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One may think that Jasnah Kholin was used to disappointing others, but her capacity to suffer under such a state was greater than even she realized.
She and her wife were together on the Cloudwalk, one of the higher places in Urithiru, and evidently, one where romantic couples tended to congregate.
Though she and Shallan were both dressed finely, appropriately adorned for their stations, they walked with a slight distance between them. They did not brush elbows, they did not hold hands, and they did not…
“Jasnah?” Shallan’s voice called, but it sounded as though the sound came from a continent away.
Jasnah’s focus was on the sight of some man and woman she didn’t know, as they stood closely and kissed. The sight made her feel… ashamed.
As had been the case from the start, Shallan was a quick study, and was able to catch sight of what had preoccupied Jasnah’s attention before the Queen of Alethkar could shift her gaze away.
Despite a history of coming to incorrect conclusions on Jasnah’s emotional state after studying the evidence provided by her body language, facial expression, and tone of voice, Shallan was able to divine correctly exactly what emotion drove her to distraction.
“It’s okay. I’ve… gotten used to it. Our situation.” Shallan delivered the lie, for it must be a lie Jasnah knew the younger woman’s appetites, with a disarming smile. “What we lack in physical affection, you more than make up for in your letters and words.”
Hearing that was what did it.
Unable to stand any longer the idea she was failing in her role as this darling creature’s partner, Jasnah stepped closer, leaned down, and stole a kiss from Shallan.
Pride would not allow Jasnah Kholin to do anything improperly.
“You may state your desires plainly,” Jasnah stated, pulling away slightly. Even this brief moment of closeness, of contact, made some part of her squirm and itch. “I will not be able to accommodate them all, but I would be remiss if I didn’t try. As Shauka-daughter-Hasweth wrote in relation to her own marriage: communication and compromise are paramount.” In fact, the true quote was somewhat longer and dipped into Stone Shamanist beliefs, but a paraphrase would do, for the moment.
Shallan pouted, an expression Jasnah both cherished and detested in nearly equal measure. “I doubt Shauka-daughter-Hasweth’s wife was as impossible to understand as I am.”
“On the contrary. While accounts are sparse, what we do know paints…”
They continued their walk, perhaps a step closer to each other than they’d been before, and talked long of marriage and the nature of love.