On a seventhday I made my way to the market. I went there looking for candles I could buy for a reasonable amount of silver. This was the month of the raven, so winter was hovering at the door and the days were getting shorter. Soon I wouldn't go to bed as soon as the sun went down, so I needed light in my little hovel.

I didn't like going into town. My parents had died only a season before and I was still unmarried. Yet somehow being around all that noise, all those people, made me feel even more alone. My purpose was to find a chandler as quickly as possible, buy from them, and get out of Avartha and back to my humble farm.

I slipped through the maddening throng of market day, gliding between stumbling drunks and con artists calling out for folk to take a chance, to wager, to buy a potion guaranteed to restore hair or curse an enemy, or spend some coin on fucking some unfortunate young whore. I felt the energy leaving my body like smoke from a fire.

Finally I found a table with candles laid out. Behind it sat a huddled crone draped in dirty rags. As I approached she let out a soft chuckle. "I see you," she said. Under a loose hood, one bright green eye flashed.

"Of course you do," I scoffed. "I am standing before you and not trying to hide."

"No," she said, tapping the side of her craggy nose. "I see you."

An involuntary shudder crept over me.

"Poor lonesome man," she crooned. "No one to hold. No one to kiss. No soft body to penetrate in the dark of the night." She winked and quickly slipped a saggy, wrinkled breast from the folds of her robe, displaying it with brazenness. Somehow it was both revolting and arousing at the same time. My cock stiffened slightly. The old buzzard cackled and covered herself again.

"Enough of this," I spat. "I only wish to buy some candles."

"I have just the thing," she said. She reached under the table and withdrew a tall, willowy column of wax. It had a delicate spiraling pattern to its shape, and a lavender color to it. "Keep this near your bed and light it just before you sleep. It will bring what you desire."

I blinked. "I don't know what you mean."

"When this burns, then you will find that for which you burn."

"You speak in senseless riddles. And it is not safe to leave a candle burning while one sleeps."

"This one does not burn with earthly flame. Nothing in your house can catch this fire. Except you."

I must admit my curiosity had been aroused. As well as my body. My cock had hardened completely now and I found myself reaching toward it. The crone gave another gravelly chuckle.

At home, with my heart in my throat, I lit the strange candle as I lay by my bed.

I don't even remember lying down or falling asleep. The next thing I knew, I lay in a lush meadow under a clear blue sky. A reedy, sensual voice called out, "Another traveller. Hearken to me."

I got to my feet and saw a figure approaching me. She was willowy, almost impossibly thin, and very tall. Her ears tapered to points at the ends, framing her long face and prominent cheekbones. She was utterly beautiful and completely naked, with pale, milky skin. Pert breasts held watch over a slightly muscular belly. My eyes fell under the spell of her thin, but shapely legs as they gambled their way toward me.

She stopped a few feet from me. "You desire me," she stated flatly. She was right. Once again my manhood was fully erect before I had even noticed it happening.

"You can have me. You can have any love-elf here in Amora, to do with as you please. But there are just a few rules. One is that you are not permitted to wear clothing during your time here. You must undress immediately."

"What?" I gasped.

"Now," she said, gently but firmly.

Not knowing what else to do, I complied, removing my chamise and breeches, then my undergarments. My naked cock stood at full attention, the light breeze playing on it in the open air.

The unearthly body then glided toward me to close the remaining space between us. She pressed her breasts against my chest and breathed out slowly in a kind of sigh. I could feel the hardness of my cock pushing against her body like a caller at the door.

She reached down and teased my scrotum with her slender fingers, then took my cock into her long hands and stroked with a strange and intense affection. Her lips were against my ear. "Do what you will," she said.