Primal is a good word for it. Balthier can't entirely put his finger on what it does for him, but he likes the playfulness of it, the possession, the way he trusts her not to overstep and hurt him. It's not a feeling he has a lot of experience with.

So the break is welcome. She really was serious about exploring all of him. He hisses lightly at the bite in his knee. "I'm not sure about that one," he says. It's new. "I suppose you'll just have to try a few more times." Because he doesn't have any qualms with this exploring and playing. "I like you playful like this." There's something else, too, deeper than that, but he can't put his finger on it.

And it occurs to him he doesn't have to figure it out this time, or the next. For the foreseeable future, at least, she wants to be here. With him.