Koss held for another moment. It was illogical to perceive that brief span of time as an eternity. No Vulcan could experience eternity, and Eridani 40 had only become slightly less visible.
But to Kov's accelerated blood and breath, and to his quivering hands, it seemed so, and no logic he knew of erased their certainty that an eternity had in fact passed while he waited for Koss to come to him. He was certain that he would remember it so ever after – that Koss had waited an eternity at the crest of the dune, and Kov himself had waited below, aching in every cell of his being to go to the other man, but holding himself as still as though he was in deep meditation, despite the speed of his heart and breath that made him feel faint.
Finally, a lifetime later, Koss began to move. At first, his pace was measured, as any Vulcan would be in a public place. However, as he descended, he didn't compensate for the slope by moderating his speed, so that by the time he reached the water sculpture he was nearly running, and had need to use his outstretched arms for balance. Had anyone else approached, they might have assumed some manner of danger or emergency below, such was the haste with which Koss came to him.
He ended in a skidding stop, using the sculpture's slippery curving side to arrest his forward momentum, and nearly falling as his hands lost purchase on the metal surface, cool from the sheltering shade of the late evening.
Kov found that he knew not what to do next. He had only considered whether Koss would come, and how long he should wait if the other didn't, and the mystery of the promised touch, and how Sivet might respond to his thoughts on these other matters, if he could know what Kov thought on as he waited.
Perhaps that had been foolish, for now they were here, together, and there were no words in his mind to use in greeting. The formal acknowledgments felt inappropriate, even without the anticipated connection to come. They had, after all, been working in the same chamber an hour ago.
"You are here." Koss' voice still seemed compromised by the effort at regaining control of his breath. There was something in the quality of it that moved Kov in ways he didn't understand, and which sent the quiver in his hands further, into his wrists, and on to his forearms. Would all of him quiver for Koss' touch, by the time he received it?
"As are you." His own voice trembled much as his hands did, and Koss drew breath in sharply – was it in response to that, or something other?
For another long moment, there seemed to be nothing either of them would say, no action either would take, until Kov could bear the silence between them no longer.
"I want the touch of your fingers, Koss."
Another quick gasp of breath. Was it the recovery from the descent, or a response to his words? "Is that all you desire of me, Kov?"
"All?" He hadn't considered whether there could be more. The mystery of what the touch would contain was too great in his mind. It left little room for other thoughts. "What more is there?"
"Perhaps that is a thing we shall discover between us – but not in this place. I know a location where we will not be disturbed and will have privacy for as long as we desire it, for whatever sharing this touch leads us to. Will you trust me, and accompany me, Kov?"
His companion stretched the same paired fingers toward him, the ones he had lifted this morning. He was not near enough for touch, but Kov lifted his fingers and matched the gesture, though he had not known he intended to do so until the action was complete.
Their fingers hovered, paces away from touch, and Koss' trembled just as Kov's did.
There was some message in the trembling. Kov felt it, but not what it meant – any more than he knew the meaning of the way Koss' scent drew him, or his own drew Kov.
He did not comprehend, but he longed to. He determined that he would do whatever he must to find out what it meant, this quivering urge to touch, this undeniable attractive force in the other man's scent.
"I will go where you lead me, Koss. I would not do so if I didn't trust you. Let us learn – together." He paused, to attempt at last to control heart and breathing rates. "However, I may need a moment. I am – uncertain – of my ability to stand and walk."
It was a difficult truth to reveal. Life with Sivet had conditioned him to attempt to conceal his weaknesses rather than state them outright.
But Koss took no advantage. "Is it I who have caused this lack of ability?" His voice was the soft whisper again.
"That seems the most likely conclusion. I was well when I arrived, but upon scenting you, my circulatory and respiratory rates accelerated precipitously. I can think of no other likely cause for such a physiological response."
"Then I am honored to await you, as you have awaited me. The space is prepared for us. Lastmeal is ready, when we wish it, and we will be received in comfort. Be at ease, Kov. There is no need for haste."
"My fingers do not believe you, Koss. They say there is much need for haste, and to be away. I will find my balance, for their sake, because they will hasten, and will not wait."
"My fingers are in agreement with yours. It is not logical, but it is nonetheless true. If you need support to find your balance, I offer that to you – however, I am altogether uncertain what such a level of touch between us, so soon, would result in. So perhaps it is best if we assure ourselves that you are fit to travel, before we begin, even if it means a delay for our fingers."
