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Night gathered the world to its comforting darkness, and yet some light remained. The moon lit the enclosed garden of night-blooming flowers Krelkulkil had quietly prepared for his wife. Keralbarra knew he'd never admit it aloud, so she smiled into his warm chest over their unspoken secret.
Krelkulkil spoke softly. "Um, Keralbarra..."
"Yeah, Krel?"
"Was I...I mean, was it...alright?"
She peeked up at his worry-furrowed brows and his deathly-serious face and bit back a laugh. "If it wasn't, I would've kicked you."
"Oh!" Krelkulkil had the sweetest laugh. She could never get tired of it.
Which is good, she thought mischievously to herself, and with no small amount of newlywed exhilaration, because I'll get to hear it every day! The prospect made her feet kick with delight⏤but never hit her husband.
Krelkulkil smiled wryly, and lowered his head a bit, his hair tickling her bare shoulder. "I enjoyed it too," he said, slipping a hand behind her back and letting her hair fall into his palm. "The way you blushed when I unpinned your braid...I never thought you'd make a face like that."
Keralbarra tugged the blankets over her burning face and grumbled "I didn't think you could either...dummy."
Krelkulkil playfully tugged at her makeshift veil, his amusement-softened voice mercifully muffled by the fabric. "What sort of face? You have to tell me."
"Humph." Letting the blankets shift, she made a peephole to glare out at him with as much menace as she dared show her gentle husband. "It's your fault, you know. You're the one who wanted to honeymoon in the garden!"
"We're free of prying family members here," Krelkulkil reiterated, still smiling wryly. "And you wanted to watch the flowers." His smile softened. "Permit me this one act of stubbornness."
Keralbarra snorted. "'This one act', my foot."
But she was smiling too, and enjoying the milky glow of moonlight on her husband's skin and dark hair. The flowers around them framed him in natural beauty so perfectly, she yearned for a portrait. But since they couldn't afford to commission one...
"Hey, Krel?"
"Yes, my wife?" It was his turn to blush, and that only strengthened her resolve.
"I'll accept your stubbornness," she said formally, reaching out from her cocoon to stroke his long, beautiful hair. "But only if you promise me one thing."
"Anything," he said, in a soft, warm voice that made her dizzy with love.
"Good." Grinning, she let the soft, inky strands fall through her fingers. "Then don't cut your hair any shorter than this."
"...Alright, but why?"
"It's beautiful, and it feels good," she replied, just to watch with delight as Krelkulkil's eyes grew wider and wider and his pale skin darkened to the color of mulberry juice.
"But⏤but how⏤?!"
"I-It's a secret," she said, fumbling with the blankets again. "A-Anyway, it's getting cold. Shouldn't we go back inside?"
Krelkulkil looked away and muttered something she didn't quite catch, fidgeting with one of his bangs.
"What's that, Krel?"
Unexpectedly⏤but not too much so, since she was secretly hoping for it⏤Krelkulkil pulled her into a gentle, careful embrace, blankets and all. "I said," his breath quivered against her ear, soft yet hot, "You don't have to say it out loud. Just...show me, if you want. Please?"
Like encountering turbulence on an airship, it took a moment for her to get her bearings. When she did, however, she smiled into his shoulder before lying back, letting herself sprawl like a cat in the cool night breeze. Her arms opened invitingly, and her fingers framed his awed, flushed face and desire-dark eyes better than a portrait frame ever could. "C'mere," she said, low and soft.
Carefully, as if she was a freshly-made crown of clovers, he did.