The festival had changed with the setting sun. What had once been a slow swell of music and food stalls had bloomed into something radiant. Lightstrands curled overhead like starlight webs, fire bowls cast molten halos onto stone, and the scent of grilled meat and sweet herbs swirled through the air. Tamiyo stood with Violet near a raised terrace overlooking a courtyard, watching the crowd pulse like a living thing.

  Below them, Raine and Inelius had wandered off to find delicious food and strong drinks. The matchmaking plan had hitched a little, as Violet and Tamiyo had run into the target couple in the middle of their brainstorming and prep. Improvising, they now found themselves at the ideal location but were still figuring out the specifics of how to execute their scheme.

  “They’ve been gone a while,” Tamiyo said with a faint smile.

  “Maybe they got tangled in a supply cart,” Violet said, leaning forward with both hands on the railing. “Or maybe Inelius finally said something heartfelt and Raine short-circuited.”

  Tamiyo laughed softly. “You’re terrible.”

  Their attention drifted to a quieter corner of the courtyard, where several villagers had gathered around one of the larger bonfires. There, near the outer ring of dancers, stood Riza. For once, she didn’t quite look like she wanted to murder someone. She leaned against a stone support beam, arms crossed, the firelight illuminating her dark skin. Her expression was neutral, but not hostile.

  “She seems to be handling being the guest of honor pretty well,” Tamiyo noted.

  “She’s not glaring, at least,” Violet said.

  “What do you think the chances are she’ll make it onto the dance floor?”

  Violet snorted a laugh, “Slim to none, I’d wager, but I’d pay good money to see it.”

  “I’ll take that bet!” The bubbly voice of her sister popped up behind her, as if summoned from somewhere unseen. Amalia slid into place between them like a shadow cast by mischief. She wore a lopsided grin and a string of beads that definitely hadn’t been around her neck earlier. “I can always use the money to buy more dresses from off-world.”

  “What, so it can end up on Elias’ floor like all the others?” Violet casually teased. “You have enough dresses.”

  “You can never have enough dresses,” Amalia said with a big smile. “But after tonight, I’m thinking I’ll need a new dance partner’s floor to litter with clothes.”

  “Oh yeah?” Violet said. She looked at her sister with an expression of curiosity.

  “You two aren’t the only ones scheming tonight,” Amalia said with a tone of playful treachery. “Let’s just say, the doctor is on call…” she pointed off into the distance in front of them, towards Elias perusing at a food stall by himself.

  Tamiyo watched the sisters volley at each other. It was both entertaining and quietly educational, another glimpse into the social rhythms she was still learning to read.

  “How’s your plan coming along, anyway?” Amalia asked, bobbing her head lightly side to side with the music.

  “Stalled a bit,” Tamiyo said, sounding a little defeated. “We got them here, that part went smooth enough…”

  “But now they’ve splintered off to hunt dumplings and/or make emotional avoidance into a bonding activity,” Violet added.

  Amalia clicked her tongue. “Unacceptable. And a little disappointing Sis, you’re usually much better at this.”

  “Hey,” Violet said, “it’s easier when at least one of them is lacravida.”

  Amalia interlocked her fingers and stretched them out in front of her in an exaggerated fashion. “Alright, I think I know how to solve both our problems.”

  “I’ll bite,” Tamiyo tilted her head. “What angle are you working?”

  “Riza and Elias,” Amalia said with a wicked smile.

  Violet blinked. “You been drinking, Sister.”

  “That I have, it doesn’t make it any less the case. They like each other. Like a lot.”

  “Can confirm,” Tamiyo added. “When Riza came to apologize the other night, I scanned them both. Their heart rates both jump anytime they look at each other.”

  Violet frowned and nodded, then said, “Cool, what’s the plan?”

  Ten minutes later, Tamiyo was walking down into the crowd, buzzing with nerves and excitement. Violet accompanied her as Amalia worked her way down to take her place and kick off the scheme.

  The courtyard had grown dense with motion. Bodies swayed in rhythm to a rising tempo—drums thumping low in the chest, stringed instruments plucking in cascading layers, and a faint melodic hum threading through it all like river currents. Lanterns bobbed in the air above the dancers, casting slow-turning glows in shades of amber and violet. Someone passed her with painted cheeks and glittered brows, laughing as they handed off a steaming pouch of fried sweets to a partner mid-spin.

