no vacancy

You're so cold

but you feel alive

Maea couldn't quite remember when anyone had lifted her last. She had a feeling it wasn't that long ago, perhaps after the disastrous venture down into the Spire... but she had not been conscious for it, and so did not count it as a memory. No, it must have been her brother at some point, or perhaps her father. She'd been very little, and scraped a knee, most like. To be so easily lifted by Sunjata made her feel quite small. She held herself very still in his arms as he brought them to the cave, smiling gratefully as Haai brought their clothes and belongings back.

"Oh, are you now. Am I going to enjoy it too?" she replied, unable to suppress either the shiver or the wink Sunjata gave her. Not sure whether it was a threat or a promise, especially as his hands began to brush over her skin. To wipe the sand away, of course, but... he was still touching her. The girl found that their joining had done nothing to desensitise her against that. Rather the opposite.

"I won't dissolve with the rising sun, though," she pointed out with a gentle hum. Reaching up, she began to return the favor, wiping away grains of sand and dust from his shoulders, his chest... wherever he had connected with the sand. "I will still be here tomorrow. So there's no need to hurry."

He might be a passing raincloud, there one night and gone the next, but she? She was the moon. Maea would always come back, if he just cared to look.

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA