Sono was standing nearby and took Lisana out of his arms and helped her stand. He could feel she was tired, but she was also grinning at both of them. He embraced Esylle and was surprised by what he felt. It was a different kind of love than what he always felt from Lisana. He couldn’t help but kiss her. He could always feel it deep in his spine when he kissed Esylle, but he was surprised this time when both of them broke out into goosebumps for this kiss because they could both feel each other.
He turned to Lisana, intending to thank her, but she was smirking at him again. “You should try mating when you can feel each other. It’s your wedding night, so you can now.”
He felt the blood rise in his face because she had embarrassed him yet again. He wanted to, now more than ever after that kiss, but thought she should know better by now than to say something like that. He was surprised when Esylle didn’t blush and only told Sono to take her to her room and leave her there to sleep. Esylle all but pulled him back to her chambers so they could finally be one in bed the right way.
Volaris
Volaris was still uncomfortable here, even after they had redecorated his chambers to make them more Farkhi. He was conflicted if he wanted to go back home or stay here and be near Sono. Now that Esylle had married, the girl agreed to plan hers, but there had been discussions for weeks on how they would actually do it, since a ceremony like hers had never been done before. The wedding was in three days and Volaris, Terros, and Fluvis had spent the past few weeks teaching Joron how to perform marriage ceremonies for their tribes so that he could find a way to combine them.
Lisana had managed to convince a man named Huegin that he would be a good council member and managed to get him elected by the people. The Lords weren’t happy and showed up for an audience during Esylle’s hours and asked for it to change, but Esylle wouldn’t budge on it. They tried to plead to Lisana to talk to her mother, but she was stone-faced when she told them the people had spoken and she was not queen yet. She told all of them if they wanted back on the council, their only hope was to change and get to know the people who didn’t vote them back in. They left frustrated, but didn’t challenge her and he knew they wouldn’t.
If Volaris wasn’t in council meetings, Lisana kept him busy when she wasn’t with the other kings asking for Farkhi traditions for her wedding. Several of the Farkhi women and a few of the men had come to him and asked to cook for the feast afterward because they knew she was asking. She had agreed to have her hair plaited again and her face painted like a Farkhi wedding ceremony. He hadn’t asked what she had planned to take from the Tarks and Theran because she kept him busy with questions.
He finally managed to get Sono alone the day before the wedding. He had hardly gotten a moment alone with Sono since Inanos because he was either busy or Sono was with the girl. He hadn’t had a chance to ask him if he truly accepted her choice to marry the three of them or if he was just going along with it because it was the only way he got to marry her. Volaris knew she thought this was supposed to happen, but if Sono was just doing this because it was the only way he could have her, he was going to try to talk him out of it and marry a Farkhi girl. He knew the rest of the Farkhi seemed to accept her choice and were excited about the fact that he would be on the throne beside her ruling everyone, but Volaris wasn’t thinking like a king right now, he was thinking like a father. He didn’t want his son living the rest of his life biting his tongue watching her with the other two just because he thought he had to.
He was surprised when he got Sono alone and asked him, Sono got upset with him. Sono was frustrated with him when he asked why the three of them could accept it when none of their parents could. Volaris tried to make it better by telling him he just wanted to see him happy, but Sono cut him off. Volaris was surprised when Sono told him how right it felt when the four of them slept in one bed together.
“You’re not thinking clearly,” Volaris argued. “All you were doing was sleeping that day. What are you going to do during her Senso or when she wants to mate since she does outside of it?”
“Father, it doesn’t bother me when she mates with the others.”
Volaris still didn’t think he was understanding what she was asking of him. He tried to point out to his son that it didn’t bother him because he never had to watch it before. After they wed, he would either be in the same room when it was being done, or she would have to pick and he would have to leave. What would he do if after they were wed, she preferred one of the others over him and he was always being asked to leave the room at night?
“Father, she loves different things about each of us and doesn’t prefer one of us over the other. She wouldn’t do that.”
“Sono, you can’t know that,” he said gently. “You have no way of knowing where her heart will lie in a few years. What she loves about you now, she may come to love in Oris or Neptis and you’ll find yourself married, but alone.”
“Esylle and Leodos don’t like it because they don’t want to think about her alone with the three of us. You don’t understand because you don’t feel what the three of us feel when we are near her.”
“I can’t feel what she feels near you, but I don’t think you understand what will happen after a few years of marriage and after she takes the throne. I only want to see you happy.”
“She makes me happy. The four of us together make me happy. You can’t understand what I feel from her when she’s close. It will be the same our entire lives.”
Volaris sighed and let him be. Maybe he was right and what he felt from her meant this would actually work and she wouldn’t end up preferring one of them in a few years and the other two would end up hurt. Either that, or he wasn’t thinking clearly because of his feelings for this girl and she would end up hurting him in the end. It was too close to the wedding and Sono would be upset with him if he said something to the girl, so he tried to keep his mouth shut.
