  &quot;You want me to wear this?&quot; I ask incredulously, holding the whimsical costume of wispy silvery-blue fabric sceptically. It is rather thinner than most things I wear, and rather apt to be blown in indecorous ways by the slightest gust of wind.
  &quot;Can you think of anything more fitting for a water goddess?&quot; he counters, daring me to say what he knows has crossed both of our minds and is absolutely forbidden. I roll my eyes and take the dress into my bathroom to change. To my surprise, it actually covers as much as my usual dresses and is rather becoming, besides. I don t know that I like that, truly--won t it make this more difficult for him? But I shake off the thought; surely he knew what he was getting himself into when he picked this costume for our painting sessions. In the meantime, he has again made his challenge for me to compose for him. I will set to work w

  A corner of the rooftop, surrounded by starlight, seems ideal to read the book I ve obtained about humans who possess the &quot;magic touch.&quot; Like the tome on supernatural history, the print glows within the pages, enabling me to read easily despite the darkness around me. This is fortunate, as I do not wish to be discovered, even by my fiancé. Especially by my fiancé. As with the Russian that I ve been studying in the early mornings, I want to surprise him with any other magical skills I manage to acquire.
  	{Humans who possess an ability to perform magic have existed since the beginning of time. What endows them with this ability, none can say. Some suggest cross-breeding with the ancient gods. Others suggest gifts from faeries and other magical creatures. Still, such persons exist, the most famous being individuals such as Nostradamus and Merlin.
  	The ability to perform magi

  &quot;I m glad to see that this garden has survived this morning s altercation,&quot; I remark airily as I slide off Excalibur s back in the Japanese garden, which looks somewhat the worse for wear, with puddles and debris everywhere, but somehow no less lovely all the same. &quot;The air is so fresh and clean.&quot;
  Dmitri chuckles warmly as he joins me on the ground. &quot;Yes. Bright with the promise of new beginnings and the joy of those creatures who survived, yet eerie with the reminders of those things that did not,&quot; he answers sagely as he picks up some of the vegetative debris scattered by the consequences of the quarrel.
  &quot;Truly, what happened to cause such an uproar? I understand why your parents were angry, but—&quot;
  &quot;Mother woke up this morning just as angry as she was when she went to bed, about how things turned out at the ball. As you ve already hea

&quot;You want me to wear this?&quot; I ask incredulously, holding the whimsical costume of wispy silvery-blue fabric sceptically. It is rather thinner than most things I wear, and rather apt to be blown in indecorous ways by the slightest gust of wind.
  &quot;Can you think of anything more fitting for a water goddess?&quot; he counters, daring me to say what he knows has crossed both of our minds and is absolutely forbidden. I roll my eyes and take the dress into my bathroom to change. To my surprise, it actually covers as much as my usual dresses and is rather becoming, besides. I don t know that I like that, truly--won t it make this more difficult for him? But I shake off the thought; surely he knew what he was getting himself into when he picked this costume for our painting sessions. In the meantime, he has again made his challenge for me to compose for him. I will set to work with my lighter harpsichord tomorrow. I suspect he will be surprised with the results.
  &quot;Ready 

Chapter 26 Water Goddess