He nudged Flame with his shoulder and shouting, “Tag, you’re it!” he spun ninety degrees and raced off with her in hot pursuit. They zigzagged over the hills, chasing each other like a pair of kids, or rather kittens. Then as Aidan raced after Flame she suddenly reversed and tackled him. They went tumbling head-over-heels and ended up with Flame pinning Aidan firmly.

“Hey!” he protested.

She was laughing, but also panting hard, and in between breaths she said, “You may not need to pause for breath, but I do! Let’s take a break.”

Aidan indeed wasn’t out of breath at all, but he didn’t have any objections to resting. He yawned a huge feline yawn. For him it was very, very late and now that he had slowed down his sleepiness was catching up with him. “Sounds fine, though if I sit still for too long I’m going to be out cold.”

“How long will Belak watch Spark?” asked Flame.

“Well, I asked if he’d mind keeping her for a couple of days, so we have plenty of time. Much as I love the little fuzz-ball,” he added, “sometimes I need a break. I imagine you do too.”

“Sometimes,” agreed Flame. She took her weight off of Aidan and let him get to his feet. He sat on his haunches and scratched behind his ear with one hind foot for a moment.

“Bother,” he said, “I can’t quite get at it.”

Flame laughed. “Now you know why I always liked having you scratch behind my ears. It’s pretty near impossible to reach that spot yourself. It’s even worse than that place in the middle of your back when you’re human.” She suddenly shimmered into human form and reached over. Her fingers found just the right spot and scratched at it. Aidan’s eyes closed halfway and an expression of pure bliss crossed his feline features. Somewhat to his surprise he found himself purring.

Flame laughed again. “If you had any idea how silly you look right now…”

“I do,” he said. “I’ve seen you looking just the same hundreds of times.”

“This is a bit of a reversal, isn’t it?” she said.

“Mmm-hmmm,” he replied drowsily. Flame Song’s scratching shifted into a softer stroking motion, and he drifted off to sleep with her fingers running through the soft, fine fur on his head. For a moment Flame considered waking him and heading home to sleep. She debated with herself, ticking off the possible dangers out in the open. Here in the north there were few people. The dwarves seldom ventured out of Coppertop on the surface, preferring to travel via their underground tunnels, and nobody else lived north of the Barrier Mountains but their own little family. So there wasn’t much danger of somebody happening on them asleep in the open. And no ordinary animal would approach as formidable a predator as a firecat. It was too warm for ice worms, and trolls never came down out of the mountains except in the harshest weather. In the end, however, it was her tiredness that made her decision. She simply couldn’t overcome her inertia enough to move. So she shifted back into firecat form herself and, curling up next to her husband, she fell asleep.

She had a brief moment of disorientation when she awoke to find herself out under a sky going from red to indigo with the fading sunset. Then she saw Aidan just opening his eyes next to her and remembered. He stretched cat-style, working his paws through the grass. Then he looked at her and said, “You’re beautiful this way too, you know. I don’t think I've said it that often, but it’s true.”

She smiled. “You make a handsome firecat yourself.” She rubbed her cheek along his affectionately. Then she gave a little laugh. “But right now your fur’s every which way.”

“Well, so is yours,” said Aidan. “I guess bed head is a full-body experience when you’re a firecat.”

“Guess we’d better do something about it then” said Flame, and started licking Aidan’s fur into place along his neck ruff. Aidan found himself purring again. There was something very pleasant about being groomed like that. Instinctively he found himself responding in kind, licking Flame’s fur into order in turn with a rough tongue. The mutual grooming session lasted quite a while, and it stirred up some very pleasant emotions in them both. When the last recalcitrant strand of fur had been put into place Aidan looked at Flame and found that she was turned away slightly, looking back at him over her shoulder with an unmistakable invitation written in her pose. He gulped. This had been what he’d had in mind when he’d gotten the ring, but now he wasn’t quite sure what to do. He was a giant cat, for heaven’s sake! How was he supposed to…?

Flame must have seen his expression, for she said softly, “What’s wrong?”

“I… I’m just not quite sure how to…” He stopped. His ears felt hot and he was sure that if he’d still been in his usual shape he would be blushing furiously.

Flame smiled a feline smile. “It’s all right. How do you think I felt on our wedding night? I didn’t have a clue how humans went about things, but you didn’t have any complaints, did you? You have all the right instincts; they come with the shape. Just do whatever comes naturally.” She didn’t give him time for further thought or conversation; she just rubbed her check against his again and continued the motion along his side, her body pressing against the length of his. He relaxed and breathed in the scent of her. He let go of his nervousness and gave into the demands of instinct. And he found that he did indeed know what to do.