Silver

She thought about the kiss all day. The warm press of his lips, his breath on his skin. It was just your hand, she scolded herself, but she tingled all over. She remembered the sympathy in his deep voice. No one had ever soothed her so well with a single word.

L'ksannaneîle. She did not even know what the word meant.
She sat in the dining hall. Every night she had dinner with her father and brothers and various nobles from other estates.
Baron Hanri from House Lebbon leaned towards Silver.

"Lady Theris, I thought I had heard you had a successful Matching?"

Silver smiled politely. "I did, thank you. Kiran has been helping around the estate."

It was unusual for a Matched human to not have her Matchmate with her on all formal occasions (and most informal ones). How she wished Kiran was here. She pictured the warm reassurance of his touch and bit back a wistful sigh.

"And how fares your Matchmate?" she politely inquired. Shihara, a glittering silver fennec fox, wound about his legs.

"She's doing quite well. We went on a hunt the other day. She's a tremendous hunter."
He went on to tell all about the hunt. Silver smiled and nodded in all the right places, but her mind drifted to Kiran. It did that as often as it could, she noticed. She dreamed about his dusky smooth skin. The purple shimmer of his straight hair as it fell in his eyes. The beautiful mismatched gaze. The rakish scar down his cheek that she wanted to kiss. His soft, soft lips...
His endearing way of running words together when he tried to speak in human. Llyadoran, she found, rolled words into each other.
"Amna îIn éa ba mai minn," for instance, was said so smoothly it almost sounded like one word.
His strong arms. His tapered fingers with their deadly sharp nails on the hands that would never hurt her. The way he made her feel safe, and understood, and like she belonged. He made her feel loved.

Love. It was a word Matchmates used all the time with each other, but it seemed a bigger thing to use it with Kiran. Perhaps because he was almost human-looking.
Did he love her, and in what way? Did she love him?

Darrin caught her eye and began making faces while Eerie sneaked tidbits of food. Silver stifled a laugh.
Soon Kellor noticed.

"Darrin!" he scolded in a sharp whisper.

Darrin made a face at him. Kellor pretended not to notice it and went back to eating. Darrin grinned at Silver. She smiled sadly and glanced at their father, who was ignoring the whole thing, deep in conversation with a noble.
Silver patted her mouth daintily to hide her laugh when Darrin began to mimic some of the nobles at the table.

"I see you have finished your meal, Darrin, Silver. I know you are both busy. You may be excused," their father said without looking up. That was as much as their father ever acknowledged them. Silver stood and curtsied to the room.

"Good evening to you," she said.

"Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Lady Theris," Baron Hanri said.

"It was my pleasure."

"Good evening, Lady Theris," the other nobles around the table said.
Darrin stood and bowed flippantly, and they exited the room together.

"You shouldn't do that just to irritate Father," Silver said.

"It's not just to irritate Father. It's fun and I irritate Kellor too," Darrin replied.

"You're incorrigible," she said fondly.
Their steps echoed down the hall as they walked. Silver had to hurry to keep up with Darrin's effortless stride.

"I love you, you know that, right?" she said abruptly. "I know we don't say it often."

"I know, Sil, whether you say it or not. And I love you. More than all the stars in the sky."

Silver smiled through suddenly blurry eyes. "Mother used to say that."

"Yeah. I miss her," Darrin admitted.

Silver agreed. "So do I. And I really wish she could've met Kiran."

Darrin hugged his sister. "She would have been proud of you. You're a beautiful young woman." He let go and coughed awkwardly. "I've got to go." He was uncomfortable with being serious for too long.

"Good night, Darrin."

He flashed her a smile. "Night, Silly."

_______________________________

Kiran

The next two days days passed similar to the ones before. I milked early in the morning and worked outside until lunchtime. I had lunch with Silver and she told me about her studies and I told her the new things I had learned. We touched as often as possible and wished for more time together. I spent the afternoons and evenings cleaning inside. I stretched for a while in my room, then Silver came to say goodnight through the window before heading to bed. It was a pattern.

It was my sixth day in Attaliesia when Mari invited me to a Matching after lunch.

"Nothing big. Just us servants. We're rooting for Ethann."

Ethann, it turned out, was a servant boy. His father had been unMatched and died. His mother had died birthing Ethann, and her Matchmate had died of grief two weeks later. Ethann had been raised by the other servants. They were worried about him. He was already extremely weak and unlikely to survive without a Match. There had even been doubt that he would live long enough to Match. That happened sometimes in weak families. Nobles were the ones with the strongest magic still in their blood, and they were the most likely to survive if they failed to Match. The servants and country people had weaker blood and often died without a bond.

"We're really hoping he Matches. He's a good boy. Very smart."

The ceremony took place outside on the estate, in the brightest patch of sun. They had checked the sun charts and gathered at the brightest time of day. The servants formed a ring around Ethann. The boy was thin and frail, gawky. He was too pale and shaking. He stood unsteadily in the sun. There was no Errande to preside over the ceremony. Instead, servants told stories about Ethann and wished him luck, one by one.

