Kes stood and offered Anara a hand up and they went to sit on their bed together. Anara moved forward and Kes met her and they just kissed for a few long moments, less with passion than a simple need for connection and comfort. There were voices from outside, and Kes had to make an effort not to eavesdrop on the two boys with her mental abilities. Their kiss broke and she and Anara smiled to one another. Anara touched her face and gazed into her eyes. ”You’re so beautiful… My love, that I can see you like this, anytime I want. I feel… wealthy.” She smiled and laughed a little abashedly. ”I wonder what my people would say to that, if they heard me talking. I wonder…” Her gaze drifted away from Kes’s eyes, down to their joined hands between them.

”What Miteza will say?” Kes ventured, a soft, understanding smile on her lips.

”…Yes.” Anara admitted, shyly meeting Kes’s eyes again. ”We might have been something like friends once, I’m not sure. She… was always so quiet. I think… The way she looked at me, I think she envied me my relative joys. That my husband truly cared for me. I wished them for her, wished my brother could have been a better man for her. She was always… always kind though. I admired her that… That she could still be kind, with my brother a yoke about her shoulders… I hope he hasn’t taken that from her, since I’ve seen her last. That kindness… I have more than enough useless hate for my brother’s memory… I would want no more…”

Kes gently titled her wife’s chin up with one hand, so their eyes met again a moment, and then she moved to kiss her, soft and sweet. Once, twice, a few times more. When they paused in their attentions, eyes closed, foreheads resting against one another, Kes spoke, mind to mind. -I’ll always be with you to sooth those sorrows… and whatever pain and hardships Miteza has gone through… I know we can help her make better memories to drive away those wrongs. She’s family. I’m sure she’ll see that too.- She said, trying to believe it as much as she could.