Lionel and Yenene share their first kiss at home.

Though they have lived together for years now their love never really got physical for fear of being found out and being way to cautious about it. This changed one day as they were traveling together along their alternative trade route, close to where they first met in the no man's land of the border zone btween the southern empire and northern kingdoms, when Lionel noticed a small chapel had been built there next to a new hamlet that had sprung up in the area. While it wasn't unusual to see new settlements come and go in this area as people tried their luck in a new place where two realms often skirmished, this one stood out somewhat as the population was made up of both humans and beast races, Volf, Vossen, kobolds, Lipane, dragon kin and even a salamander couple all lived their quiet lives there in relative harmony.

The area had also changed a bit since the last time Lionel travelled through here, though he had never paid much attention to the area before. The ravine his wagon had crashed into back then was now had a river flowing through it past the settlement and Lionel thanked his lucky stars there was no river back then as he can't swim and would have surely drowned. Farmland had been created on the grassland and the forest provided hunting and foraging opportunities. It was a rather idylic place set at the foot of a mountain and wandering mercenaries and adventurers helped preserve the peace in the otherwise lawless area. Lionel remembered the name of the mountain and surrounding area was called Moonrest because if you stood at the foot of the mountain in the middle of the night the large moon could be seen cradled between the two snow covered peaks.
It would be years later a city would rise nearby, founded and ruled by a Vossen adventurer, making the land a buffer state between the northern kingdom and the southern empire and putting an end to the skirmishes in the area.

Looking at Yenene sitting beside him as she was busy braiding bracelets out of some scraps of twine and leather that she like to hand out to children at the market, the sunlight reflecting off of her fur as she worked, he thought back to that night they first met and how this wild Volf woman saved his life for no apparent reason and he felt like he was falling in love with her all over again. It dawned on him that even though they had been living together as a couple this whole time, neither of them seemed to have had actually considered themselves as a romantic couple let alone a married one just staying together because Yenene declared they had pack bonded. Something he now knew meant she considered themselves as the start of a new pack of outsiders joining together, it wasn't like declarign eachother as mates as Yenene put it, but she did consider him as an Alpha alongside her as founders of the new pack in Volfen culture. Lionel realised that all this time he still had some biases against beast folk, at least when it came to physical attraction, but seeing Yenene in this light made him feel anothe kind of attraction and appreciation for her form. He knew it wasn't unheard of that humans and beastfolk could be physically attracted to eachother, there were hardly any brothels that didn't have at least one beastfolk on staff afterall, it made him wonder why marriage between them didn't happen more often.

Yenene caught him staring and put down her braid work for a moment to stare back at him. "What is it?" she asked as Lionel turned his eyes back to the road with a light color on his cheeks. "Oh...nothing. You just... You look beautiful today Yen."
Yenene didn't repond but smiled as she leaned in for a moment to give him a lick on the cheek before resuming her braiding.
Lionel touched his cheek for a moment where she licked him before wiping it with his glove and glancing back at Yenene. She didn't seem any different after the compliment but he could hear her tail wagging as it hit the side of the wagon and the back of the bench so she clearly appreciated the complement. This would always puzzle him how Yenene could seemigly not be bothered by anything or show her feelings, but he had seen before how she could be fierce like a wild animal and then just be so feminine and almost motherly moments later as if nothing had happened. Looking over at the chapel again as they rode past Lionel made up his mind, he was going to formerly propose to her in the next city and then get married in that hamlet's chapel.

Yenene was confused at first about what marriage meant to humans but she wasn't opposed to the idea when it was explained to her as becoming a mated pair like proper pack alphas. Lionel had a wedding dress made for her while they were in the city and he bought her an engagement ring made of silverpine wood, a kind of wood that had a silver shine to it when polished, it had to be a simple ring because slaves weren't typically allowed any jewelry in the empire but their owner could make them wear some cheap accessories for looks when indoors. Not that Yenene minded as she preferred the more natural and primitive decorations anyways. When they returned to the hamlet it did not take much convincing the locals to have their wedding in their new chapel as it would be the first major event to be held in it, much to the excitement of the kobold priest. Lionel and Yenene shared their first kiss there in front of the small gathering and the cheers of the locals, though it was a somewhat awkward kiss due to their differences.

The locals even threw together a celebration for them, impressing the both of them with how quickly it was all arranged as by the evening the center of the village was decorated with flowers and makeshift tents and a feast was prepared with enough to eat and drink for everyone. Clearly this was a close knit community despite all the different races of the people to be able to organize it all on such short notice and Yenene and Lionel were impressed by the generosity of the people to share their supplies and their blessings for their marriage. It left them both in high spirits on the remaining trip back home while usually they'd both be rather tired from the long trip and once they got home they shared another kiss before their wedding night.
Though this would lead to some other problems with their differences they would have to figure out, but that would be another concern for later to overcome....

made in Hero Forge
Characters belong to me  Chakat_Blackwater