A friend

You stare at your savior with a mixture of surprise and relief. Her face is less than two feet from yours and her silver hair cascades around you in waves. There's no one else in the world that you wanted to see at this moment and, looking into her pale, lavender eyes, you know that she feels the same.

"Tri'lanna." You whisper hoarsely. She smiles in response to your voice.

She cradles your head in her lap, softly stroking your forehead with her fingertips and humming a mysterious elven tune. You can acutely feel her fingers as they caress your brow. Tri'lanna's fingers are light and playful, twirling your hair and tracing the wrinkles on your head, but there are subtle undertones of desire in her touch.

You reach up to touch her face but the elf gently takes you by the wrist, easing your arm back to your side and hushing you to silence.

The song she is singing is soft and somber, but it steals away all of the fatigue and soreness in your body, leaving just a pleasant tiredness. You feel yourself slip out of consciousness again, more peacefully this time, and fall into a deep, natural sleep. Through the night you can hear Tri'lanna singing to you, like a mother would to a child.

The next morning, you awake completely refreshed. The days of trekking seem to have been washed away, and you feel like you can finish your journey through the Dragon's Spines in a single day. You begin to wonder whether the song Tri'lanna was singing was actually a spell she cast on you and you turn to look for her. Pleasantly, you discover that she is cuddled next to you, sleeping under the same blanket to share some of her warmth, with her head resting on your arm. Her soft lips are pressed against your bare chest and you can feel her breath as it tickles your skin.

She looks so small and defenseless, lying there next to you. The woolen tunic you gave her to wear has been cast aside and she is sleeping next to you naked. Her bow and quiver lie on its side on the other side of the burnt-out campfire, and there is not another soul around for miles. Her trust in you is profound, and you can feel a surge of need rising up in your manhood.