"Come live with me and be my love
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dales and fields,
The river and the mountain yields."

Ariana's voice was high and clear in the darkness, the sweet melody drifting through the air and off into the trees. She was singing to Rachel, who was stretched out naked beside her on their sleeping bag, eyes closed, perfect lips smiling. There was no moon that night, but a sky full of stars blazed down at us. Rachel lay on her back, her breasts and stomach outlined by the starlight, her legs open to the night. Lying a few feet away with Julie beside me, I admired the two of them, and moved my fingers idly over Julie's body. It had been a long hot day, hiking halfway up the mountain, and the cool night air was like wine in my throat.

Ariana's hair, long and red and frizzy in the daylight, flowed and swirled around her head in the night, and when she leaned over and kissed Rachel's lips, it hid their heads in a cascade of jet. Their mouths, parting, made a soft moist sound. Rachel put her arms around Ariana and drew her body down, and they merged for a moment into one dark curved shape on the cool ground. When they parted again, Ariana was on her back, with Rachel's hands caressing her.

Ariana is a slim, quiet woman, pale and thoughtful, prone to shyness and sunburn. But tonight something in her opened, and her voice poured out into the air as her lover bent and kissed her body.

"I came out to myself," she said, to Rachel, to us, to the air, "a week after my nineteenth birthday. I didn't want a boy; I wanted a woman. A woman to love, to love me, to sleep with and dance with and hold hands with, and a woman's body to touch, and a woman's self nearby."

"Ooh, I like stories," Julie whispered, her lips at my ear. The tip of her tongue gently moistened my earlobe, and her fingers touched my chest.

"Of course as soon as I had this figured out," Ariana went on, "every woman I'd ever been attracted to moved to Alaska, or got married, or called me on the phone about this new guy they'd met. It was a long month, just me and my heart and my vibrator."

Rachel made a soft sympathetic sound, and her hand strayed for a moment between her lover's thighs. I touched Julie's neck, and my hand imagined the warm compact sweetness of her vulva.

"But still, it was a new world. I could dream of women without pain, without wondering if there was something wrong with me, without having to try to dream of men instead. But I did get tired of dreaming.

"I paced. I bit my lips alot. I gathered my courage. I signed up for a Women's Retreat one week in August. I got permanent butterflies of the stomach as soon as I had the ticket. I imagined the Retreat as some kind of wild orgy, or at least a long string of dates. I was nervous, and eager, and silly. My vibrator was a busy little thing."

My hand drifted down over Julie's throat, up the slope of her left breast. Her nipple was soft and relaxed, the aureola smooth and firm. She sighed as I touched her.

"Of course the retreat was nothing like I'd imagined! The first day I went to the orientation, and lunch, and a workshop on female empowerment, and no one once tried to seduce me, or offered to devote her life to me. Or even kiss me. I was nervous and silly and relieved and disappointed. I went to my tent right after dinner and lay there and fantasized about all those women, and cried for no reason."

Rachel took Ariana's hand, brought it to her lips.

"The next morning another workshop, where I felt young and stupid and ugly, and then lunch. After lunch I went down to the lake, because there didn't seem to be anyone there. In the bathhouse I changed into my suit. I'd packed a skimpy little bikini with great expectation; now it just felt dumb. And naturally when I went out onto the dock, there was someone there after all. But, oh, she was beautiful!"

Now Ariana reached up for a moment and brought Rachel down to her, and they merged together again in the dark. Her voice came, quieter, out of the common shadow of their bodies.

"I'd seen her across the room in the first workshop, and wished she'd been my partner for the Trust Walk, and even said Hi to her at lunch. She was friendly and nice, and I didn't feel fourteen when she looked at me. And now she was lying on the dock in this gorgeous white one-piece, and she was so serene and perfect! I just stood there with my eyes glued to her, wanting to stay like that forever, until she opened her eyes and smiled at me, and I was in love."

I caressed Julie's nipples with my fingers until they stood warm and erect on her breasts. She put her mouth to my ear again. "Are you in love?" she whispered. I kissed her soft perfect mouth.

"She said Hi and I said Hi, and I slipped into the water so she wouldn't see my body blushing. I swam out and in a few times, and then hung on the side of the dock and tried to look casual. And she talked to me! The water was cool and deep. I was warm between my legs talking to her, and I wanted to tell her I loved her, but we talked about everything but sex, everything but love. Once she moved her foot accidentally so it touched my hand, and I kept my hand still until it started to cramp, not wanting to stop touching her, wanting to take her toes in my fingers, and kiss them. It was glorious! We talked and talked, until the bell rang for dinner. I got out of the water, all wet and shriveled. She took my hand to help me out, and her face was so close to mine that without even thinking about it I kissed her, kissed her right on that incredible mouth. My heart did something in my chest, and I knew I'd blown it. I ran right to my tent without looking back, and lay on the floor and cried, and this time I knew just exactly why."