COOL OFF

by Ruth Clark

(DF 22 Summer)

Truearrow dragged his hand over his sweat-covered face and glared at the mid-afternoon sun that persisted upon tormenting him. He moved deeper into the shade that his hometree provided, though it did little good. It was so hot!  Earlier in the day he had swum in the lake until his skin had become as wrinkled as an over-ripe, dried-out dreamberry, hoping it would help cool him down, but that had only lasted a short while. Although having lived in the valley for thirteen years, Truearrow still was not used to the summer weather. He rubbed a hand through his blonde hair, sighing in exasperation. Why did it have to be so hot?!

“Hey, Truearrow! Hot enough for you, gorgeous?”

The hunter lifted his head to scowl at the owner of the teasing voice. Leave it to Duskdew to stroll by, looking as if the burning rays of the sun failed to affect her. Duskdew laughed gaily and clapped her hands, delighted that she could provoke such a negative response out of the usually carefree Truearrow.

“Duskdew, how can you go dancing about the holt in this heat?  It’s stifling!  It tires me out just watching you,” Truearrow said, smiling wearily at the blonde-haired girl.

“Oh, that’s easy,” Duskdew sing-songed. Her hands unconsciously smoothed the front of her light green tunic, the only clothing she wore. The motion caught Truearrow’s attention briefly, and the flirtatious maiden winked at him. “All I do is tell myself that it’s not so hot. Then my mind tells my body it’s not so hot, and my body believes it, so I stay nice and cool.” The maiden whirled around happily, then added a small skip.

Truearrow leaned forward and rested his chin in the palm of his hand. “That is so ridiculous, it almost makes sense. You don’t really expect me to believe that, do you?” He arched one eyebrow over his slanted brown eyes inquisitively, grinning crookedly, glad for the distraction Duskdew offered.

“Just thought I’d give it a chance. It gave me more time to look at your chest,” Duskdew said, her laughter twinkling like chimes. Truearrow glanced down at his chest, wondering what she found so interesting about it. Usually, the archer wore a green, long-sleeved shirt, but because of the hot weather, he only wore a pair of dark green pants and his head band.

“You have a great-looking chest, ya know,” Duskdew continued, “Especially when it’s all sticky and sweaty.” She rolled her hips in a provocative manner and, with dramatic flourish, winked at him a second time. “In fact, I think you’d look even better if you gave up wearing those concealing pants. It would definitely make things more interesting around here and give me more things to look at.”  The maiden laughed, widening her spring-green eyes in a hopeful expression.

Truearrow laughed. Leave it to her to bring up her favorite subject in any conversation – the male body.  “You tell me how you stay cool, the truth this time, and I might be persuaded to discard the rest of my clothing, down at the lake.”

“Aww, there’s too many elves down there,” Duskdew said, pouting. “Can’t do anything shocking in front of the cubs. Then again, there’ll be other gorgeous male figures to admire over at the lake.” Her thumb and index finger absently pinched her left earlobe while she considered his offer. “Oh, all right!” she said with a quick snap of her fingers. “Stay here. Don’t leave. I’ll be right back.”

Truearrow watched Duskdew’s retreating form, then relaxed his body against the tree’s slightly cool exterior, closing his brown eyes to block out the bright rays of the sun.

“Hey, lazy bones!  Wake up!”

Truearrow grunted in annoyance when he received a slight poke in the ribs. He realized that he’d dozed off for a while. Opening one eye, he looked up at Duskdew.

“Well, hey. If you want, I’ll leave you so that you can get back to your nap. I’m sure that at least half of the Timber Folk would be more than happy to share some cold dreamberry wine with me,” Duskdew said, dangling a skin full of wine in front of him. In her other hand she held another pouch, which contained an equal amount of the sweet juice.

“Cold?  How can it be cold?” Truearrow asked suspiciously, reaching out for the leather bag she offered him. The skin was moist and surprisingly cool. “You had it in the Minnowbrook, didn’t you?  Where did you get these?”

“Hey, you don’t expect me to reveal all my deep, sinister secrets in one afternoon, now do you?”  The flirt sat down beside him as close as she could without sitting in his lap, and pulled the small wooden stopper out of the opening on the neck of the pouch. “Drink up, gorgeous, cuz I’ll never be this generous again, unless you offer me something more appealing than just your company – like your body.”

Truearrow eyed her with amusement as she tipped her head back to take large audible gulps from her wine skin. Following her example, he pulled the cork to open the skin and took a long drink. The wine was refreshing, and more importantly, cool. Maybe this afternoon wouldn’t turn out so bad after all.