He couldn’t stop himself the day of the wedding. He was sitting with Sono while his face, arms, and chest were being painted, but he slipped out into Lisana’s chambers. She was already dressed and her face had been painted. There were two Farkhi women behind her plaiting her hair. Now that he saw her face painted and her gown, she looked even more beautiful and he could somewhat understand why Sono refused to see reason on marrying her.
He stood next to her and looked down at her, not sure how he was going to phrase this and not send her running and ruin this entire day. She looked up at him expectantly and told him to say what he was wanting to say. She looked prepared for whatever he was about to say to her.
“Promise me you won’t hurt him,” was all he could manage to say without spilling out everything he had said to Sono and sending her running.
“I was wondering when you were going to talk to me about this. I’ve already had this conversation with both Terros and Fluvis. They will all be treated equally and no one will be hurt or feel left out, even several years from now.”
“You have no way of knowing what you will feel in a few years. These feeling are new for you and will wane in a few years. I’m not sure how you think you would treat them equally during your Senso.”
“I’m not sure why you’re asking me to talk about how I would arrange that when every time I’ve said anything remotely related to mating, you all correct me and tell me I’m not supposed to say those things. Your mate was chosen for you, like you wanted to choose for me, correct?”
“Yes, but—”
“I chose mine because I love all three of them and I was told it was supposed to happen. Maybe what you think is going to happen would have come to pass if you had chosen for me and things didn’t happen at Inanos that were supposed to.”
“I still don’t see how you will spend your nights without any one of them feeling left out.”
“My mother and Leodos don’t want to think about my nights. Maybe it’s best if you don’t either. I embarrassed you the day I thought I needed to mate to learn. I’d only embarrass you again if
I talked about my nights. Don’t think about it and don’t ask me.”
He thought he knew what she meant and opened his mouth to tell her it wasn’t proper, but she only laughed and cut him off. “Who’s to say it isn’t proper? We will be wed in a few hours and it’s never been done before. Peace, please. I’m not going to hurt your son.”
He was embarrassed again and left to go be with Sono. When Sono asked where he was and what the strange look on his face was, Volaris only straightened his robes and asked him if he was ready. Sono only smiled happily and told him he had been waiting for this day since he first laid eyes on her.
Volaris left to take his place with Terros and Fluvis, who both looked like they still had doubts, despite her saying that she had talked to both of them. They quickly hid it when it was their turn to make the long walk up to the carved arch. When it was Volaris’ turn, he snuck a look at Leodos, who was already standing there and he looked like he was trying to hide his unhappiness as well. Esylle was standing next to Leodos trying to look happy.
The expressions of Esylle and Leodos changed to smiles when the music changed and Lisana started her walk towards them. He didn’t know if she made them, since she could, or she had someone else do it, but her black robes had inserts of all the colors of the other tribes. Her face and arms were painted in the traditional Farkhi marriage ceremony way and her hair had been plaited and some of it was piled at the crown of her head and the rest spilled down her back to her waist. He recognized the necklace Oria wore when he attended Terros’ wedding around her neck and the arm cuff Fluvis’ wife wore during theirs around her left arm.
She looked even more beautiful than Esylle did when she wed and she was smiling shyly at everyone. He forgot for a moment what she had said to him and tried to just enjoy the ceremony for Sono, who was beaming at her with pride. When she finally arrived under the arch, only two of them could stand right next to her, but the one who couldn’t didn’t seem the slightest bit upset about it. Volaris was surprised, like he had been at Inanos, when the Tark, Theran, and Farkhi all began to sing their traditional wedding songs while Joron was speaking the words to bond them, that they intertwined like they had always been meant to be sung together.
Joron had found a way to make all of their traditional wedding vows work into one ceremony and even apparently learned to bind four hands at once. When it was done, he thought who she chose first to kiss would tell him more about what Sono’s future would be like, but all three of them moved to embrace her and each other at the same time. They all slid closer and Sono kissed her right cheek, Neptis her left, and Oris, her forehead. Volaris didn’t know if this was more or less uncomfortable than the kiss Leodos gave Esylle at their wedding.
When they finally let her go, Oris swooped her up and called for everyone to come celebrate. The room erupted with applause and neither Sono, nor Neptis seemed upset he was holding her. Volaris followed everyone out to the celebration and hoped this ended the way she said and his son wouldn’t be hurt.
Lisana
Lisana was relieved the ceremony was finally over. She had been nervous the entire time and there were more eyes on her here than there were at Inanos because she had invited all of the humans she had met. She was also nervous about what would happen after the ceremony and they had retired back to her chambers. The merchants had finished her chambers and they didn’t make her as uncomfortable anymore. She had a new bed that was big enough for the four of them. She had already lain with all of them, but never together.
After she ate, she was being pulled in so many different directions, she lost track of her new husbands. Everyone wanted to dance with her. She was more comfortable dancing now because in addition to the art lessons, Esylle had someone who came and taught her to dance. She was surprised how much she enjoyed dancing. She had just finished laughing and dancing with Huegin when there was a tap on her shoulder and Leodos wanted to dance with her. She teased him and asked him if he shouldn’t be dancing with her mother and he smiled gently down at her and told her today was her day. He teased her that they had news they would announce in the morning, but refused to tell her what it was. She couldn’t tell if the happiness she was feeling from him was about today or about his news.
