Sinitïa was holding her bare hands out towards a pair of rocks in the corner of the gathering room when Jorvanultumn and Chiansamorkin entered. Meleng and Captain Gen stood near her, in the process of removing their outdoor clothing. First Mate Ting stood behind them, apparently content with what they were wearing, and not removing anything.

The rocks were new, as were the two vertical ice sheets, one on each side of the rocks, acting like screens to direct the heat emanating from the rocks.

Sinitïa grinned. “Isn’t it great?”

Jorvanultumn looked at Chiansamorkin. “Did you do this?”

“With help from Fevionawishtensen,” Chiansamorkin said in Arnorgue. “Your human friends would have a lot of difficulty eating covered in all those clothes.” She wiped her brow. “It’s very warm, though. Is this what it’s like in Arnor?”

“Oh, it is much worse,” Jorvanultumn said.

Chiansamorkin sighed. “Great.”

The gathering room was the busiest Jorvanultumn could remember seeing it. Davorultumn and Mikranasta had never been ones to have guests over much. Chiansamorkin had visited frequently, but that was pretty much the extent of visitors they ever had. But now, the room was full of people.

While the humans were gathered near the heating stones, Fevionawishtensen, Mikranasta, and Hilkorultumn stood as far from them as they could get, at the far side of the low-table, which had been raised to the height of a high-table—probably because the actual high-table in the adjoining room was too small to seat everyone. Jorvanultumn was not certain this one would seat everyone. Even the nine people already in the room would be a squeeze. Once Davorultumn—presumably preparing the food—and Hedromornasta joined them, it would be awkward.

Captain Gen approached him and they clasped left hands. “Thank you for inviting us, Jorvanultumn. I appreciate the opportunity to meet your family.”

“It is my pleasure.” It had actually been a spur-of-the-moment decision. He had only planned to invite Meleng and Sinitïa, but Gen and Ting had been there and it had felt wrong not to include them. “Have you met everyone?”

“We’ve gone through introductions, but they were a little awkward as they don’t speak Arnorgue and my Isyarian leaves a lot to be desired. I hope I didn’t overly embarrass myself. Wouldn’t want to give your family a bad impression. Not for my sake, you understand, but for yours.”

“I will translate for you,” Jorvanultumn said. “When my diare arrives, he can also help, though his Arnorgue may be… What is the word when it has been a long time?”

Gen raised his eyebrows. “Rusty?”

“Yes, rusty.”

Chiansamorkin cleared her throat. “Don’t forget me.”

Jorvanultumn grimaced. “Right, of course. I forgot.” In fact, it had barely registered that she could speak the language. “I have been meaning to ask. When did you learn to speak Arnorgue?”

“Last year,” she said with a grin.

“But how? Where?”

“I just thought it would be interesting to learn.”

“You speak it better than I do, and I have lived with Arnorins for two years.”

She spread her arms wide and gave a little bow. “I guess I’m just that good!” She strode around the raised low-table towards the other Isyar. “If you don’t mind, I need to get away from the heat.”

“Looks like communication will be easier than we thought,” Gen said.

But how had she learned? Who taught her? Davorultumn? He had certainly not said anything about it. Hilkorultumn maybe? But his Arnorgue would be even rustier than Davorultumn’s. Who else in Chithishtheny spoke Arnorgue? Perhaps she learned to read it from books, but they would not help much with pronunciation. She sounded almost like a native, with only a hint of an Isyarian accent. Jorvanultumn doubted he would ever be able to speak it that well.

A hand touched his arm. “Everything all right?” Meleng asked.

Jorvanultumn smiled at him. “Yes. I was just lost in thought. There is much to tell you later.” He glanced back at Chiansamorkin, who was engaged in quiet, but excited conversation with Fevionawishtensen. He should not be so surprised by her. She was an exceptionally talented individual. There had to be a logical explanation how she had learned Arnorgue. If anyone could do it with little opportunity to use it, she could.

Gen motioned to the table. “I’m afraid I don’t know the appropriate etiquette here. Should we take seats, wait to be invited, or what? I don’t want to do anything that might cause offence.”

“You may sit whenever you wish,” Jorvanultumn answered. “However, it will be a tight fit. If you end up beside an Isyar, be careful of their wings.”

Gen nodded. “I wouldn’t dream of touching anyone’s wings without permission.” He sat down on one of the stools on the warmer side of the table.

