Chapter 3
My head was glued to her, for what seemed like hours. She ran her fingers through my hair, tracing outlines and shapes that had no names. It was like her hands were thinking, experimenting, trying to see what would work, what makes sense, what they're comfortable with. I tried not to think about it, just focusing on holding the moment. If I forgot this day, this room, this bed, this dress, this woman, then all would be lost. I was sure of it.
Finally, one of us spoke. There was no silence in the room; her dress moved loudly, but I didn't mind. Anything that made me sure that I wasn't sleeping was a good thing. A great thing.
She said "I'm different now."
"That's all you could think of?"
"It's been ten years. I forgot my speech."
We both laughed, in that nervous, teenage girl kind of way. The way that you laugh when someone you love with all your heart does some small kindness.
I lifted my head from her lap, but I was tired. It was one of the most difficult things I've ever done, removing myself from her. But like magic, I was stuck again, this time on her shoulder. I could smell her perfume, the intimate smell, not what you detect as you walk by. The true odor; the one that holds the moment of them putting it on, what lets you into their life, what removes the pretense.
"You smell like a lotus, Morrigan."
"I couldn't tell."
She looked down on me. She'd always done this, but not in the literal sense. It used to be that, to her, I was a child, a little girl who believed in fairy tales, with hopes and dreams for the world that were too grand and too optimistic for reality. Now, I've learned why she thought the way she did; I see Thedas with older eyes. But when Morrigan shone her golden lights at me, I felt young again. Like I could save the world. Like I saw the Maker. And now, she saw it too.
I can't accurately tell you how I felt as our eyes met each other. I tried my best there, but to fully explain the acrobatics my heart was doing, I would need an Age. That's how the world tells you that you're finally-truly, in all senses of the word- in love.