Vitalis is too tall for the beds in the inn. Her feet hang off the end as she lies pressed to her lover's back. Droullin feels a little bad for her, but she does not want to move from this position. She feels safe with Vitalis's arms around her. The hellion's breath is a comforting rhythm against the back of her neck. She is also very, very warm.
She runs her fingers over the hellion's hand where it rests against her stomach. Her knuckles are knobby and scarred from many fights. Her fingers are long and calloused. Her wrist is thick and muscled, just like the rest of her. Droullin feels honored to be so intimately associated with these details; to have the privilege of knowing Vitalis more deeply than anyone else. In more ways than one.
Vitalis shifts and draws a deep breath, seeming to stir awake behind her. She registers Droullin's hand against her own and rotates her palm to lace their fingers together.
"Are you all right?" she whispers roughly into the darkness.
Droullin feels her chest squeeze at the sound. Tears well in her eyes unexpectedly. "Yes," she answers, but the word trembles on the way out.
Vitalis notices, as she notices everything. She moves again, levering herself onto one elbow to look down at the vestal. Droullin rolls onto her back so their eyes can meet in the moonlight. Vitalis doesn't speak, but her gaze burns a hole in the vestal's defenses that grows with each passing second.
Finally, Droullin sighs. She reaches up to run her fingers through the hellion's tangled hair, just because she can. "I am well," she says. "Just overwhelmed."
"By what?" Vitalis wonders.
"You," Droullin answers. "Us."
The hellion doesn't reply. Instead she wraps her hand around Droullin's hip and tugs her closer. She leans down to brush a tender kiss to her brow, then her nose, then her lips.
Everything she does not say with her words is communicated through the touch, and Droullin relaxes into her with a sigh. She would be content to stay in this moment forever. To stay with Vitalis forever.
She wishes that were possible.
…