Marie would never admit to being a nerd, yet a lot of her friends were, and it was one of these friends who had managed to talk her into going to a LARP. A live action roleplaying game, which in Marie's opinion meant a bunch of spotted teenagers running around the forest chasing each other with foam swords.
In reality, she was having a pretty good time, sitting around a camp-fire chatting while a guy with a beard played a small drum. The people around her seemed like pretty decent folk, even if their acting would have gotten them thrown out of a B-movie and they seemed a bit confused when she spoke in her normal voice and refused to say things like 'If it please my Lady'.
Part of her good mood might be because she was drinking wine, something she rarely did. Both Marie and her friend Lisa were nineteen, which by local law made them old enough to vote, drive and join the army, but not to buy their own alcohol. Not that it was hard to get hold of the stuff anyway, but at parties it was usually beer or cider, and the wine, which seemed to be in good supply here, was hitting her far harder.
She was even a bit miffed when Lisa tapped on her shoulder and pulled her away from a young man telling her war stories from old campaigns. He was sort of cute, if somewhat skinny; a fact that his chainmail did nothing to hide, and even if he hardly looked like someone who could talk of 'old campaigns', he was entertaining enough.
"Come on, let's go annoy the Redhawk sentries."
Marie looked at her friend in confusion.
"Redhawks, aren't they the ones at the other end of the area? Why would we go there?"
"Oh, we don't go as Us." Lisa explained "We dress up as elves or fairies and go make noises in the forest. Standing sentry is kinda boring, and the organizers want them to have something to report. Come on, it's fun!"
Marie wasn't so sure it sounded all that fun, but went along anyway.
They went into their tent, a camping tent covered with sheets to make it look more period or at least less of an eyesore, and changed into tunics lent them by the organizers. Fairies around here apparently had no sense of fashion, Marie concluded, looking down at her tunic. It was green and one-size-fits-no-one.
As they walked towards the Redhawk camp, Lisa told stories of previous raids as a fairy and Marie found herself giggling at some of the escapades. Normally she might not have found a story of her friend luring a boy playing sentry away from his post very funny, but the wine had her giggling at just about anything right then.
After walking for a few kilometres through the forest they came to a meadow. It was late at night, but it was a bright northern summer night, and across the meadow they could make out the red tabard of a sentry. The forest was almost completely silent, and mists were forming over the meadow. It was almost magic, like something out of a fairytale. Marie would later blame the wine, but a strange gleam came into her eyes as she looked out over the meadow.
"We're fairies, right? Fairies dance?"
Lisa was also looking out over the dreamlike meadow and murmured in the affirmative. Then she almost choked as Marie kicked off her shoes and pulled her tunic over her head.
"Wha...what are you doing?!"
"Don't fairies dance, what's the word, skyclad? Besides, you said you wanted the sentry to have something to ease the boredom of the watch."
Neither of them was wearing a bra, the dresses they had worn earlier in the evening had built in support, and they hadn't bothered to find bras before they changed into the tunics. Marie's 36Cs stayed up well enough on their own. Though it was summer, the night was chilly. Goosebumps arose on her exposed skin and her nipples hardened visibly in the cool night air, even in the gloom under the trees.
Marie reached for the hem of her friend's tunic and, ignoring her protests, pulled it off.
"Fine, suit yourself, but I'm sure real fairies don't wear Calvin Klein panties and sandals" she said when Lisa refused to take anything else off. Putting her thumbs inside the waistband of her own panties, she slid them off her ass and onto the ground. Completely naked, she took her friend by the hand and pulled her into the meadow. Lisa looked absolutely terrified, which if anything spurred Marie on to make up for her friend's lack of enthusiasm. She skipped and twirled, flinging her long black hair out behind her as she danced, pulling her friend along. At the other end of the meadow, some fifty meters away, a second figure had joined the sentry. They were too far away and it was too dark under the trees at the far end for Marie to make out anything other than the sentry's tabard and a wide-brimmed hat with large red plumes on the other man, who was taller and seemed to be wearing a breast plate, though it was hard to make out in the gloom. The two men stood stock still as the two women danced, Lisa slowly overcoming some of her terror. She didn't have Marie's grace, but she followed along and turned when Marie spun her and leapt when Marie leapt.
