[Sweetwine Woods] Humble pie.

[Vega]

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11th Zi'da 717

"Do you reckon this one is better," she'd said, showing him a small wooden box with an engraved lid and then holding up another, but this time with the lid plain. "Or this one? I mean, I think I prefer the second one, t'be 'onest." She was making small trinket boxes, she explained to him, because she thought they might be a good thing to sell at the local market. Her carpentry skill was much better than it had been, but Vega was fairly confident, still, that the plainer piece was better. "It lets the wood speak fer itself. Some'ow, it looks more like an amateur did it wen it's engraved. Weird, eh?" Vega liked working with the driftwood and she reached down into the carpenters kit they had, pulling out two of the varnishes. "Which one d'ya think?"

Whichever he chose, she put them to one side and lifted the blankets, currently wrapped over her knees after he'd got up to get the food and she took the offered bowl of hot, thick soup. "This really is lovely, you know," she said and her smile was content as he sat back down. Sat together on the bench seat she'd made, blankets wrapped over them both and hot food in their hands, Vega's eyes were a rare deep brown as she looked at him, but just in case he got too pleased with himself, she added. "I mean the smell of the soup. Jus' so's we're clear, a'righ'?" She didn't, they both knew it, but that was fine.

"Oh, U'frek's bum, that's good. Knickers, am I.. actually, no, I'm not askin' that. I'm allowed to say what I like an' if you don't like it, you can jog on." Somehow, she felt it entirely reasonable to shoot a frown his way, but it was mostly good natured. "You know, you make good soup. So I forgive you fer tryin' to tell me what I can an' can't do." Lowering her head to look at the bowl, Vega allowed her hair to fall and hide the grin which she could not stop from happening. They ate in a companionable silence and then she took his bowl and just put it to the side of where they sat, not getting out from under the blankets, before moving back to nestle against him. Wrapping one arm around him, she pulled the blanket up a little more and was quite happy to just be there for a few moments.

It was unlike Vega, in many ways, to be so content with being still. Yet, very slowly since they had changed the nature of their relationship, now and then she was quiet, restful and content. Brown eyes always accompanied times like this and she rested her head against him, quietly.

The sound of people approaching was something they both heard, of course, and Vega lifted her head, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Then, Shon and Reese broke through the treeline. Reese was carrying a small box and Arlo felt Vega tense against him. He knew, of course, that she and her cousins had made up, She'd told him about how she, and they, had been manipulated by her father, although she'd been clear that he was manipulating, and was not expecting them to get married and have children. From that conversation, she'd left out mention of her own birth trial, though she'd told Arlo of her father's. She'd also told him that she'd suggested that her father give the ship to the boys, not her.

That, she was unapologetic for. She knew where she was happy, where she belonged, and it wasn't there with them.

"I was jus' thinkin' it'd be nice jus' to be 'ere for the rest of the trial," she whispered, just for him as the two of them walked forward. "I'm sorry. If any of it goes knickers to the wind, Arlo, I'm sorry."

It seemed though, Reese was not here for a fight. He spoke first. "I have no right to ask, you have every right to refuse. But I am unequivocally sorry for what happened, and I would like the chance to make it up to you." He looked at Arlo and Vega. "Both." They stopped, the two of them, standing at some kind of invisible barrier to the camp, Shon looked concerned and Reese looked downright uncomfortable. "Please. I have wronged my blood, and you stood to defend her from me. That is unforgiveable, but all I can tell you is that I was ... " Reese looked at Arlo, just Arlo and he said something which had Vega tensing all over again. "She makes me crazy. She always has and I am sorry. Please, let me try to put it right"

Vega, for her part, turned to look at Arlo, not moving out of his arms on the bench where they sat, even though she would normally be quick to stand and greet guests. "We can tell them to bog off if you want. I don't mind, they can jog on. It's up to you." Yet her eyes were a vivid minty green colour, and her expression was hopeful.