And then there was a soft glow. The glow grew bigger and bigger, pulsing gently. Slowly the glow faded, and left in its place- a vine. A vine as tall as Ethann, with curling tendrils and flowers of every color. A vine I recognized.

Ele!

And she was happy, the flowers said. She shyly curled a few tendrils around Ethann. He broke into an unbelieving smile. He reached for more of her, and she twined herself around him so that every part of her was touching him, hugging him. Tears welled up in Ethann's eyes.

"Thank you, thank you," he whispered.

He was draped in flowering vines. Ele began producing fruits and dangled one in front of his mouth. He opened without question and she carefully placed the fruit inside. He chewed slowly, a smile on his lips. Faint color came into his cheeks. The other servants cheered.

I looked around at the crowd. About half of them had Matches. A woman with a parrot on her shoulder. A boy with a baby winged giraffe. A girl with a blue tamandua. A man I recognized from the sheep pens, his Match a sheepdog the size of a horse. A boy with a butterfly twice the size of my head. It could actually see out of every eye-spot on its wings. An assortment of dogs and cats and rodents, all with their marqs that identified them as Llyadoran. They were larger or smaller than Attaliesian animals, vibrantly colored, or had metallic parts or wire fur.

I heard the hum of Llyadoran conversation in my head. With Llyadoran speech, you could speak directly to the creature or creatures you were speaking to, or you could broadcast so that every Llyadoran close by could hear you. The creature had the choice to listen in or close the link to the conversation.

I push through the crowd towards Ethann and Ele.

"Wilihucorian," I say to Ethann. Literally it means heartsong, but it is used to say my heart sings with you, our form of congratulations.
"I am happy for you," I say in stilted Attaliesian.

Ethann smiles at me with confusion.

"Thank you," he says uncertainly. He has never met me, though he has probably heard of me. He is wondering why I am here, talking to him.

Kiran! Ele mentally squeals, and throws a tendril around my wrist. It was like grabbing a person with one hand while still tightly hugging someone else.

I didn't know you would be here!

I Matched to a girl named Silver, I reply silently. Her father owns the estate your Matchmate works for.

Do you know my Matchmate? What's his name? she asks eagerly.

I don't know him well. His name is Ethann. I'll introduce you.

"Ethann, this is Ele," I say aloud. I hold up the vine still attached to my wrist. "She is one of my best friends."

"Hello, Ele," he says, hugging her closer to him. He looks up at me.
"You're Lady Theris's Match, aren't you?"

"Yes. My name is Kiran."

"Thanks for telling me her name. Ele," he whispers to himself. She taps a few vines gently in his face.

It's wonderful to see you, Kiran-

I want to talk with Ele, ask her all that has happened on Llyador since I have been gone, tell her all about my new life and Silver. So many things about Silver. I have to remind myself that Ethann and Ele need time together. I understand. Much as I like Ele, if I could be with Silver right now, I would.

I'm glad to see you too, Ele. Enjoy your time with Ethann, I say, and melt back into the crowd.

I spend the rest of the day folding linens. I try not to reach out for Ele. She knows you're here; she can call you if she wants to talk, I rebuke myself. Folding is a brainless task. It gives me way too much time to think about Ele, to miss Silver.

"Tell me about your Matching to Gurr," I ask Burnemarr.

"My Matching," he muses. "That was a while back. I was sixteen, of course, and very nervous. My parents were country folk; we didn't have very strong blood. We were poor, so we didn't have a fancy ceremony with an Errande and all like your Match to the Lady. We just checked the sun charts for the brightest time on my birthday and went to a bright patch of sun. Much like young Ethann's Matching, although mine had less people there. It was just my family and me. I stood there with my heart in my mouth. What if nothing happened?"

Burnemarr looked off in the distance. Gurr wound himself about his legs.

"There was a beam of light and something dropped in front of me. I looked down. And was immediately disappointed. Something had gone wrong. I saw what looked like an ordinary housecat, black with white paws. This couldn't be my Match, I thought. And then he looked up at me and I saw his eyes, such an unnatural white, and I knew. This was my Matchmate. I reached down to scoop him up, but he turned, walked a little ways away, sat down, and began to clean himself."

He was going to hug me! That would be completely undignified, Gurr said.

He noticed what he was doing and hurriedly walked away from Burnemarr.

And my fur was all out of place. Travelling on a beam of light unsettled it all.

I smiled a little and repeated it to Burnemarr.

What! I never said you could tell him that, Gurr complained.

Burnemarr smiled too. "Thank you for telling me. It still amazes me that you know what he says."

"I am Llyadoran," I said simply.

"Anyway, he doesn't exactly cuddle with me, but he's always been there for me. I feel like he knows everything about me."

Better than you do, Gurr agreed. I repeated him for Burnemarr.

Oh, if you're going to keep doing that, I'm going to stop talking, Gurr threatened.

"I'm really lucky to have him." Burnemarr said softly. "Hear that, Gurr? Thank you."

Yeah, yeah, I'm glad you're my Matchmate too, Gurr grumbled.

I smiled and copied him, inflection and all.
Burnemarr laughed. "Your words really do match your personality, Gurr."