  The crowd was alive—chaotic, but not overwhelming. Conversations overlapped like lazy birdsong and bursts of laughter broke through the music like sparks off a campfire. Off to her left, a group of d’moria were gathered around a table covered in small glass bottles, gesturing wildly over a game Tamiyo didn’t recognize. A lazarco couple danced with mesmerizing symmetry, eight arms moving in intricate mirror-steps, framed by the shifting firelight.

  Tamiyo moved carefully, weaving through the shifting knots of villagers. Despite her nerves, the warmth of the crowd was infectious. She caught snippets of half-familiar words, a hand brushing hers as someone passed and nodded in greeting. No one looked at her twice. No one flinched at her antennae or the metallic black lines that ran along her joints. It was like slipping into someone else’s dream and realizing that maybe she belonged there too.

  “There they are,” Violet said.

  Tamiyo looked where she was pointing. Near the edge of a food stall ringed with empty dishes and tipped-over stools, she spotted them. Raine leaned casually against a support pillar, a clay cup in hand and a crooked smile on her lips. Inelius stood beside her, chewing thoughtfully as he nodded along to something she said, two of his arms crossed, the other two gesturing slowly in midair as if trying to explain a particularly stubborn emotion.

  Tamiyo took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and made her way toward them, Violet close on her heels.

  “Enjoying the fireworks?” Tamiyo asked as she approached them.

  Raine gave her a look. “You mean the lanterns?”

  “Nope,” Tamiyo said with an evil grin, but didn’t elaborate. “I need your help Raine.” She turned to Inelius, “Can I borrow her for a moment?”

  He regarded her with playful suspicion. “I suppose. Oh, hey, did you hear what happened with Soren and Aurania?”

  “Oh no,” Tamiyo said, her tone instantly worried. “Is everything alright?”

  “Yeah I guess so,” Inelius went on. “Apparently Soren and Veolo got into a fight, a friendly one in one of the battle circles.”

  “Oooooh,” Violet cooed next to her. “Little Veolo is starting to grow up. Did it end how I think it did?”

  Inelius gave a nervous laugh. “Uh, not really. Veolo wound up on top of him and, from what I heard, she was thinking of having some fun with him.”

  Tamiyo felt like she was missing some context.

  “I feel a ‘but’ coming,” Violet said.

  “Yeah,” Inelius said. “Apparently Aura showed up and stopped it.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “She what?” Violet sounded very surprised.

  “I’m a little lost,” said Tamiyo. “I think I’m understanding what Aura stopped from happening, but, is that bad?”

  “Eh,” Violet said, “Not really, bad… just, highly irregular.”

  Inelius chimed in with insight. “Jealousy or being territorial about a physical partner isn’t really a thing for lacravida.”

  “Yeah,” Violet added. “The battle circle is a place to blow off steam. It’s not uncommon for it to transition into other forms of blowing off steam. The fact that Aurania chose to get in between two consenting adults is just… weird. If she wants to fuck him, just do it—why does it matter if Veolo does too?”

  “Interesting…” Tamiyo said. She glanced up just in time to catch Raine and Inelius exchanging a look, each of them slightly blushing.

  “I mean, look at what we’re doing now,” Violet went on. “Amalia and Elias frequently hook up as friends, but you heard her plan. After tonight, she’s not expecting Elias to be interested anymore.”

  Inelius and Raine looked at each other, then back to Tamiyo and Violet.

  “This sounds interesting,” Inelius said with amusement. “What do you need help with?”

  “Well it’s about to start,” Tamiyo said. “I need to borrow your violet-haired beauty. And you need to go with Violet.”

  Inelius looked back and forth between Violet the lacravida and the violet-haired CIPHER. “I’m confused.”

  Tamiyo and Violet laughed, then grabbed their respective partners’ wrists and hurried into the crowd.

  The music was winding down from a particularly energetic piece as Raine and Tamiyo slid up to flank Riza. Tamiyo stood to the sniper’s right, Raine to her left.

  Riza side-eyed each of them in turn before speaking. “What are you two up to?”

  “Not much,” Tamiyo said innocently.

  “Just following orders,” Raine said with a sly grin.

  Riza side-eyed each of them again with more suspicion and looked like she was about to try saying something again, but she, along with everyone else, was interrupted.

