When the water was finished, Koss lit the candle. "Did you enjoy your reading?" His voice was very soft, but more expressive than would be acceptable beyond these walls.
"I didn't read the book, Koss. I would not, without your leave to do so."
"You have it, Kov. You had it. This chamber is yours, as well as mine, if you wish to share it. Once or ever, it is yours. I have brought no other to this place, wished to bring no other."
Then T'Pol had not been here, and Koss would choose to keep his Promised from this place. When they were married, would he tell the woman of this place?
Would Kov tell T'Sia?
Somehow, he could not imagine doing so.
He didn't want to. This was a place and a time for him, and for Koss, and for no others beyond them.
"If you would take the book, or any of the books, to read in your home, I would be most honored," Koss said. "But now, we have other matters to explore." He paired two trembling fingers, studying them for a moment before extending them to rest on the cover of the book, in the manner of an invitation that needed no words.
Kov felt the moment intensity, as he had this dawning, and as he had when he first saw Koss appear above the rise of the dune this evening, or when they stood at the entrance cleft to the cave, or when he knew Koss was intending to offer the water ceremony. So many moments of change they had shared already, each of them leading to …
Kov didn't know what or where they led to. However, he knew that he yearned to know, and, perhaps, in this moment, it was enough.
He arranged his own fingers in the same way Koss held his,extendeding his arm. Slowly, he came nearer to the hand that rested there on the book. It was trembling considerably; so was Kov's own.
Nearer. Nearer.
Kov longed to close the entire distance – but he would not. Not alone. He stopped instead a fingerswidth away and waited.
"Slightly closer…." It was a deep rich murmur. "Slightly closer, and we will – feel – one another."
"We will be touching."
"Before the touch, Kov. Before, we will feel one another's bioelectric activity. I have felt T'Pol's in the Promising. Did you not feel T'Sia's?"
"I felt her. But it was guided by the priestess, and not ours to explore."
"Nor was what I felt with T'Pol. However, I sensed that she would not wish to explore it as I would. There is something within her that is closed to me, or perhaps to all others. Or perhaps she, too, longs to share with another who is not me."
Kov had felt no such resistance in T'Sia, but it seemed a discourtesy to say so. However, the distance between Koss and his Promised might explain why Koss so desired to share touch with him.
"What is it you would have me do now, Koss?"
"Together, we will move nearer, slowly, gradually. Each person has their own level of sensitivity. We may not feel one another in the same moment. It is possible that we may not feel one another at all, or that one of us may not. However, if we are able, it will make other forms of sharing a simpler matter, between us."
Kov stretched further and felt – something. It was a new warmth, eager and hungry, yet still calm and soothing –
"It is you, Koss. I can feel you!"
He had not produced such a surfeit of emotion since he was a small child. Nor had he had cause to.
"Your ability to sense is stronger than mine. It is a skill you might develop further, if you choose. Now, though – please hold that position, and let me determine the point at which I am able to sense you." His fingers edged another millimeter, then another, and a third – and then he made a low sound such as Kov had never before heard. "Your energy – I have felt nothing so pleasing as this, Kov."
They held the position, fingers near to touching, trembling upon the cover of the book, until there was no longer any thought other than the energy that flowed between –
And, without Kov having chosen the action, their fingers brushed.