[Arlo Creede]

Immortals but it was cold. Complaining about it would have made Arlo feel like one of those old men in Rharne who gathered off in the corners of taverns with nothing better to do than play dominoes or cards and complain about their wives, their creaking joints or the weather. Besides, for all the good it would do him anyway. Bitter cold in Zi'da was as predictable as rain in the tropics. And on top of it, it was only going to get colder. And darker as the arc drew nearer to its end. He couldn't complain too much though. This arc unlike the ones before, he had Vega to keep him warm, and him to keep her warm.

He was content to sit by the fire, though he was rarely content to sit anywhere for too long at once. She made it much more palatable though and he had a good thick soup in the coals by the fire, and a fresh loaf of bread baking beneath them. "I like both of them," he told her when Vega showed him the boxes she'd made. It probably wasn't the sort of opinion she was looking for, but it was the truth. "You're getting better and better at it all the time. Much better than me. You've got a knack for it." She made a point about the plainer box no denying. But there was also a sort of personality about the engraved one, he told her. "And when you've become a famous artist, your work sought after like treasures by countless collectors, some of them might like to say they've got one of your very first works."

"Right. It's the smell of the soup," he said with a grin when he got up, and in fact it did smell good. Root vegetables, mushrooms and greens, a good stock, bits of venison. When he brought back the bowls, he'd balanced chunks of warm crusty bread on top of them. "It's cooking it slowly that does it." All the flavor he meant. "Give it more time to absorb all the flavors, for them to develop, keep in just barely bubbling...simmering." It would stay with them too, which was just what they needed out here far from civilization.

Her cousins wandering into camp was the last thing he'd expected to happen that trial. In truth, Lyova had picked up on their proximity long before they got there, but for reasons of her own, she'd opted not to forewarn him. Peg too had sensed something amiss. The brown mare, shaggier in winter had raised her head, pricked her ears and snorted into the cold air. He'd thought nothing of it. She was as likely to respond to a hare moving through the underbrush.

Vega had told him about her recent visits with her family. And he was happy that they'd seemed to make peace with each other. He didn't begin to consider that her cousins opinions of him were part of that newfound truce. He was happy for her nonetheless since he didn't want to be a point of contention between her and her family. "Don't you worry," he whispered back when she apologized. "And I promise to behave myself." So long as they did, that was, and he stood up to meet them.

He was ready for a fight if need be. But for all the world Arlo didn't look it. And neither did Reese, surprisingly. In fact he seemed genuinely contrite. Or at least putting on an honest show of it. His apology seemed almost rehearsed as spoken. But that was alright as long as he meant it. He probably wasn't used to it to be fair. And Shon? Well he just looked worried that things would spiral into another brawl. It was that last bit that gave Arlo pause, however, as unlike the rest, it sounded much more off the cuff therefore more honest.

He'd kept close to Vega and when he'd got up, he'd kept hold of her hand. He squeezed it and whispered, "There's no need for that." Then turning back to Reese, he uttered, "I can relate to that maybe." She made him crazy too. Although he opted not to explain which part of the apology he could actually relate to. Vega would know, but she would also know he was teasing her. Maybe as a way to lessen some of the tension that they'd brought with them. Still, there was some truth to it. There were times she made him crazy.

"There's no need for that," he said, turning back to Reese. Making right what was already past, he meant. "It's in the past. It's forgotten." They'd come all the way from the docks however, which was no leisurely stroll especially in this sort of weather. "We were just having a meal," he said, as good as inviting the pair into the camp and closer to the fire. "Nothing fancy, but there's plenty to spare and more if you want to join us?" he suggested.

[Vega]

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Give it half a break at most and they'd both be moving again. Neither of them were the kind of people to sit still for extended periods of time but that was easier than it had ever been with him here. And it was lovely, they both knew she wasn't talking about the soup. Still, she grinned. "When I was little, sometimes we'd meet up with other clans. An' when we did, my Papa an' Uncle, they'd go sit with the other Elders, Heads of their clan. My grandpa used to too, but I only think I remember that, I don't know if I really do, you know?" There'd be a point soon, she promised with a grin. One time, she'd been about seven, she supposed and then she glanced up and smiled at him. "It was jus' after the burnin' ship, this time. Papa still 'ad bandages an' burns all over 'im." She'd always wondered, she explained, what they talked about but she was just a child and not allowed there. That arc, Huw was allowed there because he was ten arcs older than her, and she'd been jealous. So, she'd climbed over some rigging, scrambled across a mast and a boom, done ridiculous daredevil things without a thought and had ended up perched on top of a wide boom, laying there and listening to the old people talking. They'd seemed ancient to her young eyes, she recalled and she grinned. "They jus' grumbled. About the weather, each other, their families an' their friends.Themselves, some of them. I don't ever wanna be that person, no matter 'ow old I get."