  “HEAR YE, HEAR YE!!!” Amalia’s cheery voice cut through the chatter and music, echoing off the stone walls of the courtyard. She had climbed halfway up a pillar and was hanging off it at an angle, one hand holding onto the stone, a bottle of something strong in the other.

  The crowd turned to look at her, amusement on their faces.

  “ON SUCH AN AUSPICIOUS OCCASION SUCH AS THIS, WITH OUR BELOVED RIZA AS THE CHOSEN GUEST OF HONOR, IT IS ONLY FITTING THAT WE REGALE YOU ALL WITH ONE OF THE TALES THAT BEGAN HER LEGEND.”

  “Oh no,” Riza muttered, her face sinking into her palm.

  “Many years ago, on a planet far far away,” Amalia yelled slightly quieter as the noise of the crowd died down, “Little Riza was on her first ever mission…” Amalia paused and turned to Riza. “First mission, right?”

  Face still in her palm, Riza slowly held up two fingers.

  “SECOND!” Amalia yelled. “Second mission! She had been enlisted with the Liberty Union for less than a year and already was an expert marksman.”

  “She’s so drunk,” Riza muttered, finally looking up at Amalia.

  “After downing a prototype gunship, Riza finds herself temporarily alone on the battlefield with her weapon damaged!” Amalia crouched slightly on her perch, using her drink hand and her entire body to dramatically accentuate her story. “But that doesn’t stop Riza! No! She runs up to the wreckage and yanks this cannon off the side of the ship!”

  Several cheers rang out from the crowd.

  “So she reconvenes with her squad on a skybridge! They’re taking cover in an intersection with roads shooting off to the north! Shooting off to the south! East! West! And enemies are approaching from all four directions!”

  “Then her commander shouts out, ‘armored battalion, approaching from the west!’” Amalia let out a feigned scream of terror. Several people joined her.

  “So not everyone knows this, but that cannon shoots more than projectiles the size of a well-endowed lazarco! It can also fire off a concentrated energy beam, hell I don’t even know how the damn thing works! But she charges that baby up, tears loose, and destroys the entire western skybridge, sending the armored battalion plummeting to their demise!”

  The dance floor erupted with cheers for Riza’s victory, then quieted after several moments for Amalia to finish her tale.

  “Now who here can tell me what letters adorn the barrel of that beautiful boomstick?!”

  Several people battled to be the first to shout it out, but after several moments, the crowd was chanting “NMW!!!” over and over.

  Amalia hushed them with her hand and continued. “Our beautiful Riza, we all know she likes to play it quiet! Likes to play it coooolll! But she has a dry sarcastic sassy side that she doesn’t let just anyone see!” Amalia paused and took a quick breath. “Her commander stared back at her as the western skybridge sank into oblivion, and the commander asks ‘what the hell was that?’”

  She gave Riza a warm teasing grin, then looked back at the crowd. “And Riza just answers, ‘What? NO MORE WEST!!!”

  The crowd erupted with cheers and Amalia laughed so hard she almost fell from the pillar. Riza’s face was in her palm again, but when she picked her head back up, Tamiyo saw her grinning and blushing.

  “How do you even know that story?!” Riza yelled out. “Weren’t you like, fifteen at the time?!”

  “Because you’re my hero Riza Emberfell!” Amalia beamed at the sniper, thrusting her drink hand out in the air. “I love you, and it’s an honor to serve alongside you!”

  Another round of cheers roared out for Riza, and as they slowly died down, the live music began once more.

  Still hanging from the pillar, Amalia gave her final declaration for her audience. “Riza, we are all forever grateful for your presence here and for helping keep us safe. Would my childhood hero be so kind as to honor me with a dance?” Then she hopped down from her perch without waiting for a response.

  “Uuhhh,” Riza said, clearly caught off-guard.

  A ripple of claps and whistles moved through the courtyard as a fresh rhythm spilled from the corner stage, this time faster, sharper, and flirtier.

  Raine grabbed Riza’s left hand and tried to pull her towards the dancing. “C’mon,” she coaxed, her tone warm but loaded with challenge. “You gonna let the story be the only legendary thing tonight?”

  “I don’t dance,” Riza muttered.

  “Didn’t ask you to,” Raine said playfully. “Just follow our lead.”