When their dance ended, she was pulled away again, this time by Oris. They had joined her dance lessons and the teacher had taught them a dance they could all do together on this day. Sono signaled to the musicians and as soon as the music started, Oris lifted her in the air. She slid down his chest and he spun her away from him into Neptis’ arms. Neptis grasped her back and leaned her back so that her back was arched and her hair nearly swept the floor. He snatched her back up close to his chest and her heart was racing and she wanted to kiss him.
She thought to steal one and had forgotten that the next step was that he lifted her again, over his head, and tossed her in the air for Sono to catch. The dance they were taught had them holding her close to them, then spinning her off to another. She forgot everyone in the room except the three of them. Her heart was racing and she was no longer nervous about tonight. She wanted to leave the celebration now with the three of them.
The dance ended with the three of them holding her and she was surprised when she was pulled away again. She thought she had danced with everyone who wanted to dance and she was starting to get hungry. She realized it was Esylle and her face was as red as Lisana’s was after her dance.
“I don’t like what I’m feeling from you right now and I’m going to have to have a talk with your dance instructor. I can feel you’re hungry and you haven’t eaten all night. At least stop and eat. You’ve been drinking wine and dancing all night and my head spins every time I’m near you. You need food in your stomach.”
She let Esylle lead her to a table to sit and eat. Leodos, Sono, Neptis, and Oris all joined them with plates. They were all out of breath from the dancing and looking like they wanted to sneak away like she did. She didn’t think they would ever ask her to do to this, but Leodos turned red again and asked her to try blocking him again so he didn’t have to feel this. She asked him to distract her then by telling her their news that they were going to wait until morning to tell her.
Esylle took his hand and they both looked unsure for a moment, then she told him they should just tell her because she didn’t want to feel this anymore either. Lisana stopped for a minute and asked if it was bad news and that was why they didn’t want to tell her today. She was relieved when her mother smiled and told her it was happy news, they just didn’t want to tell her today because today was her day.
“I’m with child. We don’t know if he or she will be like you, but we’re happy.”
Esylle had barely gotten the words out that she was with child when she laughed and leapt out her chair. She nearly knocked Esylle out of her seat embracing her. Esylle laughed in her hair and didn’t want to let her go when she went to embrace Leodos.
“I always wanted a sibling growing up, but he wouldn’t tell me who my family was and he never married or even talked to women when I was there. I used to pretend Frog was my brother. If you have a boy, does that mean I don’t have to rule?”
“You’re still the eldest and next in line,” Esylle told her gently. “It’s not done here like your stories. We’ve been only able to have one child for so long, it didn’t matter if it was male or female. They ruled in name only with the Lords making all the decisions. I know you don’t want to, but I think anyone who has met you so far isn’t going to accept anyone but you. You’re better at it than you think.”
She sat back down and didn’t speak. She was excited about the child, but not about the fact that it wasn’t like her stories and she would still have to rule if the child was male. She still didn’t want to now that she had watched Esylle. She understood why she declined the Lord’s demands, but sometimes she was hard on simple requests and Lisana didn’t think she could do that.
Everyone at the table noticed she had become silent and was focusing on her
food. Esylle put her hand on her arm. “You still have a while to learn before you rule. Concentrate on your new sibling and not how much you don’t want to rule.”
She tried to push down how much she still didn’t want to do this and just be happy. She smiled at both Esylle and Leodos and asked them if they wanted a boy or girl. Esylle smiled and told her she missed getting to dress her up as a child and wanted a girl, but Leodos wanted a son he could take hunting with him. She laughed and asked Esylle if she really would have dressed her up in silly clothes if she hadn’t been taken. Esylle teased her back that she would like fancy clothes more and known she was beautiful her entire life if she had stayed.
She didn’t really want to talk about what she may or may not be like if she had stayed. It was late and people were starting to leave. Now that she had eaten, all of the wine she had drank was going to her head and she was getting tired. They all suggested she retire to her chambers when she started yawning. Esylle and Leodos told her to wash before she came to breakfast so they didn’t have to smell whatever she intended on doing once she got back there. She looked back at them and for once, they didn’t look like they felt upset about this. They looked like they finally accepted it.
Leodos
Lisana and those three boys were late for breakfast every morning and every single one of them had wet hair like they tried to wash what they did off of themselves. Leodos knew what it meant and tried not to think about it. Esylle’s belly was growing larger every day and he tried to ignore Lisana’s lateness at breakfast or the looks that were passed between the four of them once they did arrive and concentrate on taking care of Esylle. He never thought he would have children because he never married and he was excited about this child.
Esylle would always tell him she was carrying differently than when she had Lisana and she was sure it was the boy he wanted. If he had a son, he swore he would not raise him the way his father raised him. If it was a boy, he was a strong one when Leodos would lay in bed with her with his hand on her stomach when he was kicking.
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