Though she was very clear. Never mind old, if it got much colder than this, she might turn into "a right whinge bag. Grumbley Guts McWhinge Bob, that's what they'll call me." It wasn't this cold in Desnind, she recalled, not in the dead of Cylus. If it got much colder, they'd get snowed in and her eyes turned colours as she considered. "We migh' 'ave to spend the whole season jus' clingin' to each other for warmth, you know." Vega grinned. His lack of favourite box caused an over dramatic sigh from her but when he said that she had a knack, Vega shook her head. "No, tha's not right, you know. You'r righ' daft about stuff, you are." It was functional, useful, practical. That was what she was good at, but when it came to doing more complicated things? Well, she was clear there. "I'm probably as good as I'm gonna get without doin' some class or studyin' or somethin'. An' I'm not doin' that, so I'm as good as I'm gonna get. There's loads of tools in that there kit that I jus' don't know what to do with." That was fine, Vega really wasn't concerned about such things.

When he described the cooking though, she gave him a wicked look. "Yer good at that. Slowly buildin' up heat an then keepin' things bubbling... simmering." Vega chuckled and shook her head. "I'm never gonna be any good at flirtin', Arlo, I'm sorry. An' I'm definitely not goin' to lessons in that, I tell ya." She'd embarrass them both, she thought, if she ever did.

Her cousins turning up, though, irritated and pleased and worried her all at once. It was no surprise, then, that Arlo was quick to reassure her but she was tense as a coiled spring and Vega was pleased that he kept hold of her hand. Not least because it meant that she had hold of his if anything happened. When Reese said that she drove him crazy, Vega let out a "hey!" Arlo, however, seemed to agree and Vega's expression of irritation softened to mostly amused as he squeezed her hand. But he invited them in, offered them food and both Shon and Reese stepped in, with relieved expressions on their faces. Reese reached into his coat and pulled out a bottle.

"We brought whiskey," he said and he gave a half smile, still somewhat concerned, to Arlo. "Thank you." They moved in and sat down. Vega moved with Arlo, the two of them going to get some soup and as they did, she whispered to him in low voice. "Thanks. Yer a good man, an' you didn' 'ave to do this. I appreciate it, though." The two biqaj males put the bottle down in the middle of the four of them and thanked the both of them for the soup. It was strange, tense and difficult for a few moments, awkward silences broken by genuine praise for the food. Then, Vega leaned forward and lifted the whiskey, opening it and taking a swig directly from the bottle, before handing it to Arlo to do the same and pass around.

"So, you two met these girls yet?" Vega asked and the twins, who really didn't look that alike at all, suddenly shared expressions of utter dismay. "Uncle is a cruel man," Shon answered, genuinely. Vega grinned at the description of her father. "They are shrill, Eva. Short and shrill and...." he made a gesture of almost helplessness and Reese piped in. "Stupid," Reese added, utterly forlornly. "They are twins, like us, and if they were one person with both their current intellects, she would still be stupid, that is how stupid they are." Vega shook her head.

"I didn't think that Papa was gonna go through with it, you know. You poor suckers." She sounded entirely unsympathetic, mostly because she was. Shon turned to Arlo, then and asked, with genuine curiosity. "Has Uncle had that 'you're dating my daughter' conversation with you?" Vega snorted, but she glanced at him, wondering if perhaps they had spoken, just Arlo hadn't said anything. Shon shrugged. "He seems to be wanting to get everything set up. Get us setting up a new clan, see you settled." He shrugged, then waited to see what Arlo said about his conversation, or not with Jo'qan.

