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"What?" Maela asked. "How do you not know that?"
"We didn't live in houses with acres of land behind them," Ela explained. "Snow was in the street, pissed on and driven over."
"But all that room behind the temple!" Maela insisted. "Ten years of primary education, Nari said. How did you never learn? Someone needs to make sure the children get to do more than study!"
"I think that someone is you," I told her. "We never really went outside. There was a little courtyard where we could study in the sun, but that was about it."
Talin bent to grab a handful of snow. While he was packing it, he said, "I think they're worried about the people of Calseth seeing children as priests. It would be easy to see ten-year-olds in black and think we're being taught how to get fucked instead of how to read."
"Walls," Maela said. "The common yard needs them, with a gate on the end opposite the Temple of All Gods. A way to make that space private for all priests, so you can mingle your own ways."
"You're the perfect Baroness," Yamina told her. "I can't believe you thought you'd be bad at this."
"I'm not like you," Maela reminded her.
Yamina just stepped in and kissed her, silencing the protest. For a moment, Maela hesitated, and then it was like she remembered this was ok. Leaning in, she kissed back. Her hand moved to Yamina's cheek, the mittens preventing more than the most basic caress, but it didn't matter.
The pair were perfect together. Soft, beautiful, and they'd been friends first. I had a feeling in my gut that they would find a way to be happy. It wouldn't be easy, but these two would make it work. They were both strong, but in different ways, and that was all they really needed.
"Start rolling this," Talin said, passing me the snowball he'd made. "You show Ela and I'll show Wraythe."
"I'm going to make the biggest snowman yet," I warned him.
"Oh, it's on," Talin said, grabbing another handful of snow. "Wraythe, we have to outdo the pretty ones."
"Not specific enough," Wraythe teased. "You mean the ladies or the priests?"
"All of them!" Talin laughed.
Yamina broke the kiss. "Not fair, Talin! You're stronger than us."
"We'll help you," Ela promised. "Three women beat one Wraythe, and Talin's not stronger than me."
I bent and started rolling my little ball in the snow. "We're going to end up with a whole snow family."
"Oh, I like that idea," Maela said. "You two make the parents, and we'll make the baby snowmen."
And we did. When Ela kissed Talin - destroying his snowball in the process - the ladies relaxed a little more. When Wraythe used hugging me from behind as an excuse to help lift one of the snowballs into place, it became a free for all. Out in the middle of the winter, with no one around to judge us, we all could finally show affection to the people we loved. It was even nicer to be able to do that around our friends.
