Sigh.

Other Maitimos leave Cor and Tree alone and hang out in the corner eating snacks and people-watching.

Cor's friend Ranary drifts in their direction warily.

Unthreatening smiles!

"You're the, uh, nice Maitimos?"

"No one invites the evil ones to parties. Ranary, right?"

"...yes, how did you know?"

"Heard you introduce yourself earlier. I'm Island."

"Why Island?"

"Kib named us, and I gave him an island as a present. Later I gave him a planet but the planet wasn't all done by the time we needed names."

"...gave him a planet?"

"We went through Angband. It took him a while to get back to himself afterwards, and in the meantime the people who cared about him talked his planet's countries into a federated thingy that could become a Vanda Nossëo member and that he could govern once he trusted himself more."

"Oh."

"He's better now. He and his husband run it together."

"His husband?"

"Aydanci!" He points.

"...and you're still together even though he's married?"

"We were together first, actually. Sort of. Kib has mysterious resurrection and he'd been married in a past life, and after he started dating us he remembered his husband, went ot find him, ended up keeping everybody. It was good during the war to have - several stable points."

"I'd been wondering if that was just an evil Maitimo thing."

"Nonmonogamy?"

"Yeah. He had to talk Cor into it, see."

"I think Bells default monogamous unless there are convincing goodies to be gotten from doing something else. But it's not evil to be in love with several people, by itself."

"...goodies?"

"Benefits of some kind that make it less of a compromise or more worth compromising on."

She looks at Cor thoughtfully, frowning.