Tayan squeezed Dakto in a brief, affectionate hug. ‘It’s so good to see you again,’ he whispered, but then he let go and his dignity broke and he began to run, stumbling over roots and vines, his sandals skidding on rocks.

The gourd’s string handle fell from his shoulder to tangle his hand and he cast it away, perhaps foolishly, but then how else would Lilla know it was him? He always teased Tayan that foolishness was his defining trait, and he couldn’t let his husband down now. A laugh bubbled up and he let it out and ran faster, pounding along the trail. There were flickers of movement to either side and someone called out for him to stop, and he didn’t want to, but he didn’t want to get shot either, so he slowed and turned in a circle so they could identify him.

Someone stepped onto the path ahead and Tayan squinted hard. ‘Lilla?’ The figure moved, began to walk and then to run and he grew clearer and Tayan ran too and they collided so hard he almost bounced off his husband’s chest – would have if Lilla’s arms hadn’t closed around him and crushed him tight.

‘Malel, thank you, Malel,’ Lilla was saying and Tayan wrenched his head down and stopped the words with a kiss that was hurricane and soft mornings and bodies moving in the dark and he was crying and it didn’t matter. Lilla was here.

Voices from the trees, curious and then fading to give them privacy and Tayan never wanted the kiss to end, but his lungs were screaming for air and Lilla was still holding him too tight. He broke the kiss and pressed their foreheads together instead, breathing, fists in his husband’s hair and chest to chest and belly to belly. And safe.

‘You’re back,’ Lilla whispered, and Tayan slid an arm around his waist to press even closer. His chest hitched on a little sob. ‘You came back to me.’

‘I brought you your heart, as I promised,’ he said, his voice rough. ‘I will always come back, I swear by the ancestors.’

‘And I to you. But you’re early. The peace-weaving …’

‘I bought us time. I bought us the rest of the Wet.’ Disquiet twisted in him. Hadn’t Betsu told them this already? Or was it simply that they’d left the Sky City before her return? That reminded him that Dakto had dodged the question of their presence so far south; Tayan wouldn’t let his husband do the same. ‘Why—’ he began but then Lilla kissed him again, harder this time, and despite himself he let it soothe the worry that crept beneath his skin. The world went away again for a while as he concentrated on chasing Lilla’s love with lips and tongue.