If this was to become a recurring event, we would need to buy more cups. And plates. And forks and knives. Some people were already going to have to eat the turkey with spoons or their fingers, but this didn’t feel like the time to mention that.
Across from me, Kit braced his arms on the counter and expelled a sigh. Then, he tipped his head to beckon me closer.
Once I was in a conspiratorial range, he spoke in a harsh whisper. “What exactly did you tell these people?”
My lips bent in a frown. “Nothing yet. Like I said, we were waiting for you.”
“Why?”
He looked so genuinely confused that I stammered through my reply.
“Because they’reyourpeople, Kit. You’re their leader.”
“No.” His head shook. “This isyourgroup. You put them together; you should lead them.”
I glanced back into the living area, catching a worried look from Rosie before facing Kit once more. A queasy feeling had settled in my stomach. Unmet expectations muddled with pressure I wasn’t prepared for.
Kit was the one with ideas, with knowledge and experience. He’d been in this place before, among these people. I was just a foolish farm boy, plucked up by my roots and dropped in the middle of a plot I didn’t fully understand. Certainly nothing I was confident in my ability to carry out.
“But-but I don’t lead,” I said, still stuttering. “I follow. I followyou.”
My gaze was beseeching as it met Kit’s, and I felt perhaps a measure of the discomfort he’d showed since he opened the front door.
Kit’s hand found mine, and he wove our fingers together to give a brief squeeze. “Who brought them here tonight?” he asked.
I glanced up to find a faint smile on his lips.
“Who told Rosie and Thoma?” he continued, then feathered his other hand through my hair. “Who started all this? Notme.”
As comforting as his words should have been, they rang hollow. Almost forced. I didn’t doubt that he believed them, but he didn’t seem to feel them in this moment. Neither did I.
Kit had a way of making me feel valuable. Capable. More than I’d ever felt at home in Eastcliff with Merrick doling out criticism, or when I managed to sabotage myself at every turn. I wasn’t cut out for farm work. Not cut out for much at all, and trouble trailed behind me. Kit had almost convincedme differently, but those fears lurked. Worries that I ruined everything I touched, and that maybe I’d ruin this, too.
I chewed my lip for a moment before I worked up the nerve to ask, “Thisiswhat you wanted though, isn’t it, Kit?”
He still had his hand in my hair, tucking it behind my ear, then pinning it there.
“It is… I think.”
My face must have fallen because Kit tagged on quickly.
“I’m sorry, it’s just a lot. I thought I was ready, but clearly I wasn’t.” His chest swelled with a deep breath. “I’ve never been good with people. But you are, and you’ve done wonderfully so far. Keep going. I’m right behind you.”
It was the nearest thing to a dismissal, albeit an encouraging one, and I accepted it with a shaky smile. I wasn’t ready for this, but there were no other options. I kept hold of his hand and returned to the living room, where everyone fell quiet at our reappearance.
Eight pairs of eyes shifted between Kit and me, waiting to see who would speak.
Kit took his position at my side. He brushed his thumb across my knuckles as I cleared my throat.
“Thank you all for coming,” I began, “and welcome. Kit and I are so glad to have found a group of likeminded people. It gives us so much hope for the future of Ashpoint, and for the world.”
Gradually, the divided attention became focused. Both families hung on the speech I hadnotprepared and didn’t fully know how to carry out. But, in most things, honesty was as good a starting point as any, so I began with that.
I told them about my father and about Merrick. Then, how I found Kit and begged him to bring me here, to spare my family the curse that Sybil told me was a lie. I smiled to myself about the other things the Symbiarch had told me, and squeezed Kit’s hand a little harder as I thought of Eeus and Paneus not asfaceless, distant gods, but as lovers. Halves of a larger whole. Better together than apart.
I explained the truth of the ritual the Bone Men were trying to pervert, touching on its truer, purer purpose. And Eeus’ nature as a god who fostered balance and community in support of Paneus’ creation.
Thoma had said something similar when he explained why he came to Ashpoint in the first place, that he was lost and looking for a new home and a place to belong. So, I shouldn’t have been surprised when he piped up.
