Even huddled between a mast and several crates, Meleng could not escape the cold wind. According to Jorvan, today was actually warmer than the other days they’d been in Isyaria, but Meleng definitely couldn’t tell. The cold bit hard, especially since writing with mittens on was virtually impossible, so he had taken them off.

He really should be in his cabin for this, but the ceremony was due to start soon and he didn’t want people to have to go looking for him. He wanted to able to rush over as soon as they called.

In the meantime, he stared at the equations in front of him, the same problems he had been working on for what seemed like forever now. He had made small, minor steps of progress, but something still wouldn’t fall into place. He just couldn’t figure out how to make a controlled reaction of the right strength that didn’t completely drain him. It was immensely frustrating.

Still, frustration at the moment had its good side. It felt real. Plus, he could look at the equations, look away, look back, and they would stay the same.

Not a dream.

Gods, there he went again. He had to stop this. He was free. This was real. He didn’t need to keep testing it.

So he went back to staring at the equations and tried to not look away.

Somebody squatted down in front of him. It was Fevionawishtensen. She smiled at him and leaned forward, peering at his notebook.

“Oh, uh…” He turned the book so she could see it more clearly.

Her eyes tracked the equations on the page. Occasionally, she nodded. Occasionally, her eyes widened in surprise.

Meleng wondered what she thought of them. Would she think he was a complete idiot? Probably. His equations must be so simplistic compared to what she could do. He probably shouldn’t have shown her them. If the situation were reversed, she would never have shown him hers. No sharing secrets with non-Isyar.

She squinted and took the book from his hands, peering more closely at it. She pointed to his pen.

What did she want his pen for? Was she going to blot it all out?

She repeated the gesture, and Meleng gulped, but handed her his pen and ink jar. She shifted her position closer to him and a little to the side. She held out the book and pointed to one of the equations, to one specific symbol. Then she motioned for him to take the book. Once he had done so, she dipped the pen in the ink, leaned over, and crossed out the symbol. Then she wrote a new one just above it.

Meleng stared at it and nearly dropped the book. Good gods! There was his mistake. Everything was now falling into place. He needed to make some adjustments to personalise them for his own power levels, but it all made sense now. He looked up at her. “Are you even allowed to do that?” Not that she could understand him.

She placed a finger to her lips and winked at him.

He nodded, putting a finger to his own lips.

She smiled, then stood up and walked across the deck.

Meleng stared after her as she reached Jorvan and Sinitïa, touched foreheads and wing tips with Jorvan. Was this because they were going to be fomazee? Did that allow her to share things with him? Though the finger to her lips implied that they should still keep it secret.

Oh well. It didn’t matter what her reasons were. Even if she never shared any secrets with him again, this one little thing had possibly saved him months—maybe years—of work. With this and the fomaze ceremony to come, this was quite possibly the best day of his life.

“Melly!” Sinitïa called. “It’s almost time! We need you!”

He snapped the book closed and placed it in his scrip along with the ink vial and pen. Now, where was that canvas? Oh right, there it was.

He grabbed the canvas from where he had leaned it against the mast, and unrolled it partway, checking it one last time. It wasn’t to check reality—not this time. At least, he was pretty sure he didn’t do it for that reason. He just wanted to look at it one last time before giving it away.

Satisfied, he rolled it back up, tucked it under his arm, and hurried over to the others.

Although it was not quite dawn, the deck of the Lustrous Rose was well lit by torches and Isyar fire globes. Mikranasta, Hedromornasta, Davorultumn, Captain Gen, and First Mate Ting stood a little off to the side. They were going to be the official witnesses. The rest of the crew were also watching, and Meleng felt exposed—especially when Sinitïa planted a kiss on his lips when he reached her.

“We have one last thing to figure out before we start,” Sinitïa said.

“There are different ways Isyar greet one another,” Jorvan said, “depending on the type of relationship they have. The most intimate is when we touch foreheads and wing tips. This is only done between fomasee, a diare and siare, or between fomaze. However, you and Sinitïa do not have wings, so we cannot do that with you.”

Meleng glanced at Sinitïa. “We can just touch foreheads. I’m okay with that.”

Jorvan shook his head. “Just touching foreheads is done between close friends or between blood relations who are not part of the Isyar’s direct family, such as between me and Mikranasta. If we only touched foreheads, other Isyar would not know our relationship, and Fevionawishtensen and I have agreed that it is important to us that other people know. We will not encounter many Isyar in Arnor, but even so, we may encounter a few, and one day, we will likely return to Isyaria. We need to come up with something else. Obviously, it will be different from the ways other fomazee greet each other, but it also needs to be similar enough that other Isyar will be able to infer our relationship.”

“I have an idea!” Sinitïa said.

Jorvan nodded. “Please, tell us.”

“I’ll show you.” She stepped in front of Jorvan and up close to him. “So, we’ll touch foreheads since we can do that and it’s part of the normal...whatever you call this.” She bent over to touch foreheads with Jorvan. Being more than half a foot taller than him meant she had to bend her back a bit. She giggled. “It’s easier to do this when we’re sitting down. Anyway, can you put your wings around me? Do it in a way that you touch the tip of your wings to my shoulder blades or something.”

“I think I can do that,” Jorvan said. He spread his wings and slowly wrapped each one around so he touched her shoulder blades.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“That’s it! Now, I’ll put my arms around your neck like this and touch your wings sort of where they come out of your back, like this.”

Jorvan shuddered. “Careful. That is a...sensitive spot for Isyar.”

Sinitïa pulled back her hands. “Oh, sorry.”

