Chapter 165: Anniversary - Leah
We celebrate with cake.
Not chocolate—Side B's cocoa supply comes and goes. Helen makes it with C-side fruit that tastes like chocolate but isn't. It's better than chocolate. Richer. More interesting.
Seven candles. One for each year.
We gather in the courtyard. Everyone. The refugees, the green visitors, the Night Walkers with their golden eyes, Dr. Chen 2.0 with dirt under his nails from working in the gardens.
Kiran and Avi stand together. Not touching—Kiran still feels awkward with affection—but close. Closer than last year. That's progress.
Xiao Qi and Xiao Ba sit side by side, sharing a blanket. Xiao Ba's fragment-sensitivity has gotten stable. She can sense emotions throughout the castle now, using her gift to catch distress before it turns into crisis.
The twins sit on the tree's lowest branch, legs swinging. Adrian's shadow keeps them steady. Ophelia's light gives enough brightness for her to read—Xiao Ba's music sheets.
Kael stands next to me. His hand finds mine.
"Happy anniversary," he says.
"Happy anniversary."
We cut the cake together. The knife is the Kin-Slaying Blade, changed. Not for killing anymore. For sharing. For celebrating.
The first piece goes to the tree. We place it at the roots, where soil from three worlds meets. An offering. A thank you.
The second piece goes to the door in the sky. We can't reach it with our hands, but we send our thoughts. Our song. Our love.
Then we eat.
The cake is... not perfect. Sweet but a little grainy. Rich but a little uneven. The fruit's taste changes as you chew—chocolate turning to caramel turning to something flowery and impossible to name.
It's the best cake I've ever had.
"Speech!" someone shouts.
I look at Kael. He shakes his head—no speeches, not his thing.
I stand up. Brush crumbs off my shirt. Look at our family. Our community. Our world.
"Seven years ago," I say, "I was a hunter in Dust Lane. I killed monsters. I survived. That was it."
I look at Kael. "Then I met a monster. The worst one. Three thousand years old. Impossible to kill. Totally annoying."
He smiles.
"And I fell in love with him."
Silence. Then—clapping. Laughter. The twins cheering from their branch.
"It wasn't perfect. It isn't perfect. We're not perfect."
I raise my glass—Side B wine, sharp and simple.
"But we're real. We're connected. We're together."
"To being imperfect!"
"To being imperfect!"
The toast echoes. Glasses clink. The tree's leaves rustle like applause.
Kael pulls me close. Kisses me. Not dramatically. Just... here. Real.
"I love you," he whispers.
"I love you too."
"Imperfectly."
"Completely."
The party goes on. Music. Dancing. Xiao Ba plays her piece—the story of our family, set to C-side harmony and Side A rhythm and Side B melody.
The twins dance. Shadow and light, spinning together, making patterns on the courtyard floor that shift and change and tell their own story.
We watch them. Kael and I. Holding each other.
"Good life?" he asks.
"Good life."
"Imperfect?"
"Perfect."
He kisses my forehead. I lean into him.
The sun sets. The moons rise. The door hums.
And we are.
Together.
Forever.
Imperfectly.
Completely.
Home.