"Let's go back. I think they're coming!"
They were holding hands and spinning around and around, faster and faster. To Marie it looked like the two men were still frozen solid, but maybe it was time to go back.
Throwing her head back and laughing a high, silvery laugh, she pulled her friend back into the forest.
She was panting hard as they pulled their clothes back on and started back to their own camp.
The sun shone in through the tent and Marie stretched sleepily. She ran a hand along her belly, caressing it through the tunic. The tunic? She sat bolt upright in he sleeping bag.
"Crap! What did we do last night? Did we really..."
"You did, sure enough. I don't know why I let you drag me along." came Lisa's voice from beside her. Marie's head was heavy with yesterday's wine, and she moaned softly as the memories came rushing back of her dancing naked over that meadow with the two sentries watching.
"It was dark, they can't have seen anything. And it was far, and misty." She said it as much to reassure herself as Lisa. It had been dark. They couldn't have seen that much. Right?
"Come on, let's get some breakfast."
The morning progressed uneventfully. Lisa seemed content to just forget about the night before, and Marie was fine with that.
In the afternoon, Lisa disappeared with some friends of hers, leaving Marie alone. Feeling a bit abandoned, she drifted in towards the village. Village might be a slight exaggeration, but there were in fact a couple of houses erected from rough timber. Someone pressed a cup of tea into her hands, and she sat down on a bench beside a small fire. It wasn't until after she sat down that she noticed the handful of men sitting on the two other benches around the fire. All of them were nursing mugs of what was probably not tea, and telling stories in what had to qualify as raucous voices. What caught Marie's attention was one man in particular. He was a few years older than her and looked he had just stepped out of 'the three musketeers'. He was handsome, but that was not what had Marie blushing, but the broad brimmed hat on his head with the long red plumes.
That was the man who had watched her the night before. Maybe the sentry was here as well, one of the other men. But they couldn't have recognized her, could they? She only knew it was him from the hat, and she hadn't been wearing anything to recognize her by. She hadn't been wearing anything at all.
The man, whom others addressed just as 'Captain', spoke up:
"The most remarkable thing happened the other night. I was down checking on my sentries. The lazy oafs have a habit of drinking on their posts... without inviting their beloved captain."
Some sporadic laughter at that.
"So there we were, Toll and I, looking out over the meadow where the mists were forming. Suddenly, out of thin air sprang a pair of the most beautiful creatures I have ever laid eyes on."
Oh shit! That was her he was talking about. Had he recognized her? Coincidence. It must be.
"I have heard of elves dancing on moonlit meadows, but I thought it only stories. They floated across the grass, their nude figures shimmering in the moonlight. Oh, those bosoms, those legs! If I died today I would die happy."
Marie sat as if riveted to the bench, like a deer in a spotlight. She couldn't help listening, though her face flushed red as a beet. And yet, a small part of her liked hearing those things of herself. Though he was exaggerating quite a bit, he had clearly liked what he had seen.
"Toll and I stood there mesmerized as they danced. You have heard of sailors leaving their ships to run aground when the sirens sing, and just like that we were unable to move. The next thing I knew was the first rays of the sun hitting me, and those creatures fled into the forest. I followed, but they were gone like the mists melting under the sun."
"And how much wine had you drunk the evening before, Captain?" one of the soldiers asked, laughing.
"True every word of it, I swear!"
The spell broke as the men slapped the Captain on the back, applauding his story. Other men took over, telling stories of their own. Marie listened for a while, but none as well told as the Captain's. And none about her dancing naked in the moonlight. Had it really been moonlight?
She drank her tea and then rose, using her empty cup as an excuse to leave.
She went over to one of the houses and refilled her cup from a pot standing on the porch when she heard a voice behind her.
"I apologize if my story offended you, milady. It was perhaps not one for polite company. I do hope you will let me make up for it by inviting you to sup with my Redhawks tonight."
Behind her the Captain swept his hat off his head, flourishing it in a bow.
"Captain Rocheliér, at your service, mademoiselle."
Marie stood staring at him, not knowing what to say, then she blurted out:
