”Oh no, no… I…” Anara sat up and looked down at her hands. Then they heard the children begin to stir.

”We… we can talk about this later.” Kes told her, getting up to sit beside her.

”Yes, later… but…” Anara moved in and… Kes’s world was thrown upside-down… Soft lips on her, kissing her… a tongue, entering her mouth… She responded, she couldn’t help herself… like she’d been starving, dying of thirst, and only now been given water. Then it stopped, and Kes couldn’t think. ”You should know… I’m not averse to the idea. Not at all.” She heard Anara say in a deep, soft voice that had Kes almost as undone inside as the kiss had just made her.

Anara got up out of bed and went to see to her children. Kes stared blankly after her, her hand coming up to touch her lips. She felt herself smile a little, a light felt like it was blooming in her heart and she felt like laughing. Her cheeks felt hot, and she felt herself fall back onto the cot, her eyes staring as unseeingly as Anara’s ever had. She was happy… in fact, she felt like she actually understood the word happy in a way she never had before…

”Oh, wow…” She heard herself say in just a soft whisper.

Before she could think anymore about it though, Lanam was climbing up onto the cot to get on top of her and ask why she was laying there and not saying anything. Kes laughed and swept the little girl up in her arms. She got up and sat her down on the floor, telling her she’d get dressed and then they could all play a game again.

All morning they behaved just like… like a happy family, really. Kes kept stealing glances at Anara, who didn’t seem to be acting as if anything had changed between them of consequence at all. She maybe smiled a little more to her, or spoke to her with a little more warmth than before… or maybe, Kes thought, she was only imagining it. The kiss though, and what Anara had said to her afterwards, kept playing out over and over again in her mind, and every time they did, Kes felt happy all over again.