A pretty spectacular speech from someone usually so reticent. When he finished and it was my turn, I said: "I’m just in it for the hugs," and laughed and hugged them and people applauded. Even Ys hugged me back, if only briefly, but was relieved to escape the centre of attention afterwards. Then it was lots of chatting with people, and food and dancing, and much of this is a blur but I remember some parts of it really distinctly. The flowers they’d set to floating in the pool, and later the careful lighting of all the lamps Teor had made – dozens in the trees and even more which we floated in the pool (some of which escaped and floated off into the lake). They were very cool and fantastical and I was careful not to compare them to the simple white lanterns Kaoren had made, which wholly own my heart. Later I held Katen (and had to sit down because I felt all strange about being pregnant). Inisar and Taarel danced together, incredibly grand. Then I gave in to Sen and put my circlet and veil on her, and Nils levitated her about for a little dance to keep the veil off the ground.
He also danced with Tsur Selkie’s two young daughters, who are not very much like their father at all. Allidi and Haelin Selkie, aged eight and twelve, both Sight Sight talents, and with the strong-minded certainty which comes with that, but unexpectedly relaxed for a pair of Kalrani among their seniors. Perhaps it’s because they didn’t inherit Tsur Selkie’s Place Sight as well? Place is by far the hardest of the Sights. I asked Kaoren if they took after their mother, who wasn’t in attendance, and he made a slight face, and shook his head.
I didn’t get the story behind that out of him till much later. Tsur Selkie had married one of the senior device technicians at KOTIS, and all was well until their daughters tested as strong talents and he refused to find a way to exempt them from the Setari program. Presumably because he’s not a great steaming hypocrite. His wife not only divorced him, she more or less divorced her daughters as well, and has nothing to do with them. That’s pretty hard for me to imagine, but apparently it’s not uncommon for the families of Kalrani to feel like they’ve become strangers.
I have hopes of a far more positive future. One of my favourite moments of the wedding was sitting in a circle with the kids and Kaoren, while Sen (who has embraced learning English of late) pounced on each of us in turn, chanting: "Kaoren is father. Cassandra is mother. Lira is sister. Rye is brother. Ys is sister." Then she repeated on a rather frantic and high note: "Rye is brother and Ys is sister!" and burst into tears and had to be hugged a lot by everyone. It was just such a relief to her, to have that confirmation, to make Ys and Rye officially her family. I got a nice lean from Ys after that, since the idea of sibling is more important to her than the idea of parent and she is very glad Kaoren and I have made it possible.
Sen happily calls us Mummy and Daddy (and Rye after a very shy conversation calls us Mother and Father). Both use the English words to distinguish us from their blood parents. Ys and Lira stick with Kaoren and Cassandra (or You).
I’m an official parent now. And baby will make five.
Instead of a honeymoon, we instituted Family Holiday. Just like Mum and the Aunts and Uncles used to take us all camping, each year for our Family Anniversary we’re going to go on a holiday together. Mostly camping, but sometimes we might visit Tare or even Kolar. This time was camping, with Lohn, Nils, and Zee along as bodyguards, and Mara, Shar and Fein along for company. And Siame, who now is four and a bit-times an aunt, and has barely said a word since she saw I was pregnant.
We were given use of a nice big roomy flier, packed it with tents and food and went somewhere no one had been. Northern hemisphere, about the same latitude as Pandora, but on the western edge of the next village over’s Ddura-range. A grassy, hilly place specked with wide, low-branched trees perfect for climbing, with lots of streams and countless hidden pools. We cruised in the flier until we spotted a nice place and then hovered while Nils, Zee and Lohn went and double-checked that there was no threat, then pitched tents on a cute little grassy island at the join of two streams.
There was a girls' tent (Sen, Ys, Lira and Siame), a boys' tent (Rye, Fein, Shar) and then smaller tents for each couple. Nils and Zee were technically on duty, but were more openly a couple on this trip than they usually behave around people. Mara is already getting to be very noticeably pregnant, so she got a cot in case the ground was too uncomfortable, but the grass was very thick and cushiony thanks to a clover-type plant, so we didn’t have any real problems, and Lira even slept in the tent, despite insisting she’d sleep in the flier. Lira very much disdained the idea of camping and could find no discernable reason why anyone would want to sleep in a tent when they had a perfectly good bedroom – or at least a cushioned seat in the flier. Ys started out indifferent, so long as she was permitted to read with as little interruption as possible, but turned out to really enjoy exploring the area.
Fein and Rye are really great together. Fein overflows with energy and schemes. He’s always overcoming Rye’s shy and obedient habits and – while he can never get Rye to break any of the strict rules we’ve made – is teaching him to push a little at the edges, and to be more confident about boundaries. Rye in return has given Fein some respect for the unfun stuff which Rye treats as a privilege. Particularly, I think, because Rye is always quick to find practical applications for the things he’s learning.
They both got very involved in identifying all the species of plants and animals around the camp, and provisionally describing and naming everything they think is new. Rye’s studies are really showing through in his use of language, and he’s very exacting in his descriptions. They sometimes drafted Shar as an assistant, which Shar tolerated with faint amusement. Shar’s making slow progress toward becoming family, and now reminds me more of Siame than anyone else – very in command of himself but still holding himself back. He’s closest to Mara, whose down-to-earth honesty seems to appeal to him, and I can see why Mara said he would have been captain material, so I’m curious to see what he’ll end up doing with himself. Mara tells me he hasn’t quite escaped being expected to settle Nuran disputes, but is mostly focused on his studies, and has been suffering a bad spate of Place Sight-related dreams. Like most of the older Nuran kids, he’s only a few years from legal adulthood, but incredibly behind in terms of a Taren curriculum, and he needs to find a role and a career in an entirely new world. I wonder sometimes if he’ll end up becoming a leader of the Nuri in the end anyway – he has a kind of low-key authority and certainly a lot of charisma which would probably do him well in politics.