Love's Games: Hylas and the Naiad

She dove underneath the water for a bit, swimming towards the shore. She surfaced and shook her hair free of excess water again. She continued swimming until she could just touch the bottom of the pool when she looked to the shore - her dress and towel were missing. She looked around frantically then gasped as a young man, but a few years older than her, stepped onto the embankment. Pale blue hair and elfin ears framed his already exotically handsome face. She blushed. His claret eyes flashed as he grinned at her mischievously.

"You know, that's my waterfall you were using," he said, matter-of-factly. He knelt at the water's edge.

"Don't be silly," the girl scoffed. "You can't own a waterfall."

The man continued to smile. "True, but I own the land it's on. So therefore, it's my waterfall."

"Were you watching me bathe?"

The man played a face of shock. "You were bathing? I would have guessed you were one of the Naiads who dwelt in ponds like this with how," he paused, "enchanting you are."

"You were watching me, weren't you?"

"Some women just cannot take a compliment," he sighed to the wind.

"Return to me my dress and towel!" the girl demanded.

A play of innocence: "Dress? Towel?"

The girl huffed. "Can you not hear properly or are you just daft? Give me my dress!"

The man chuckled. "All right, all right! No need to become so vexed!" He ducked behind an adjacent boulder and appeared again holding an ecru-colored towel and a dark garnet dress. "Well," he said, holding them out, "here they are."

"Hand them to me," the girl said, still submerged in shoulder-deep water.

"No, you come here and get them. I don't want to get all wet. Besides, how would you change?" He held the dress out in front of him, admiring the fabric. He could visualize how attractive the girl would be in the dress. Not that he was complaining seeing her out of it. "You wouldn't want to ruin the material of your dress would you?" He laid the dress out on the ground. "I'll just set them here."

"And leave?"

"Heavens, no! I wouldn't want a thief to take them and leave you here stranded!"

The girl let out an agitated growl before taking a deep breath and diving under the water. The young man folded his arms across his chest and brought one loosely curled fist to his mouth and unsuccessfully attempted to stifle a laugh. A moment later, the girl reappeared holding something in her hand. She swam until she was close to the shore then reached with the long branch she had been holding to hook the dress. Smiling, the man casually turned and "accidentally" kicked the dress out of the branch's reach. The girl glared at him.

"You kicked my dress," she said slowly before trying to reach it again.

"Oh, dear! Did I?" Gracefully, he swept the dress into his hands and began to brush off the dust it had acquired. The girl groaned softly - she had just been able to reach it. The man then turned his attention to her again.

"You know, you should get out of the water and put some cloths on before you get sick. The water isn't exactly warm." If looks could kill, he thought as he looked at her. He closed his eyes and chuckled.

"All right, no more games." He opened his eyes again. "I'll stand behind this rock while you change."

"Why don't you just leave?"

"Oh, now that's a bit harsh, my dear." He backed up to the rock then held his hand in front of his eyes before jokingly peeking through with an eye.

"You'd better not," she said. He laughed again before disappearing behind the rock. Her gaze drifted from where he had just stood to her dress, then back to the rock again. Finally, she swam to the shore and slowly made her way up the embankment to her dress, her eyes on the boulder the entire time. She took the towel and hastily patted her skin dry before slipping into her dress. She smoothed out the creases and fixed her hair, still looking towards the rock. After a moment, she slowly walked to the rock and peered behind it. The blue-haired man was not there.

"Young man?" she called out in question. She made her way around the boulder, searching for him. When she reached the point where the rock met the water she turned and scanned the nearby woods for the stranger. Finally, she folder her arms, brow furrowed in confusion.

"Looking for something?"

The girl shrieked when she heard the man's voice behind and above her. She spun to find him sitting atop the boulder. He laughed and jumped to the ground in front of her.

"How dare you startle me like that!" she scolded, her hands on her hips. He grinned yet again and proceeded to walk around to the other side of the boulder glancing over his shoulder as the girl followed, still chiding him.

"I should say, it seems to me that boys simply have no manners nowadays!" She then stopped, alarmed, as the man had stopped at the water's edge and was removing his shirt.

"What... What are you doing?" she stammered. The man then threw his shirt nonchalantly to the ground and waded into the water. She watched him, puzzled, as he dove underwater, reappearing next to the waterfall and began to wash his face and hair just as she had done. She stood speechless for a time and soon the man had backed away from the fall and began to wring out his long hair. He looked at her then and flashed another grin.

"I thought you didn't want to get wet," she said to him.

A larger smile. "I lied!" he shrugged.

The girl stomped her foot. "Oh!" she huffed. The man laughed again as he lazily swam back to the shore. The girl leaned down and picked up his discarded shirt, brushing off the dirt.

"What are you going to do with that?" he joked.

"I should burn it," she replied as she began to fold it neatly.

"You realize that wouldn't leave me in nearly a bad of a situation as you without your dress?" he said softly as he walked out of the water, pressing the moisture out of his pants legs. The girl shrugged.

"I know."

The man held his hand out for his shirt. An eyebrow soon rose in confusion as the girl didn't move, except to hold the garment more protectively to her. It was her turn to smile.

"But that doesn't mean I'm going to give it right back!"

"Heh. Oh, really?" He took a step towards her; she took a step back. Another few steps forward and she ran another few steps back.

"Give me my shirt back!" he laughed.

