Perception

XLIII

Her lips touched Eli's with the softest of gestures, and he kissed her back with so much sweetness that she stopped breathing. His smooth lips moved gently on hers, giving, but also allowing, receiving. She lost all sense of time and space as they kissed, and although the fear was still there, somewhere inside her, lapping at her, she pulled the feathers closer around them both and then something else, something new coursed through her too. It was like there was a fire spreading in her veins, a sweet fire that she'd never experienced before.
She let go of him then, moving infinitesimally away, gazing up at him through tear-streaked eyes.
She hadn't even realised she was crying until now, but he tenderly wiped a tear away from her cheek, his other arm still safely behind her back, pulling her close.
"Are you okay?" he whispered.
She nodded and smiled at him.
"I'm okay." She shook her head slightly. "You know, I'd told myself I was done crying about this, a long time ago, and until now I'd stuck to it."
He was quiet, and he looked at her with such affection in his eyes. And when he did speak again, his words had weight to them.
"Well. Maybe it was time you allowed yourself to feel it again."
The sob came out of nowhere, and suddenly she found herself burying her face in his chest, and she hung on to him, drinking in his calm, strong presence, and she wept silently. She wept for the little girl that she had been, and she wept for all that she had seen, all that she had done, and it was healing, it was catharsis.
He held her calmly through it all, sweetly, his nose in her hair, kissing the top of her head and stroking her back, giving her space like no one had ever done before.

And when at last the tears stopped flowing and she hesitantly let him go and looked at him he smiled.
"Hi." she croaked, and she would have been embarrassed for letting herself go like that, but there was no space for that now, between them. There was simply no need, here.
"Hi." he said as well, and he kissed her nose softly. "You're so beautiful, even when you've been crying."
Anna scrunched her eyes a bit and rubbed her forehead. "Erm, thanks, I guess?"
Then suddenly he grinned. "You know, there's never a dull moment with you, lovely Anna."
She eyed him seriously. "Eli, are you okay, though?"
He grinned again, those lights she loved so much dancing in his eyes once more.
"I'm very okay, Anna." He bent over so he could whisper in her ear. "I got to kiss you."
Her heart jumped at his words.
"Well, maybe you should do that again, then." she whispered back.
And then he did kiss her again, and that new fire flooded her system again, their lips moving seemingly of their own accord, and it was like she could sense that sweet voice from her dream, somewhere around her. She could sense it, so close that she felt she could simply reach out and touch it, but yet so far out of reach. But it was almost like... it was content.
She pulled him even closer to her and opened her mouth ever so slightly, giving him access, losing herself in him, and she felt..... she felt safe.

She had no idea how long they had been sitting there, holding each other tight with the sun beating down on them, but he stirred quietly then.
"We should cycle back." he said, his voice tinged with regret.
She nodded. "Yeah. I guess we should."
Really, she could have sat there forever, on that wooden bench overlooking the green fields, with Eli next to her, but they did have a fifteen kilometre trip to get through still.
"My arse is already starting to get sore, you know." she said offhandedly as they climbed back on their saddles, and he tipped his head back and laughed out loud.
"I do apologise." he said then, in his most courteous of manners, causing her to grin too.
"I'll forgive you one day." she said. "But seriously: this day has been perfect, Eli. Thank you."