Her brilliant smile was brighter than the yellow of her robing and her scent was louder than it had ever been, the fragrance of cinnamon ringing in the air as sure as her lovely voice had.
Payne shrugged. "There's nothing to forgive. Verily, your song is pleasing to the ear. "
Layla's arms resumed their elegant swinging. "'Tis a lovely day, is it not?"
"Indeed. " From out of nowhere, Payne felt a bolt of fear. "Your mood is much improved. "
"'Tis, 'tis. " The Chosen pirouetted around, pointing her foot in a lovely arch before springing up into the air. "Verily, 'tis a lovely day. "
"Whatever has pleased you so?" Although Payne knew the answer. Transformations of disposition, after all, were rarely spontaneous--most required a trigger.
Layla slowed her dance, her arms and hair drifting downward and coming to a rest. As her elegant fingers lifted to her mouth, she seemed at a loss for words.
She has been of proper service, Payne thought. No longer was her experience as an ehros just theory.
"I. . . " The blush on those cheeks was vibrant.
"Say no more, just know I am happy for you," Payne murmured, and that was largely true. But there was a part of her which felt curiously dejected.
Was it now just her and No'One who were of no use? Seemed so.
"He kissed me," Layla said, looking toward the reflecting pool. "He. . . laid his mouth upon mine. "
With grace, the Chosen sat upon the lip of marble and trailed her hand through the still water. After a moment, Payne joined her because sometimes it was better to feel something, anything. Even if it was an ache.
"You enjoyed it, yes?"
Layla stared at her own reflection, her blond hair trailing over her shoulder until the blunt ends hit the silvery surface of the pool. "He was. . . a fire within me. A great burning rush that. . . consumed me. "
"So you are virgin no longer. "
"He stopped us both after the kissing. He said he wanted me to be sure. " The sensuous smile that touched the female's face was a clear echo of the passion. "I was certain, and still am. So is he. Indeed, his warrior's body was ready for me. Hungry for me. To be desired in such a way was a gift beyond measure. I had thought. . . fulfillment in my education was what I was in search of, but now I know there is so much more waiting for me on the Other Side. "
"With him?" Payne murmured. "Or through the pursuit of your duty?"
This caused a deep frown.
Payne nodded. "I ascertain that it is more of him than your position you seek. "
There was a long pause. "Such passion betwixt us is surely indicative of a certain destiny, is it not?"
"On that I have no opinion. " Her experience with fate had led her to one shining, bloody moment of activity. . . followed by a pervasive inaction. Neither of which enabled her to comment on the kind of passion to which Layla was referring.
Or reveling in.
"Do you condemn me?" Layla whispered.
Payne lifted her eyes to the Chosen and thought of that empty seeing room with all the vacant desks and the bowls left unwarmed by well-trained hands. Layla's joy now, rooted as it was in goings-on outside of the Chosen life, seemed another inevitable defection. And that was not a bad thing.
She reached out and touched the other female's shoulder. "Not at all. Verily, I'm pleased for you. "
Layl
a's shy pleasure turned her from beautiful to something close to breathtaking. "I am so pleased to share this with you. I am full to bursting and there is no one. . . really. . . with whom to speak. "
"You may always talk to me. " Layla, after all, had never judged her or her masculine proclivities and she was very inclined to grant the female the same gracious acceptance. "Will you be going back soon?"
Layla nodded. "He said I could return unto him on his. . . How did he put it? Next night off. And so I shall. "