It didn’t seem to me then to be a matter of preference, but more a matter of truth. I have come to reconsider this, but at the time, it seemed to me that the gold elves were more accurate, more honest, about life than Semadrans are. And maybe that is true—but maybe it’s that they are more accurate and more honest about me than Semadrans are.

Vathorem did not wait for me to answer. “You’re very different than Dirva.”

“I’m not so different.”

“You are. He’s a world to himself, that one. All contained, a universe in one man. The magic drives him away from the rest of us. And it drives you right into the arms of slaves. Who, Ariah, who do you think in this city has a more urgent life than a slave? What people anywhere live more moment to moment than them? And when you live like that, you live loud. It’s all right there on the surface. Dirva and I are alike. You and I are not.”

“You won’t train me?”

Vathorem smiled at me. “Oh, no, I’ll train you. Are you willing to be trained, though, that’s the real question. Will you let me, that’s the question.”

“I’ll let you.”

* * *

The marriage was absolutely, perfectly Semadran. We arrived at the matchmaker’s house just before dusk. Dor and Vathorem were led into the house by the matchmaker and seated in the front room. Dirva and I entered the house through the matchmaker’s back door. We stood huddled against the wall, tucked out of sight. Dirva was calm, unruffled, full of certainty. Just as the sun dipped halfway below the horizon and the moon crept up into view, the door to the parlor opened for us. I went in first, then Dirva. Nisa’s parents came in through the other side of the room, followed by Nisa. The matchmaker and a razehm stood on either side of a small table. They stood in front of a west-facing window, and the mingled light of dusk flooded the room. On the table were the documents: licenses, affidavits, and genealogies.

The matchmaker gestured the families forward. Nisa’s mother stepped towards me. “It is a gift and an honor,” she said.

“It is a gift and an honor,” I said. We signed an affidavit of witness for the razehm.