The rest of the year passed swiftly. Chotaikytsai fought eir battle in the council while the rest of them explored options and worked to meet the commisions that were slowly coming in.

The night before the council meeting, they feasted. Fish and tubers baked in the embers of the firepit, nut-studded flatbread. Beer from one of the best brewing houses…

Paiokp looked around at the family, at eir family. Chestef was a mess, as littles often were. Lefeng lay on eir side, tossing nut shells into the evening fire and trading jokes with Tsouchm. When ey thought no one was looking, ey would glance at Kolchais in a way that made Paiokp think they might not be waiting as long as ey had expected for their first baby. It seemed the once-farwalker had truly healed and was ready to move on. Paiokp tried not to notice the looks Kyawtchais had occasionally given eir. Ey didn’t know how ey felt about that. Of all the family ey struggled the most with the handspeech and understanding Kyawtchais’ needs, but ey liked the silent-one. A lot. Tsouchm and Chotaikytsai held each other while talking with others. No one could miss how close those two had grown over the past year.

Of course, they had known each other long before and from what Kolchais had said, the only reason they hadn’t been together sooner was they both had been afraid to ask.

Paiokp waited until things quieted down a bit, then made a hand-word requesting attention. When everyone turned to look at em, Paiokp spoke with voice and hands both. “I should have said something sooner, but I needed time. Thank you for giving it to me. I am scared, very scared. But no matter what happens tomorrow, you are my family, and I am not going anywhere without you.”

Kolchais cheered, making Kyawtchais wince while ey hand-signed eir own version of cheering. Chestef launched emself at Paiokp, nearly knocking em over. Tsouchm grabbed em, knocking em completely off balance, and pulled em down into Tsouchm’s lap, where ey and Chotaikytsai wrapped em and Chestef is a giant hug. Paiokp found emself looking to Lefeng, who had said nothing. Lefeng still said nothing, but now ey looked at Paiokp with the twin of the look ey had sent at Kolchais earlier. Paiokp stared at the fire and promised emself that the heat in eir cheeks was just from being so close to the flames.

When everyone settled down (and Tsouchm let em get up) Chotaikytsai said, “I have some news as well. The high priest — well, both high priests — will be expecting us at the temple after the council meeting. They will join us as an official family no matter what the council decides.”

“Yes!” Lefeng jumped up, making Kyawtchais wince again, laughing. Kolchais danced in place and Paiokp found emself clapping in excitement.

“They really don’t care?”

Chotaikytasai shrugged. “I think they care very much, actually. The priests used to rule the city you know. We’ve always known they were using us. We have simply been using them as well.

“The biggest problem actually, is that they keep arguing over who should preside. The wave priests claim us as familyless, but the tree priests say that the bonding ceremony is from their traditions and theirs to do. I nearly thought I’d see a fistfight between the two most important priests in the city.”

This time everyone laughed. “Tell our story, Lefeng,” Kyawtchais asked. Paiokp sat up and nodded. They had all come to love the self-deprecating humor their guarding-one had brought with em from the mountains.

Lefeng agreed, and as ey started the tale, Paiokp reached out to Kyawtchais. The silent-one took eir hand, and Paiokp gripped firmly the way Kyawtchais preferred. Tomorrow… well tomorrow they might see what else the once-spinner preferred. Maybe…Ey didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, none of them did. But that was okay. They had a multitude of ideas and they had each other. That would be enough.

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