Wheeling Gull Isle [M] i lie awake and try to recall how your body felt beside me

You've always been enough, Maegi promised him. She was the only one who could say such a thing to him and mean it. Everyone else had cast Mou aside; he had never been enough for anyone else. A piss-poor Redhawk, a failed warrior, a whipping boy for the universe.

As she stood and drifted through the snow with a lazy mien, Mou watched her. Around her was the white-wash of snow, a backdrop of graphite clouds. Everything about the passing moments reminded him of Maegi and how much he loved her. Mou followed after her with careful steps, aligning them with the path she made.

He came up beside her and brushed his chin against her hip, up to her back, but did not linger long there. He nipped at her lower back as he pressed against her ribs, testing her limits; if she did not want this after all, she'd have time to rebuke him.