After that morning’s arduous discussion, Kes hadn’t felt up to having another heavy conversation again so soon, and so put off discussing the possibility of taking… well, they actually here her family now, weren’t they? (and what an wonderful and amazing feeling that was)… of taking her family back with her under the surface of Ocampa, back to the home she’d left.

They had a meal and Kes spent the day with Anara entertaining Lanam mostly, who, as usual, had no trouble making her smile constantly with the innocent joy she brought to even the most mundane of activates. Tresit, on the other hand, had requested to be left alone, first to practice with his knife, and later, when it got too hot, to sit by himself and do this kind of mediation his father had done – when she’d asked him about it, he’d confessed to her that he didn’t know if he was doing it right, but he wanted to keep trying anyway, because his father had told him it made a warrior strong and focused his mind. Kes thought that, maybe at some point, she’d ask him to teach her the mediation too… more to be closer to him than any other reason (though it did spark her curiosity somewhat too). Kes was still kind of worried about him, honestly, and felt like he needed someone to talk to about something (she still didn’t know what).

Later that day, in the afternoon, Tresit had taken his sister under the shade at the front of their house to tell her stories, while Kes and Anara had taken Kes’s bed roll out to the shade of some nearby rocks to sit together. Tresit and Lanam were clearly visible to them, and they could hear the children’s voices well enough to catch every other word or so if they tried.

She and Anara had been talking a little at first, but it had mostly just evolved into sharing a string of kissing, which Kes didn’t mind at all. It was definitely relaxing her all over. It had gotten to the point where she’d lain Anara down and was partly on top of her as they continued to kiss and explore one another’s bodies again. She didn’t feel like she was going to lose herself completely just yet, but she felt that feeling tempting her more and more. That was when she realized she’d probably put off having this conversation long enough. So, with a sigh, she stopped kissing her new wife and lay down beside her, snuggling up with her.