Ekaterina had eaten with the others in the community, and then gone to her room to reflect on the miracle of his rising. Decades had passed easily in almost silent regard of her angel. Waiting for his return now that he was a man seemed an endless torture. She ached to be beside him, to touch him, to kiss him. Rather than contemplating the miracle of life she found herself staring at her bed and wondering, just wondering.

She must have fallen asleep in the chair. She woke to strong arms and the scent of summer around her. They were alone in the evening half-light.

“Have you eaten? Are you hungry?” She tried to rise, her reflex was to attend to his needs. He said nothing, just gave a smile and a slight shake of his head to answer her question. The buttons holding her habit closed were easily undone, the heavy material cast to one side as he carried her to the bed. He was naked. Ready for what she had said she wanted.

Two improbable virgins, they were knowledgeable and nervous, gentle and uncertain. It was an act of discovery for them both as she guided him into her. She whispered her love as the first release left him sobbing into her hair. She removed the redundant shift, a symbol of pointless modesty that had been pushed up as he kissed her heavy breasts, and used it to dry his eyes.  She laid him back on the bed, wiped the sweat from his chest and reassured him that everything was as it should be. She kissed him, and again. There was no starlight just human warmth and he felt that that was pleasure enough.

Kissing led to more touching. Stroking led to an intake of breath and soft sighs. While Mykhail might have been overwhelmed by reality, his glorious body seemed designed to respond to the situation. They both laughed the second time, and Ekaterina reached out to steady herself against the wall as he lifted her from his hips and the thing of pleasure that seemed spent between them. In playful concern at the harm he might have caused he demanded that she let him see the place that had so eagerly welcomed his flesh. Beyond modesty she allowed him to light a lamp and lay back to let him look, and then touch, and then kiss her as he wanted and the passion between them was ignited again.

Physical joy marked the end of Mykhail’s third day.

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