[Arlo Creede]

His parents had done that too, Arlo had admitted when Vega told him about eavesdropping on her father and the rest of the elders. He'd sneaked out of bed more than once to listen to them talking near the fire after he'd been sent off for the night. Inevitably he'd been disappointed. All they ever seemed to talk about was which of the flock was due to deliver lambs in the springtime, or which crop they'd decide to plant in the back quarter. Like Vega, maybe, he'd resolved to never get that old. Because everyone knew that thirty, and especially forty was ancient.

He wouldn't complain at all though if all they were able to do the winter through, was cling to each other. Still, he disagreed about what she was capable of when it came to woodworking. Or for that matter, anything she decided she wanted to do. "You don't know what they're for because you haven't picked them up and tried them out. That's all," he'd argued in regards to the mysterious tools in the kit. Books were fine but doing was often better. And doing sometimes was best carried out by experimenting. "And it was right clever of me, wasn't it?" he teased her when she called him out on his cooking analogy.

If her cousins were going to bring along an olive branch, so to speak, they couldn't have chosen much better than a bottle of whiskey. Arlo thanked them for the gift as they helped themselves to the soup and found a place to sit. When Vega whispered in his ear and thanked him, he squeezed her hand and smiled her way. There was no sense in holding grudges, especially in this case. And what mattered to him was Vega. If she'd made peace with her family, then what else would he do? The swallow of whiskey was more than welcome too. Warmed him down to his toes and he passed it around after Vega handed him the bottle.

When the topic turned to matches though, romantic ones or maybe not so romantic judging by Shon's and Reese's reactions, Arlo found it interesting and maybe, not so different than his upbringing. If less subtle than what he'd experienced. His mother had more than once mentioned some local girl as if she was doing it out of the blue. As if he'd been completely unable to identify the innuendo, and so on. Made him miss her a little, if he was honest. Short and shrill. Stupid. They didn't make these girls seemed particularly intriguing and he grinned a little and shrugged. "Are they at least nice to look at?" wondered, but added that if they were twins, things would at least be interesting, if they didn't get outright confusing.

When they asked him however about a talk with Jo'qan, Arlo looked a little surprised, but shook his head. "No, not really," he admitted, but didn't mention that Vega's father had visited them previously, and maybe he'd intended to then. Except that he'd walked right into the middle of a row between them. "If he plans to, I guess I ought to be ready with some good answers," he figured, and for Vega's sake was partially teasing. "I doubt it's just a Biqaj thing though, but maybe is more universal among fathers of daughters." At least from what he'd observed growing up, it was.

[Vega]

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She didn't engage with the conversation about age and what seemed ancient. Not that she'd told Arlo, nor did she have any intention of doing so, but she had a birthday approaching and age was more on her mind that she'd care to admit. But she said no more on that and the thousand complications it brought with it. She snorted derisively at his assertion that it was right clever of him, but had no chance to lecture him on the complete lack of humility he had before her cousins arrived. They sat together and the whiskey warmed her throat even though the bottle was cold against her lips. She handed it with a grin to Arlo ~ the first time he'd drunk whiskey, she thought, had been in her camp in Desnind on the eve of the new arc last season. He'd claimed he'd drunk it many a time, but his words then hadn't run true and his reaction to it had given more credence to it being his first swig.

"Did you know," she said, almost casually, "some people die the firs' time they drink whiskey?" It had been what she told Arlo, back then. Both of the cousins laughed, Shon explaining to Arlo. "Eva wanted some, one new arcs eve. We were, I suppose, about six?" Vega and Reese both nodded. "When they would not let us drink it, she stole some," Shon explained. Vega grinned, lowering her head and saying nothing. Reese, however, piped up. "I dared her to." Vega shrugged, "I didn't need to do it. Any'ow, when my Papa an' Uncle found me with the whiskey, they told us all this story about a child who 'ad stolen whiskey an' died. It was 'orrible. They both realised they was scarin' us, so they let us taste the whiskey, so we wouldn't get scared of it." She'd still gotten into trouble though, she explained. Not for wanting to try the drink, but for stealing it when she'd been told no.

