The Water Sprite

A Hunted Hunter

Initially he thought she was an animal he had not yet seen before.  Her entire body was covered in fur including her head, but being on the other side of the lake he had lain quietly and watched mesmerized as the fur fell away and a woman suddenly came into view.  

From the other side of the lake in an area that tapered towards her own side,  he lay motionless and speechless while ignoring the fish on the end of his line as he watched her throw her own line into the water.   Her hair was spread out across her shoulders so he could not see her face clearly, but he could tell she was definitely a woman.  For hours he watched as she sat patiently with her knees tucked up against her chest waiting for a bite.

But as the sun started to go down, he then watched as she slowly pulled her line back up with no fish attached.  Then watching as she placed her line back into her bag, he smiled as she then took the pail beside her and tipped its contents into the water, before placing her palms together and bowing gracefully.  Then dejectedly she left the waters edge and disappeared into the thick foliage behind her.

He saw her again several times at the waters edge after that, and though she caught a few fish, he couldn't help but wonder what it was she was actually using for bait.  He never had a problem catching fish, the entire lake was teaming with them, that it should not have been that difficult.  But he never made it known that he was there.  He merely sat quietly and observed her.

She may not have great fishing skills, but he could tell from the furs she was wearing that she was more than proficient in hunting. He also didn't need to be that close to her to know she was a very good seamstress.  Not only were her cloaks hooded, she also made boots, which was not an easy skill to learn.

But the urge to know more about her grew with each visit to the lake.  And that urge grew more profound the day she arrived to wash her furs.

Arriving with a large sack, he watched carefully as she removed the furs she wearing.  The dress she had on under it was one he had not seen her in before.  Made from what looked like light itself, the white fabric shimmered and fluttered about her body.  Her hair was loose as it always was, but this day, she reached up and drew it back before rolling it into a loose bun, which she then fixed to the top of her head with a stick she picked up off the ground.

Stunned speechless, his eyes glimmered brightly at the vision of her loveliness.  It was the first time he had ever seen her face, and even from where he was sitting, he could clearly see her features.  She was so exquisite, Mo Yuan could not tear his eyes away as she then took her furs to the waters edge and began to wash them.

Several times, she raised her head to look around.  It seemed to him, she was not comfortable being so openly exposed, that she rushed the washing of her furs until each of them and had been thoroughly soaked and scrubbed before being wrung tightly.  

Then expecting her to leave, she instead turned and hung her furs in the low branches behind her to dry.  Thinking that she might then throw a line in the water, he watched as her head swiveled in every direction, though what she was hoping to see, he wasn't sure, but that thought was soon thrown to the wind when she suddenly pulled the sash on her dress and before he could blink, her entire garment fell like the wind itself about her body leaving her completely naked to his stunned widened eyes.  

The beautiful rise of her breasts against the delicate fair skin were what drew his eyes first, and as he they honed in on the lithe waist that tapered slightly inwards before curving over her well defined hips and falling down over her long legs, the raw hunger in him grew.  Then very slowly, his eyes raised up to take in every dip and curve until he reached her valley, that secret place that made her a woman.  A very light smattering of hair hid her mysterious hidden place that immediately had his heart racing.