Once Gen was seated, everyone else sat as well. As he was used to warmer temperatures, Jorvanultumn sat close to the humans, ending up beside Miana Ting. It was indeed a very tight fit. Jorvanultumn’s right wing overlapped Ting’s shoulder, He would need to be careful not to bump them if he leaned forward. The other Isyar had to overlap their wings and would need to be similarly careful.

Two places remained, one to Jorvanultumn’s left and the other to Meleng’s right. Davorultumn would likely be fine with either spot, but Hedromornasta would not like either. He would have to make do with one of them though, and would likely choose the spot beside Jorvanultumn.

Jorvanultumn made a point of confirming that everyone had been introduced. Once that was done, he let conversation take its own course, ready to translate as needed.

Everyone was quiet at first.

After a few moments, just as the silence was beginning to feel awkward, Gen leaned forward. “So, I’m curious about what we’re going to be eating this evening. I have not had the opportunity to try much Isyarian cuisine despite multiple visits here.”

Jorvanultumn opened his mouth to translate, but Chiansamorkin beat him to it.

“As my fomase is preparing it,” Mikranasta said, Chiansamorkin translating again, “I will allow him to tell you about it, but I can assure you, he is a very good cook.”

“Then I look forward to it, madam,” Gen said. “I have always enjoyed sampling the local cuisines of the various places I visit. Tell me, have you or any of the others ever tried…”

Jorvanultumn let his thoughts drift away from what Gen was saying. Since Chiansamorkin had taken on translation duty, he did not need to hear everything everyone said, and thoughts of the Pundritta still plagued his head. The best starting point would probably be to learn the symbols the Pundritta used. Each discipline had one, and they were the only signs that were pretty much guaranteed to point to a member. If a member used the symbol, it would be on their person somewhere, similar to the goat-skull tattoo human Darkers wore.

He wished he could talk to Meleng about it, but now was not the time.

The front door opened and Hedromornasta stepped in. He immediately recoiled at the heat and gestured at the heating stones. “What is this?”

“Something for the benefit of our human friends,” Chiansamorkin said. She did not translate Hedromornasta’s words for the humans, nor her reply.

“Hedromornasta, you are late,” Mikranasta said.

Hedromornasta bowed his head. “Apologies, Diare. I was outside, but Nascanmat delayed me.”

“Nascanmat? Paydamat’s siare? He is here?”

Hedromornasta nodded. “Yes, Diare.”

“Why? What does he want?”

“He said Paydamat asked him to observe the movements of Jorvanultumn and his human friends. He asked me to tell him what we were all doing here.”

“I hope you told him it was none of his business and he should leave.”

“I’m sorry, Diare. It didn’t seem a problem to me to answer his questions.”

Mikranasta stood up. “Then I will do it.” She addressed the table. “Excuse me a moment.”

Sinitïa leaned over to Meleng. “What’s going on?”

Meleng shrugged.

As Mikranasta crossed the room to the door, she said, “Jorvanultumn, handle introductions to Hedromornasta.” Then she was out the door.

“Just a minor disturbance,” Jorvanultumn told Sinitïa. “You have met Hedromornasta, of course.” Jorvanultumn then went on to handle introductions between Hedromornasta and Gen and Ting.

By the time those were done, Mikranasta had already returned. “He seems to have left of his own accord.” She returned to her seat.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

To Jorvanultumn’s surprise, Hedromornasta sat beside Meleng—and with no indication of displeasure. He did not return Meleng’s nod of greeting, but he also did not make any show of disgust. Perhaps he was following some instruction of Mikranasta’s.

Only moments later, Davorultumn entered the room. Behind him, a swirl of wind and snow supported several trays of food and carried them over the the table.

Jorvanultumn stood up and addressed the humans. “My friends, this is my diare, Davorultumn.”

Gen stood up and walked over to Davorultumn, his gaze lingering for a moment over the food. Davorultumn held up his right hand.

As the two of them, and then Davorultumn and Miana Ting went through the formal greeting, Sinitïa said, “You keep using that word...dee uh ray...and what’s the other one? See uh ray?”

“Diare and siare,” Jorvanultumn said.

Sinitïa nodded. “Those ones. Meleng said it has something to do with who you teach.”

“That is correct. Isyar couples have two children. Each parent becomes the diare of one of the children. The diare raises their siare and instructs them in their own discipline of magic.”

