Free Winter's Kiss by DS Williams Page A

“For I am WuJen and I
am man. WuJen is chaste and does not eat meat. Man likes meat. So we
compromised and WuJen does not enjoy the succulent flavors and man does not
Savor the warmth of the furs. He shivers but is full and WuJen is warm but
hungry.”
    “I am
glad they could come to an understanding.” She said with a slight laugh that
was like tiny bells ringing in the wind.
    “They
always do these days. The days of arguing and fighting are over. They are both
too tired to argue anymore.” He said.
    “Peace
is a beautiful thing.” She said and finally stepped close enough that he could
see part of her face. Her skin, as white as the snow, perfect, unflawed and
eternally youthful.  Her lips stained so deep red that one would expect them to
bleed but they did not. As she smiled he found himself completely entranced by
the movement of her mouth, the slow bending of the lips, the slight pout to
them. She paused and allowed him to savor the sight before turning away.
    As
much as she entranced him, he entranced her as well but in different ways. She
had watched him age from a young man running for his life to an old man who finally
knew what it was to live. She had seen brash youth  flower and then gracefully
mature into age that suited him so well. His voice was always harsh, it always
had been and age had not mellowed it at all. His laugh had always been quick
and full of life and age only punished him with coughs when he laughed now but
had left the joy of the sound intact. His soul had flowered into a true wise
man. His power had grown and redoubled many times until he was the last great
WuJen master. As much as he loved her lips, she loved his soul in her own way.
Although her heart could no longer pitter patter in girlish delight, her mind
admired all he was.
    “You
need to bathe.” She scolded him and then swift as the wind swept by him and
into the cave behind him.
    “Bathe?!”
He snorted. “This a manly scent, a natural scent!”
    “Bathe!”
she called out from inside.
    “But.
. .”
    “You
smell like dead animals.” She called out and he broke into laughter then
coughing. “Bathe.” She said peeking her head around the corner, no cowl or robe,
he saw her flesh and melted immediately.
    “Manly.
. .” He protested one last time. She raised one eyebrow and he laughed again
followed by several coughs. “ok.” He finally agreed and she smiled and vanished
once more inside.
    He
chuckled to himself as he flicked his fingers once more and another vortex
formed, sucking in the swirling snow and ice into a solid spinning mass. With
another gesture he sent it stumbling into the cave. He followed it in and with
his will directed it down the mouth and past the hanging furs that kept the
wind out. Once inside he motioned one last time and the vortex meandered to a
circular depression in the rock and then collapsed, dropping all of the ice and
snow into a mound which over filled the stone basin. Xing motioned to a candle
nearby and the flame grew and danced wildly and then jumped off the wick and
into the pile of ice. As he mumbled arcane words so old most ears could never
hear them the fire grew and the ice melted. The fire danced and cackled as it
devoured the ice and left only water behind. After a short few moments the
basin was filled to the brim with hot bath water. Flicking his wrist he
directed the flame back to its home and it jumped back to the candle’s wick and
shrunk to its proper size.
    “Flowers.”
She said from behind the paper blind that hid his sleeping mat.
    He
snorted but complied and took a jar from the shelf and emptied the dried
flowers into the steaming water. Mumbling a few words he blew on the water and
it frothed and bubbled and devoured the flower petals, the tiny dots of purple
vanishing into the froth and then it went calm again. The scent instantly
filling the room with a hazy scent of lavender and he paused to breathe in the
smell.
    “It
reminds me of summer when I was