“No, it is fine. I was just not prepared. You may put your hands back.”

Sinitïa looped her arms around Jorvan’s neck again. “What do you think?”

“I like it,” Jorvan said.

“Melly?”

Meleng nodded. “I like it, too.”

She let go of Jorvan and he folded his wings back behind his back. Sinitïa looked to Fevionawishtensen, who just smiled and nodded.

Sinitïa beamed. “Do you want to try it?”

Mikranasta had to be translating for them, as Fevionawishtensen nodded again. Sinitïa rushed over to her. “Melly, you should try it with Jorvan!”

Meleng stepped up to Jorvan, and they touched foreheads. Jorvan put his wings around Meleng, touching him at the shoulder blades. It was a bit of a weird sensation, but Meleng was sure he would get used to it. He looped his arms over Jorvan’s shoulders. “Like this?”

“You are touching a little higher than Sinitïa did,” Jorvan said. “However, that is good. The place she touched is a bit of an erogenous zone in Isyar, but I did not expect she would know what that was, and she would be very embarrassed by the explanation.”

Meleng chuckled softly. “That’s probably true.”

They stood like that in silence for a few moments.

“Thank you, by the way,” Meleng said. “For, uh, you know, rescuing me.”

Jorvan smiled. “I am simply glad you are safe.”

They separated, and Sinitïa put her arms around Meleng. “You should practise with Feviona. She said it’s okay for me to call her that. Then we can start!”

Meleng gave Sinitïa a quick kiss and went over to Feviona. “Thank you for earlier. I’ve been working on that for ages.”

Feviona smiled and signed something.

“I’m guessing that means, ‘you’re welcome’.”

She nodded, then raised her head as Meleng lowered his to touch foreheads. She was shorter than Jorvan, so Meleng had to bend his back. He wondered what it had been like for Sinitïa, who was the tallest of the four of them. Feviona’s wings had a lighter touch to them than Jorvan’s. Meleng barely noticed them, though they did send a slight shiver down his spine. He was careful to touch her back high up, practically her neck. It would probably be very inappropriate for him to touch much lower.

Feviona stared into his eyes, a slightly bemused smile on her face. He wondered what she was thinking.

“Also, thank you for rescuing me,” Meleng said. “I heard you were there too.”

She pulled her head back just long enough to nod briefly, then touched her forehead to his again.

“How long are we supposed to do this for?”

Feviona snickered, retracted her wings, and stepped back. She signed something.

Meleng looked at Jorvan. “Did you catch that?” He really needed to learn Feviona’s signs since Mikranasta’s magic apparently did not translate them.

Jorvan shook his head. “Sorry. I was not paying attention.”

Feviona repeated the signs.

“Ah, she said, ‘As long as you want.’ I assume you know the context.”

Meleng nodded. “Yes, thank you.” Yeah, he really needed to learn her signs. Feviona had agreed to teach Sinitïa. He should join in on those lessons.

Sinitïa grabbed his arm and pulled him beside her. She was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. “Are we ready to start?”

Jorvan held out his hand to Feviona, and she joined him at his side. The two of them faced Meleng and Sinitïa, Jorvan directly across from Sinitïa and Feviona across from Meleng. “I believe we are ready,” Jorvan said.

Sinitïa squealed and squeezed Meleng’s hand.

Jorvan took a deep breath. “We stand here today, two pairs of fomasee ready to join our lives together as one family in the sacred bonds of friendship and love. I, Jorvanultumn…”

Feviona signed what Meleng knew was, I, Fevionawishtensen…

Meleng took his own deep breath, try to calm his beating heart. “I, Meleng Drago…”

Sinitïa squealed slightly again before speaking. “And I, Sinitïa Alessia Deanna Folith…”

Jorvan continued, “Call upon Nature to bless our union. We are witnessed by…”

“Davorultumn.”

“Mikranasta.”

“Hedromornasta.”

“Etiënne Gen.”

“And Miana Ting.”

Jorvan nodded to Feviona, who let go of his hand and drew the sword at her side. She held it horizontally, her right hand gripping the hilt and her left supporting the flat of the blade. She extended it to Meleng.

Meleng reached out gingerly, gripping the hilt around her hand and placing his other hand under the flat of the blade. He nodded to her, and she slipped her right hand out from under his and withdrew her other hand from the blade.

Feviona began to sign, and Jorvan translated, “I present to you this Hgirh blade. Every Hgirh is presented with two such weapons upon completing their elispt. They are my most prized and treasured possessions. I now give one of them to you as a symbol of my commitment to this union. I have only known the two of you for a short time, but I know that Jorvanultumn loves you both, especially you, Meleng Drago. You have been his dearest and closest friend while travelling the world, and you have provided him with the companionship he needed while absent from me and those closest to him in Isyaria. In the short time I have known you and Sinitïa Alessia Deanna Folith, I have seen what he loves in you both, and I whole-heartedly share in it.”

“Thank you,” Meleng said. “I will cherish this. We both will.” The sword was technically a gift to both of them, but he and Sinitïa had discussed beforehand and agreed he would be its guardian as Sinitïa already had a sword. He really didn’t know what to do with a sword, but Sinitïa had suggested he learn how to use it. She had even suggested Feviona teach him, which Feviona had agreed to.

He and Sinitïa had also discussed the gift he was going to give to Feviona and Jorvan. He’d needed her agreement before going ahead with the idea. However, there were a couple other gifts first. He looked at Sinitïa now as he slid the sword into the sheath Feviona had given him ahead of time.