When I finished my work, I went to my room happy. I had watched a Matching today, Ele was here, and I had been able to translate for Gurr and Burnemarr. I said goodnight to Silver through the window and then lay down to sleep, eager for the next day.

_______________________________

Silver

Silver waited impatiently at the table for Kiran. She stared at the door, determined to catch a glimpse of him as soon as he entered. She sighed. It was curious, she supposed, since she hardly knew him- she had only known him for seven days!- but she felt as if she had known him forever. She never grew tired of him, and knew even if he was with her every second of every day, she never would. She wished they could always be together. If he were any other form of creature, she thought. But I would not change him for the world. She sat up even straighter, alert, as the door opened.

"Ooshoo, Silver," Kiran said with a smile. He and his guard entered the room.

"Ooshoo, Kiran," she attempted. She loved the way Llyadoran sounded when Kiran spoke, but she never seemed to get it right. Kiran smiled anyway.

"Naheira'ain. Beautiful."

Silver arched an eyebrow at him. "Me or my attempt at Llyadoran?"
He sat down easily across from her.

"Both."

He picked up her hand. She shivered as he began to massage in circles with his thumb.

"I'll need that hand if I'm going to eat," she said.

He was staring at her intensely. "Who cares about eating?" But he let her hand go. She picked up a cup of milk and drank daintily.

"Did you milk this yourself?" She asked.

"Possibly," he replied, and picked up his fork.

"I can tell you about my day with one word- lessons- so tell me about yours. It's always so interesting," she prompted.

He looked down at a piece of bread in his hand. "Yesterday, after our lunch, I went to a Matching," he said quietly.

She looked up from her soup. "Did you? What did you think?"

He took a bite and then replied. "Fascinating. Not quite as odd as having it happen to you, but very interesting. Especially since the creature summoned was one of my best friends."

He stirred his soup and thought. "I was not expecting that. I am surprised- and of course very happy- that she is here. That she would be summoned so soon after me, that we would end up on the same estate- it is very surprising."

Silver said carefully, "So tell me about your best friend. Her, you said?"
He smiled at the thought of his best friend. Silver felt a strange jealousy.

"Her name is Ele. She is a vine. I have known her for several years."

He showed her memories: of him, with an infected arm wound, searching a meadow for unicorn's breath, a wildflower that can help with infection. Of stumbling across a large vine and finding that it talked. Of Ele growing a spray of flowers and snapping them off for him. Eat these, they will help, she said. Kiran eyed them warily but finally tried them. Of them soothing the inflamed area within minutes. Of him incredulously thanking her and sitting down to ask questions. Of tendrils creeping over him the longer he sat. Of her coming with him when he went back to Shanook.

Who was Shanook? Silver wondered.

The memories continued: Ele creeping over a forest floor, Ele covered in flowers, Ele with berries, Ele with nuts, Ele winding herself around Kiran, Kiran and Ele and a wolf walking somewhere together.

The connection ends. Silver sighs with relief. Ele is a plant. She has helped Kiran, healed him when he was hurt.

"I'm so glad she helped you," she says. "I'd like to meet her sometime."

Kiran smiled wryly. "She'd like to meet you too, if all of us could ever find the time. She wants to spend her time with Ethann, and you and I- we hardly have any time together as it is."

Silver smiles with anticipation.

"Tomorrow we have the whole day together. I can't wait."

_______________________________

Kiran

I could hardly wait either. I was tense with anticipation for the rest of the day as I went about my chores. So I was grateful for the distraction when Ele contacted me.

Kiran? Where are you?

I was hanging up laundry outside. I told her where to find me.

We're coming to talk to you.

It'll be good to see you, I replied. I kept hanging up clothes. They arrived a few minutes later, Ele still draped around Ethann. He looked stronger and healthier already.

So tell me everything that's happened to you! And about your Match! Ele commanded enthusiastically. I smiled and told her everything, from the moment I had left Llyador.

You're only allowed to see her an hour a day? That's horrible! I can't imagine being parted from Ethann, Ele exclaimed.

I'm dangerous and too humanlike without actually being human. They don't like it, I explained. I'm looking forward to having the entire day with Silver tomorrow.

My heart sings for you, Ele says. I ask her how she likes it here. She goes on in detail about Ethann and how smart and nice he is. I smile at her fondly. I probably sound just as enthralled when I'm speaking about Silver.

Ethann had begun helping me hang laundry as soon as they arrived, and I finished it promptly with his help. We headed over to the gardens where Ele and Ethann had been put to work. Ethann and I pulled weeds, and Ele sent out runners under the soil, her presence making the plants grow healthy and fruitful. We talked while we worked. Burnemarr watched over us and occasionally helped. The light faded as evening approached.

I stood and brushed myself off. Ethann and Ele rose.

"Thank you for your help," I told Ethann.

He smiled. "You're welcome."

"Amna iln ea ba mai minn," I said aloud to them both, and Burnemarr and I went in. I washed and went to my room. I said goodnight to Silver and went to sleep, full of anticipation for the next day.