“How do you decide who teaches who?”

“It is a personal decision of the Isyar couple. For example, when Fevionawishtensen and I have children, she will take the first child as her siare and I will take the second.”

“What if you have three children? Or four?”

“That does not happen.”

“Why?”

Jorvanultumn shrugged. “We do not know. It used to happen in the past, but has not happened now for several centuries.”

Sinitïa frowned. “Oh. Well, what if you only have one?”

Jorvanultumn gave her a sympathetic smile. “That only happens if one of the couple suffers an unfortunate accident before a second child can be born, and that is rare.”

“Yes, but what if—?”

Gen, who had returned to his seat, nudged Sinitïa, and pointed to Davorultumn, who was just finishing greeting Meleng.

Sinitïa bit her lower lip. “Oh, right.” She hurried over to greet Davorultumn.

Gen leaned over the much shorter Miana Ting between him and Jorvanultumn and said softly, “Meleng has the patience of a saint with her questions.”

Jorvanultumn smiled. While he understood Gen’s perspective, he also admired Sinitïa’s desire to learn. Too few people possessed that—humans and Isyar alike.

Once the greetings were out of the way, Davorultumn spread his arms and said to the humans in Arnorgue, “Mikranasta and I would like to welcome you all to our home.”

“Thank you for having us,” Meleng said.

“Yes,” Gen chimed in. “I have been to Chithishtheny many times before, but this is the first time I have ever been invited to a dinner. Thank you. I am very curious about what we are about to eat.”

Davorultumn nodded. “Yes, but first, I wish to apologise for any mistakes I make with your language. It is a long time since I used it.”

“Has been a long time,” Chiansamorkin said with a smirk.

Davorultumn lowered his head. “Yes, of course. Apologies.”

Gen waved a hand dismissively. “Nonsense. You speak Arnorgue far better than I speak Isyarian.”

“Thank you. You asked about the food. The main dish is matir...I do not know a word for it in your language.” Davorultumn looked to Jorvanultumn, who shrugged.

“I don’t think there is one,” Chiansamorkin said. “It’s not like there are any matire in Arnor.”

“What is it?” Sinitïa asked.

“It looks a little like a cat,” Jorvanultumn said, “but the size of a horse, with six legs and no fur.”

Sinitïa scrunched her nose. “That doesn’t sound very cat-like.”

Jorvanultumn shrugged. “Now I think about it, I suppose you are right. But it is the standard description we give humans.”

Davorultumn continued, “We are having the…” He sighed. “There is a word for this, I am sure.” He thought for a moment, then said the Isyarian word.

“Haunches,” Chiansamorkin said.

“Thank you.”

Sinitïa peered closely at the slices of meat. “They look like they have ice on them.”

“They do,” Davorultumn said. “After cooking, I slowly freeze the meat. Without freezing, the meat is…” He paused again, mouthing chewing. “Chewy. The meat is chewy. After freezing, it becomes...I think the word is crunchy. With the matir, there is a selection of local vegetables. I can tell you about them once we start eating if you want. There is also hpaks, a drink made from the juice of the hpakrik plant that grows in the table.”

“It looks delicious,” Gen said. “I can’t wait to try it all.”

“Then I will not make you wait longer. Please, help yourselves and enjoy.” Davorultumn waved his hand and a gust of wind and snow brought several plates through the door and placed one in front of each place at the table. Utensils followed.

Everyone began to serve themselves. Sinitïa had a huge grin on her face the whole time. When she bit into her slice of matir, her eyes widened. “This is good!”

Much of the next while was filled with Gen questioning about the vegetables, and Sinitïa asking various things about Isyar and Isyaria. Jorvanultumn and the other Isyar did their best to answer all the questions, and they did get the occasional opportunity to ask the humans questions.

Later, when a few szadan needles for chewing were all that remained of the food and the hpaks was down to the last drops, Chiansamorkin called for everyone’s attention. “Jorvanultumn and Fevionawishtensen have something to announce.”

Jorvanultumn blinked. He had almost forgotten about that, and he had not even thought about making an announcement, though if they wanted witnesses, they had to say something. He looked to Fevionawishtensen who beamed and nodded. He gulped down the last of his hpaks and stood up. “Yes. We...that is, Fevionawishtensen and I have decided to perform the fomaze with Chiansamorkin, who has graciously agreed. We are going to formalise it after dinner and we would appreciate witnesses.”

