chasing daybreak

The soil was gentle and pliant beneath his bare feet as he ambled around with no real destination. The sound of distant songbirds still rang through their little clearing, mingling with the rhythm of droplets on leaves on their way to the ground. He could feel the shirt sticking to his back and the curls clinging to his forehead and neck.

A creaking could be heard over the sound of the rain, and he turned to look back at the house. Estinien was leaning back in the swing seat, wearing naught but a pair of trousers, watching him sleepily while gently rocking himself with a foot.

“Enjoying the weather?” he asked quietly, low enough to carry without breaking the stillness.

Aymeric just held out a hand invitingly. With a slight shake of his head, Estinien stood and stepped out from under the awning into the rain with him. Within seconds his hair was plastered in long ropes to his bare chest, scales glittering under the droplets that collected there. His steps were nearly silent across the damp ground as he approached, taking Aymeric’s hand and pulling him in close.

Aymeric closed the final gap to pull him into a languid good morning kiss. Estinien’s skin on his was even warmer than the rain, the heat radiating off of him.

“Good morning, my love.”

“Morning.”

“Is Kit still asleep?”

“Aye. I’m sure she’ll be awake soon enough.”

“So much for our plans to hike the mountain today.”

“I’m sure we can find something else to do until the storm passes.”

Aymeric tilted his head back again and closes his eyes, letting the rain wash over his face. Estinien took the opportunity to press a trail of kisses along the hollow of his throat.

A soft rustle of leaves came from near the second floor of the house.

“There she is,” Estinien murmured without looking up.

Blinking against the water on his eyelashes Aymeric could see Kitali walking along the top of the brick wall, bare as the day she was born, holding out a hand into the rain. He watched her fondly as she stepped over the vines that had grown in their absence and continued towards the large overhanging tree at the back. He could only compare her to scenes of Nophica, hair wild and unbound stepping through her earthly garden.

“Are you planning to bathe in it?” Estinien turned to call up to her.

“Maybe.”

They both just chuckled.

“Have you eaten yet?’ Estinien asked him.

“No, I uh…” -he gestured around them- “I got distracted.”

Now it was Estinien’s turn to pull at him, back inside to where their primitive kitchen was set up against one of the few walls in the lower level, wringing his hair out onto the floorboards. A fire was lit, the kettle filled and hung over it, and some of the fruits they’d gathered the day before were peeled and sliced. Kitali joined them after a time, still damp and smelling faintly of soap. Aymeric could feel his own hair thickening with the humidity as it dried out.

“I can go see how the light house has held up, if we wanted to watch the storm properly,” Kitali offered as she picked up a berry from the bowl.

“Is the rain going to be different at the top of the light house?” Estinien joked.

“No, but the view would be better.”

“The light house doesn’t have a porch swing, though,” Aymeric pointed out.

Kitali just tilted her head in agreement.

Aymeric accepted the cup of steaming tea from Estinien and went to sit on the swing seat once more. The cushion was faintly cool to the touch as he sat, the wicker creaking as he leaned back. Estinien banked the embers of the fire and joined him on his right, Kitali vanishing upstairs and reappearing moments later wrapped loosely in a robe.