As we parted after the second, much longer and lingering kiss, I laid my head against Avuri’s chest.

“You know,” I said, almost whispering, “I’ve been wanting to do that for a while.”

Avuri leaned her cheek against the top of my head with a small sigh. “I’m glad I’m not the only one.” She said, happiness clear in her tone. Her arms wove their way around me, keeping me close. Together, without a word, we began to sway back and forth as we stood there.

“Look, I know we’re in a pretty strange situation when you look at it logically.” I said, trying to get us back on topic. “But I think it’s better to look at everything we’ve done so far as an advantage. We know each other very well already when it comes to very important areas of life.”

I felt Avuri nod against my hair as she responded, “That’s true. There’s only a couple major things left for us to really work on.”

“Oh? And what do you think those are?” I said, closing my eyes comfortably.

“Well,” Avuri began, “there’s sexual compatibility to consider. Though given that kiss earlier, I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

“I’m inclined to agree there.” I said, licking my lips, as the steamy kiss played through my mind again.

“I think the main remaining question is how well we work as a couple.” Avuri said, sounding a bit more serious. “We’ve spent the months up until now sorta faking it. We haven’t been doing things that normal couples do. Instead, we’ve been acting more like a platonic family.”

I nodded against her chest in agreement. “You’re right. I do think that knowing we get along so well in those circumstances is maybe even more important in the long run, but making sure we work as a real couple is important too.”

“Right. For example, I don’t know if you’re clingy, or romantic, or just a goofball when it comes to being a couple. Stuff like that is important to make sure we’ll be good together.”

“For whatever it’s worth, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.” I said. “But also, I’m probably all three of those things you just mentioned. I should mention again that I’ve never been in a real relationship before, so I don’t actually know for sure.”

“That’s okay, we can take our time and find out together.” Avuri said. She smoothly moved us from our absent swaying into something more like a dance, and we began stepping together around the empty playground.

“I should maybe also mention,” She continued, “that I’m a little possessive and don’t like sharing. I know you mentioned that you’ve had the occasional fling while traveling, and I know that that sort of thing is common among Cultivator couples.” Then she said flatly, “I am not a fan.”

“That’s fine by me.” I nodded. “I’m not sure I would like that either, so other people are off-limits. For both of us.”

“Good.” Avuri said, her voice carrying a note of finality. “So…what are we going to consider ourselves for now?”

I looked up at her questioningly. “What do you mean?”

“Well, assuming that we’re not really planning on changing our living arrangements, I feel like we’re well past any normal ‘we’re a couple’ stage.” Avuri said, looking up toward the sky in thought. I felt a spike of jealousy that she continued to move so gracefully without looking, while I was putting in concerted effort into our little ‘dance’.

“...would it be too forward to consider ourselves ‘intended’?” I asked impishly.

Avuri’s feet lost their rhythm for a step and I smirked to myself, but she recovered quickly. “I think that may be jumping a few too many steps, even for us.” She said with a laugh.

“How about ‘in a serious relationship’, then?”

“That’s…better.” Avuri said tentatively, then snorted as something apparently popped into her head. “Although, I do wonder how long it’ll take us to move from here to engaged.”

I let out a soft “Hmm.” as I considered the question. “I figure…a week or two to sort out our heads from the Paired Cultivation effects, maybe a week or two more before one of us says ‘I love you’, then…I’ll be generous and say a month after that?” I said, quickly doing the math in my head. “So, we’ll be engaged in about two months?”

Avuri stopped our dance and just stared down at me, slack-jawed.

“What?” I asked, grinning up at her. “You asked. And that’s my honest answer.”

Avuri shook her head and sighed. “The worst part is that I’m not sure I can fault your timeline.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“The real question is which of us says ‘I love you’ first, and which of us proposes.” I said, trying to rile her up.

“I think it’ll be me, then you.” Avuri said, sounding unusually confident in her answer. Then she elaborated, “I’m almost positive I’ll tell you ‘I love you’ before you tell me. And I think that you’ll be annoyed by that and want to make sure you propose first.”

I laughed and swept Avuri back into the dance, my steps less structured, but no less graceful. “I want to say you’re wrong, but no, I could see that.”

Avuri laughed with me as I led us around the playground and back toward the bench. When we were in front of it, I stepped away from Avuri and led her back to sit down again.

“There’s one more thing I feel like we should address.” I said seriously. My tone seemed to bring Avuri back to the conversation at full attention.

“The girls. Cierra clearly already sees you as a mother figure. And I imagine that if Stena decides to think of us as her mothers, it’ll be together, not one of us.” I met Avuri’s eyes, trying to gauge her reaction. “Does that bother you? Would you prefer to make a distinction?”