As the conversation continued, Vega squeezed his hand as she thought she felt him tense slightly. When he asked if the twins were nice to look at, the two biqaj males were immediately busy shaking their heads as Arlo said that things would be interesting because they were twins. Vega let out a guffaw of laughter at that, and it must be said that both Shon and Reese looked at him in some surprise. "What are you sayin', Arlo? It's not a pick an' mix, you know!" She bumped her shoulder against his and grinned at him. "We take marriage right seriously. It's till death, nothin' less, an' you don't go messin' about with yer brother's missus, either. Shame on you, Arlo Creede." She was teasing him, mostly, although she was a touch surprised at his insinuation.

"There won't be one," Vega said, turning much more serious when conversation moved to a talk between Arlo and her father. Shon frowned and glanced at her questioningly at that, but said nothing. Reese, however, was less subtle. "But you will be Ej'qy, Eva? You are prepared to.." Vega was about to say something, but Shon spoke up. "It is getting late. We should go. Thank you, both of you, for the welcome, and the food. I hope we can share a meal together again soon?" Arlo might, or might not notice the kick in the shins which Shon delivered to Reese in response to whatever he had just been saying about Ej'qy, whatever that was. Reese nodded and offered his hand once more to Arlo. "Yes, thank you." He seemed sincere it must be said. They didn't hug Vega, that wasn't their way, they more shared backslaps and punched each other a little on the shoulders, but then they started the trek back to their ship.

Vega grinned at Arlo as the boys exited and she moved back over to kiss him. "Thanks, Arlo. I mean it. You don't need to be nice to them." He really didn't, all things considered. "So, hey, we're gonna get to see a biqaj weddin' then. We'll tie our ship an' theirs together, throwin' rope back an' forth, till there's a bridge between the two ships, an' then the couples walk on the bridge, meet in the middle with the last bit of rope an' then we tie them together. Then, people get drunk an' sing an' dance an' eat. Always eat." She looked at him as a realisation hit her. "Sorry, I'm assumin' you'll wanna come. I'd like it if you did, but you don't got to. They can be well funny about anyone that isn't one 'undred percent biqaj, an' I don't know what short an' shrill family are like. So, you know, only if you wanna."

[Arlo Creede]

"Do they now?" Arlo returned with a suspicious tone and smile in regards to whiskey and dying. He figured there must be a story behind the outlandish claim and there was. In response he snorted and shook his head. "Not so different than when I was a kid and got into my step-father's tobacco. When he caught me he made me smoke a pipe's worth and I ended up getting sick through the night. Never wanted tobacco again after that." Which he guessed had been his step-father's plan all along.

As for the twins though, Vega's reaction to what he said caught him off guard and Arlo looked at her, frowning deeply. At least till he realized what she must have assumed. Her cousins too apparently. "I didn't mean it like that!" he said. "I meant that it would be confusing, like...Well when I was a kid there was a set of twins that lived on a farm over the next hill. You couldn't tell them apart and they'd dress the part too, just to toy with folks. One of them died one winter, falling through the ice on a frozen pond," he remembered. "But before that, they'd cover for each other when one was in trouble or didn't want to be. Or test for each other at school...things like that."

And why wouldn't there be a talk between him and her father? Arlo frowned at that, wondering what her objection to it was. Not that he was itching to do it. But if they were really together and it was the thing to do? He was tempted to ask, there in front of her cousins, but then opted to keep the question for later. And other ones too, he decided when Reese said more but she cut him off too soon. "Of course," he said so far as sharing another meal in the future, and Arlo stood then, offering his hand in return. "And thank you for the whiskey."

"You don't need to thank me," he reminded Vega when they'd done, and they shared a kiss between them. "And of course I'll go. Unless you think they'd rather I didn't?" He didn't mean her family, of course, but the other one. He'd rather not cause an unhappy commotion at somebody's wedding.

But there were questions still on Arlo's mind, that he wanted answers to. "Why don't you want your father to talk to me, by the way?" he asked. And what was Ej'qy, while he was at it, and what was it she was fixing to do? He could look some of that up in a book of course, but would rather it was her that told him. All the more curious though, since she'd gone out of her way to silence her cousin when he'd brought it up.

