“So, Grie, why don’t you tell me about yourself?” Feri’Andi said from across her dinner table table in Qzcivden. “How did you and my daughter meet?” She gave Grie a suspicious glance as she bit into her boiled sea felgr, careful to cover her mouth as she did so.

“Well, ma’am, I was on leave, sitting at a table at a restaraunt on top of the Beacon City Hotel on Osgord, completely zoned out and thinking about work when Priha’Di came up and started talking to me–”

“About the fact that he hadn’t eaten any of his food,” Priha’Di finished. “I decided he had a bit of charm about himself and sat down with him to eat my own lunch while I was waiting to continue my mission tracking a weapons runner who had been supplying some dealers with military Timids. He didn’t know that at the time, of course, so he was completely surprised when–”

“When she just gets up on the railing and jumps off the top of Beacon City Tower, saying she’d be right back,” Grie continued, each of the pair making time for the other to get in a few bites of food. “Now, of course, most guys would have assumed she wasn’t coming back, but I had a good feeling about Priha’Di, so I ordered us some more food–”

“And he just sits there, waiting for me to get back for twelve centidays!” Priha’Di came in as soon as she had swallowed her food. She briefly smiled at Grie before continuing. “So I just finished my mission and head back, assuming he’ll be gone, and he’s still sitting there like a real gentleman, even though he ended up missing the cyclical firework show with his family in Gordten. When I got back and saw him there, just looking up at me like I’d only been gone for a milliday–”

“I just knew,” they both said in perfect unison, looking into each other’s eyes like there was an entire galaxy of interesting things just waiting to be discovered behind them. Priha’Di reached out her hand, and Grie took it, the two squeezing each other’s fingers.

While it was still a significantly remarkable thing that the two were able to complete each other’s sentences, it was in large part due to the fact that the two had formed a type of mental link influenced by Priha’Di’s power as a Valkyrie. Each of them was capable of sharing the other’s thoughts, though not necessarily read the other’s mind. It was something that required openness from both parties. Grie and Priha’Di just happened to be very open with one another.

Feri’Andi smiled. She had been very early on in her pregnancy with Priha’Di when they had returned from Earth, so Priha’Di had no memory of her father. Still, Feri’Andi did, and it was heartwarming to see a connection so reminiscent of her own with her husband. She knew why Grie had asked for this dinner, but she wasn’t going to push the subject. She knew that it would bring itself up in time.

“It was so kind of you to have me over for dinner here, ma’am. I’m sure I couldn’t have offered such a fine dinner at my home. It’s all very delicious. I’ve never had cooking quite like this,” Grie said, marvelling at the lines across the sides of his own sea felgr, marks left by Feri’Andi’s grill, which was something she had built herself for lack of availability this side of the Bifrost.

“Yes, I learned it from my husband,” Feri’Andi said. “He fought fires, professionally, but he always did like to dabble in cooking.” She picked up a steamed korn, which was more like Earth broccoli than corn. She smiled at the odd coincidence in names.

“He fought fires, ma’am?” Grie looked curiously at Feri’Andi at this comment. Fire extinguishing systems were fully robotic in the Linthian system, the firefighting profession having been briefly reintroduced for a few centuries after the Ragn’Rouk but since unheard of. “Where was he from?”

Priha’Di stopped eating at this question. She wasn’t entirely sure herself, though she knew her older sister remembered. She had never managed to get the answer to this particular question, so her own curiosity was also piqued when Grie brought it up.

“My husband was from a far outer planet.” That sentence was more true than Feri’Andi could admit at the time. Earth was very far out of the Linthian system. “The firefighting robots on his planet are a bit disfunctional at times.” The firefighting robotics on Earth were, after all, very primitive.

“What planet is he from? I’m not too familiar with some of the outer worlds.” Grie’s head tilted slightly out of curiosity, but Feri’Andi knew her way out of this question well. With a quick mental jolt, she knocked a picture off the wall on the staircase behind Grie. There was an unpleasant crashing sound as the frame hit the ground, the viewpane shattering.

“Oh, my! Let me just get that cleaned up quickly. Terribly sorry about that, Grie!” Feri’Andi stood quickly, moving to pick up the pieces and take them to the trash, leaving the picture itself on the table.

As she was gone, Grie and Priha’Di took the time to look at the photograph. It was a chemically bonded slip of paper, an odd thing to be laying around in a Thoren’s house. As the heart of technology and society, Thor wasn’t exactly known for things as primitive as this sheet of paper. That alone would have been enough to spark Grie’s curiosity, but he was also a bit startled by the content of the photograph.

In a strange, uncomfortable-looking garment, a man leaving his prime with light orange hair and light blue eyes looked out from the photo, several ribbons and medallions on his chest, though he wore no sash indicative of the Armada. His appearance was a bit odd, and Grie had never seen a hair color quite like his, though the orange in Priha’Di’s hair led him to believe that this was a picture of her father. He was holding a young girl in one arm, his other arm over the shoulder of a young woman with dark blue and brown hair, who Grie quickly recognized as Feri’Andi.

“Is that your sister he’s holding?” Grie pointed to the young girl, her light blue and blonde hair very much like other pictures Grie had seen of Terira.

“Yes,” Priha’Di said, smiling gently. “I’ve never met my father, but I know he was a very compassionate man.”

“Everyone’s clothes are a bit odd, though, aren’t they?” Grie marvelled at the yellow dress Terira was wearing, with blossoms printed on the fabric. The black and white layers of her father’s garments were all sharply pressed, a look that seemed fitting for a high-ranking Armadian, not someone who fought fires. The silver and gold medallions on his chest shone brightly, somewhat reminiscent of military commendations. Feri’Andi, on the other hand, was wearing a green, woven sweater that fit snugly against her, her eyes shining to match it. “It’s a wonderful picture,” he finally said, looking to Priha’Di, who he now noticed was building tears in her eyes.

“It’s my favorite picture,” she said, her voice cracking a bit from the tears she was holding back. Grie leaned over and embraced her, and she leaned into his shoulder for a few moments before her mother returned.

“Sorry about that,” Feri’Andi said. “Anyway, Grie, was there a particular reason you wanted to have dinner tonight?” She didn’t really want to force the topic, but it was something to get their minds off Priha’Di’s father.

Grie straightened himself, and Priha’Di did the same, dabbing slightly at her eyes with her napkin. “Yes, ma’am. As you know, Priha’Di and I have been together for over six cycles now, and we’re very eager to spend even more time with each other in the future.” Feri’Andi raised an eyebrow at this, smiling slightly.

“Anyway,” he continued, “I’d very much like your blessing tonight toward taking your daughter’s hand in marriage.” Priha’Di gasped. Grie had made it a point to hide the thought from her so that it would be a surprise. She brought her hands to her mouth and the tears she had just held back began to finally escape. Grie looked to Feri’Andi for a few moments before she nodded.

Once she had, Grie rose from his seat and lowered himself to the ground, presenting the box containing the traditional Osgordian necklace of betrothal to Priha’Di. “Pri, will you marry me?” He held the box a bit higher, and Priha’Di leaned past it to kiss him, her answer clear even before he had been able to ask with all of her nods reaching a nearly comical level.

“Of course I will!” Priha’Di said as she brought her lips away from Grie’s long enough for him to place the chain around her neck, the Khuda’Mundi seal hanging from it. She hugged him tightly as they both stood while Feri’Andi merely smiled compassionately. She shed mixed tears as she thought of the joy this was bringing to her family and the sadness that Priha’Di’s father could not be here for this. She missed being known as Mrs. Ayling.