Maid - perhaps upon this very day, or perhaps in the more distant future, long after you have taken another as your Queen."

"So, the Vixen - that is, the Shadow Maid - she will not be Queen?"

"The Vixen," Talaitha says, considering. "Yes, I have heard stories of her... it could well be she of whom the Spirits speak. I might have seen a fleeting glimpse of a fox in the woods, but it was swiftly gone and I thought it of no importance. It may even have come from your own thoughts; there have been times when it seems to me that I can almost perceive the mind of the one who is with me. Be that as it may, I saw futures in which the Maid of Shadow wore a crown, but in only one of them did she hold your hand and walk by your side. In that future, I saw wondrous happiness and contentment for you both. But there are other paths, darker ones, in which she ends in despair and torment, and she spills her own life-blood rather than go on. Those are extremes, of course - there are other futures as well, but they are dimmer and harder to see. I cannot say how you might choose one path or another, only that it seems her fate is irrevocably tied to you, whether she is to be your Queen or not. That is all I can say of her with any certainty of all."

You nod, not really understanding, and then shift a bit uncomfortably - you've been straining to hold still for quite some time in a position where one normally does anything but!

"Oh! Forgive me, King Xavier," Talaitha says, seeming to notice for the first time that your manhood is still plunged deep inside her. She moves to withdraw, and perhaps it is your imagination, but it seems to you that she does so somewhat reluctantly - as if the movement makes her wish that she could finish in the traditional way what was started as her "means to an end."

It takes a moment for you to gather your composure; her actions have left you aching for release, but that is something you must put aside. A few deep breaths help to clear your head, and this time you can tell that Talaitha is impressed with your strength of will; you have no doubt that if this is a performance she has done for others, she likely finds that not every man is able to steady himself so quickly, or hold back from trying to relieve his needs with her.

"I would ask another question, if I may," you say at last.

"The spirits have given all the answers they will give, for now; but of course, King Xavier, you may ask of Talaitha what you will."

"The Iron King... is that the name by which the spirits know me?"

"It is," she says. "They have spoken to me of you before, when I have meditated. Of course I know of your past, it is well-known in these parts that you were a worker of iron at the forge, but the name means more than that. Iron is the strongest of metals, and yet it also yields to become what it must be. It will bend to fire, but when it is quenched it becomes stronger still. It is the metal of the common people, in the form of a hammer or plow; it is also the metal of a knight's armor and shield, and the sword of a King like the one you carry at your side. The King of Iron is a king of all the people, both noble and common, a king who wields his power in service and not in domination. The spirits know you well, King Xavier."

"I thank you for your service, Talaitha," you say to her, as you both stand up and you begin to put your clothes back on. It feels somewhat awkward; normally, after you have made love to a woman, you would offer kisses and tender caresses and hold her in your arms, but it's hard to know exactly what you should do in this case.

"There is one other thing," she says as you prepare to take your leave. "Now that you have been connected to the Spirits, you may find that they visit you at some future time. Since you do not have my power, they will appear to you in the only way they can - in your dreams. The dreams will be vivid and potent in nature, but do not fear; these dreams can no more do you harm than any other dream. If the spirits speak to you in this manner, remember that they cannot always be trusted, and it is always best to use your own judgement rather than follow them blindly." She smiles slightly. "Consider them as you would your advisors; wise and helpful, but not always right."