Ready for their final full day in J’luhre Forest Preserve, llhaesa and Jahrae finished setting their overnight campsite back to the state that existed prior to their arrival.

Moments before, Jahrae tried and failed to convince llhaesa they should call their hike as finished, pack out and go home.

At issue was llhaesa’s slightly swollen ankle, injured the day before when she mis-stepped and a loose rock flipped upward, striking the ankle. The strike dropped llhaesa to the ground, but fortunately, there was no break. After testing the ankle, llhaesa would not hear of a premature ending of their weekend, and insisted they continue with their planned hike for the day.

Well knowing the strength of llhaesa’s will, Jahrae acquiesced, sending them on their way along the trail. An upcoming segment of the forest reputedly narrowly wound along a cliff, giving hikers a spectacular view of a portion of the W’triae River Valley.

Llhaesa moved along at close to normal speed, apparently virtually unhindered for sustaining the injury. She moved along confidently, and having passed this test, moved into their usual banter.

Walking behind Jahrae on one briefly narrowed portion of the trail, llhaesa felt moved to comment. “I rather like the view from here!” she called out, leaving Jahrae looking around in puzzlement, wondering what in the world llhaesa referred to, given they were in the midst of dense forest.

Llhaesa laughed at the sight of Jahrae’s confusion, finally furnishing the answer. “I was referring to your arse, my dear Jahrae, and not the trees that shelter us, nor the trail we walk!”

Jahrae stopped, turning toward llhaesa as she did so, a wide grin spread across her face. “In that case, I prefer a swap of our positions, such that I earn equal viewing time!”

“You wish to view your own arse? Whatever for?” llhaesa countered.

“It is quite obvious your ankle troubles you not, given your humour and where you focus your attention and your thoughts. However, I am uninterested in my arse; my poorly assembled words fell to your exploitation, and I clarify by clearly stating my intent to admire you for a while, as you have admired…part of me, ‘essa.”

Mrevan commonly referred to llhaesa by the shortened ‘essa, and once aware of this, in conjunction with llhaesa frequently referring to Jahrae as ‘J-har,’ ‘essa’ came into common usage by Jahrae.

“I wonder if this hike is worthwhile, given our attention is diverted by one for the other!” Jahrae offered as observation, to which llhaesa immediately called out to disagree.

I am quite capable of seeing both you and what surrounds us, Jahrae. Both carry their unique offerings of pleasure!”

Ten minutes later, the hikers left the wooded area. Ahead lay the cliffs both wished to see, though in the viewing from the edge of woods, the cliff-walk seemed far more daunting than Jahrae initially anticipated. With a deep breath and a will to do, she started forward, though she soon realised llhaesa should be in the lead, given her extensive hiking experience.

In reality, it was a pathway; the heights and narrowness of the trail combined to make many hikers hesitant. With slow and deliberate navigation, the partners would easily traverse this section, though they intended to stop where the path widened towards its mid-point, offering a climb-path to a higher observation point.

Their banter silenced in the focus on their effort, their pace was excellent and sure-footed. Fifteen minutes into this segment of the trail, and they stood on the overlook, a sizeable valley stretched out below them. Arrhkan rays reflected off the waters of the W’triae, each ripple shown by the markings of reflected light.

Some 40 kilometres from where the W’triae met one of the fingers of Chekresu Bay, Jahrae came to an idea, one she quickly shared with llhaesa. “Our next weekend journey should find us taking to the W’triae, where we could make our way from this area through the capitol, and on to the bay.

I hear the river just below here is tame for the remainder of its journey, and so novices at river play – as we are – might find the trip within our skill set.”

Llhaesa looked upon the river, her mind processing this new possibility. “I would love to try such a brief journey, and we can plan this in the upcoming week.”

After a few more moments of taking in the view, the two slowly and carefully made their way back to the cliff walk, and finished the traverse without incident.

The next leg of the trail wound down into the valley, there to follow the river for two kilometres. They would stop for lunch along the river, and while there take time to refresh in what promised to be rather cool, mountain fed, water.

Reaching the river, the hikers found a spot where they could jump off a outcropping of rock that jutted out about 3 meters above a deep section of river. With the wide expanse of open viewing from the trail above, llhaesa stripped off her clothing, pulling on a different pair of shorts and tee shirt more suited to water play, and jumped off the outcropping, expertly slicing into the water, leaving but a tiny trace of a ripple as she broke the surface.

Jahrae followed, though she uninhibitedly completely stripped before diving in. Unbeknownst to llhaesa, who had yet to surface prior to Jahrae’s dive, Jahrae swam to llhaesa underwater, and playfully lightly bit her on the right side of her butt.

That sent llhaesa to the surface, bubbles blowing out of her mouth as she failed in completely stifling the laugh that erupted within. Jahrae popped up in front of her, both laughing even as their hands gently found each other. Once laughter subsided, llhaesa nuzzled Jahrae with one side of her face, sliding toward the front where they fell into a kiss.

Llhaesa broke away, ready for more play. Taking to the under surface, she swam rapidly away from Jahrae, heading downstream. Jahrae took off in hot underwater pursuit, and as the better swimmer of the two, closed the distance, but expertly moved past llhaesa’s legs, ready for yet another affectionate nibble. Both surfaced, and this time llhaesa chased Jahrae swimming on the surface, heading back toward the cliff. Llhaesa’s longer body made the surface race closer, but she just missed catching Jahrae as they reached the short rock face.

Llhaesa swam over to the riverbank just past the outcropping, and climbed upon the shore. Just then, two male hikers approached, and the three exchanged greetings.

The two men were around the same age as llhaesa and Jahrae, and they accepted llhaesa’s invitation to stop and visit for a moment. While llhaesa was being her usual friendly self, she also had other motive: Jahrae was in the water naked.

Swimming over to the riverbank, her swim now at an end, in the moment before raising her body out of the water, Jahrae realised two men sat with llhaesa.

“Llhaesa, would you mind throwing me a tee shirt and shorts, please?” came her hopeful request.

“Why whatever would you need these items, Jahrae?” llhaesa playfully retorted.

“We have guests, and well, my current state of undress would leave my emergence most inappropriate.” Jahrae tried to reason, realising llhaesa was in a commanding position. Not willing to fall victim to yet another llhaesa triumph, she decided to call her partner’s bluff – and calmly climbed out of the stream, much to the gawking, jaw dropping, and revelrous delight of the riverbank trio.

“Sirs, I would like to introduce my wife Jahrae – all of her.” Llhaesa gracefully introduced her nakedness to the visitors. “And Jahrae, this is X’sehr and L’neikre, Arrhazon City dwellers here as we are, for the weekend.

The two hikers proved friendly and good sports; both would long remember the day they came across the stunning black haired and naked swimmer on their hike through J’luhre.

Jahrae rather quickly moved to slide back into her clothing, and the four reprised their surprise at Jahrae’s complete emergence. Realisation suddenly dawning, L’neikre asked “Are you per chance llhaesa t’yaeli? You look the picture image of her.”

“You mean working with an image that reveals only a portion of me, as opposed to my more revealing wife? She would leave no doubt, eh?” Llhaesa paused there as everyone again looked toward Jahrae and laughed.

“You left me no choice, dear partner, for my clothing lay on the beach and you refused to honour my plight!” Jahrae winked as she rendered this comment.

After a moment, llhaesa conceded that yes, she was llhaesa t’yaeli. X’sehr proved an amateur singer, still in college and on their choir. The four then joined in several songs, making for a fun couple of hours along the banks of the W’triae.