The morning after was the unique kind of morning that only follows a certain type of night, characterized by a distinct quality of light, a special quietness, and the understanding that whatever had transpired the day before, today marked a new beginning rather than a re continuation.
Rex was awake before either of them.
This was his usual behavior, and it had been consistent throughout the trip. Waking up before sunrise on volcanic sand for three days, accompanied by the island’s interior birds making their strange calls, had established this pattern for this particular place.
"Goddamn... that was so good threeso sex. I’d rate it higher than my experience with Lily and Lilith."
"Apollo... you naive fool, you didn’t have sex with these two sexy virgins." Rex struggled to suppress a laugh. "But unfortunately... they’re mine now."
He lay on his back with Talyra’s arm draped across his chest and Aisella’s head resting on his shoulder. He watched as the shelter ceiling transford from dark to gray to the pale amber of early morning.
This was the light that the island’s bioluminescent fungi had been producing for eight hundred years.
Talyra was still fast asleep, in the deep sleep of soone who had worked very hard and used up a lot of energy and hadn’t yet started to wake up. Her breathing was slow and steady, and when she slept, she lost the forward-ready quality she had when she was awake.
All that was left was a warm, present person who was completely where she wanted to be.
Aisella woke up about ten minutes after Rex, which was in line with what he had seen in her sleep patterns over the past three days. She didn’t wake up all at once like Talyra and Rex did, but instead, it was a gradual return to full function from the inside out.
The first sign was that her breathing changed a little.
The second was a tiny movent where her free hand moved against the sleeping mat.
The third thing was her eyes opening. When her eyes opened, they lacked both the diagnostic look and the expression of an interested researcher.
This was the gaze that did not diagnose anything, and it was directed at Rex.
"Morning, my sleepy elf," he said, softly enough that Talyra wouldn’t hear him.
Aisella looked up at the ceiling of the shelter for a mont, then at him, then at Talyra. The look on her face was one of deep thought, as if she were doing the kind of internal accounting that she did on things that had changed and needed to be accurately assessed in their new form.
Then she cald down.
"Morning... Rex..." she said in the sa voice he had used.
Rex stared up at the ceiling. The amber light was getting warr, which ant the morning was getting later.
This ant that they had more ti than he had thought or less ti than was comfortable. The difference between these two interpretations depended on how deep Talyra’s sleep was going to be in the next hour.
"How do you feel? I hope I didn’t hurt you too much," he asked, which was not sothing he usually asked.
He was asking because Aisella was a healer that would give him an honest answer instead of a polite one, and he wanted the honest answer.
She was quiet for a mont, like when she was thinking about sothing instead of answering.
"I made a decision that had been building for three days, and it turned out right," she said. "Which isn’t the sa as simple, but it’s clear."
Rex gave her a look and thought. "This elf always thinks and talks weird... but that’s what I love about her. I enjoy when she doesn’t try to be all genius in bed but instead screams and says so gibberish."
"You asked how I feel," she said, with the slight elevation in her voice that was her version of dry precision, "not how I’ve categorized it... those two are different things."
"They are," Rex said. "But still... both answers were correct."
"I know," she said, and the small quality in her voice was the one she used when she was pleased with sothing but didn’t say so.
Talyra stirred.
The stirring was the kind that typically precedes waking up: a change in breathing, small movents of limbs, and then eyes opening all at once. This was how Talyra experienced everything—it happened completely and imdiately, without the gradual steps that Aisella preferred.
She gazed up at the ceiling of the shelter.
Next, her attention shifted to Rex, followed by a glance at Aisella.
Then she glanced at Rex again, her expression reflecting soone who was convinced that what she was waking up to was real, rather than just a dream that might occur after spending three days on an island with soone attempting to scale a section of a cliff.
"Oh good," she said, expressing her uncertainty about the situation.
Rex said, "Good morning, Talyra."
"Good morning, Rexy..." Talyra said.
Then she lay back against his shoulder like soone who had decided that the position she had been in was the right one and was going back to it. "I love what you did to last night... it felt like a whole new feeling."
"You really shot your shots REAL good, huh?"
Rex chuckled. "I did, didn’t I?"
"We probably need to pack up soon," Aisella said, not moving from where she was.
"Seven o’clock ship," said Rex.
"Yes," Aisella said.
Neither of them moved.
Talyra said, looking at the ceiling, "What happens when we get back?"
Rex said, "Everything that happens after this happens."
Talyra was quiet for a while, but then she turned her head and looked at him with the look she had when she wanted the truth.
"I know that’s the answer," she said. "I’m asking about what it actually looks like."
Rex turned to her, just to say, "Aethelgard and the Grand Academy."
"Miss Elizabeth’s classes, Apollo’s group, the Starlight household, the Silver Rest inn, and everything else that was there before this trip and will be there when we get back."
"And us?" Talyra asked her question in the sa straightforward manner as she did with everything else, making it clear what she wanted.
"Are you asking to explain it?" Rex asked.
"I’m asking if it exists," she said. "Outside of this island."
For a long ti, Rex stared at her. Then he looked at Aisella, who had turned her head to look at him with the sa question on her face.
She asked the questions that were important to her in the sa calm, precise way that Aisella did.
"Yes," Rex said. "It’s real, alright."
Talyra held his gaze for just long enough to make sure he ant the whole thing, and then she nodded once with the finality that ca with things she had confird.
Aisella looked up at the ceiling again, and the look on her face was the sa as when she had finished sothing and was putting it in the right place in her working model.
"I love you, Rex." Talyra leaned in for a kiss, and Rex returned it.
The warmth of the mont stayed with them as they drove away, wrapping them in a cocoon of shared feelings. Talyra’s heart raced with a mix of happiness and excitent about what the future held for them both.
After that, Aisella moved quietly to kiss Rex, who kissed her back. The kiss that ca out of nowhere shocked Talyra for a mont, but then her heart filled with a feeling of connection and understanding. As they stood together, the bond between the three of them grew stronger, hinting at new adventures and problems that would co up.
They continued kissing for ten more minutes, which represented the ti between their decision and the reality that followed. Neither of them spoke, and Rex let the morning be what it was.
Then a noise ca from across the water.
HONKKKKKKKKKKK!
The three of them jumped together.
’Goddammit... I was enjoying those kisses, and that damn horn ruined it...’
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