"What shirt?" she called back playfully.

"The shirt that you're holding in your pretty little arms. Give it back!" he yelled as he began chasing her in a full-out run. She dodged nimbly behind a tree, evading him again as he followed.

"Oh, but you're all wet! I wouldn't want to have to towel off again!"

The man folded his arms, realizing how irritating this game was. "Look, I never said you had to dress me. I just want you to hand the shirt to me."

The girl paused by the water, catching her breath. "Why should I?"

The man grinned a sly grin - one that held a trace of something else that she couldn't quite determine. "Because otherwise I shall have to catch you." He then moved quickly towards her. She ran to the side a bit, but then saw as she turned that the man was nowhere to be seen. She turned again and gasped as she found herself facing the stranger. He plucked the shirt from her grasp before taking a step back and bowing.

"Thank you, my dear." He stood and pulled the shirt over his head.

"How... did you do that?" she asked in astonishment. The man pulled his hair out from his shirt and winked. She stood silently, wondering about this enchanting stranger. He was running a hand through his hair to remove the knots when she realized she had never seen him before - not out here nor in the village. The man then stopped and turned to her, their eyes meeting.

"You're still here?" he inquired, pretending to be annoyed. She looked to the ground, blushing. The two were quiet for a moment when the man spoke again:

"Have you seen the caverns behind the waterfall?"

The girl brought her head up slowly. "No, I didn't know that there were any."

The man held out his hand. "Would you like me to show them to you?"

She looked at him for a moment, not knowing what to say. Then, she placed her hand in his. "Yes." The man smiled warmly and led her along the shore, passing the large boulder. They walked in the forest by the water's edge until coming to a damp path along the cliff from which the waterfall descended.

"Be careful. It's easy to slip here," he warned. He helped her down the path and soon they found themselves right beside the roaring fall.

"But, it's a dead end," she said as she wiped the mist from her face. The man looked to her and winked again. He then held out his other hand to the waterfall and before long, the once-near-deafening rumble of the fall became a bit quieter as the portion of water cascading over the end of the path was lifted like a hazy blue curtain to reveal the continuation of the path behind it. The girl gasped, pulling her hand away from his, and looked to him.

"You know magic?" she breathed in trepidation.

"You think Mystics are the only ones who do?" he said, calming her. She shook her head allowing the man to take her hand again as he walked behind the waterfall. She looked around the cavern they had just enter. The small rays of light that bled through the waterfall could barely illuminate the room. The man then led her to the far end of the cave.

"Not much to see here," he explained hastily.

"I don't see how you can see at all in here it's so dark."

The man ducked into a narrow passageway, gently pulling her behind him. The roar of the fall had nearly diminished by the time they reached the next room, yet all daylight had vanished completely. The dripping of water echoed throughout the room. The girl moved close to the young man, apprehensive of what the unknown darkness held. The man placed an arm around her protectively.

"Don't tell me that you're afraid of the dark," he smiled. She retreated further into his embrace. Then the man turned her to face him and brought his hand between them. A sphere of cool colored light appeared at his fingertips, illuminating their faces. In the dim light she could see him smile. The glowing orb shrank and floated away and high above their heads. The man held his hand up to the sphere then closed it into a fist, and at that command the orb of light swelled until the entire room was lit by the unearthly jade glow and that light revealed the true beauty of the cavern as thousands of sparkling crystals seemed to absorb and thrive from the very light itself.

The sheer splendor of the room captivated the girl. She felt faint at the overwhelming magnificence and held onto the man's arms as she admired the little-known cavern.

"Quite a show, isn't it?" the man whispered into her ear.

"Where... How did you find this place?" she breathed. The man left her side and sat on a nearby rock. The multicolored crystals around it were situated in just the right fashion to make it look like he were sitting in a gloriously bejeweled throne. And that vision fit him so. With how regal he looked one would think that he must surely be royalty.

"I come to this pond quite often. And many times I simply want to be away from everything. That desire led me to explore the area and thus I found these remarkable chambers." The girl walked over and sat at his feet.

"I've wandered these woods to get away. You can forget everything out here."

The man leaned forward. "What do you want to get away from?"

The girl sighed. "My life. I hate it at my home: I can't do anything or go anywhere. It's always 'prim and proper.' Why, I have to sneak out just to come here!"

"You're a noblewoman, aren't you?"

The girl nodded.

"I had a feeling," the man said. "Being out in the woods with such a lovely gown. Peasants couldn't afford such things."

"Especially with this war going on." she agreed. The man paled for a brief moment, but the girl did not notice. She then looked to him. "Are you one of the Guardian soldiers? Oh, I would hope not. I wouldn't want to see you hurt in one of the battles. Fortunately, the battles have kept their distance from here..."

The man smiled, relieved that the girl was reassuring herself without needing him to answer the questions that danced about in her mind. In another moment she was quiet and they both sat, absorbing the abundance of beauty in the room. The girl leaned back, resting against the young man's legs. The man smiled, watching as the girl looked around, fascinated, seemingly, by each tiny crystal that she saw. He reached out and gently pulled a few strands of her still-damp hair behind her ear. He continued to lightly brush her dark hair and she soon rested her head upon his knee, closing her eyes. The man waved his hand towards the light source causing it to dim slightly. He then leaned back into his bejeweled throne, his fingers still curling around them the raven hair of his beautiful queen asleep at his feet.