Can Glowing Embers Still Spark? [Kaya/Rilora]

[Shoki]

Nightime, after Molten

It was dark out when V’lan began to stir. A pleasant fog was beginning to lift, and he tried to cling to it a moment longer. However, it didn’t last long and he eventually had to face the fact he was awake. As his mind began to waken he started to take stock of himself. He could tell, from a pleasantly smug Doramath, that his Bronze had just won a flight. Right, now what-

His eyes reflexively shot open.

Right. He remembered. He looked slightly to the side, and perceived Rilora, just to confirm what he knew. Doramath had caught Archith. That fact, though potentially problematic, was not a bad thing. Wheels began to turn. He suspected he should remain here, but he was not sure if the Weyrwoman would find him a welcoming sight, regardless of the fact that dragons were dragons. He tried to determine if it was more proper to remain and let the Weyrwoman command him out or if he should get dressed and leave her to think.

It didn’t take a scholar to determine that this was going to be politically messy.

[Kaya]

Rilora stretched slowly into the rustling sound. So many pleasant mornings had began with a rustle and a warm bed. Her eyes cracked open, only to flutter open searching for the light she expected to see. It was cold, her skin stung. There was something else... Archith was asleep. It was the middle of the night. She rolled over into the bedding bury herself back into the warmth and found her feet up against a leg.

"Oh." Rilora turned back over to look at the person with her. She rubbed at an eye. Oh. "V'lan?" she asked, starting to sit up. The night air rushed in and caused her skin to raise up in protest. She shrunk back down. Better. All things considered it wasn't too bad. Oh, who am I kidding? This is a political nightmare.

Archith's influence remained, however, and Rilora found herself unwilling to reject the currently rather pleasant situation she found herself in. "This could be rather convenient," she joked. Rilora let herself stretch into better consciousness.

The world would wait until the sun came up again. "Of course everything here is off the record. And my memory of the details is a little hazy, if you wouldn't mind filling in the gaps," she inched closer to the BronzeRider.

[Shoki]

Movement broke the man’s introspection, and the decision was made. He moved his head slightly as moved a bit, then apparently decided that the bed was more comfortable. Well he could agree. Expressions were a bit lost in the dark, but from her short utterances he decided it was safe to remain, for now.

“Yes.” He confirmed her question, and let her come to the same conclusion he had. When she spoke again his eyes widened slightly. A joke? The concept seemed to foreign to his perception of the Weyrwoman he needed a moment to take it in. She continued and he let out a brief chuckle. It had been so long with both of them being stiff as a board formal it could sometimes be difficult to remember that they were still both people. And had senses of humor. Sometimes.

“I am grateful of the reminder. So, strictly off record then.” He shifted slightly to talk, but remain comfortably laying down. “I do agree about one thing though, it is convenient to have a conversation without having to being overly eloquent.”

“But where does your memory get hazy? I’ll try to remind you.” Admittedly, his mind was slowly picking up the pieces, flights were always such a rush, and so quickly that it often took him some time to remember. Not that they were bad memories, mind.

[Kaya]

"Well, it was something like-" she took his hand and moved it to her side. "And you made this expression," she furrowed her brow in mocking, shifting into a sappy lover's face. "Something like that, if you wouldn't mind showing me again. It's quite an improvement for your features, you know," she teased, her hands wrapping around his arms and shifting closer to him. She felt Archith's influence remaining. Honestly she didn't ever want to go that long again. And the best part about V'lan was that he was so utterly unexpected and formerly off limits that the absurdity of their entire situation left her feeling entirely free of consequence.

[Shoki]

V’lan’s face smoothed into a smile, and he let a brief laugh out at the teasing. Though everything promised to a problem in the future, Rilora being so close and it still being night made it all so distant. And this was strictly off record.

“Well that was certainly how it started, I would be happy to make sure we remember it very clearly this time around.” He leaned forward, giving her a brief but sweet kiss before retreating for a moment. “And for the off record, record, you look very lovely when you are relaxed too.”

[Kaya]

Rilora felt her face flush at the quick kiss. And his observation that she actually was relaxed - he was right. When did that ever happen? She let her head down to rest on his chest and let the little bit of tension that had reappeared out of her shoulders. She felt a rustle of coolness ripple through her hair. Then the warmth started to return and she lay there still in one of those moments so comfortable and lovely that she wished it would simply last. She felt one hand idling around, tracing paths over V'lan that went nowhere. Cool air brushing up against her nose, warming as it left. Cycle after cycle.

It was in this casual, relaxed spot that she moved to bury her face up against his neck, hiding her nose from the cold air. His skin had a hot sting against her chilled face - it didn't stay chilled long. She pressed her lips against the side of his neck.

[Shoki]

The heat was so tempting, but V’lan felt like he was flying too close to the sun. This wasn’t what he should be doing, not strictly speaking. They both were sinking into the hot water, but really, weren’t they already there? They couldn’t be burned much more for a little more time. His hands moved with care, stroking soft skin. It all felt so right, though his mind told him to be above such mortal matter. As much as he pretended to be above it all, he really, really wasn’t. So he debated himself.

They both were here, they both wanted this, at least once more. He shouldn’t refuse, wouldn’t be polite. He wouldn’t dare disappoint Rilora. Her kiss caused his pulse to quicken even more. The time for quiet reason was already swiftly being passed up.

Shards he was so wrong, but in the dark, away from the daylight of rules and politics, he decided he really didn’t care. He could give in. He would burn the night into their memories even if they came to embarrassment when the fire cooled. He shifted closer to feed the fire even more.

[Kaya]

She waited, wondering if he was hesitating. But his hands on her sides and her back didn't speak of someone who wanted to stop. She trailed her hands in harmonizing patterns while he mulled it over. When she felt him shift his head up and pulled her against him more she had the answer. Rilora sighed, happy. She pushed in a kiss higher on his neck, and the corner of his jaw, and backed up to grin at him before leaning in to take his lips against hers. First a few light pecks, and again looking at him with a glance to the side and an impish expression. Her next kiss wasn't so light, and she pulled him into it as much as it seemed he did her.

At once she was aware of a million little details, and next to none at all. The little wisps of her hair falling here and there, the faintest of shadows moving as they moved, the fiery feeling of fingertips. And they all paled next to one kiss, that turned into one more, and another until she really couldn't say if there was a distinction any longer.