"Would you think me illogical to say that I wouldn't object to learning where it would lead, Koss?"
The other's face shifted into an openness he hadn't revealed to Kov until this moment. "I might think you illogical, Kov – but there would be no offense intended by it. I would also think that you are becoming more honest with me, which implies that you are indeed beginning to trust me. For this I am grateful, and will accept whatever illogic you bring with pleasure. More – if I am to be honest with you, I must tell you that I wouldn't object to learning what such touches would bring. However, it is my understanding that to begin with the ouz'hesta is to enhance all future touching, and that the longer the ouz'hesta remains the only form, the more intensity there will be in what follows."
"And you would choose intensity." Kov used the base of the sculpture, which rose from the sand in a curving sweep that was a precise balance for the sweep of the dune, but at right angles to it, to lever himself up. His legs held more steadily than he had feared they might, and Koss's acceptance seemed to have assisted greatly in returning breathing and heart rate to something approaching their typical levels.
"I would choose intensity, Kov, if I am choosing to experience it with you." Koss' eyes seemed almost to glow in the fading light of Eridani 40.
"Then let us go to the place you have prepared for us, so that we may begin to build this intensity." Kov wondered at his own certainty, and his willingness to entrust himself to this man who was still more a stranger than anything else, and whose motivations he could not begin to presume.
And yet he trusted Koss, and was eager to go with him. He knew in some way that was far deeper than logic that he had nothing to fear from Koss, and perhaps more to gain than he could imagine at present.
"I believe my legs will hold." He straightened cautiously and avoided breathing Koss' scent in too deeply. He could not know that it had been the catalyst for his weakness, but it seemed the most logical cause. He would therefore breathe carefully, until they were alone in the safe place Koss had prepared for their explorations. Once settled there, he intended to breath Koss in deeply for as long as he was able to, and to savor the scent's memory in the time until they both returned to their work chamber tomorrow.
"Then let us go. It is not far." Koss led the way, not back toward the compound where they both were employed, but toward the edge of the sand garden that led into the Shir'Kahr desert.
"You mean us to travel across the desert when the Watcher is at full?" There were many dangers that awaited such times for their hunting; it would not be safe to traverse this path once T'Khut was visible above the horizon. At the rate Eridani was sinking out of sight, it would be only two hours, and the nearest lodging houses were further, unless Koss meant for them to take the shuttle.
"We will be settled long before she has shown her face in full." It was a strange phrasing, and he uttered it in the ancient patterns. "This is a place known only to a few, but to those of us who know it, it provides safe shelter against sandfires, le-matya, sehlat, groundvines, and all other known dangers. More, it is an excellent location from which to observe the Watcher, who is said to look favorably upon explorations such as that which we will undertake this night."
Kov found the explanation unsettling, but not unduly so. He had long been interested in those who existed outside the strictly logical parameters of the life Sivet had created for his son. Perhaps that curiosity is what had led him to landscape design, a field that by its nature incorporated a deeper awareness than logic alone could accommodate.
"You are quiet, Kov. Have my words distressed you? Do you wish to turn back?"
"I wish to continue, Koss. I am merely – unsettled. However, I also anticipate an unexpected experience with someone who – " He stopped to seek the most precise word. "Intrigues me."
"I will see well to your comfort, Kov, and nothing will happen between us that you do not wish. I have a strong desire to touch and discover with you, but none to force upon you any activity you don't freely choose."
Kov breathed in the scent of this fascinating man and relaxed his personal boundaries. He would allow the experience to be as the experience would. Kaiidth. What would be, would be.
He set himself to walking, to allowing himself to feel Koss, scent him. They didn't speak; it seemed the time to speak had been long already, between the conversation at dawning, the time spent together in their joint office, and the time just past at the water sculpture. This was a time to simply be with one another, to walk in harmony, to breathe one another in and feel the anticipation and the quiver that was rising up through his arms, building into something that felt like the Promising made between he and T'Sia when they were seven, and he had not yet felt the aversion to her arousal scent, or to the thought of being her husband and having her as wife.
Was this touch he was planning to share with Koss perhaps an answer to that aversion? Nothing they had said thus far addressed the possibility, and yet it was there in every breath, every step, every moment.
They were seeking another path, together.