With her gaze intent on the lips she was yearning to meld with her own, Navia had a perfect view of Théadan biting down on one and sending a little shiver through her. Did he realize how much more tempting that made him? She doubted it and almost let him know it, but his fingers reached out to tip her face up more. The smile upon hearing him point out how she’d been ogling him was instant, and she shrugged unapologetically, not at all about to deny her wandering gaze. Théadan appeared amused by it if anything, and hopefully flattered. She always got such pleasure out of knowing how much he enjoyed how she looked. Of course he did not allow her request to go without pointing out her bargaining skills, but he did rationalize kissing her and used his hold on her chin to finish closing the distance between her lips.<br/><br/>A soft kiss was a sweet kiss and it tugged at her heart. The hand at his thigh squeezed gently as Navia allowed Théadan to dictate how much pressure went into the brushing of lips. Never one to be idle, her hand was soon abandoning his thigh to skim upward until it was able to brush along his bare skin. Touch light, she let her palm smooth over the grooves of his abdomen, then on up to his chest before taking place at his cheek to encourage him to come closer, to lean across the horses a bit more so their lips could adjust and deepen the kiss. A satisfied little hum left her; she was so pleased she’d finally gotten what she’d wanted despite all the dancing around they had done.<br/><br/>Navia had had every intention of taking advantage of him giving in to the kiss, of drawing it out, but Varinata was suddenly lurching forward, snorting loudly and shaking her head, breaking the balance Navia had. She pitched forward, breaking free of the quiet moment she’d been sharing with her lover, but righted herself quickly with a startled laugh. It was clear Vari had grown restless from walking so slow and was trying to encourage Wyndagar to pick up the pace with her, leaving Navia to merely shake her head and grin over Théadan, “Just as well she interrupt. All this goofing around would have ended with me pulling you into the bushes before too long.”<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>For another hour or so they traveled, the road they traveled upon growing increasingly rugged, but never out of the horses’ comfort zone.  Navia had grown bored with trying to bother Théadan with the tree leaf and had thusly allowed the blunt end of the leaf rest on her saddle and used one hand to fan him while the other held her horse’s reins. After one of the spots on the trail was so narrow the horses could barely fit through, Navia decided to pull Vari to a halt and dig the map out of her bag. “This doesn’t feel right,” she told Théadan with a frown, glancing around their surroundings, “The times I’ve traveled from Mandira to<i>Ghatni</i>, the roads were never this rough.” After handing the leaf over to him, Navia unrolled the map and blinked down at it for a moment, then frowned and turned it around so it wasn’t upsidedown.<br/><br/>“Um…” It took her a few moments to even find where they had been on the map before she balanced the open map with one hand and traced the route she’d thought they were taking with a free fingertip. “We probably should have gone past a couple of these towns too, but…” They had seen no one since beginning their race. Unsure of what was wrong, Navia glanced Théadan’s way, then backtracked to<i>Ghatni </i>and starting over again. They’d gone south, so they hadn’t gone wrong there, but the road forked and… “Do you remember a fork in the road while we were racing?” Navia asked, “Which way did we go?” She prayed he said<i>right</i>, but had a feeling he wouldn’t, and so was already tracing the left side, which went a few more inches along the map before simply ceasing to exist.