Posted by Major General Charles Tenkiller (Vice-Commander, Colonial Customs and Defense Agency) in Three Isn’t A Crowd If You Don’t Want It To Be

(snip)

Sharah lifted the glass and drank. She felt a bit light headed. She watched Yavia disappear down the stairs. “I don’t think anything phases her.” She moved over to where she had set the bonsai down and set her hands against the soil, and inspecting each of the branches and buds. “We should plant a paw-paw tree for her.”

Sharah

Charles looked at Sharah and said “We? Like… you and I? Are we at the planning future endeavors together aspect already?” with smile. His enthusiasm, effecting, and comfort with the entire situation was genuine, even if he had some confusion about it; but he was excited by the prospects that the near future held for the three of them… all emotions that welled up and off him without any hint of him trying to hide it.

Tenkiller

Sharah smiled as his emotions hit her. Not just surface ones, but deeper stronger ones. He wasn’t attempting to hide them, he knew she would feel them, and that was a gift. She picked fallen leaves out of the pot, crumbled them and then worked them back into the soil. She peeked at him from the corner of her eye. “I suppose we are in some ways. It is part of your culture, and I,” she touched the flowers on the tree gently, “have a talent for growing things. If not together, then perhaps you and Yavia will let me give it to you as a gift, a thank you.”

Sharah

Charles smiled and stepped up to her, standing behind her. He put his hands on her waist and set his chin gently on her shoulder. “No thanks is needed. We… all three of us… are in this together. What happens to one of us, happens to all of us. We are a… what… I have no idea what to call us. A team? A cooperative? A… throuple?” and he laughed softly and let her go, careful not to intrude on her space for too long.

Tenkiller

His closeness was strangely welcoming and very needed, and all the more precious for his care and caution for her. “Throuple?” There was confused amusement in her voice. “I don’t know. I feel very confused and weirdly comfortable. Ask Yavia. Deltans have more words for love and relationships than the Inuit of Earth have for snow. Throuple has a nice sound to it, though. Doesn’t it?” Finally satisfied with whatever she was doing with Hooe she turned leaning back against the counter. “But thanks are needed, in words and actions and in thoughts and feelings. It is a way to show those that are precious that their efforts are seen, and that they matter. Too often it is over looked and people feel taken for granted. Thanks is not given out of obligation, but out of care for those that care for us.”

She turned back to the pot, “She needs sunlight.” Which should be easy to get in a house with so many windows.

Sharah