[Vega]

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It was probably a good sign that, when Arlo said that he hadn't meant the twins comment in the way that Vega and her cousins took it, Shon grinned at him. "Sure you didn't," he was teasing, obviously so and then Reese added, forlornly, "Plus, it would just be twice as awful." As he let out a deep sigh, both Vega and Shon burst out laughing. Reese looked up, a hurt expression on his face and then he, too grinned. "You see what I put up with?" Reese turned to Arlo and asked that, well aware that he was getting no sympathy from him, either. "I bet you your twins had more than one brain cell between them."

Shon shook his head, "I am sure they were just nervous. We did not make the best first impression on them, either, in fairness." Vega said nothing, but her hand in Arlo's tightened and she hugged his arm against hers. She was obviously pleased that this was happening, the four of them sitting together and engaging in what was a pleasant conversation and as the bottle passed around again, she took a small swig but then passed it to him with a grin. She saw his frown at her words, assuring her cousins that there would be no talk between him and her father, but Vega said nothing right then. They'd talk about it later, she was sure. It wasn't the kind of thing Arlo was likely to let go, for one.

Still, the boys left and he told her she didn't have to thank him, but she shook her head. "I do. A lot of folks would 'ave been a lot less welcomin' Arlo." Then, though, he asked about the prospect of not being welcome at the biqaj wedding and Vega's frown deepened, creasing her forehead and causing colours to swirl in her eyes. "Now, you listen to me, you." She sounded annoyed when she said that, "You an' me, we come as a package. If they don't want you there, they don't want me there an' I wouldn't wanna go any'ow. Shon an' Reese know that, so if we get an' invite, it's cos it's both of us what are welcome." She glared at him as she explained that, although her irritation was at her family, who had made him feel like he might ever not belong somewhere.

When he asked, though, why she didn't want her father to talk to him, Vega looked at him in surprise. There was no sense of casual to that question, even though he put by the way at the end of it. "That's not.. what?" Then, what was Ej'qy and what was she fixing to do? Vega looked at him and sighed, shaking her head slightly. He was a difficult person, there was no doubting it. Leading him back over to where they'd been sitting, she sat next to him and tried to explain. "Ok. Well, yer takin' separate things an' makin' them one thing, ok. I didn't say I don't want Papa to talk to you, I said it wasn't gonna 'appen. Cos I already told 'im that you're my choice, an' it's made. Now, 'e might 'ave an inklin' to talk to you about not 'urtin' me, treatin' me right, I guess. Stupid stuff that doesn't need sayin'." She shrugged, that wasn't important as far as she was concerned and was, frankly, a waste of breath. "But I don't think 'e's even gonna do that. He's seen us together. I'm not tryin' to stop 'im talkin' to you, you two chat on to yer 'earts content, it's fine."

There was more though, to the second part of his question and she considered just how to explain it. "When a biqaj turns twenty, we 'ave this rite of passage thing." Sometimes, she said, that meant that the biqaj in question started a new clan and took on a new last name, sometimes it meant that they affirmed their place in their existing clan. Clan, she said, was family but it was more than that. It was new people too, and if for example, Shon and Reese did marry these girls, they might start their own clan each pair, the four of them might form a new clan or the two girls might join Shon and Reese's clan, hers, or the boys might join theirs. "It 'appens in yer twentieth arc, that's all that's really set in stone." Vega took his hand then and she bumped her shoulder against his, trying to lighten what sounded serious. "Ej'qy mean 'forsaken of clan' an' it's the family name, clan name, surname whatever you call it, given to any biqaj who 'as given themselves, or promised themselves, to someone not biqaj. It's what my papa was, an' when 'e came back to the clan, it's why 'e took my mother's name as 'is last one, 'is clan name. He can't belong to the old clan again." She plucked at the blanket she'd pulled over herself and shrugged again. She was fooling no one, she knew. "My uncle, 'e stood with 'is brother an' so we're Lei'nox." Except, she supposed, she wasn't any more.

