The fireworks bruise the ribs of the ceiling in livid purples and greens, blues and pinks, until the whole of the world is the coral reef beyond Beri's shore. Her veil hangs askew, unnecessary here between them. Her breath comes in hitches, colors drowning her eyes, the scent of love blossoming around them. Fingers that could break stone brush over her skin, leaving giddy trembling in their wake. The surface of the breaking, shining waves swims far above them, and here they can linger in the sea forever.

"I will find them," Ember pants out, her chin wet, her heel digging into the blanket beneath them. Turquoise, teal, sapphire blooms. "[i]Bella donna.[/i]" Beautiful woman. It stings her lips like salt. "I will ask the biomancers, I will ask on every planet, I will seek them until, until, ah, aaa~ah..."

Her hips are the swell of broken ships' hulls. Her breasts, open to the air, are flowering coral. Her teeth, biting down on Mosaic's finger, are pearls. She can feel the tension in her lover's body, the flexing of those titan's fingers, the sting where Mosaic bites down on her ear with those teeth like sharks. But there is no fear in Ember of the Silver Divers, who melts into a string of incoherent groans, half-syllables, and particularly pathetic Pixesque yips. There is no place for fear at the bottom of the sea, only acceptance.