Read Kalona’s Fall for Free Online Page B

unfair to my friend, Mother Earth. It is she who is responsible
     for you coming into being. It is she who has devised the tests you must endure. I
     cannot, will not, usurp her responsibilities. What I can tell you is that I wish only
     for you to be yourself—strong, honest, and unique—in these tests, and during the eternity
     I hope we might share together.” She took his hand then and stood, pulling him up
     with her. “Now I’d like to share something with you about this world, this changing,
     funny, fabulous world. Come with me!”
    As lithe as a maiden, Nyx skipped away toward the sandy edge of the riverbank. Willingly,
     Kalona followed the music of shells she left in her wake. They reached the riverbank,
     and Kalona noticed she was holding up the skirt of her buckskin dress so that a pouch
     had been created in which she carried a pile of stones she had chosen.
    “This is what you do. You pick a rock, the smoother, rounder, and flatter the better.
     Then you throw it thus!” With a deft flick of her wrist, the Goddess let loose a rock,
     tossing it into the slowly moving river.
    Kalona laughed aloud in surprise as her stone didn’t sink. Instead it skipped over
     the top of the water, as gracefully as Nyx had skipped to the edge of the bank. Then
     the Goddess jumped up and down in happiness. “Five times! It skipped five times! That
     one was special. Here, you try.”
    Hesitantly, Kalona chose a rock, hoping it was smooth and round and flat enough. He
     furrowed his brow in concentration. He tried to aim. He flicked his wrist several
     times in practice, not letting the rock go yet, intent on getting it as perfect as
     possible.
    “Kalona.”
    Nyx’s voice was soft. He turned to her questioningly.
    She leaned into him, lifted up onto her bare toes, and kissed him gently, gently on
     his lips. His arms went around her and he drank in the unique scent of her skin. What
     was it? Something sweet and something earthy that drew him to her and made him want
     nothing more than to be close to her forever. “This is fun, not a test,” she whispered.
     “Relax, mighty Killer of my Enemies. I believe you can be playmate and warrior.” Obviously reluctant to leave his arms, she pulled free slowly, letting
     her hand linger on his chest. “Now, have fun!” she said, shoving him backward so that
     his wings had to unfurl to keep him from falling on his firm behind.
    Nyx giggled, then clamped her hand over her mouth and giggled some more.
    Kalona thought her laughter was as infectious as her scent was alluring. He righted
     himself, strode to the edge of the water, and without aiming at all, tossed the rock
     into the river, where it landed with a liquid plop and sank immediately.
    He looked at Nyx, who was trying, unsuccessfully, to stifle more giggles. “Well,”
     he said with mock seriousness. “It appears that unlike you, I can only do one thing
     well at a time.”
    Nyx swallowed another giggle and cocked her head at him. “What one thing are you doing
     well?”
    “I am being intoxicating,” he said, and reached up to brush a patch of lingering wood
     dust from his chest.
    Nyx’s dark eyes were alight with humor. She grinned at him and said, “Good. Then I
     will continue to beat you in stone skipping and anything else I put my mind to.” The
     Goddess flicked another rock over the surface of the river and shouted in triumph
     when it skipped six times before disappearing beneath the surface.
    Kalona rubbed his chin. “Perhaps I should work on being less intoxicating.”
    Nyx smiled at him. “Please don’t. I prefer you just as you are.”
    “So you have spoken. So mote it be.” Kalona caressed her cheek gently with the back
     of his hand before snatching a flat stone from her pile and flicking it into the river,
     where it skipped three times before sinking.
    Nyx’s cheers joined his and, laughing, Kalona began skipping rocks, one after another,
     side by side with his Goddess.
    At that