Ocean's Breath Plateau [m] i was made to love you

Sialuk had not forgotten the thrill of being chased—but she had yearned for it. So much of her fever had been spent haltingly, with questions and words, but with Chakliux, there was a deeper understanding. They knew one another like one knows a lover who has been away. He did not share her ulaq, and she did not share his lodge, but she felt that a piece of her would always belong to him, and a piece of him to her.

She ducked between trees, leapt over fallen rocks, and crashed through the bitterly cold seawater, all the while with Chakliux on her heels. Why, she wondered, were others so hesitant to share in one another's warmth and comfort? Why, she wondered, did they not let themselves bask in what their body desired? She thought of Glaukos, of Dutch, even of Etienne, and then warmly of Talisman who had seemed to have her understanding of the way she felt, despite his closeness with Kusuma.

The starwoman led him to a quiet, dark clutch of trees, slowing her gait and panting heavily from the rush of the run.

You have no debt to pay, she said with a coy smile, and yet your embrace calls to my spirit. Sialuk touched her nose to his cheek, drinking in the smell of salt and seal.