Moonspear [m] the suspension of disbelief

He didn’t seem to mind her double shot. If his face was anything to go by, Kindle appeared relieved. Pie wondered if he’d really been that embarrassed about crust in his eye. Maybe it was mean of her but she had a feeling she was going to tease him about this at some point.

His answer surprised her somewhat, though she couldn’t say why. One of her upper canines sank into her lip as this information digested. They could be one another’s firsts. But then he flipped the question back on her and Tiuttuk suddenly remembered—as a great shadow passed over her spirit—that she had thought herself in love before.

It was difficult to think about that era. Not only did it hurt her head (literally), she was so removed from it that her own past felt like it belonged to somebody else. All the same, Tiuttuk could now distinctly remember how she’d felt about Sobeille. The hit to the head hadn’t been what ripped that feeling out by the root; it was the moments leading up to it that had severed her feelings for the woman.

She shifted uncomfortably. She’d thought she’d been in love at the time. Should she admit to it? She couldn’t shake the feeling that that piece of her history didn’t really belong to her. But Tiuttuk quickly decided she did not want to lie to Kindle, particularly if there was any chance of something blossoming between them. She didn’t want to poison their roots by planting them in mistruths.

I thought I loved someone, once, but in hindsight… I don’t really think that’s what it was, she shared in a quiet voice. And we were never together or anything like that. I’ve never been with anyone… and I don’t just mean in that way. She blushed again. I’ve never been courted. Or kissed. But I’d really like to be, someday.

She’d pretty much already told him that much, so that wasn’t news. But the way she looked him in the eye as she said it now—that was new. Treepie diverted her gaze a beat later, not wanting to leer, but there was no mistaking the sentiment behind that glimpse of electric yellow.