  Syncopated chords plucked on stringed instruments fell into a tempo of one, two, three—pause. It was a rhythm built for closeness, for the breathless moments of stillness before the next steps drew partners nearer. Tamiyo saw Riza tense, like her body recognized the pattern before her brain had time to protest.

  Amalia stood dancing at the edge of the crowd, waiting for her hero to join her.

  Tamiyo lightly grabbed Riza’s other hand, taking care to not put pressure on the bruising. She stepped up near Raine, as they each held Riza’s arms outward. “Come on. I’ll even forgive you for knocking me down.”

  Riza rolled her eyes in a final protest before giving in and allowing herself to be dragged. But as the CIPHERs handed her off to the ecstatic Amalia, the sniper began moving like she belonged.

  The music was infectious. Within moments, dancers fell into pairs and spirals, partners stepping in and out of one another’s space in quick flirtatious patterns, their footwork a language of teasing momentum and gravity-defying grace. Lanternlight swirled in time with the shifting tempo, casting gold-flecked shadows across the floor.

  Tamiyo and Raine danced together as they strategically maneuvered through the crowd. Several minutes into the song, they flawlessly executed their first tactical switch up. Riza found herself dancing with Raine, and Amalia flowed through the crowd rhythmically with Tamiyo.

  The CIPHER giggled as she danced towards the edge of the crowd with the bubbly lacravida.

  “You got eyes on him?” Amalia asked.

  “Yep,” Tamiyo responded.

  With perfect timing she shot out of the crowd and up next to Elias, who was watching from the sidelines. Tamiyo grabbed his hand and pulled him into the fray back towards Amalia holding her other hand. Tamiyo spun him into Amalia’s arms and let go, and the two of them were sucked back into the pulsing mass of bodies and music.

  Tamiyo ran up to higher ground to watch the rest of the plan unfold. She found the perfect hill and laid down on her front, propping up on her elbows with her chin resting in her hands. She caught sight of Raine’s purple hair flowing around as she danced with Riza. The next song had begun, an elevation of energy from the last. Tamiyo spotted Elias and Amalia dancing through the crowd, and moments later, their second tactical switch-up occurred.

  As the percussion kicked and the tempo pulled bodies closer, Elias and Riza found themselves in each others’ arms. Tamiyo kicked her legs behind her as she giggled and watched Raine float away through the crowd with Amalia.

  Now for the final part of the plan—the part Raine was unaware of.

  As the song was coming close to an end, Tamiyo knew the next one would be slower. She spotted Violet casually dancing her way through the crowd with Inelius in tow. He looked like he was nervous but enjoying the energy. With a final bout of expert timing, the lacravida sisters sprung their trap. Inelius and Raine’s bodies slammed together with the final beat of the energetic song.

  As if on cue, the tempo softened into a sultry, low-pulse rhythm. It still had the same one, two, three—pause, but one made for intimacy. The kind of song that carried weight in every pause, every lingering half-beat. String notes stretched longer now, brushing against the edge of melancholy. A song for slow-burn tension. For closeness with nowhere to hide.

  Violet and Amalia ran back up to Tamiyo’s overwatch, both of them grinning from ear to ear.

  “We did it,” Tamiyo squealed as her feet kicked even more in the air.

  Violet just grinned. “Now watch.”

  Tamiyo looked over the crowd as the low, velvety rhythm worked its magic. Inelius gazed into Raine’s eyes as they moved together. Several moments later, Raine’s head settled against his chest.

  Looking to the other side of the crowd, Tamiyo spied Riza and Elias. The entire crowd looked like pairs of leaves floating together on the wind. Those two looked like simmering passionate fire, slowly unraveling. Maybe it wouldn’t unravel tonight, but at least the ember had finally been lit.

  “Want to get back out there?” Amalia asked.

  Tamiyo thought for a moment, then said, “No, I’m actually quite happy where I’m at. But don’t let me hold you up.” She beamed back at the two sisters. “Go find yourselves some of those well-endowed lazarco you mentioned.”

  Violet and Amalia grinned at her and ran back into the crowd.

  Tamiyo found herself smiling warmly. There was something healing about watching the positive intimacy when all she had known for so long was the pain associated with that closeness.

  Lanterns drifted above like low stars. The courtyard shimmered with movement and warmth.

  And, at least for tonight, everything for Tamiyo felt… right.