Page 62 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Stars

Dorin was experiencing feelings in this mortal body that she hadn't before in her two years in Domhan na Rùin. Neamhaí was so beautiful; the blue of his hair and skin so vibrant and his features ethereal.

She wanted to scoff and dismiss everything they'd said about how they ended up here, but her story was no less wild. Maybe she should hear them out. She was annoyed still, but mostly at the traitorous response of her body to being so close to them. And they crushed her flowers! She wanted to be livid still, but instead, her fingertips tingled as she floated them across their proud cheekbones.

Dorin sighed and forced herself to step back. "Tell me your story, then."

Dorin busied herself making tea as Neamhaí spoke. He told her of all his formless time observing her from the depth of the cosmos, and he spoke with such conviction and tenderness.

"When I realized you'd gone, I waited for a time—you are a goddess after all. I know you aren’t helpless. But then, you didn't come back, and I felt… worry. One of our elders keeps the knowledge of how to descend to the mortals below, so I sought them out. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in your garden. I tried to walk much too soon, though, and ended up falling under that bush with the miniature fruits."

"The blackberry bush," Dorin said, her displeasure at his garden mishap flaring to life again. "So," she began, handing him a cup of tea. "You found me. A stranded goddess, living a sad life here in a place she doesn't belong. Are you going to take me home?"

"Sad? It does not seem like a sad life to me," they said, gesturing to her shelf.

"Ah. Well, no reason not to settle in. I was here for a year before my hope of leaving truly began to fail, so I kept some of my things."

"You want to leave? But it seems beautiful here," Neamhaí's unwavering optimism was baffling to Dorin.

"I suppose it is, but it isn't home. My sister tricked me, sent me here against my will. She's Lunaya, the light side of the moon, and I was her opposite in every way. Now the moon is always bright." Dorin closed her eyes against the memory of her home on the moon.

"My elder gave me a vast amount of knowledge about the mortal world before I fell; they said mortals sometimes need or want physical contact to fill emotional needs. Would you like some physical contact? You seem sad."

"No!" Dorin snapped, a bit too hastily. "No, thank you, I'm fine." She glanced at them, though, and those annoying sensations in her body pulsed again. Her eyes drifted to their exposed thighs, strong and patched with what she realized now were scales.

She cleared her throat. "More tea?"

"Yes, please, it's very good. Hot leaf water? The mortals are strange, aren't they."

"They really are." Dorin didn’t realize what a relief it would be to really talk to someone. She'd spent a lot of time alone on the moon, but the past years had been different. There were people here, people with minds and souls that she did not feel like she could get to know. She had hidden away other than when she went out into the world to try to find the other gods.

Her throat tightened, and her vision blurred.

"Neamhaí?"

"Yes, Dorin?" They answered, stepping nearer to her as they set their teacup on the table.

"I think I actually would like that physical contact you offered, if it isn't too much trouble." Dorin's voice broke as she spoke.

Without a word, Neamhaí pulled her into their arms, and their embrace gave Dorin the most comfort she'd ever known.