[She can't help a small shiver at the light kiss - her body may be battered and exhausted, but it still reacts - and that's a sensitive spot. The tiny spark of physical pleasure is enough to chase away some of the fear, unknot a little of the tension that the rough cough had brought with it.]

I didn't think to smuggle some in with me, unfortunately - though I think Retsu would have frisked me if I so much thought of it.

[The jest makes her feel a little like her old self, the rhythm between them familiar.