"Thing is, I never did the rite of passage, I left 'ome before my twentieth birthday." If she'd stayed, she wasn't sure whether things would be more or less complicated now, Vega considered. "An' I jus' don't want my Papa to do somethin' stupid an' denounce 'is name or anything. It's my mother's first name, I told you before. So, once I turn twenty one, I can change my name myself, no chance for the rite of passage then. Papa won't declare me Ej'qy, I know 'e won't. But 'e'll 'ave to if I push any of this before I'm twenty one." Either that, Vega said, or her father was going to end up abandoning her mother's name and Vega really, really didn't want that.

[Arlo Creede]

Some people might have been less forgiving of her cousins' previous behavior, Arlo would give Vega that as he sat back down beside her after they'd gone. Not him though, and his reasons weren't necessarily to do with them. "Grudges take effort," he said. "They need thinking about and energy put into them. I'd rather spend it on more important things than the ones I can't do anything about." It was a lesson he'd learned from his mother. Even if, when he was younger, he'd rolled his eyes and shrugged when she'd said something similar. "I'll go then," he added when she insisted that they'd go together or stay away together, assuming they were invited at all.

There were other things on his mind though, and he'd asked Vega about them. "Maybe it doesn't need saying," he agreed, in regards to warnings from her father. "But I think it's a tradition. Not just a Biqaj one. And that's what I assumed anyway when your cousins mentioned it. What he'd be wanting to talk about." Not that Joq'an would want to warn him away completely. From Arlo's perspective, he'd figured that the subject of her choices was already settled between Vega and her father. It seemed it was, in fact.

This rite of passage thing was trickier. And from Arlo's perspective, much more complicated. Too complicated maybe, and based on things that from his point of view shouldn't matter. But for her family and the Biqaj people, it appeared that it did. He frowned and tilted his head curiously. "So your surname has been Lei'nox, but since we're together it can't be anymore?" It was foolish, so far as he was concerned. But it was a tradition he guessed that wasn't his own, therefore difficult to grasp. "Why is there no chance, if you were to change your own name?"

And for that matter, "Why would your father need to denounce his own name? He's already done it once, right? Then why again?" But there was a common theme running through it all, and therefore a detail that continued to plague him. The way she talked, it seemed like time was running out, which brought to the fore a very obvious question. One he hadn't thought to ask till now but maybe should have. And certainly not something she'd volunteered before now. "When is your birth trial then?" Arlo asked.

[Vega]

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If Arlo and her father wanted to have the 'what are your intentions with my daughter' conversation, Vega said with a grin, then they could go right ahead, not letting her stop them for a bit. "He knows we're sleepin' together. He's probably worked out that we're stayin' awake together, too, that bein' the case." Her eyes darkened and she almost blushed. "U'frek's bum, Arlo, I don't wanna be anywhere near if you two 'ave that conversation. But, 'onest, that wasn't the conversation I was talkin' about. The boys meant the name thing, I think." She shrugged, either way that was very much between him and Joq'an and they were welcome to it. "Not nuffin' there for me. I'll be busy. On the moon, in Viden, asleep an' in a meetin' all at the same time." Any conversation that started with 'you're sleeping with my daughter' and involved her father and Arlo was very, very much something she did not want to be around.

Speaking of awkward, difficult and really not something she wanted to talk about. "Well, yeah, fundamentally. But it isn't jus' a surname to us." If they were together, she couldn't be Lei'nox, because she was Ej'qy. "Yer Creede, yeah? An' that's cos of your parents names. Clan is more than that, Arlo. It's.. everyone. In laws, cousins, people not related at all. They take the clan name an' that's deeper than family." If Shon and Reese, for example, set up a new clan when they wed, then their first loyalty would be to that clan and its members. Even if they weren't related by blood. "Clan is 'ow our society is structured. More than family, clan." It was hard to explain, she said, but that was how it was. Bloodlines were important, very much so, but if you were in a clan, then that clan took precedent over everything else. It was the foundation. "Any biqaj who chooses to be with a non-biqaj, they are Ej'qy. Arlo, I don't care about it, not at all."

