ELRETH

They'd finished with the elders who were tentatively supportive and were walking towards the disformed cave, intending to gather them before dinner for a discussion about allowing Elreth and Aaryn and Gar to handle the discussion in the amphitheater, when Elreth's mouth dropped open and her stomach plunged to her toes.

"Oh no.. FUCK."

Aaryn whirled, looking for a threat, but finding nothing, stared at her, a question in his eyes.

"I completely forgot.. I can't believe I forgot!" she hissed.

Aaryn frowned. "There's been a bit going on, El. What's the problem?"

"Hannah! And Marryk! We just.. left them!"

Aaryn slumped a little, relieved. "You didn't leave them. You had Gar bring them back to the Tree City. They're here. They're just in hiding."

"Yes, but.. they should have been a part of this whole picture. The elders.. embracing the disformed mates.. gah, Aaryn, this is a whole piece of this that we haven't even addressed!"

Aaryn took her hands and rubbed his thumbs over the backs of her palms. "Okay, so we dropped a ball. It's not the end of the world. What do you want to do? Who do we need to talk to? How do you want to do it? We'll make it happen, El."

Pulling out of his grip, she dropped her face in her hands. The elders were going to have an entire litter of kittens when she dropped this on them after everything else.

"I need to talk to Hannah," she said, returning to the reason she'd had Gar bring them back to the Tree City to begin with. "I need to find out what she knew before she came, what she might have shared and with whom. And I need to find that out right now. I have to.. I have to figure out how to bring this into this whole thing and we've only got hours, Aaryn!"

She gripped his arms and he held her back. "hey, hey, it's okay. We'll figure this out. Gosh, El, you've handled prophecies and secret tribes and.. all kinds of stuff. This is childsplay by comparison."

Elreth took a deep breath. She knew he was right, but it felt like.. it felt like she was stacking bricks—all different shapes and sizes, none of them made to fit with the others. That if she put just one in the wrong place, the entire tower would crumble.

Her heart thumped painfully and she buried her fingers in her hair.

"El, look at me. El."

She looked up, on the verge of tears and Aaryn stepped right up, hands on her shoulders, his face soft.

"You're going to handle this, just like you have everything else. It's hard, but it's nothing compared to the rest. And if we need to hide them until after the veneration, we can do that. Just.. just breathe, okay? I'll go get them. Why don't you go to the cave? I can bring them around. You can rest for an hour until I get them there—"

"We don't have an hour, Aaryn—"historical

"El, the address isn't until after dinner. Everyone's going to start heading to the market in the next hour or two. No one will be around the cave. It's the perfect place. I can even get our meals sent there. Have Huncer announce the address for you.. stop looking at me like that. You can do this, El. I know you can."

She breathed deeply a couple times, then nodded. "Okay, okay. You're right. I'll.. I'll go and I'll get ready. Bring both of them, please. And Gar if he's around and not doing something that's absolutely crucial. He should be there for this, too."

Aaryn's face fell just a shade, but he nodded and rubbed her arms. "I'll get them there. And food for all of us. Don't worry, El. We're doing this. You're doing this. And this little piece.. it's going to be fine."

She nodded, then gave him a quick kiss before turning and shifting, dashing through the forest, grateful to be separated from her thoughts by the beast.

*****

Just as he'd said he would, an hour later Aaryn walked into the cave, Gar on his heels, followed by Marryk and Hannah, both wide eyed.

Elreth stood from her seat at the dining table, papers spread out in front of her and walked to greet them as they entered. She squeezed Aaryn's hand, smiled at Gar, then accepted the almost-bow from Marryk, and Hannah's wide-eyed shyness.

She stepped forward to hug the smaller woman, then gave her some room. Hannah's eyes kept straying to Marryk.

"Thank you for coming. I am so, so sorry you were just left hanging like that. There's been.. quite a bit going on."

"Gar's been explaining some," Marryk said, holding Hannah's hand protectively. Hannah nodded.

Elreth looked at her brother and her chest pinched. "Thanks. For doing that. I'd.. everything else just got the better of me."

Gar shrugged. "It's no big deal."

Elreth snorted, but then turned back and invited them all to come to the table.

When they were all settled, Aaryn on one side of her, Gar on the other, Hannah and Marryk across the table she took a deep breath.

"Okay, so Hannah, I know this comes out of nowhere, but it occurred to me today that with everything that's going on, this is the right time to.. to look at whether or not you two will be able to settle here. And then I realized I hadn't even told you everything that we're doing—"

"They know you're calling the Rite of Veneration," Gar said carefully. "They know we've been working on some other stuff that's taken you away from this whole issue, but that you're turning back to it now."

Elreth nodded and looked at Hannah. "So, when you first arrived I think you were there when we discussed my concerns around humans in Anima—because we try to keep our existence hidden from them. I'm sure you're aware of that."

Hannah nodded. "Marryk made it really clear," she said quietly. "I couldn't tell anyone I was coming here, or anything about the Anima," she said earnestly, eyebrows high and expression pleading with Elreth to understand. "So.. that's why I left my family a note when we left, instead of talking to them. And I didn't tell them where I was going."

Elreth blew out a breath.. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.