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The high cliffs overlooking the sea were awash in golden light. Not the bright and exuberant light of Laurelin, far to the south and east, but rather the softer and gentler light of the flowers of Vána which blanketed the soil, their upturned, cheerful faces dancing in the wind.
Melian paused, her steps falling silent.
The traveling song upon her lips faded into the cool twilight.
“It was a beautiful tune,” Vána said as she rose. She stood before Melian mantled in naught but her luminous brown skin, crowned in wild hair, curling over her shoulders and shining the same glowing hue as the flowers beneath her feet.
Melian dropped into a respectful bow.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
“You have one of the loveliest voices amongst us.” Vána smiled. “There is a reason even Manwë can be caught flocking to you like a songbird when you sing.”
Melian blushed at both the compliment itself and the nature of it.
Vána laughed.
“Was what I said not true?” she asked.
Melian’s blush darkened.
There was a flickering of nervousness deep within her that went beyond the teasing, though, picking at her spirit as she stood in Vána’s shadow.
Vána reached out.
She grasped Melian’s chin between her broad and gentle fingers and turned her face up until their eyes met.
Melian licked her lips.
“I did not think I would see you here,” she said.
“Is that so?” Vána asked.
She spread her fingers into Melian’s hair and smoothed her thumb over her temple in a soothing gesture. A deep look of consideration stole over her, illuminating her fair eyes with its power.
She concluded after the slightest of pauses, “You were hoping you would be able to slip off without getting caught.”
“Yes,” Melian admitted at once.
Vána carded her fingers through her hair. “You’re leaving again.”
“Will you stop me?”
She wasn’t even sure why she asked. The question had come to her unbidden, and she had spoken it without ever quite deciding to. It fell from her lips in a rush, but the renewed smile on Vána’s face convinced her that it wasn’t a mistake, and that she should not regret it.
Vána drew her deeper into an embrace and told her, “It is your right to stay or to go as you please, and I would not see you bound other than by your own choice, whether that be to serve me, or Estë, or your own curiosities.” She leaned close, closing the last of the distance that remained between them. “I shall demand a payment, however.”
“A payment?” Melian asked, startled.
Their breaths mingled.
Melian was close enough to count each of Vána’s eyelashes.
Vána’s smile stretched wider.
“A kiss,” she specified. “Just like this, between our bodies.”
Melian blinked and nearly laughed.
She felt dazed, rather star-struck, happiness radiating over her as Vána’s words sunk in and she comprehended them in full. She still desired to leave, and she knew that she would, driven onwards by the tantalization of the yet-untrodden paths that her foresight often showed her, but she loved Vána as well, and she was more than willing to linger a while within her arms.
She tilted her chin, and answered, “Yes.”
Vána closed her mouth over Melian’s with exuberance.
Melian gasped against Vána’s lips and raised her hands to grasp at either side of her waist, clutching with a sudden need to feel more of her. Her bare skin was as soft as fresh flower petals and as warm as the growth of new life. Melian sucked in air, breathing deep through her nose.
Vána tightened her fingers in Melian’s hair.
Melian leaned into the kiss.
Vána’s lips were plush and even softer than the rest of her skin. They covered Melian’s entirely, and after a long moment Vána opened her mouth, coaxing their tongues out to dance together. She managed to turn the sounds of their hums and soft sighs into an easy rhythm to follow, and Melian was helpless to resist.
She nearly swooned in Vána’s arms.
Vána held her up, enveloping her in an embrace that transcended mere physical flesh.
When the two of them at last broke apart it was to the sound of high waves crashing against the cliffs in front of them and wind whistling as it swept across the mountains at their backs. Melian was panting, her breasts heaving with pleasure against Vána’s. She did not let go of Vána’s waist, her palms continuing to soak up the heat from her skin.
Vána grinned down at her.
“You will be missed whilst you are traveling,” she said, and her grin did not falter although a measure of sadness entered her eyes.
Melian licked her lips. They felt beautifully stung.
She explained, her chest aching fiercely, “I do not leave for lack of love.”
“Lack of love will never be your fate.” Vána squeezed her close.
Melian’s eyes went wide.
She glimpsed, distant and vague, another kiss. This one was stolen beneath the branches of a dark canopy, rich with the smell of decaying leaves, and in it she was as exuberant as Vána had been with her. She must have gasped, her breath catching in her throat, but the image was swept away from her before she could even see who it was she was with.
“Melian?” Vána asked.
She shook her head. “I do not know.”
Vána’s hands loosened and slid down to cup her shoulders. “Are you sure you will not stay?” she asked. She tucked several loose strands of Melian’s hair back behind her ears and smoothed it over.
“There is so much out there.” Melian sighed.
She leaned into Vána’s touch, adding, “So much we left behind.”
Vána’s toes flexed against the grass. She stared down at Melian, the sadness in her eyes more present, harder to set aside and ignore. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, growing restless as she resigned herself.
“When you return, we shall spend a full night together, in one of my gardens under the light of Telperion,” she said.
She kissed Melian again, gentle and fleeting.
Melian stepped back.
She gazed at Vána for a long time, drinking in her endless beauty, her bountiful youth, her power which was filled with joy.
Melian’s own love for her was there too, her own happiness at being able to serve her.
She departed with her heart singing.
Vána watched her until she was gone, her flowers dancing around her even as she remained still.