She thought about the age difference between them, of how much Anara must have seen and witnessed, having lived for such a long time. How she would continue to live on long after Kes herself was dead. It seemed fantastic – what would she do, she thought, if she were able to live that impossibly long a life? And more, she wondered, would Anara treat her differently? Now that she knew she was… younger than her own children? It was an unpleasant thought, because… because she found she would very much prefer it if Anara regarded her as an equal, as a grown woman. By her people’s standards, she was one. Though she wouldn’t be considered fully adult until she had a child. By Anara’s standards though… what would she see? For more than one reason, Kes wanted her to see her as the adult she considered herself to be… for one reason in particular. That, though she knew she might be hoping again for something that was simply not to be, she was… becoming very attracted to this woman. She wanted to get to know her more. Wanted… to be with her. Even if all they did was sleep together like they had last night, she thought, she could live with that.

As Anara told her story, she stroked Kes’s hair, her scalp, in slow circles. It felt so nice, that soon, before she could stop herself, she’d fallen off to sleep again.

She woke to the sound of children laughing some minutes later. She blinked in surprise, because she hadn’t meant to fall asleep. She got up and looked around, a little confused. She heard Anara laugh softly, just a little, and she looked over next to her. She’d still been sleeping on the other woman’s lap, and she looked amused. ”What?” Kes asked, finding that Anara had a very charming smile and a musical way of laughing that made her feel happy to hear it.

”Only that you are very cute.” Anara told her. ”And so are they.”

A little blankly, Kes looked over and saw Lanam and Tresit, playing at wrestling. Tresit was obviously letting his little sister win and having fun doing so. Kes smiled fondly. ”You’re right, they are.” She agreed.