Mumei could not remember the last time she'd felt this...sated. Dancing meditation until she dropped came close, but lacked this bone deep contentment. "mmm, yeah. That was..something, cause right now I'm thinking 'oh, that's a memory to hold me for six months.' Which means I'm delirious, because we both know that's not how that's going to work." Reaching just a bit, kissing his shoulder before settling comfortably beneath his arm.

As he jokes though, she pulls away a bit and glares. "Yep. Delirium. That's what you've got. I'm required to keep you from making decisions you'll regret in this state." Curling back against him, she pokes him gently in the ribs for emphasis.

"Serious question though... What's a yurt?" From context I guess I figure it's like a Unicorn house or shed or something?

Yul laughed softly. "I regret nothing." He kissed her head. "Truly nothing." A soft contented sigh, and then he went on. "Yeah, I can already tell that I'm going to miss you every day. But after that, well, we'll have the whole future ahead of us." Yul's tone was confident, but his forehead did crease ever so slightly; the future was full of uncertainties, after all.

"Oh." A soft chuckle as he cuddled against her. "Right, I forgot. It's like a portable house. It's made of fabric, and assembled with poles. They're what my ancestors used to live in while they travelled. I've slept in one a few times. It's actually pretty comfy."

He gave her a gentle squeeze, sighing contentedly. "It's definitely going on our list of things to do."

Mumei very purposely does not think of the fact that this small window of privacy was engineered almost entirely because they were both running off to spend much of the rest of the day in highly uncertain circumstances. "I'll send whatever communications I can." Mail and broadcast communication across the distances was slow and expensive.

"mmm, fabric houses sounds really cozy. Like making a bed into a house." Even this content, this exhausted, her hands kept moving, stroking along his shoulder, a thumb brushing along his arm; as if storing up the memories of the feel and shape of him to hold onto. "But if that's part of the ceremony, that is a lot more solid than 'things to do.' That's a thing to prepare for, that will be. A whole night alone? Such a luxury." She sighs against him, holding a bit tighter, a little overwhelmed again at the thought of not just a whole night, but whole days, a whole lifetime...not always together but always knowing they will be again.

Which leads her thoughts to something else she's meant to ask, her voice oddly rough with that surge of feeling she doesn't put words to. "So...these pilot-navigator pairs? Tell me.." She swallows, "tell me honestly what it's like then. In a little ship, trying to kill things."

Yul chuckled softly. "It's not always part of the ceremony. But it could be. Huh. I'd sorta like starting off our marriage like that. A whole night alone... mmm..." He murmured pleasantly as she stroked him, snuggling in against her. Like her, he was thoroughly exhausted, but the intimacy of the skin to skin contact was wonderful.

Yul heard that roughness in her voice; for a moment, he was still as they cuddled. After a moment, he spoke. "I've never been in one myself. You need a pair for that, after all. But I can tell you what flying a patrol is like. Most of the time it's just being out there, flying. You and the stars." He smiled. "I guess it would be you and me and the stars, then."

He took a deep breath, the solidness of his chest pressing against her. "Battles themselves... they tend to be a few minutes of excitement, and then they're over. It's hard to describe. It's detached... but there's violence, I can't deny that."

He pushed himself up on his elbow, the better to be able to meet her eyes with his, concern edging them. "Is that... how do you feel about that? It might be different, in one of those ships."

"I mean, I'd like to think that a night alone after the wedding is a given, yurt or no yurt...or are there some really odd possible customs I should hear about?" She chuckles. "Like, they can take our word for it that things will be thoroughly consummated, right?"

More seriously though, she takes a few moments to consider what Yul has said. "It's hard to entirely know without being in it, right? And, I have to think that something so rare and limited...that they use those for something other than routine patrols." She huffs in quiet amusement, "but you probably couldn't tell me that if you knew, because military secrets, yeah?" She finds his gaze with her own, thoughtful as she reaches to brush a strand of hair from his face.

"I'm nervous about, but used to, the idea of holding a ship full of lives in my hands as the Navigator I hope to be. So...this is a lot less people...one. But that one is you," a hint of a smile quirks her lips as her fingers continue trailing down behind his ear. "So that's kind of a wash as far as how much responsibility that feels like."

"And we'd be together, instead of shipping in different directions a lot of the time, for months and months. That means a lot" She takes a long breath, hand dropping to his shoulder. "The violence then..."

