Page 124 of Sunsplitter

Fi scowled at her slighted generosity. Sure, she’d reacted the same to daeyari coffee—not that she tasted much ofanycoffee she drank, with how much cream and sugar she drowned it in.

“Where do I get daeyari coffee?” Fi asked Syvr.

They sipped their drink mildly. “From a daeyari, I imagine.”

She swatted Syvr’s tail. They laughed.

“Look at the nerve of this creature!” Syvr exclaimed, delighted. “She put Avroz on the ground, bares her teeth at daeyari. Antal, why have you been hiding her?”

Ok. This daeyari, Fi wasn’t so worried about. They acclimated to new environments with the resilience of a city pigeon.

Ixli lingered on the sidelines, glaring at her mug. Then Syvr. Then Kashvi. It occurred to Fi, they hadn’t gotten off to the best start. Ixli had started out prickly. Fi had been prickly herself, wary of teeth and past lovers.

But Ixli cared about Antal.

“I never thanked you,” Fi said. “For helping me fend off that aedari.”

Ixli snapped to attention, poised for battle—then wary, when Fi offered peace. Merciless Void, Antal did have a type. What a wonderful, masochistic creature he was.

“As is my duty,” Ixli said, curt.

“You’re incredible with that spear,” Fi added. “I can’t believe how fast you move. And parrying those sword hits? They hit like atrain.”

“I struggled on my own. If you hadn’t intervened…” Ixli glared at the floor—but her tail swayed smoother. “You also fought well. Many daeyari aren’t brave enough to enter combat with an aedari.”

Fuck it. Fi would take that. “Those metal claw sheaths you used. Where can I get some?”

“You don’t need claws,” Antal said, visibly beleaguered.

A laugh from Syvr. “I imagine she could make excellent use of claws, Antal.”

Whatever their implication, it was clearly dirty. This fueled Fi. A nightmare of a potential tag team, she realized with mounting delight.

“Yeah, Antlers,” she pressed. “Why can’t I have claws?”

Syvr cocked their head so far, they could have snapped a vertebra. Fi tensed. Had she pushed too far? Overestimated how well they were getting along?

Oh, wait. No.

Thenickname.

Antal stood beside her, eyes closed, looking as though he was trying to will his soul to the Void. Fantastic. Fi was having fun again.

“In seasonspeak,” Antal explained. “The word for…” He pointed to his head.

“Antlers,” Syvr mused. “And…Antal.” They paused for one stricken moment.

Then laughed so hard, half the capitol must have heard. Even Ixli twitched a grin. This meeting was Fi’s best idea ever.

It was fascinating, watching the shift in the room.

Syvr claimed a chair by the table, sipping their coffee. Ixli inched closer, inspecting the map. Even Kashvi lowered some bristles. She studied the daeyari with more caution than resentment, these guests who weren’t like the tyrants they’d tangled with.

It still surprised Fi a little, every time daeyari acted like people. Not folktale wraiths or predators waiting for the instant she turned her back. The same revelation Fi once had for Antal—just, with more of his tongue in her mouth.

He stood easier, too. Always more relaxed without his father around.

These two daeyari weren’t as hard as Avroz. Fi finally saw hints of it, now that they’d been hewn from the pack, in Syvr’s teasing and Ixli’s harmless swats, in Antal’s ghost of a grin as he watched them settle. These used to be his friends.