Vega sighed slightly and looked at him. She was worried he'd get all worked up and honorable and noble and rubbish about this, and it really wasn't important. "They're jus' letters. I can't read 'em, why do I care?" He'd almost certainly worked out that she couldn't read by now, Vega thought, and if he hadn't, well it might just pull his attention away from this. "My papa will still be my papa. I won't love 'im any less, nor 'im me. But the thing is, from 'is point of view?" Well, if her father was in the Lei'nox clan, the clan he set up with his brother, the clan he named after his wife and she wasn't, then he'd have to put the other clan members before her, which was fine with her. What worried her was that Joq'an would think it too important and so would step away from the clan in some sort of stupid gesture, she explained.

"He didn't denounce 'is clan before. They denounced 'im. The 'ead of the clan declared 'im Ej'qy. His Papa." It had hurt her father, Vega said, he'd hoped for better. Different. But then, this rite of passage? She sighed. "Schizzle my snoot, Arlo, you don't 'alf ask some complicated questions. Bottom line, I can't just declare myself anythin' until I'm 21. If I do it now, while I'm 20, then my Papa 'as to be involved as the 'ead of my clan, cos it's the rite of passage. The trial I turn 21, I can declare myself what I like, change my name 'ow I want. So, the trial that 'appens, that's what I'm gonna do, an' take it out of his hands." She shook her head, glancing at him with colours swirling in her eyes, twisting with her mood.

"I 'ave never fitted in with them, an' I don't care about not 'avin' the same last name as them," she lied and then considered that she was lying and pursed her lips. "That's not right. I do care, an' I wish it wasn't the choice, but it is an' that means it's no choice at all. I choose us. Their loss, we're great." She bumped against his shoulder but then her expression darkened at his last question and she shook her head. "That don't matter. We don't celebrate it, never 'ave." The storm brewing in her expression was unmistakable. "It was an unlucky trial an' an unlucky birth. It'd be bad luck to celebrate that, an' we don't." That had been true as far back as she could remember, she said. It probably didn't help with her stroppy teenage arcs, truth be told, or feeling like she belonged there she said with a grin, but it was right.

[Arlo Creede]

"Well I don't think I'd be having that sort of conversation with your father either," Arlo insisted. At least not one so personal, one that focused on what the two of them did to keep warm and fit inside their tent. Or other places too for that matter. That sort of thing he guessed was sort of implied, and if her father hadn't caught on to that by now, well, he'd be a fool or hiding his head in the sand if he hadn't. "I'm not going to go off looking for that talk anyway. I'm just saying that if he was to bring it up, I'd talk to him."

As for clans and relations, and the loyalties attached to each either separately or combined, he couldn't say he completely understood it. And he was far from convinced. "That's not the case for everyone that isn't Biqaj though Vega. I'm only Creede because my stepfather gave me his name. There's no blood connection there, but he's as much my father as would be if he sired me." The loyalty was the same, the connection was the same. "If I was to suddenly meet the man who fathered me, I wouldn't go changing my name to his, and rejecting the old. It wouldn't change what's family and what's loyalty."

Different races, different cultures though. He understood it even if he didn't necessarily agree. Except for a stranger who'd he'd probably never meet, all of Arlo's blood relations were gone. But his stepfather was still his family and no changing of names would change that. "You and I have different names. Does it make us any less together? Any less loyal to one another?" And he already knew she couldn't read, he admitted. She didn't hide it very well if she'd been trying to. It didn't matter to him and it didn't make her any less clever. It just meant she hadn't been taught. But if she decided she wanted to learn, then he'd be happy to help.

"I've never heard of such a thing," he insisted then when Vega resisted telling him when her birth-trial was. There was nothing unlucky about it so far as he was concerned. What had happened to her mother was sad, he understood that. But, "I'm not Biqaj and I don't attach luck to things like that. When is it?" he asked again. But then there remained the trickier topic of her name, and the...so far as he was concerned, necessity of changing her name.

Arlo couldn't imagine a time when her own father who loved her would also denounce her. But it seemed to be only half of the equation. "You can have my name, if you want it," he suggested, and meant it to the core. Not his first name really. Arlo and Vega Arlo would sound silly under the best of circumstances. But Creede? Only if she wanted of course, but the offer was out there and freely given. And by the Biquaj tradition, weren't they in a sense, a clan of two?