"There's training to prepare, I have to imagine. Right? Even just working mostly on traders...So, I've been through two pirate attacks. One the escort chased off without coming much past general alert. The other was a lot closer. So I did what a non-combatant is trained to there. Kept out of the way, hunkered down, prepared to do whatever was needed if it came to it...but it never came to that. So I don't know how I'd do." She's grown tense in his arms at the memories, gaze focused on some distant point. "I don't want to get you...us killed by panicking." She pauses, returning to the present. "Any idea how often those ships come back with only one of the pair?" she asks, casually enough, though her fingers tense on his shoulder.

"They'll take our word. But mmm, thoroughly consummated..." Yul's lips gently brushed her neck. "I like the sound of that."

Yul mostly listened as Mumei spoke. His eyes half-closed as she touched him, nuzzling against her hand. "I'm only used to being responsible for myself. And my wingmate, but that's not quite the same." Still, a shadow did pass over his handsome features, just for a moment, but then he smiled gently at her. "These last few days, I've thought a lot about being responsible for us. That's not gonna blunt my edge, the opposite if anything. Maybe it'll make me think more." His arm tightened around her just a little as his mind flashed back to those terrible moments with the dinosaur, and better decisions he might have made.

Shifting a little, Yul held her as she recounted more painful memories. "There's training." He said, his voice soft. "But you panicking is so far down my list of worries." Smiling, it was his turn to stroke his hand through her hair, his eyes intent on hers. "You saved me once already, love. You trust my steady hands, I trust you in a bad situation."

Reaching up, he took her hand into his. "I don't know. But they are picked for their bond. I can't imagine it happening, maybe ever." Eyes still on hers, he brought that hand to his lips, kissing it.

She sees that shadow passing, and holds it curiously, gently in mind, not sure what to do with it yet. But when he kisses her hand, she bites her lips and nods, an odd relief in her eyes. "Ok. good. I mean, I wouldn't want...it'd be..." Her eyes close with a long breath. "I'd rather that than waiting to hear the news. I'd rather be there with you. I think I could learn, maybe even enjoy parts of that work." By the end she's nodding slowly.

She pauses, fingers tightening on his. "But..I did panic back there. There was nothing else I could do that might stop it, so I ran. Luckily it worked."

Quiet for a moment, it's her turn to bring his hand to her lips, eyes downcast, thinking of how to ask as she turns that shadow over in her head. "What's bothering you about...responsibility? Is it just that need to pull yourself in to more danger than is sensible?"

Yul's eyes closed for a moment, then opened slowly. Gently, he squeezed Mumei's hand as her fingers tightened on his. "I'd want you to be there, too." He whispered, emotion making his voice rough.

He closed his eyes again, this time more tightly. "Yeah. And... I lost my last wingmate. Although that wasn't my fault." A hint of doubt in his voice. Slowly he opened his eyes. "But yeah. I trust my skill. I trust you. That part of me..." A gentle shake of the head, his hair shifting about his shoulders.

Yul leaned forward suddenly, his arms tightening around Mumei, clutching her to him. His lips found hers, kissing her almost fiercely. Parting, he kept his forehead pressed against hers. "That's going to change. I'm not letting my bravado get someone killed. Not you." His tension was visible, in the lines of his jaw, his shoulders, the muscles of his arm, but his eyes glinted with determination, too.

Throughout, her hand strokes through his hair and down his shoulder. She couldn't have said for sure which of them it was meant to sooth.

Until that hard embrace makes her gasp, hand clenching in response against his shoulder. Eyes wide, she returns the kiss, shivering with the intensity and surprise of it. "shh, I know..I know." Her hand moves again, that gentle, repetitive touch. "I trust you." Her own kiss is gentle. "Your steady hands, your skill, your love, your determination.." Her forehead against his once more, eyes gentle. "I'm sorry you had to lose someone like that. Not sure if you could have done something different."

Her own determination steels her voice a bit. "I'll be there with you, if they let us travel that route." Eyes closing. "No doubts or regrets, love."

It was impossible to say which soothed Yul most: Mumei's touch, her words, her eyes. The question wasn't a meaningful one, Yul decided. It was all of her that soothed him, made him slowly relax, made him smile. Made his eyes light up. "I don't know either." Yul said, his voice free of the strain it had so recently held. "If there was, maybe it wasn't any one thing. Either it was fate... or I won't let it happen again."

Slowly, his lips curled up into a smile. "No doubts or regrets." He echoed. Slowly, his hand brushed across her cheek, back through her hair, as he'd done so many times before. Wildly, ridiculously, in love. Yep. That was it.

He sighed, arms relaxing around her once more. His breathing slowed, steadying, not quite into sleep, but a pleasant doze in the arms of the woman he loved.

(/ftc?)