Following their reunion and the conversation that followed, Ayame led him through the building at an unhurried pace, less a tour than an orientation, the quiet offering of context without commentary.

The structure was larger from the inside than its cliff-face exterior suggested. Corridors of dark wood opened into chambers that looked out over the canyon below, each window framing the waterfall from a different angle, the light shifting between them as they moved deeper into the estate.

Outside, the world was even more otherworldly than it had appeared during the descent. The mountain range stretched in every direction to the horizon, its scale refusing to resolve into anything manageable, regardless of how long he looked at it.

The forest below moved with the particular slow deliberateness he’d noticed during the arrival, things that weren’t wind and weren’t animals, choosing their own schedule.

The estate itself was mostly empty.

He noticed it before she even said anything, the unused rooms, the corridors that carried the particular quiet of spaces that had held more people and hadn’t adjusted to the sudden change. He asked once, without pressing.

Ayame’s expression shifted at the question. Something resembling sorrow flashed across her face before she answered.

"The last quest took a lot from us," she said simply.

Seeing her expression, Damon chose not to ask further.

The handful of clan members they passed gave him the look that suggested that most outsiders weren’t welcome. Which, considering he was from a completely different world, included him.

Soon enough, they ended up in a vast room located on the top floor of the largest building on the estate.

It was vast, larger than his room back in the citadel, which was already big by any human standard.

Ayame closed the door softly behind them as they entered.

Damon took a second to look around, noting the small changes in furniture and ornaments this world had in comparison to Earth, before turning back to Ayame.

"Is this your-"

Before he could even finish the question, she had already moved.

Her slender arms coiled around his neck like a pair of serpents while her plump lips pressed gently against his.

His eyes widened for merely a split second before his hands found her waist, and he pulled her closer.

They took their time, far longer than the short greeting they had shortly after his summoning.

Ayame’s movements were unhurried yet ravenous, as though she wanted all of him at once while still wanting to savour every second.

Moments later, she finally pulled back, but when she did, Damon couldn’t find her gaze. Her head immediately pressed against his chest, as if deliberately escaping his eyes.

"I missed you..." she whispered.

Her voice was so quiet it was almost indistinguishable despite the complete silence around them.

Slowly, she pulled away from his chest, meeting his eyes as she continued. "I wasn’t sure if you’d come..." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Damon looked at her for a moment.

It was the most vulnerable he had ever seen her. The emotions on her face were the ones she herself wasn’t truly accustomed to. This kind of honesty was unusual for her, so he knew how much effort it probably took to say those things.

"Why wouldn’t I?" he replied.

He reached up and moved aside a strand of silver-white hair that fell onto the girl’s face.

Her crimson eyes held his for a long moment.

Then, something settled across her expression.

It wasn’t performed, not a practised emotion people used when wishing to move to a different subject, but a raw, real feeling that had been building inside of her since his arrival.

Ayame’s smile softened slowly, the last traces of restraint fading from her expression as she looked at him.

For a moment, neither of them spoke or moved. They simply stood there, staring into each other’s eyes until Damon’s grip on her waist tightened slightly, just enough for Ayame to notice.

Her grip on his neck also tightened as their lips met once more.

Her fingers brushed across the back of his head as she kissed him back with a softness that gradually deepened into something far more needy. The nine silver tails behind her swayed restlessly, betraying emotions her expression no longer bothered hiding.

When Damon pulled her even closer, a faint breath escaped her lips.

The sound alone nearly made him lose composure.

By the time they finally separated, Ayame remained only an inch away from his face. Her breathing had lost its usual, calm rhythm, growing slightly ragged.

"... Your grip has gotten quite stronger," she mused with a pleased expression before shifting slightly toward his ear and speaking in a low whisper. "How about your stamina?"

Damon’s eyes lingered on hers for a moment longer before a faint smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Why don’t you find out..." he said before finding her upper thighs and lifting her in the air.

Ayame let out the faintest sound of surprise as the world shifted beneath her.

Her arms instinctively tightened around his neck, and her legs wrapped around his torso, her ankles locking behind his back, while Damon held her effortlessly against him.

Her surprised expression lasted only a short moment before an exciting smile flashed across her face, and she found his lips a moment later.

Damon didn’t say anything else.

He just adjusted his grip on her, holding her securely as he stepped deeper into the room.

Ayame stayed wrapped around him without hesitation, her arms still around his neck, her presence light but present against him as he carried her across the room.

Every few steps, she leaned in again for a series of brief, unhurried kisses. They came more as instinct rather than interruption, as if neither of them saw any reason to fully break contact just yet.

The room felt quieter the closer they got to the bed.

Sunlight pierced through the closed curtains and spilled across the floor in soft bands, catching in Ayame’s silver-white hair as she looked up at him between each moment of closeness.

Then, they reached the edge of the bed.