“They’re beautiful, sweetheart.” He crouched down behind his daughter and smiled over at Orlando and Candra, who were drawing quite a crowd. “Now, give them a kiss to make sure they remember you, and give them back. You did well.”
She gave them a kiss like her father told her and then she shyly went back up and held out her hand with the rings. “Here you go. I told them to like you too.”
Orlando took Candra’s ring and slid it onto the little finger of her left hand, then held out his right hand and took the ring on his own little finger before he stood up again, holding Candra’s hand and letting sparks fly freely back and forth between the rings as he wove his fingers with hers.
Candra giggled a little, since it tickled her hand, but she noticed that people were genuinely fascinated with what went on between them. She had gotten so used to his power and sparks that it hardly even fazed her, unless he used his sparks in a completely different way. There was no getting used to the way that felt.
They had quite a few spectators as they walked, and the sparks between their hands marked them beyond any possibility of mistake. The little girl apparently had quite a big mouth, and there were a number of other Ironborn children that came up and offered them presents of various kinds. Bracelets and rings, mostly. Some came up and offered Candra a necklace they made for her, and an Ironborn and a Stoneborn child came up to them at one point and began putting bits of stone into the jewelry. Things took shape as they walked, but they finally made it into Skyborn territory, then Oceanborn. In both places they were greeted with distance, but respect. The Fireborn looked at them curiously and didn’t approach, since they were all adults and had no children with them to be fascinated by their passage, but Orlando and Candra just kept walking.
By the time they made their way through most of the compound, there were sparks jumping off them from all the pieces they wore. They walked just outside of Nick’s house to see him sitting on the front porch with Zara in his lap. Both of them watched the whole spectacle as Candra and Orlando made their way to them, and Candra stopped at the steps leading up to Nick’s porch. She took off a chain she had been given and walked up to hand it over to Nick. It was still warm and buzzing with the mixed energy of Shadowborn and Lightborn together. “A symbol of our loyalty.”
Nick took it cautiously, and his hand jumped as the electricity hit him. The second touch was easier, though, and he took the chain with a grateful nod. It was still warm to the touch, and he knew it would never lose its potency completely. “Thank you, Candra.” Zara hadn’t gotten off his lap as he took it, and it wound itself around his wrist twice and linked together seamlessly, adding itself to the others up and down his arm.
Candra glanced down at Zara and just stared at her for a moment before she turned and walked back to take Orlando’s hand, and the sparks renewed between them. She kissed his cheek as they started to walk off, and then she whispered to him again. “I haven’t seen Aura at all.”
“She doesn’t leave her house much these days. She’s permanently shifted anyway now, for the next couple months until she has Ziem’s puppies.” There was a slightly bitter tone to his voice as he said it, but that was why they didn’t talk about Aura very often.
They had to go through the Earthborn quarter and the Forestborn as well before they got back to the gate nearest their home, and so they started in through the Earthborn sector. It was a strange place to be, to be sure, since many of the people around were more than half buried as they passed by. Everyone was fairly filthy, and there was enough mud on all of them to build another country out of it.
It was strange to see people in the ground instead of roaming around as wolves or even as people, but it was also interesting to Candra to see all the ways that different wolves enjoyed spending their time. She kept talking, though, since none of the Earthborn seemed particularly interested in talking to them. “I understand that it’s only been a few months since all of this happened, but you don’t seem the slightest bit happy for her.”
“I am.” He said softly, but he was looking down at the ground. “I’m glad she has Ziem to take care of her. I don’t know anything about him, but if she’s spent enough much time with him and decided so quickly that she wanted him to be her husband and the father of her puppies, then she knows what she’s doing.”
“I heard the story about them. That he was the one that was exiled for being with her.” She looked around in confusion as they walked, not understanding why the Earthborn were being so quiet. Their brown eyes were on the two of them the whole time, but none of them moved to greet them or even say a single word to them. “I know I’m not, you know, perfect or anything. And I know it was only a short time ago, but I hope that someday it won’t be me versus Aura to you.”
“It’s not.” He squeezed her hand, and the sparks flew brighter between them. “And
