As they continued, the path remained clear and Kreet felt like she'd never known a more perfect night in her life. Eilistraee began to hum a tune then. It was, perhaps, a bit melancholy, but somehow Kreet felt it reflected her mood perfectly. The worst thing about a perfect night is that it doesn't last for long.

"Are there lyrics to that?" Kallid asked the goddess when she stopped.

"Oh yes, indeed there are. I'm afraid it's a pretty standard love ballad though. Star-crossed lovers, you know. They always have to end tragically. But I love to dance to that melody."

Suddenly Eilistraee brightened up. "Say! We'll make the cave in plenty of time before daybreak. Would you like to visit a little place I know? Just for a little bit. Let me dance for you! It's not far."

"Is it safe?" Kreet asked, but Sigmundurr answered her before Eilistraee.

"Gator, when a goddess asks if you'd like to watch her dance, there's only one answer!"

"Oh, don't be like that Sigmundurr," Eilistraee complained. "It's just an idea I had. You can say no. Please don't think of me as a goddess... too much anyway. It's so nice to be with good mortals that don't have all those ulterior motives and schemes. As for it being safe... well, there are some perks to being a goddess. There won't even be any insects, I promise. Just a cricket or two and maybe some little frogs for ambience. What do you say?"

"Well then, lead on Dark Dancer!" Kreet laughed.

"It's just a little farther up the path, then we'll turn off and go through the woods for about a mile. Oh thank you! It seems like I never get a chance to show off anymore."

True to her word, they turned to walk through the woods at her signal. The brambles and underbrush disappeared as they passed, reappearing behind them.

"Nice trick!" Sigmundurr said. "I know a ranger who would love to know that one!"

They walked through the woods, not on any path, but following the glowing hair of the goddess until the woods fell away and they came upon a wide shallow lake. The grass was long but inviting as she ushered them to a spot at the lake's shore. The woods surrounding them were dotted only by fireflies, and Eilistraee assured Sigmundurr that he wouldn't need his sword, so he lay down beside the two kobolds and pulled a jug of water from his inventory which he shared with the others, not forgetting to offer some to Eilistraee.

She laughed at that, but accepted the jug anyway and drank delicately, even though she surely didn't need it. Perhaps it was just to make them feel more comfortable with her, but Kreet had a suspicion it might be the other way around. Maybe, she thought, being a goddess isn't all that great after all.

"Just one thing," she said before she started her dance. "Don't try to touch me while I'm out of my Avatar mode, okay? You'll know when that is. But mortals... well, it's probably not a good idea, that's all."

And then she began to sing, low and quiet. Her image dulled until she was only visible as a silhouette against the moon's reflection on the water, and her voice became even quieter until it was lost behind the groaning of the frogs and the chirping of crickets. And finally, the voice and the silhouette were gone.

But before they began to get worried, the crickets and frogs stopped their eternal songs too and there was complete silence over the lake. A ripple began, far out on the lake, as of a breeze stirring towards them. It approached and the breeze ruffled the grass around them and across their skin and scales.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

And then a face appeared among the stars. Eilistraee of course, showing off. The song started again, shifting to a major key. The words again were in that foreign tongue but understandable as any in Common. They told of a meeting between two lovers, though what race, age, mortal or not wasn't clear. And then the dancer came into view, as graceful as they could imagine - floating among the stars above them. They lay back, and Kreet lay her head on Kallid's chest. He draped his arm lightly around her and they watched the dancer overhead.

Her size was un-guessable since the distance wasn't clear, but Eilistraee was pulling out all that stops, that much was plain.

She clearly was enacting a pursuit, the fearful maiden being chased by her brazen lover that the song described. Yet, with subtle smiles and pirouettes, it was clear she had no intention of escape.

And then she was caught, and she tumbled in the sky as if rolling in the embrace of an unseen lover. The three gasped at the artistry, but couldn't tear their eyes away.

Eilistraee began to undulate provocatively, slowly, the lyrics to the song no longer intelligible but there was no need. Her dance made it abundantly clear that the lovers were intertwined in the act. Such was the Dark Dancer's skill that her small audience almost felt they could see the invisible lover as much as herself. The dance began to quicken, the poses becoming more suggestive, and Kreet felt Kallid's hand stroking her side almost reflexively in sympathy. If it strayed a bit farther afield, she didn't mind. It felt... wonderful.

And then the dance and song stopped, yet the dancer remained in the stars, heaving breath as if she was spent and exhausted. Kreet took the opportunity to turn towards Kallid and nuzzled his neck and he returned the reptilian kiss before they went back to watching the goddess in the sky.

Suddenly Eilistraee rose from where she lay, looking around as if a menace had appeared, and as quickly a sword appeared in her hand. Then two. Thin, menacing blades of silver flashed in the moonlight, and Kreet sunk back involuntarily into Kallid's arms. The blade-work was amazing, one moment flashing wickedly in arc after arc as the dancer leaped through the deadly blades, then the next moment she caressed the swords as if romancing them.

Finally, though, and perhaps inevitably, she mimicked being stabbed by them and the tears began to flow. Kreet shot a look to Sigmundurr, and, though he was still watching intently, he had to stop to wipe the tears away from his face. Kreet felt better at that. The man had a heart, after all. She went back to watch the tale unfold in the goddess' dance above her.

Eilistraee had resumed the role of the female, her lover now dead at her feet. Grief was obvious, not only in her dance but in the song as well, the tune switching to heavily minor scales. But it was not the end of the dance. The grieving woman turned to gaze at the moon, and for a moment it seemed as if the moon gazed back at her. She cried out to the moon, and somehow a voice seemed to cry back from where the moon lay in the sky.

And then she danced in a different mode, no longer grieving. She seemed to have transferred her attention to the moon itself, as if her dead lover had been reincarnated as the great light in the night sky. Before that light, she bared all, giving herself to it's silvery gaze and hiding nothing. Her hair coiled around her head and she smiled to the moon, her hands outstretched, beckoning it to come to her and rest it's weary light between her breasts as the words implied.

And it did. The moon moved across the sky, slowly at first, impossibly. Kreet knew she was watching a goddess who could present just about anything to their eyes, illusion or reality. But she cried for joy anyway as the moon came to her and somehow did seem to rest between her breasts. She enfolded her body around it's silver glow, and the night went dark. Only the glowing outline of the goddess above them was visible now, curled around the moon in an eternal embrace.

Kreet turned to Kallid and hugged him to herself, weeping with joy and not letting any other thought get in the way. She heard the goddess return to her avatar form behind her and speak some words to Sigmundurr, but she wasn't paying attention. She heard them move off, and she broke away from Kallid just long enough to see the goddess and Sigmundurr walk into the woods, hand in hand, leaving the two kobolds alone. And then she was lost in the blue glow of Kallid's eyes. Those eyes reflected her own, she knew. The other two did not return for hours, and even then Kreet felt it was too soon. She was in paradise with Kallid, and she never wanted it to end.