“Hey!” Duskdew said a while later, punching the side of Truearrow’s wine container. “It’s almost gone! Go easy on that stuff, Truearrow. I’ve only got one skin-full left,” she scolded. Her voice was slightly slurred, but her eyes were bright and alert. Truearrow was starting to appreciate the flirtatious glances she kept giving him.

“Oh, I guess I did dwink it a little too fast. It was shoo good,” Truearrow said in a sleepy, sluggish voice.

“Those two really make me sick,” Duskdew said, changing the subject abruptly.

“Who?” Truearrow asked, trying to focus his eyes on one Duskdew. Suddenly three of her had appeared and he was having a hard time deciding which one had spoken to him.

“Them. Nightway and Mooncrest,” she said, waving her hand toward the two elves. They were just returning from the lake, holding hands as they walked. “First they were friends, then best friends, then lovemates, and now they’re lifemates. Remember the way Nightway stood by ‘Crest during his rough Recognition with Wildwood? True love.” She sighed longingly, although with a trace of disgust, and watched the two elves.

“Why  Dusky –hic– I think you’re jealous,” Truearrow laughed. “Don’t tell me that you hope to find, uh, true love someday?  From the way you act, one would think you’re just out to have a good time.”

“Oh sure. Of course I want to find a guy who’s all my own. Or I’ll Recognize. But until then, I just have to find good-looking guys who want to have a night of passionate touching, with no binding, stifling commitments the next day just because they’re so impressed with my, um, obvious skills,” Duskdew sniffed haughtily. She smile, a mischievous look in her eyes. “Well, you might not be great looking, but you’ll do until I can find someone else,” she snickered before bodily attacking him, giving the archer no time to comment. The wine skin fell from Truearrow’s grasp and he raised both hands to push the aggressive maiden away without harming her. Insistently, Duskdew pulled at the waist of his breeches while she nibbled at his neck.

“Uh, Duskdew. Don’t you think we should at least go inside my tree? Ouch!  Stop biting my ear!”  Truearrow pushed at her shoulders, a little uncomfortable; he was not used to women trying to ravish him. Duskdew, in answer, poked him in the stomach. He winced slightly, then relented to her not-so-gentle administrations. It wasn’t so bad, and then he’d always thought Duskdew to be attractive…

Lulled by the wine and Duskdew’s advances, the archer weaved one hand into the softness of the maiden’s gold-white curls to pull her closer. As he did so, he received an ear-splitting shriek, right in his ear.

The two elves leaped apart, Truearrow jumping to his feet, expecting to see dozens of humans surrounding them. Instead, the holt was empty, save for Mooncrest and Nightway, who were watching them curiously. He looked down at Duskdew, who was fussily patting her hair as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

“D-Duskdew!  Why did you scream?” Truearrow almost yelled. She looked at him as if he had suddenly sprouted another nose.

“You were messing up my hair,” she answered with a toss of her golden mane. The curls bounced back into their unruly state, framing her innocently upturned face. The angelic expression turned to one of uncontrollable mirth, and with a laugh, she tossed him his forgotten wine skin. “Here, Truearrow. You look like you need to cool off!”

Truearrow stared at her, then at the wineskin, a plan forming in his wine-influenced mind. “Actually, Duskdew, love, I think it’s you who truly needs to cool off!” he said pleasantly. Then, with no other warning, he squirted the remaining contents of the wineskin on her.

Duskdew shrieked in outrage, jumping to her feet and pulling her sticky tunic away from her body. The purple liquid slowly dripped from her hair. “Oh! You…you!  Oh!  I’ll… oh!  I’ll get you for this, Truearrow!” she spat like a cat who had failed to land on its feet. With an assortment of mumbled curses and loud threat-calling, Duskdew stomped away, leaving a trail of dreamberry wine.

Laughing to himself, Truearrow settled back against the tree, picking up Duskdew’s wineskin. He had better be careful, he told himself, or that little she-cat would cut his ears off at the next possible chance.

“Hi, Truearrow!”

Truearrow looked up to find Mooncrest and Nightway standing over him. “Greetings, Mooncrest, Nightway,” he returned, toasting them with a tilt of the leather skin filled with wine.

Nightway glanced over her shoulder in the direction Duskdew had taken, and Mooncrest asked the question that had formed in both their minds. “What did you do to Duskdew? She seemed pretty steamed when she left.”

Truearrow burst into a fit of hearty chuckles, startling the lifemates. “Gee, Mooncrest, I don’t know. I did my best to cool her off.”