Avuri looked down and played with her nails as she seemed to really consider the question. I quietly waited for her to come to a conclusion for almost a full minute before she answered.

“No. I realize it may cause some problems if things don’t work out between us. But I want to be a mother to both of those little girls. I already love Cierra as much as I would my own daughter, I suspect.”

I caught Avuri glance over at me, then quickly away again. “I imagine it’ll be much the same with Stena. She was a delightful little girl on the trip back here, and I somehow doubt that would change.”

I nodded, accepting that. “Then, for the time being, would you like to be acting co-parents?” I asked earnestly. “No more worrying about not really being Cierra’s mother, or feeling like you’re overstepping when you act like a parent.” I gave Avuri a warm smile when she turned to look at me, stunned.

“Don’t you think that’s being a little hasty?” She asked.

I shook my head. “I’ll be honest, Avuri. For as much as we’re approaching this situation with caution, I really don’t foresee any issues. I more or less expect us to be married within the year.” I chuckled as she once again stared at me.

“I told you I’d be blunt. We were basically married and working as co-parents for the last few months in all but name, just without some of the intimacy that goes along with it. And while I did want to make sure this all works without whatever feelings are generated by our Cultivating together, I really don’t think they had all that much of an effect in the end.”

Avuri rubbed her forehead, looking as though she had a sudden headache. “I feel like you’re right, but I have a gut reaction to fight you on that. I feel like this is all just too…easy.”

I gently placed a hand on her shoulder and chuckled. “I think that’s just your inner drama queen talking, Avuri.” I leaned back, putting my hand out behind me to steady myself on the bench as there was no back rest.

“People always talk about how relationships require so much work, but I don’t think that’s right. You both need to be willing to put in effort, sure, but if you’re open and honest with one another then drama never really needs to enter the equation. People have enough shit going on in their lives already - why would you want your relationship to add to all that stress?”

I looked down again to meet Avuri’s eyes. “The best relationships are ones that give you strength to draw from, rather than sapping your strength to maintain. A good, strong, healthy relationship should be easy. At least most of the time.”

Avuri snorted and smiled at me. It was a beautiful smile that also seemed to hold just a bit of sadness. “Those feel like very wise words for someone who has never been in a relationship before.”

“Hey,” I said, and lightly punched her upper arm, “just because I’ve never been in a romantic relationship before doesn’t mean I don’t have relationships with my family and friends. A lot of the same rules and philosophy apply.”

“You might have a point there.”

“I do.” I said haughtily. “Though I’ll also be the first person to say that my view on it is maybe a little too idealistic.”

“Maybe, but it’s not a bad ideal to strive for.”

“I’ve always done my best to be straight with people and try to keep myself as honest as I can. It helps that I’ve kept people around me that are happy to do the same.”

“Well, it’s worked for us so far, so I’m with you on this. ‘Open book, no bullshit,’ right?”

We both chuckled as I nodded. As we slowly calmed down, I leaned over to rest my head against Avuri’s shoulder.

“Now we have to tell my sister and the dragon.” I muttered.

“...Should I be worried?” Avuri asked hesitantly.

“Nah, not really. They’ll probably get excited since I’ve never been really involved with anyone, but I’d expect most of that energy to be directed at me, not you.” I sighed, already exhausted by the upcoming fiasco.

“We could always just go get the girls and take a bath, then tell them tomorrow.” Avuri said, smiling as she clearly heard the exhaustion in my voice.

“That’s a very enticing offer.”

“You don’t think they suspect anything given how long we’ve been chatting out here alone?”

“Oh, I’m sure they do.” I said with an empty laugh. “But they won’t say anything until I do. They’re good like that.”

“I can appreciate that.” Avuri said. “My family back home would dig for information as soon as they had an inkling there was something to dig for.”

There was a moment of silence before I said, “You know, I don’t think you’ve mentioned your family before.”

“Pretty sure I haven’t. They’re back in the Floral Hills, and I haven't spoken to them much since I entered the Frozen Mountain.”

“You may want to send them a letter to give them an update so they don’t suddenly receive a wedding invitation in a few months.”

Avuri laughed for a moment then stopped suddenly. “Oh, you know, you’re probably right. I didn’t even let them know I left the Frozen Mountain.”

“Sounds like you’ll have some writing to do tonight after the bath.”

Avuri groaned, and I chuckled. “I’ll give you another kiss like earlier once it’s done.”

Avuri’s whole body seemed to come to attention at that. “Suddenly I have the urge to write.” She said, and jokingly moved her right hand around as if she were writing in the air.

“Well come on, then. Let’s go get the girls and bathe.” I said before hopping to my feet. Avuri followed, more sedately.

“You know, sleeping in the same bed as the girls might get really hard in the next few days.”

I snorted out a laugh. “Maybe one of these extra houses will finally see some use.”