Ocean's Breath Plateau sistersun [m]

She felt his eyes on her more than saw them — and for the first time Marina found she could not hold the walls she'd kept so firmly around herself in Chakliux's presence. It was not a failing of his that kept her distant; it was that he was a man, that he was handsome, that he sought her out and hunted for her and so clearly cared. It was the easy charm she'd only caught glimpses of, the steadiness she'd come to rely upon, the utter lack of judgment even in the vast differences she felt between them. These things alone meant little, yet combined it felt dangerous.

And the sorrow was writ too deeply into the bones of her to do something stupid like invite him to her bed, but when he offered to stay for the night, she could not refuse. She stepped closer. Yes, Marina answered his directness with her own, reaching out to draw him in with a soft touch. Before she could stop herself, she embraced him; only that, nothing more, but in it she felt an intimacy beyond simple desire. She could not be certain that he felt the same. So she spoke nothing of it.

She only tucked her muzzle into his pale fur and let herself truly feel the comfort he had come to represent.