A young woman is given as a gift to a nymph and the sea god.
***
Elianna had been chosen.
High on the rocks that jutted from the deepest waters in the bay, Elianna waited. The sea raged around herâwind, gusting from the west in sharp, cold burstsâmade the skin on her arms prickle and sting. The rain fell in sheetsâher hair, so carefully combed and twisted that morning, had fallen, limp and dripping. Her dress, white and thin, had gone sheer. Thunder crashed in the sky overhead, great spikes of lightning finding home in the distant trees behind her, and all the while, Elianna waited.
Her father had brought her out, rowing her through the churning waters to clamber onto the rocks. Her mother, wailing her grief on the shore, had fallen limp as her boat had vanished into the mist. The villagers had cheeredâa glorious, righteous farewellâand all because Elianna had been chosen.
She had hoped it would be her.
Every year, on the anniversary of the Great Storm, the village selected its tribute. Every year, the shaman prayed, and every year he came back with a name. Sometimes a woman, but always a beautyâa villager come of age, chosen as a tribute to the sea. A tribute to give as a gift to the Gods, to keep their wrath at bay. A tribute to answer their prayers. A tribute to bring the rains, and the sun.
And as Elianna waited, her belly tight with nerves, she clung to the slimy rocks beneath her legs as she watched the waves rise ever higher.
The storm raged on and the lightning flashed down, and Elianna, staring out to sea with her eyes peeled wide, watched the foam build on the caps of the waves. Water crashed over her, drenching her from her head to her feet, and though she felt the stinging wind on her back, she did not dare release the stone. The rock was slick with algaeâeven here, where the sea grew angry, it could not dislodge the slime from the stoneâand as she shifted, trying to keep her footing, she saw a sudden flash of lightning at her feet.
The thunder was so sudden and loud that it sent her reeling and she fell back onto the rock with a grunt, blinking away the sudden spots in her vision.
At once, she heard the sound.
"A child no more," said the voice from the sea. "A woman of the island. Show your face."
At once, Elianna sat up.
Before her, floating atop the churning, black waves, was a creature such as Elianna had never seen before. Her face was beautifulâso beautiful, in fact, that it seemed to stun the girl into abject silence, and she could say nothing at all. The woman's skin was white, like bleached bone, and she had a halo of jet black curls that fell to her waist. Her eyes were dark as wellâthey shone out from beneath her alabaster brow like onyxâand when Elianna tried to sit herself up, she felt a cool, strong hand on her ankle.
"Lovely," said the woman, and Elianna watched as she hauled herself up from the water. At once, as if by magic, the storm seemed to dissipate. Mist, hanging low over the water, obscured her view of the island in the distance, but the rain calmed, the thunder halted, and if she listened, Elianna thought she could hear the waves on the distant shores of the island coast. Elianna took in everythingâthat face, untouched by the rain, and the slender, narrow waist. The newcomer wore no clothingâ her long hair, draped over each shoulder, was the only covering for her ample breasts, and between her legs was a patch of dark, wet curls.
The woman was staring at her, her fingers brushing a wayward curl from Elianna's cheek, before she pulled herself up closer and sighed, bringing her lips to Elianna's face.
"Will you give yourself to me?" queried the woman, bringing her hand down to squeeze Elianna's breast through the thin, wet shift. Elianna, unused to such boldness, gave a gasp. "Do you give yourself to me, you lovely girl, to keep your island safe?"
Those eyes, like liquid ink and fire, blazed with sudden urgency and Elianna, feeling herself overcome, could only nod.
"Good girl," said the woman and Elianna felt the weight of her settle down on her belly and chest. "Such a good, good girl..."
At once, the woman's hands began to move.
Elianna, having never felt any sensual touch, felt clumsy and stupid as the woman's deft hands began to work. Her thin shift was discarded, rising over her head to disappear into the murky depths of water beside their stone seat, and the chill of the air combined with the water on her skin made gooseflesh rise on her arms and legs. Elianna felt the woman's fingers first on her shoulders, and then her waist, before they narrowed in on her small, pert breasts, plucking at the hard, pebbled nipples.
"Oh..." Elianna's voice came in a whisper as she felt the tweaking fingers. Each squeeze sent a jolt down to her core, where she felt the unfamiliar rush of arousal. Elianna had never felt it beforeâsuch things were positively forbidden in the village, where chastity was valued above all elseâand when the woman caught her squirming, she laughed.
"Would you like to try?" the woman asked, and Elianna, overcoming her shyness almost at once, nodded her head. The woman laughed againâsuch a lovely, mild soundâand shifted her heavy mane of hair to her back so that Elianna, staring, could take in the sight. These breasts were bigger than hersâso much bigger that she was surprised by the weight of them in her palms. Like her own, the woman's were round and soft, and when Elianna flicked a hard, pink nipple with the pad of her thumb, the woman hummed appreciatively.
"Do you see, lovely?" asked the woman, and Elianna jumped when she felt the stranger's palm cupped between her legs. "Do you
feel?"
At once, her face went red.
"I..."
"I
feel it," said the woman, and Elianna felt the hand pressing into the delicate, sensitive flesh. She felt her thighs squeeze together.
"I
feel it, darling, and it pleases me greatly."
When the hand moved away, glistening with a new kind of wetness, Elianna felt rather weak.
"I am glad to please," said Elianna softly, and the woman beamed at her. "I am grateful to be of service..."
"Oh, sweetheart," laughed the woman. "It pleases
me
to be of service. Will you let me care for you? Will you let me
love
you?"
At once, Elianna nodded her head.