Melody had instructed the elder of her two Lady's Maids, Haanya, to send Kengetar down to the lake's edge when he and his men finished their work on the trail; she had had some of her things taken to the bank to make her comfortable for a bath and evening of relaxation away from the camp.

She'd expected the work to extend all the way to sunset, though, possibly even lasting until tomorrow or even the day after that. She'd had no idea that Kengetar's workers would clear the trail so unbelievably soon and break for the day.

Because of this, when Haanya led the Sedent down the slope trail to the lake -- not realizing the mistake she was making -- Melody, Frandy, Elbara, and a dozen other women of either Yallan or Sedent origin were still bathing in the lake; they were all naked and in depths that exposed little of their bodies, all of them, or some measure in between; and more than just bathing, they were singing and laughing and playing and splashing and generally having a good time, with little evidence of the differences and recent history between the women of the two [i]enemy[/i] Tribes.

Melody had, of course, expected that the women would be finished with their bathing, dressed, and either back to their duties if they had any or relaxing on the blankets spread on the grassy shore, drinking wine and eating a variety of foods already on the blankets.

[i]That[/i], of course, wasn't how things turned out. Haanya had only directed Kengetar to the path, as opposed to leading him there as instructed; her [i]old slave[/i] feet and back hurt, and she hadn't wanted to descend the slope, let alone ascend it afterward. Thus, when Kengetar took the last little bend in the trail and the forest parted to reveal the lake, it revealed far more to him than had been intended.

Not by any reason at all, Melody was the first to see Kengetar step out on the rise over the little bulge in the lake in which the fun was being had. She stared up at him for a long moment without any effort to hide herself from him; the Sedent had already seen her curvy, tattooed, and scarred body [i]in the full[/i], so it wasn't like he was seeing anything new about her. She [i]did[/i], however, begin a slow walk through the knee-high water to retrieve her robe and slip it around her, for appearances sake.

Suddenly, one of the other naked women shrieked, then pointed at the [i]barbarian[/i]. The reaction by the others was varied: some ran for their own clothing, some dropped downward into the water, hiding their womanly curves; others used their hands and arms to hide their breasts and groins as best they could; and still others simply stood there in the water, either staring at the handsome, fit warrior as if in invitation to him to take in all he could or continuing to splash water on their bodies to rinse away the suds from the expensive soap that Melody had offered one and all.
 
From the shore upon which she'd arrived, Melody couldn't help but notice that Elbara did nothing to hide herself from Kengetar. The Yallan Lady had come to the conclusion that there was some sort of [i]history[/i] between the two Sedents. She contemplated asking Elbara for clarification of the glances the two often shared, but so far she hadn't done so.

When Kengetar looked her way, Melody gestured him to join her on the dozen or so pillows laid out upon a blanket that also featured food and drink.