Page 30 of The Hummingbird’s Gift

Chapter 7

Rohahen

When he woke up, the sun was slanted sharply across the sky, making patterns on his walls. Tier had drifted over to the other side of the bed. Apparently he needed his space to sleep.

He was gorgeous in repose, the bags under his eyes almost gone. Ro felt a little proud of himself. He was the one that had made Tier sleep so restfully.

He snuck out of bed to use the bathroom, but by the time he returned Tier was sitting up and rubbing his eyes. His hair was beautifully disarrayed, and his clothing crumpled.

He looked down at himself. “We should go back to my place to get some clothes for tomorrow. Unless you want to get your own clothes and stay over there.”

Ro shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me. I just want to be where you are.”

“Alright. I’ll slip over to grab a few things, and then maybe we can eat dinner over here?”

Ro beamed. He liked that Tier was just assuming that he would cook. Maybe not every night, but for now it was just what he wanted.

“I’ll come with you,” he offered. “It’ll just be a quick walk there and back, and I think it would be nice to get outside for a quiet stroll.”

Tier tilted his head to the side. “We’ll be crossing the courtyard so it might not be that quiet.”

Ro glanced at the clock. “That’s alright. Everyone will be heading to dinner, but we can just slip through.” He tugged on a clean outfit, even though he’d need to shower later. The shifters with more sensitive noses would be able to scent what he’d been up to today, but he didn’t expect to be that close to anyone.

With a final stretch, Tier rolled out of bed and tried to straighten his clothes.

“We could shift, you know. It might be easier that way.”

Tier shrugged. “I’m not ashamed. And like you said, everyone will be at dinner.”

They walked out the door, holding hands.

As soon as they stepped out onto Ro’s porch, someone called out a greeting. Ro’s mother stood on her own porch with a large white bundle over her arm. His grandmother sat beside her. “Look what I found!” his mother called.

He couldn’t quite tell from this distance. A sheet, maybe? “What is it?”

She gave him a look like he was crazy. He could see that expression perfectly clearly. “Deerskin. We can start working on his moccasins today.”

Ro buried his head in Tier’s shoulder. This was so embarrassing.

He heard another voice behind him and recognized it as Tier’s mother, the head of the Healers. What was she doing here? “Didn’t you ask him, Tier?” she called out loudly. “Why is he hiding?”

Tier wrapped his arms around Ro, holding him close. “I’m sorry. I may have gotten a little overzealous,” he whispered.

“You already asked them?”

Tier nodded. Traditionally, matriarchs from different clans would match up their offspring for marriage, sending the young men to their brides’ longhouses with barely a meeting first. Now inter-clan relationships were common, and it was more a custom to ask the women and heart-singers in the family for their blessing.

Rohahen had spent two days sulking while Tier had been asking permission to marry him. It was a little bit amazing and a lot overwhelming.

He picked up his head without turning around. “Can’t we get any privacy around here?”

Several voices joined in laughter. Maybe six or seven people, both men and women. Who else was here?

“I brought porcupine quills,” someone said. That was Ro’s sister-in-law, though she was almost fifty years older.

“Can we go back inside?” Ro asked. He loved his family, but he hated being the center of attention. It was even worse that Tier’s family was here, too.

Tier stroked his back. “They’re excited for us, love. Though I wasn’t expecting them to ambush us at the door. We’ll just say thank you and keep going.”