Before Jorvanultumn could translate for the humans, Hedromornasta spoke up. “That’s ridiculous. You can’t.”

“Hedromornasta, you’re being rude,” Mikranasta said.

“But they can’t.”

Mikranasta raised her eyebrows. “Why ever not?”

“The fomaze is for two pairs of fomasee, and Chiansamorkin does not have a fomase.”

“That’s not a strict rule,” Chiansamorkin said.

“But it is an established tradition.”

“Enough, Hedromornasta,” Mikranasta said. “You may disagree, but you have no say in this. I, for one, offer my congratulations to all three.”

Hedromornasta slammed his fists on the table. “But he is flouting our traditions again, just like his elispt! How can you allow him to do this?”

Mikranasta’s eyes narrowed.

“Jorvanultumn isn’t the only one involved in this decision,” Chiansamorkin said.

“Yes,” Hedromornasta said. “You are as well. You’ve done nothing but lust unnaturally after Jorvanultumn for years, even after he bonded to someone else. You’ve spent the last two years winging up to Fevionawishtensen to get her to agree to this unholy union.”

Chiansamorkin hissed and flicked her hand at him, her forefinger and pinky extended. “You little wing-rotting shit. You’re still a child. What do you know?”

Mikranasta stood. “Enough! How dare any of you behave this way in my and my fomase’s home. Chiansamorkin, how dare you speak that way to my siare. As you said, he is still a child, as grown up as he may believe he is. I will discipline him myself.”

Chiansamorkin closed her eyes and lowered her head. “My apologies, Mikranasta.”

Mikranasta pointed her finger at Hedromornasta. “As for you, you have made your disagreement known, and it has been rejected. You will apologise to Jorvanultumn, Fevionawishtensen, and Chiansamorkin for your rudeness. Then you will never mention this again. Am I understood?”

Hedromornasta bowed his head. “Yes, Diare.” He looked at Jorvanultumn, Fevionawishtensen, and Chiansamorkin in turn, saying to each, “Forgive my rudeness. It won’t happen again.”

“It’s fine,” Jorvanultumn said. Fevionawishtensen and Chiansamorkin both just nodded.

A light whimper came from Sinitïa. “Is it over?”

Jorvanultumn smiled at her. “Yes, it is over. I apologise for the...disruption.”

“If I might ask,” Gen said, “what was the announcement? I caught part of it, I think, but I want to be sure.”

“Yes, of course,” Jorvanultumn said. “Fevionawishtensen and I are going to perform the fomaze with Chiansamorkin.”

Gen’s eyes widened and he nodded. “I thought it might be that. Quite the thing to announce publicly, isn’t it?”

“We need witnesses,” Jorvanultumn said.

“You mean, people actually watch?”

“Yes.”

“I’m confused,” Sinitïa said. “Is this something to do with...what did you say it was, Etiënne? Those two words that sound exactly the same?”

“Fomase and fomaze,” Gen said.

Sinitïa nodded. “Yeah, that.”

“My apologies, Sinitïa Alessia Deanna Folith,” Jorvanultumn said. “It is an Isyar ceremony where families are joined together. After the ceremony, Chiansamorkin will be part of Fevionawishtensen and my family, and we will become part of hers.”

“Oh, that actually sounds nice,” Sinitïa said. “Why wouldn’t you explain it, Etiënne?”

Gen shifted uncomfortably. “Ah well, I believe there’s a bit more to it, isn’t there?”

“He implied it was something sexual,” Meleng said.

“Yes, and I know these two are sensitive to such things, so I didn’t want to go into much detail.”

Now he understood why Gen thought it odd there would be witnesses. “The ceremony is a simple spoken one. It takes only a few minutes. There is nothing sexual about it. After the ceremony, the relationship becomes whatever the Isyar involved wish it to be. Yes, that is often sexual, though it does not have to be. For many, it is merely a way of acknowledging close friendship.”

Gen shifted his position again. “Ah. It seems I misunderstood. I only heard the term in passing years ago, and it clearly involved a group of four Isyar in sexual relations. I apologise for the misunderstanding.”

Ting smirked, and Chiansamorkin laughed.

“Well, the kind that doesn’t involve sex sounds nice,” Sinitïa said.