Chapter Text
Slitherbough was an odd place, tucked away in the woods and Samara was fairly certain that she would have felt most uncomfortable in the tiny village had it not been for one exception, one presence that filled her heart with hope instead of unease. Yet here she was sitting on a log in the village centre instead of having followed her to her chambers, because though it had been mere weeks for her, it had been three years of Y'shtola, so long that she hadn't even recognised her aether.
"You are an idiot." were the words that woke Samara from the deep thought she had been in and her eyes migrated to the owner of the voice "she obviously wanted you to follow her, she even lingered as she walked away." Alisaie said raising a cocky eyebrow as she placed a hand on her hip, clearly daring Sam to contradict her. She didn't, it wasn't because she felt that her young friend was right, she was merely still processing. Sure Samara had been in the first for a while now, she had met up with all of her friends who had been stolen away to this world. Y'shtola, to her dismay, had been the last. She had wanted to go and find her immediately but the Exarch had made clear that the urgency of their predicament was too vast to just go off on a whim, even if the woman she so yearned to see had missed her for three years. "She didn't even recognise me Alisaie and..." she swallowed, afraid to even utter the thought "... it has been three years for her, what if things changed?" there it was, the real reason she had not followed Y'shtola. "Yes of course," Alisaie drawled "... and that is why she had to mask her grin the moment you actually greeted her, why her cheeks flushed almost immediately. I mean... you two were never subtle but this was even worse than it was back in Eorzea." the words made Samara look up, to find a very smug Alisaie looking back at her, clearly she had just gotten the reaction she desired as she smirked down at her. "Yes yes, now go." she added with a fond eye-roll prompting Sam to get up and head toward the doors that she had seen Y'shtola disappear behind.
Y'shtola's house, or rather carved out room reminded Sam so much of master Matoya's cave yet small touches made it distinctly different, distinctly Y'shtola. She didn't give herself much time to take in her surroundings because as soon as her eyes fell upon the white-haired miqo'te she could no longer look away. She was looking away, coming through some book that had probably been on top of the massive stack she was standing in front of and a small smile curled onto Sam's lips "You changed your clothes." her voice was raspy with the nerves that were jittering through her body. "Three years will do that to you." Samara flinched at the words, mistakenly interpreting it as an accusation. Had she bothered to listen to her tone, instead of being so consumed with nerves, she would have noticed the amusement in Y'shtola's voice. "That, and I arrived ... naked." she added as she closed her book and turned around to face her guest. The implication was enough for Samara and a blush shot to her cheeks and once again she was reminded of the power that Y'shtola had over her. "hmmm..." she purred as the miqo'te slowly came closer, almost as if she was closing in on her prey, which in some ways Samara realised, she was. "I missed you." Samara all but whispered as the woman stepped into her personal space and she relished the warmth that was radiating off of her. "I missed you too, darling." she purred as she crossed the last few inches that had been separating them, enveloping Sam in a hug.
She could feel her body tense at the sudden closeness, even though she had expected it, yearned for it even, she still stiffened only to quickly relax and let her arms slide around Y'shtola's waist, dropping her head in the nook of her neck. She smelled like grass and wood, yet she still even across worlds, had maintained her own scent. She could feel the small miqo'te in her arms slowly lean more into the hug and she gave herself over to Samara. They remained embraced for quite a time, both trying to console how much they had missed one another. A pang of sadness struck Sam once again when she realised that for Y'shtola their separation had been so much longer and she could feel tears prick behind her eyes at the thought of losing the woman she loved for three years. But between the two of them, Y'shtola had always been more mature, the one to keep her emotions under control and thus it was her who pulled away first, though only so far that Sam could look into her beautiful white-glazed eyes. One of her hands went to Sam's cheek, her thumb wiping away a fallen tear "All is well darling, you have returned to me." the words were spoken with such love and kindness and Samara felt an urge to bury herself into Y'shtola's neck once more just to run away from the warm yet scrutinizing gaze that was upon her. Even though she was away that the woman was blind, she could still read Samara like a book, it just meant that regardless of what Sam would do Y'shtola would know it anyway as she didn't need to gauge her expression, armed with that knowledge Sam decided not to hide away and simply enjoy the view. "By the light, you are as beautiful as ever." she then gasped, hit by the sudden realisation that she was in fact in the arms of her favourite person. Her gaze flitted towards the soft lips that she had tasted so often and in anticipation and want she licked her lips. Then with a sliver of bravery, her hands pressed into Y'shtola's lower back, urging the woman to come closer before their lips connected.
Sure they had kissed before, they had kissed a lot but this felt different. Samara had feared she would never know this feeling again, never taste, never explore like this but now she was and she was taking full advantage of it. Her hands slowly traced over Y'shtola's spine causing the woman to moan into the kiss. Samara smiled into the kiss as she realised that she still knew the woman in her arms, still knew how to turn her on. Y'shtola not to be outdone bit into Sam's bottom lip, causing the warrior of light to groan and chase after the woman's lips, but she was too slow and thus she diverted her lips to the miqo'te's neck, placing tiny kisses along the length of it as she made her way to her clavicle. "Sam..." Y'shtola panted, placing bother her hands-on Samara's hips to push her away slightly, causing her to frown in confusion. "...as much as I would like to continue this here, there is much we have to discuss." she was right of course, but that was not something she was ready to acknowledge and thus emboldened by their previous kiss Samara turned them around and pressed her counterpart against the wall. "mmhmmm" she murmured as she continued her journey along the woman's neck "and we can definitely talk." she added as she once more connected their lips together into a brief, yet searing kiss "... after, we can talk after." she breathed. She barely waited for Y'shtola to nod in agreement before they were kissing again, fully intent on exploring just how much they had missed one another.