The moonlight watches Passion be fed grapes by Pleasure, as Desire fans them both. The moonlight watches Ecstasy teach a new song to the birds of the hills, and sighs when Longing wakes from a long nap to join the revelry. The moonlight watches Indulgence breathe cooling breezes up the beach from the ocean waves to kiss a pair of lovers' necks, and it watches Satisfaction plant kisses on the brow of every gathered soul.

The moonlight watches, but does not shine. Not on these two, who watch back. Watch, O Moon, but do not come. Do not shine on them, O Moon, and lead prying eyes astray until hearts have finished melding and their heat has forged fresh iron to carve a path into the future. Be kind, Moonlight, in Artemis' name we pray.

And so Mosaic's passions cool. Or rather, roll over to rest after feeding themselves filled to bursting. She is left to feel the warmth of the girl in her arms, the girl who even now snuggles her body closer into the nooks and crevices of her grip, whose tail beats a marching tune to speed around a planet in an hour's time. She feels Ember's heartbeat rolling against her arm and feels Ember's face nestle playfully into her breasts. A smile parts her lips; her fingers part Ember's hair and play with the backs of her ears.

There are whispered nothings and sweet tidings to last a lifetime, adorations and declarations and promises, tauntings and praises and playful squeezes and gentle touches that threaten to inflame a whole new turn on the hill that would beg the moon to hide them all throughout tomorrow's daylight too. But eventually even this gives way to mundanity and there is nothing left but the trivialities of the day.

"...Thank you, little Ember. It's been a longer day than I realized."

A soft grunt ripples through her body in response. The soft thwacking of a tail that kicks up scents of flowers and sweat and the sweetest pheromone thank yous.

"The village of Rosedam was abandoned, you know. They've come to Beri and there's nowhere to put them."

"Mmmmmmmmmhm?" The siren song of the half-listening, of the besotted too drunk on the sound of a voice to fully hear any of the words that it says.

"So I climbed the mountain today, and I stole the East side of it from the Stone Tribe."

Impressed whines and hot fur jammed into her neck. An eager tongue lapping praises under her chin for the demigod Mosaic, the Hero of Bitemark who needs all of her muscles kissed again, just in case any of them were missed the last time.

"And I-- mmmmm -- I spent my time building new houses before I had to return to finish my hunting."

"Wow wow wow wow wow, you did all that~?"

Soft gasps and giggles, and the greedy snuffling of a nose trying to absorb every little smell coming from this divine body as if by cataloging it she could invent a new way to love it even more. Squeezing hands sliding down her hips and hunting lower until Mosaic catches them by the wrists and pulls them to her neck again.

"Ember, I..."

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmm?"

Mosaic's body pops as it rises from the ground, carrying Ember in her arms still clinging in her lap. Together they sit with their breaths each pushing into the other's chest, skin to skin and heart to heart as Mosaic's eyes lift away from these earthly pleasures to the heavens above them.

"If I. If I left here," she begins haltingly, "What would you do? Would you follow me?"

Ears perk up. Ember's head leaves Mosaic' collarbone for the first time in ten minutes, and for once not to plant kisses somewhere else. She clears her throat, and her body tenses the way it always does when she's readying herself to make an Impression.

"I'd follow you, of course!"

"You'd leave your Pack for me?"

"N-no, I wouldn't! I would take over as much of the pack as I could, and [i]then[/i] we'd follow you. All of us would?"

"Oho? And what would I do with three little wolves, do you think?"

A wolf's indignant sputter meets a cat's roaring laughter. Ember's face wars between insult and consideration, as if inside her head an entire battle was playing out and the best and worst case scenarios were being carefully plucked free from the tapestry and set aside for the counting. Her expression is so stony serious that Mosaic cannot help but kiss her, and pin her tongue so fiercely inside her own mouth that not even a squeak of surprise could escape anymore.

Where they finally part, breath fills the hillside and moonlight finally pierces its blanket of clouds to illuminate them with a sniper's swift precision. The asked-for miracle has come and gone. Time ticks away. Mosaic sighs.

"Three wolves or three thousand, that's enough for me. I [i]am[/i] leaving, Ember. I've given everything Beri I have to give and it hasn't really changed a thing. Whatever I'm really meant for, I can't find it here. I need to get out. I need..."

Her back arches. Her chest pushes forward. She is a bow, ready to be plucked. She is an arrow, ready to sail a thousand leagues and bury herself inside a worthy challenge. She watches the moonlight watching her, and her gaze slides past it to the stars beyond, who swirl in their prismatic brilliance inside her pupils.

On the horizon the first flecks of daylight are beginning to break over the mountains. The night birds cease their calling, and a new song signals the end of a dream. Mosaic's eyes are fixed on the sky, and though her arms do not relinquish her Ember, she can never turn her gaze back down to Bitemark. Not ever again.