CHAPTER 37

It was late and already dark as the carriage moved along. A series of lanterns hung from poles that stuck out ahead of the carriage, burning the pink and golden hues of Seeker’s fire spells alongside the blood red of Ithella’s, and the pale bronze of Mirabelle’s. The shades of light came together to illuminate the road quite nicely, and the bright lights up ahead motivated the party to keep going, rather than set up camp.

The horses’ hooves and carriage’s wheels clattered pleasantly on the cobbled road. An honest-to-goodness cobbled road in the middle of nowhere, that didn’t connect two major cities. It fascinated Lanri. They’d crossed the border into Adampor only a short while ago, and it hadn’t taken long for the infrastructure to drastically improve. It was hard to overstate the contrast between this and the roads of north-western Remere, which were so poorly maintained that Lanri had managed to write a whole dissertation about them.

And as the carriage went along, Lanri couldn’t help but look at those cobblestones below the horses’ hooves. She wondered whether the roads of Remere had ever been as nice as these, and whether these would ever wind up in the state of those of Remere. Probably not, she reasoned. If the Remeran roads had ever been anywhere near this good, Lanri would have learned about it years ago.

Those lights ahead of them were a seemingly endless string of towns built along this and other roads. All of them led up and eventually back down into the massive, extinct volcano Beinn Theine, with the mighty city of Amourot built in its long-cold caldera. The mountain loomed large, putting even the Valtans far behind them to shame. Clouds lapped at its foothills like water on the beach, and roads zigged and zagged up its sides, the little villages and hamlets along it lighting its face like decorations for the winter solstice.

Far closer than that, though, a lone building stood by the side of the road, illuminated by a few small fires and magic lights. A black banner flew from a pole on its roof, magically illuminated to show the Adampora coat-of-arms embroidered on it in silvery white thread.

“Your Grace, I needn’t tell you this is a military outpost, do I?” Ithella quietly asked as she rode alongside the carriage on Seeker’s side.

“No, Ithella. You do not.” Seeker quietly answered, then raised her voice just enough for the whole party to hear. “Remember that we’re not in Remere anymore. Act like guests who want to make a good impression. Do as the guards tell you, unless I say otherwise. Answer their questions honestly, but don’t volunteer information they did not ask for.”

Mirabelle and Ithella both said something to the effect of “yes, Your Grace,” and Lanri just nodded.

As if on cue, five figures stepped out from inside. Two elven men and three humans, two of them women, all in black uniforms with silver accents. They each wore two holstered wands and a sheathed sword on a belt that rested their hips, and were as immaculate as the king’s guard back in Astoria, dressed up like that in their uniforms decorated with sashes across the chest.

The five stood next to each other, spread across the width of the road to block it. Seeker slowed the carriage gently, and once they’d stopped completely, one of the two elves stepped forward. His uniform was a little different from the others, Lanri noticed. The strap across his chest and the cuffs of his tunic were decorated with silver stitching in a diamond shape.

“Greetings, outlanders,” he said, sounding bored but friendly as he gestured at everyone to dismount. Once they’d all done so, he continued. “Welcome to Adampor. I am Inspector Vethor. If you have any trade goods to declare please provide form seventeen-oh-one. If you have any illegal goods to declare, please don’t and just turn around.”

The party shuffled on its feet uncomfortably for a moment, all of them seemingly as uncertain of what to say as him. Eventually, the guard officer tilted his head to one side and mumbled, “that joke usually goes over better,” before he cleared his throat. “You’ll find Adampora laws are quite tolerant of most things that prude Ashlom and his ministers have outlawed.”

Seeker hesitated for a moment, then said, “we are not here to trade. Only to visit a mage at the advice of one of your citizens.”

The officer nodded towards the wagon, and the movement let his eyes and the leather of his uniform catch the three colors of lights burning in the mystic lanterns. “I should think the divine blessings you carry with you are quite sufficient for matters of magic, no?”

“Not quite, inspector,” Seeker said. She knelt beside Lanri and gave her a wink, then pulled up the right leg of her pants, exposing the porcelain bridging the gap from her boot to her knee. “My beloved suffered a grievous injury some time back. We’ve traveled here to see a flesh crafter, you see.”

The officer winced at the sight, then nodded. “I suppose it was inevitable that the Remeran citizenry would turn to us for help in these matters.”

Lanri glared at the man. Was he implying Remeran mages weren’t on par with Adampora? That her Faron was any worse than what the northern folk could muster? She was about to speak her mind when Seeker firmly tucked her trouser leg back in place, then gestured to be silent.

“And your names?” Behind the officer, one of his subordinates produced a ledger and a fountain pen, ready to note their answers.

Seeker nodded, then started to introduce everyone to the guards, pointing to each as she mentioned their names. “Lanri Vattens, Ithella Val Gyr, Mirabelle Rivas… Mara…” She paused.

“Oh, I don’t have a surname,” Mara said with a shrug. Lanri felt a tinge of shame that she hadn’t known that about the woman.

“Mara of Cerene, and…” Again, Seeker paused, and pointed at herself for a moment. “Seeker.”

“Seeker?” The officer asked. “Seeker of…?”

Seeker sighed. “Seeker of nowhere, friend. I’m not Remeran.”

“I see,” said the man, thoughtfully. After just a moment, he turned to Lanri. “If you’ll come with us, Lanri Vattens, I’d like to ask you a few more questions, and do it somewhere a little more comfortable than under the night sky.”

“Me?! But–”

“Absolutely not,” Seeker growled. “She stays with me.”

The officer swallowed. “Please, no need for a fuss. It’s purely a formality. A truth spell to verify your intentions, and you may be on your way.”

Seeker looked like she was about to voice her displeasure at that when Lanri put a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t mind,” she whispered. “I’ve got nothing to hide.”

And you can hear my thoughts if I need help.

Seeker looked at her for a moment with a hard expression that slowly softened. “Fine,” she said, just loudly enough for everyone to hear, then she nodded towards the officer.

The officer, for his part, gestured at Lanri to follow him into the building. She did so, noting that the guards under his command all remained outside.

The inside of the building was spartan but pleasant enough. He led Lanri past open doors that led into a few small bunkrooms, and into an even smaller office. It was almost entirely filled by a desk which had an array of papers, parchments, and pens on it, along with a large crystal mounted in a frame. “Would you like something to drink?” He asked as she sat down.

“Oh, sure,” Lanri said. As soon as the words left her mouth, she wondered if it would be dosed with a potion of some kind. But when the man poured two glasses of water from the same pitcher and drank his own in two greedy gulps before he’d even taken his seat, that fear quickly subsided.

Once he took his seat, he brushed aside his papers, revealing a glass window in his desk which he glanced down into. Lanri tried her very best to be discreet about seeing what it was, but when he flatly said, “it’s a clock. The desk has a clock built into it,” she knew she’d failed.

“Oh, that’s… neat,” she quietly said.

The man nodded, then rubbed the ornate crystal, and cleared his throat. “Inspector Vethor, nine past nine in the eve, on the… twentieth of Sower.”

“Gods, it’s the twentieth already?” Lanri asked, shocked. That meant her birthday was already three weeks ago.

The inspector nodded, then continued. “On the twentieth of Sower. Please state your full name, and your intentions in Adampor.” He pointed at the crystal.

A recording crystal, Lanri thought, then repeated her name and the same explanation Seeker had given.

“Very well. The rest of this is very simple, Lanri Vattens. I’m about to cast a spell on you, and ask the same questions again. It’s important that you understand that you will not be able to lie under its influence, and that any discrepancy between your freely given answers and compelled answers will be admissible before a magistrate as evidence of fraud. Do you stand by your answers?”

This place was so… formal. Lanri hadn’t lied before, her name and being here to see a mage weren’t exactly grand secrets. Still, with the weight of possible consequences looming overhead, she hesitated for a moment. She picked up her glass, took two sips, then nodded and said, “yes.”

“Very good,” the inspector said before intoning ,”bilean sgaoilte.”

She couldn’t feel the magic like she could with Seeker’s, but she was aware of it. The words themselves didn’t send that shiver up her spine, but they still did something to her mind, like metal flakes disturbed by a magnet that wasn’t there. Her mind seemed to open under their influence, like a stuffy nose finally clearing up.

“Please state your full name again,” the inspector prompted.

“Lady Lanri Vattens. And Professor Lanri Vattens. I earned both of those titles, you’d better acknowledge them!” She blurted out, before gasping and covering her mouth. It didn’t work. She wanted to watch her mouth, but the spell seemed to just pry her lips open, and prime her tongue to speak her mind.

The inspector smiled. “You say you earned your patent of nobility?”

“Damn right I did,” Lanri huffed. “I attracted the eye of the son of a baron. I won his love. I earned his hand in marriage, and my title and surname came with it. And I worked even harder for my doctorate.”

“I see,” said the inspector with a chuckle. “And what are your intentions in Adampor?”

“Seeker wants me to see a healer, and she says a mage that tried to buy me from a demon told her of one in Amourot.”

The inspector looked stunned for a moment. “You’re here because an Adampora… tried to buy you?”

“Well, she was considering it!” Lanri ranted. “When you go to an auction selling people, it’s only fair that those people assume you’re there to buy them. And then once I killed everyone else and lost my foot, she said she knew of someone who could help me. I think she might have felt guilty. Or maybe she was just scared of Seeker.”

“Are you here for any reasons other than seeing this healer, Professor Vattens?”

“No!” Snorted Lanri, derisively. “What else is there to do here? Be interrogated by smug soldiers in dashing uniforms? I’ll pass, thank you very much.”

Inspector Vethor smiled, and leaned back in his chair. “What about your companions? Might they have plans here beyond seeing you healed?”

“I don’t think so,” Lanri said. “I mean, they’re all here for me. Seeker’s only interested in me, and the others are here because they’re my friends. Because I actually have friends now, unlike back when I was with Faron. And friends don’t need complicated reasons to spend time together. Though, I did save one of them from Abanians, and that definitely factored into coming with me. But they’re still my friends. I'm sure they're here for me.”

As Lanri rambled on, she became increasingly annoyed that she couldn’t seem to stop talking. She just had so many thoughts! And for once she didn’t only have the words to share them, but could not, for the life of her, keep them to herself. “I’d really like to go back to them now. They’re all more powerful than my Faron ever was.”

“In a moment,” the inspector promised. “When you say they’re powerful, what do you mean?”

“I mean they’re powerful!” Lanri said. “Ithella can call down lightning, and Mirabelle knows more about herbs and potions than any book you’ve ever read! And Seeker? All the gods, inspector, Seeker’s a Heartwarden. With a Valkyrie sword. She could slay armies with a word and destroy castles with a punch.” Lanri swallowed. Seeker had made it clear she shouldn’t volunteer information, and she’d just volunteered a lot of it. “And I–”

The inspector silenced her with a gesture, and considered that for a moment. “I see,” he quietly said. “Thank you, Professor. You may go. The guards will let your party pass, and the spell will fade in a few minutes."

Back outside, the guards had already stepped aside to make way for the coach and horses. Everyone had already mounted, with Mara sprawled on the carriage’s roof like a stargazer, and Ithella and Mirabelle in their saddles. The only exception was Seeker who leaned against one of the carriage’s big wheels with an expression of anger that was as awesome as it was intimidating.

Lanri practically ran to her. “I’m sorry,” she began, once she got close. “I just… I started talking, and I couldn’t stop talking, and I said things he didn’t even ask, and gods you’re sexy when you’re angry.”

That last remark at least made Seeker crack a smile. “We’re free to go?” She asked.

Lanri nodded, as Seeker started to help her onto the driver’s bench. “I think I might have scared them when I said you’re a Heartwarden.”

“Good,” growled Seeker as she joined Lanri, and quickly urged the horses into motion. “I’m sorry, Dear. I shouldn’t have let that man touch your mind.”

“It’s okay,” Lanri promised Seeker. “What else were we going to do? Turn around now? They’re clearly okay with priests and angels. Being embarrassed for a moment is nothing compared to wasting a whole month of travel.”

“I suppose,” Seeker said, quietly. As they got farther and farther away, that feeling of her mind being cleared of inhibitions and common sense seemed to ebb more and more, and the neurotic need to talk subsided, too. By the time they were a quarter of a mile down the road, she couldn’t feel it at all anymore.

Seeker pulled her close, hugging her from the side and kissing the top of her head. “Well. Regardless of whether I should have allowed it… You did a fantastic job. I’m proud of you, Dear.”

________________

Days of travel passed. They made much better time than they had in Cerene. The paved roads were flat and smooth, and the horses were able to pull the carriage faster and for longer stretches.

Getting into the caldera of Beinn Theine had still been a chore, though. Those roads that climbed up the mountain were as well-maintained as the ones before it, but they were still taxing on the horses, even with Ithella’s Maréchale taking poor Peanut’s place again. They even had to pause for a day halfway up the slopes, rain and fog making Seeker wary of leaving camp.

But, eventually, they’d made it up high enough to reach the tunnels that had been dug through the mountainside. They were long and eerie things. Almost three miles long and whitewashed so they’d need less light, the tunnels sloped up ever so slightly the entire way.

They were about halfway through when they learned something. Ithella Val Gyr, the valiant warrior and priestess of Daray, was claustrophobic.

“Gods curse the fools that built this heinous place,” Ithella growled. She was hunched over on Maréchale’s back, her gaze perpetually cast up at the smoothed stone ceiling like she expected a boulder to manifest and kill her in an instant. “Elves do not belong in the deep.”

“We’re almost through, Ithella,” Seeker promised her.

“I am aware, Your Grace,” Ithella said, glancing back the way they’d come. “But that only means we’ll have to go through here again when we return to Remere.”

“We could switch places,” suggested Mara, who stuck her head out of the carriage. “Or you could just join me in here.”

“And I could always cast a spell on you,” Seeker added with a compassionate, yet slightly amused looking expression on her face. “I’m very experienced with putting mortals to sleep, by now.”

“Sleep?” Ithella asked. “No. I couldn’t. It would be an insult to Lord Daray to hide from my fears. And riding in the carriage is liable to only make things worse.”

“As you wish,” Seeker said.

________________

When they emerged from the tunnel, the sunlight was briefly blinding. It washed out what lay past the exit completely until they were mere meters from outside, but once Lanri’s eyes adjusted, she was amazed by the sight.

They were overlooking a massive valley, at least thirty miles across. It was dotted with lakes and villages, crossed by canals and roads, and textured with farmland. Close to the center, though, a vast city sprawled out. The outskirts looked cozy and familiar, but the center was alien. The buildings seemed to get bigger and taller as they got closer to the core. Metal roofs caught the sunlight, making the whole thing sparkle like many gemstones set into a single piece of jewelry.

“Amourot,” Lanri whispered. The home of the mysterious Lord Sorcerer.

“We should still be able to get there today,” Seeker told her. She leaned in close, and whispered “by this time next week, you’ll be walking on your own feet again, and I can finally start taking you to the places I promised to show you. It’ll be the start of that candied life.”

Lanri swallowed, and nervously nodded. She wanted to be excited to get there, to give Seeker that closure and the knowledge that she’d fixed everything for Lanri. But she just wasn’t. The last month on the road had been wonderful. She’d grown so accustomed to traveling with Ithella and Mara, and with Mirabelle having joined them, she was genuinely happy. She didn’t want to disrupt things, didn’t want things to change yet.

What if the fleshcrafter needed a long time? Months or years to help her? Was that worth it? Would their friends decide they didn’t want to wait around and return to their own lives instead?

With a flick of the reins, Seeker urged the horses ahead. She leaned to one side as she took the brake lever into her hand, pulling on it regularly for the significant descent into the caldera. “Come here,” she urged, gesturing with her head to come closer. Lanri did so, scooting right up to Seeker, and wrapping her arms around her. “There’s nothing to worry about, Dear,” Seeker promised, whispering into her ear. “Like I said, we’ll do whatever you want after this.”

“I know, but–”

“But you’re worried Mirabelle, Mara, and Ithella won’t want to join us.” Lanri nodded. "Even though she said she'd travel with us as long as we wish?" Lanri nodded again. She adored Seeker’s plans for her, to explore and study together for her entire life. But what she’d told the inspector was true. She’d not had very many friends before she met Seeker. Perhaps none at all. Now that she did, she didn’t want to give them up. “We should ask them, then,” Seeker offered. “We could invite them to join us. They’ll probably say yes.”

________________

The outskirts of Amourot were busy, despite the late hour. People went about frantically carrying things back and forth, and erected temporary structures in the communal spaces, illuminated by the gas-powered street lights.

“Do any of these buildings look like an inn to any of you?” Seeker asked, as she stopped the carriage. They were at the corner of a large plaza which was clearly being prepared for some manner of event, and they stood absolutely no chance of crossing it with the carriage without the locals undoing a lot of their work.

The buildings surrounding the square were tall, most of them four or five stories. They were made of brick with zinc roofs. And silver, copper, and lead pipes ran along the facades of most of them in bizarre ways. It all reminded Lanri of the lab Faron had worked at in Astoria, with its silver, magic infrastructure. But there was just so much of it! Surely not every building in Amourot had fittings to conduct ragira to it. Where would it all come from? What would it be used for?

“That looks like an inn,” Mirabelle said, pointing across the square. Lanri discarded the thought as she followed the imaginary line from the priestess’ finger with her eyes. It led to a building with vast, stained-glass windows that glowed invitingly. Through the distortion of the glass, she could see the silhouettes of people inside. “I think we passed some stables not too far back, Your Grace. I could see to the horses and carriage, then meet you there?”

Seeker looked to consider that for a moment, before she reached into nowhere and produced her purse. She climbed down from the carriage, and approached the priestess as she dismounted. “I’ll give them your name, and tell them to send you our way once you catch up.”

Mirabelle nodded and accepted a few of Seeker’s coins, then climbed onto the driver’s bench of the carriage. Once everyone else had dismounted, she said, “suivez-moi.” Lanri suspected it was a spell, if only by the stiff, coerced-looking way Maréchale and her own horse followed the wagon back the way they’d come.

“I wonder what they’re preparing for,” Mara said, seemingly more to herself than to the rest of them.

“Whatever it is, I don’t think it’ll happen today,” Seeker noted, as the group started to weave through the mass of busy people and their construction projects. Mages cast spells to lift heavy lumber to build the frames of pavilions, while their mundane friends either prepared the furniture for inside, or unfurled the banners denoting what each of them would be.

Archery competitions, arcane displays, open and mundane dueling tournaments, games, food from all over the world, shows, a dance… Even an array of stage performances and a quiz. “It’s a carnival,” Lanri realized with a smile. She took Seeker by the arm, clutching the sleeve of her cardigan as she asked, “oh, can we go?!” Seeker didn’t look thrilled about the prospect, but Lanri was not dissuaded. “Please? We’ve been on the road for a month now. What’s one day spent at a carnival before we finish our journey?”

Seeker smiled and quirked an eyebrow before she turned back, and looked at Mara and Ithella. “Assuming Mirabelle is interested, what do you two think?”

“I would love to attend, Your Grace,” Ithella said with a slight smile, as Mara practically bounced with glee at the thought.

“Oh, I definitely want to go,” the blonde said with a grin. Then she pointed at a sign being put up close to the center of the square and added, “I’m not even sure what fireworks are, but they sound exciting!”

They loitered in the plaza for a few minutes longer, both to take stock of what tomorrow’s fair had to offer, and to make sure they didn’t get too far ahead of Mirabelle. Eventually they filtered into the inn, lured by the sign promising beds and baths, and spurred on by the very real possibility that they would run out of rooms before they could get one.

________________

“This is not what I thought their baths would be like,” Lanri grumbled as she looked around, and hugged herself. They were so… open. Three large pools dominated the courtyard behind the inn, set into the tiled floor. And three of the walls were lined with regularly spaced… spigots? Lanri wasn’t quite sure what to call them. Some of them had some very naked people underneath them, being sprayed with water while they scrubbed themselves with soap and brushes.

“They’re called showers, and they’re how the Adampora actually bathe, Dear. The pools are recreational.”

“I know what a shower is, Seeker!” Lanri huffed. “They have them at the university, for the crews working the heaters. I’ve just never seen ones that are so… nice, before.” There were so many people here, so casual and friendly despite the embarrassment of being naked in public.

The bath on the left looked to be the hottest, judging by the steam billowing from it, while the one on the right didn’t steam at all. She assumed that meant it was cold, and that the bath in the middle would be tepid.

Seeker led the four of them to what Lanri could only think of as a dressing area first. It dominated the fourth wall, and was basically just a set of lockers. Some of them had been reserved for people staying the night in the inn, and had room numbers on them, while the others were labeled alphabetically.

Seeker approached the one earmarked for their room, and started to take her clothes off without hesitating. Lanri couldn’t bring herself to match the feat, instead nervously shifting back and forth on her feet. Exposing oneself in public was deeply frowned upon in Remere, and especially so in Astoria. Mara hesitated too, for a moment. But once Ithella started to undress, she followed her example, leaving Lanri the odd one out.

“Take your clothes off,” Seeker told her. “I know it’s different from how things are done at home, but in an Adampora bathhouse the one refusing to disrobe is the one who should be embarrassed. You’re in a foreign land. Do as the locals do.”

Lanri scratched her head for a moment. “Couldn’t I–”

“No,” Seeker told her. She leaned in, and whispered, “you reek, Lanri. You’ll do as I say. Undress and at least wash off.” It really was thrilling when Seeker put her foot down about something. It excited Lanri. It made her feel good, even when she didn’t like the reason behind it.

And right now, she really didn’t. She put on a half-fake smile as she nodded meekly. She kicked off her boots, peeled off her socks, took off her jacket, and shuffled out of her pants. Then a moment later, she added her blouse to the pile of clothes, leaving her only in her underwear. She looked down at herself for a while, appreciating how much fuller she looked after all these weeks of eating what Seeker gave her.

“Your underwear, too,” Seeker added.

Lanri nodded. “I know, that’s not…” She trailed off for a moment. “I’m trying to decide what I should do about the prosthetic.”

________________

By the time Lanri finished her shower, Mirabelle had caught up and Lanri had mostly gotten past the reluctance to be naked in public. At first, she’d thought she would stand out, with her entire shin and foot starkly white against her dark skin, but once Mirabelle joined her in the shower next to her, that notion seemed silly.

As it turned out, Mirabelle’s splotchy skin wasn’t limited to her face. The priestess of Hayer had large patches of skin that were even paler than Seeker or Mara’s around most of her joints, as well as her breasts and groin. And once Lanri realized she rather liked how that looked, she realized her prosthetic probably didn’t look half-bad in the eyes of others, either.

She still took it off before they all settled into the baths, though. It just felt unwise to submerge such a thing in hot water for what might be hours. It wouldn’t stand out much in the rippling water anyways. Regardless, she let out a guttural groan of delight as she landed on the bench at the edge of the pool, and the heat of the water started to melt away the exhaustion and tension in her muscles like bee’s wax melting out of boiling honey.

They’d settled into one of the corners of the square-ish bath, letting all of them talk to each other in relative comfort. Mara was nuzzled up with Ithella to one side of Lanri and Seeker, while Mirabelle sprawled out on the other, head lulled back and eyes closed. Looking at them, Lanri couldn’t help but notice how different they all looked. They were all attractive in her eyes, but in vastly different ways.

Mara was pale, short, and muscular, with narrow hips and small breasts, while Ithella was dark, lithe, and tall. Mirabelle was stocky and brawny, with horns that stood out far more than normal with the water weighing her hair down; and Seeker was a flawless woman, just a little bigger than most. Lanri herself was definitely the least athletic of them all, with the most curves and the biggest breasts.

The rest of the people in the baths were similarly diverse. Dwarves, orcs, humans, beastkin, and elves; men, women, and a few androgynous people of every build Lanri could imagine. None of them stood out as unattractive, either. Directly across from them, in the opposite corner of the bath, a very pregnant woman sat half asleep in the lap of her love.

So many of the people here were obviously involved with each other. They were mostly couples, though one unit of four stood out as well. They were all caressing each other just a little too tenderly to be platonic, but still tasteful enough to do in public.

“People-watching again?” Seeker asked with a smile.

“People are nice to watch,” Lanri answered. “Nice to look at, certainly.”

With a practiced motion, the brooch was plucked from Lanri’s hair, and she suppressed a gasp as she crossed her legs. Surely Seeker wasn’t planning to… The very idea was just– “Shhh,” Seeker cooed. “I’m really proud of getting you to react to that, but this is just so we don’t forget to wash your hair before we leave.”

Lanri nodded, and tried to tamp down the flash of desire she’d been trained to feel when Seeker took the brooch from her. Then she looked out ahead again, at the people around them.

“Tell me, how did you recognize the quad, Dear?”

Quad? The word bounced around Lanri’s mind for a moment as she parsed the new term.

“The four people who are obviously together,” Seeker explained. “How did you recognize them?”

Lanri didn’t have an immediate answer for that, so she looked at the group in closer detail to find one. Two human men, an orcish woman, and a human woman; they were huddled together in the corner to their left. The way one of the men had his head on the shoulder of the other, and one of the women played with his long black hair seemed like a dead give-away. But there were other signs. The way the women looked at each other, their posture… Them being together just made sense to Lanri. She didn’t quite know how to put her thoughts into words, but she knew Seeker would piece them together either way. “I don’t know,” she simply said. “They just are.”

“That they are,” Seeker said, running a finger along Lanri’s collarbone. “Tell me, Dear. Does that appeal to you at all? To be with more than one person?”

“What? To share you?” Lanri asked.

“Or to be shared. Or to be together equally, like they are,” Seeker said, nodding towards the group.

“I’ve… never really thought about it,” Lanri admitted. “Faron was very much of a mind to be exclusive, and…” Lanri nodded toward the pregnant woman and her man. “I figured I’d only ever be in that kind of relationship. But now I’m… obviously with you, and… now you’re asking the question.”

“I am,” Seeker said with a nod.

“Well, what do you want?” Lanri asked, recalling their earliest conversations together. “You said I was fleeting, like fireworks. Could you even stomach me paying attention to someone else?”

Seeker considered that for a long, long time. Long enough to let Lanri overhear Ithella’s whispered plans for Mara in bed tonight, and notice Mirabelle’s faint snoring. “No,” the angel eventually said with a smile and a shake of her head. With a chuckle, she added, “I probably should, I’m a Heartwarden, after all. But… you’re right. I wouldn’t be able to tolerate it. I just want you, and… I want you to just want me.”

Lanri grinned at that.

“What is it?” Seeker asked.

“I think I know what you should say in those vows you want to exchange.”