He will relax against the blanket and pet Leareth and share his vision of the sunset and whimper quietly, happily, when the colors change.

A mountain sunset through Quendi eyes is even better than Leareth had imagined it and he keeps getting distracted from the idea of doing anything else with Maitimo because his attention keeps getting filled up with 'pretty!'.

"This is why you're not supposed to honeymoon anywhere too scenic."

Leareth is tempted to make some quip about 'have to keep it in mind for our honeymoon' but it's probably not very funny, the Quendi marriage thing is so unfair and it's got to be a sore point for Maitimo. 

"I am glad I showed you," he says softly. It's a memory he's going to cherish for a long time. 

"Me too." Hug.

The sky deepens to turquoise, then a deep velvety blue, the horizon crimson and purple and seeming to go on forever. The stars would be appearing to human eyes, now; they've been visible to Maitimo for ages, but more and more are coming into view now. 

:This is incredible: he sends, his mindvoice barely a whisper. :The stars of this world are - meaningful to me. One can already see them more clearly in the mountains. And through your eyes...: He squeezes Maitimo's hand. :I am never going to forget this: 

...Leareth smiles to himself. And places a compulsion, a very simple one, not trying to be too subtle to notice. Keep looking at the stars, keeping sharing his eyes. He shifts his position on the blanket to one where he can reach over and start undoing Maitimo's braid. 

" - hey," he says aloud. He's smiling. 

Smirk. "I like to see the stars through your eyes. And I like to pet your hair. Obviously the best position to be in is to have both." 

"Hmmm." 

- he tries to grab Leareth's arm and pull him back into his lap. He is slightly impaired in doing this by being unable to turn his head.

He's also stronger and has better reach, though, slightly impaired isn't enough to cancel out the species difference here. Leareth tries to twist around to get his hand within hair-reaching distance, but doesn't use any further magic to cheat, that would be less fun. 

Well if Leareth is going to sit on his lap and reach around to pet his hair that's much better because he can play with Leareth too as long as he doesn't take his eyes off the sky.

This works great for Leareth, actually, who isn't constrained by having to keep his head at an angle where he can see anything. 

It is hard to keep your head staring straight ahead while very distracted so eventually he tugs Leareth around so he can lie down on the blanket while still looking at the stars.

Leareth lets himself be tugged. It's cozy and warm despite the wind howling against the weather-barrier, and through Maitimo's eyes the sky full of stars seems to go on forever, almost something he can imagine falling into, and Leareth is very, very happy. It would be easy to lose track of time and just lie here indefinitely, but he tries to pay attention to whether Maitimo is still enjoying himself, he's presumably going to need a break eventually. 

He leaves his impressions out where Leareth can read them rather than ask. You can get off from hairpetting, but not very satisfyingly, and afterwards you will still be aroused and your hair will be even more sensitive and at some point that gets actively unpleasant though not unmixedly so.

Then Leareth will stop before the point of anything unsatisfying, and drop the compulsion, and kiss him. :I have had my turn at doing whatever I like with you. Your turn: 

If you insist. He does not actually wait for any more insisting.

Fortunately maintaining the weather-barrier once it's up does not take active concentration, because that would not really be possible and they would end up very cold. Instead, it's pretty much the same temperature as it would be indoors, even though the wind is now whipping up snow-crystals and gusting them at the barrier. 

:We should go back: Leareth says eventually, reluctantly. It's very late at this point and they're cuddling pleasantly and he's sleepy, but this isn't a wise place to actually stay the night. 

Yeah, okay. He fixes his hair (and Leareth's, no one here will read much into it.)

Leareth sighs and packs up their things, lots of extra supplies they didn't need. He nudges Maitimo all the way to the back of the cave before dropping the weather-barrier so he can focus fully on the Gate. There aren't any strong nodes nearby in the arid mountains and Gating is going to use up pretty much all that's left of his reserves. Fortunately he can bring them straight to their room and immediately flop. 

He resists the temptation to be distracting and holds the supplies so they can walk through quickly once it's up.

The Gate goes up; the interior of their room is dark and peaceful and quiet, moonlight shining through a gap in the curtains. They step across. Leareth immediately leans onto Maitimo, just because he can, he could manage to stay on his feet unaided but he doesn't have to, now. He takes down the Gate and heads straight for the bed to flop facedown onto it. :That was fun. Also I am exhausted. Come snuggle m–:

This is the point at which, with no warning, the roof explodes violently and collapses on them. 

- can he reach Dara can he reach Tran can he reach Sandra can he reach Savil can he reach Shavri - Kilchas - Joshel - Keiran - Katha - Randi - Shallan - Siri - Marius -

- under attack - what's going on -

:–just happened now! Out of nowhere - mage-attack of some kind, I'm trying to reach the Web-focus room to get a better look–:

:I don't have the faintest idea–: Dara cuts herself off within half a second. :Rolan's checking with the herd. There's a goddamned army out there. Wasn't there five seconds ago. Are you all right?: