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“It’s quite the distance down.”
“We would have seen if my horse reappeared very quickly.” She sighed.
Stone cleared his throat. “Everybody is either there or on the way. Fires are lit, and family is gathering to meet your lady.”
“We will be with you in a few minutes. Go.”
Stone chuckled and headed out, closing the door carefully behind him. Xeva looked at Jeron. “I nearly skewered him. Is that why you were holding my hands?”
“I guessed one of them would be coming through the door. But your energy seems to be returning.”
She snorted. “You nearly had one less sibling.”
“He heals fast and has good reflexes. Shall you face the firing squad?”
“Sure. Frustration is good for my attitude.”
He hugged her and helped her to her feet before getting up himself. She looked down and said, “How are you concealing that?”
“I have been able to use shadows to strap it down since I was fourteen.”
Xeva covered her smile with her hand. “That is a necessary skill.”
He laughed. “I thought so.”
They left. He wrapped her in his shadows and carried her down the hill and across the sand toward a bonfire that was occasionally obscured by the folks who were milling around.
Revakka greeted them with a grin, and as Jeron settled and let Xeva loose, his mother walked around and introduced her to the family.
Xeva tried to memorize names, and when small people patted her leg, she picked them up so that she could carry on conversations with their parents. She spent hours drinking punch, talking to strangers who were part of Jeron’s family, and holding little people who thought her hair was very pretty.
The eight-year-old looked up at her. “Are you going to marry cousin Jeron?”
“Um. I don’t think so. I am not quite sure how that works, so probably not.” She smiled. “But I will spend time with him until they force me to go home.”
He nodded. “My mom said it was tricky to find him someone because he’s too much.”
“It is hard when you are too much, but you have to be what you are. Holding it in because you think people will like you more just hurts you in the long run. Sort of like holding your breath for too long. Your face changes colour, and you get a headache. Nothing else happens.”
He smiled. “So, be myself.”
“Yes, sir, even if you get a little much. Eventually, you will find someone who matches your muchness.”
* * * *
Jeron listened to Xeva, and his heart cracked a little when she said she wouldn’t marry him, but then he processed the rest, and he remembered something she had said about socialization. She really didn’t know how to be with anyone.
The example he had had of his parents loving and supporting each other was not her experience. Being an independent agent adjunct to a team was as close as she had gotten to a family-type interaction. That and Nelith, who had an even worse history and connected to Xeva over shared trauma.
Well, no one in his life had ever felt as right, and he wanted nothing more than to find things to make her happy. He wanted her calm and secure and finding things that made her smile.
His mother said, “She’s sweet, but are you sure you don’t want a nice girl from the island?”
“Even if there were a candidate, I wouldn’t want her. Xeva is just... everything. She is strong, brave, smart, selfless, and protective. And funny. She makes me smile, and when I can make her smile, I feel like a hero.” He sighed. “When I caused her injury, I was devastated, but when we met, she was the same genuine and cheerful person, apologizing for her inability to touch me because she knew that I got relief from our contact.”
“So, she was your escort.”
“I have said it before, but yes, she was. She and I were exclusive.”
