It is not enough to be satisfied with a long-lived life, híni. The gift of longevity sours with no kin to call our own. To live long enough to see the bloodlines of our mothers die is a cruel fate . . . which is why each of you must remember your duty to our community. To bear a child is the greatest gift you can give back to all those who have come before you, ensuring our traditions will continue on. The difficulty in conceiving only makes richer the reward of holding your own elvish child in your arms.
If she’d not already gone no contact with her mother, the reaction to hearing her only daughter was in a serious relationship with an orc would have been enough to prompt the same end decision.
"How could you do this to us?" her mother had moaned, wailing and carrying on as though Lurielle had announced she had just gone on a multi-state killing spree and was, in fact, calling from the scene of her most recent crime, the phone still dripping the blood of her victims. "After everything your father and I have done for you and your brother,thisis the slap in the face we get . . . Is this how little you care about your family?"
She’d hung up the phone at that point, cutting off her mother’s shrill wail in a way that made it hang in the air as she stared up at the rapidly darkening sky. Tears she felt betrayed at producing pricked the corner of her eyes, and she’d sucked in a long breath of the cold, autumn air of her backyard before going back inside, trying to remember how little her mother’s opinion mattered.
It had been a mistake to call her, but Lurielle already knew that. She’d been placating Khash, who couldn’t fathom parents not being thrilled for their children in any and every instance, who’d been making doleful puppy dog eyes at her across the pillow every time he asked if she’d talked to her family recently. She’d called to make him happy, and the call had gone exactly as well as she’d known it would, regardless of how that madeherfeel . . .
Dynah, she reminded herself, lived several states away from her family and didn’t belong to the club in town. Lurielle had no doubt she was dealing with pressure from her parents, but if the string of trolls and Dragonborn and weres Dynah had dated over the past year was an indication that her family wouldn’t care about her finding a non-Elvish partner, that her situation wasn’t nearly as trying as that belonging to other elves they knew — elves like her, elves like Silva.Elves who aren’t constantly ditching their friends every time a guy smiles in their direction.
"Idounderstand, Dynah," she reminded her friend. She understood, but they’d all been on the receiving end of Dynah’s whims, plans broken and calls unanswered, followed by similar stories of heartbreak after a few weeks passed. "I also know that none of these guys are worth your time. They’ve got you paying their way, driving them around, breaking plans with your friends . . . for what? To disappear by the end of the month? I’m your friend and I love you, but you’ve got to stop this. How long do we have to be okay with you not showing up to things or canceling on us at the last minute for a stranger? You let your friend go on an out-of-town trip by herself for aliteralstranger! And it's not even the first time you've done it! Idounderstand because I’ve been there too, and you’re never going to break out of this cycle until you start putting yourself first. Stop screwing your friends over. Stop making these guys a priority when they’re only making you a temporary option."
The formerly noisy pub seemed to have gone silent. She hadn’t realized how much her voice had risen, her words rising in both pitch and volume, and now Dynah — poor, hapless Dynah — gaped from across the table, blue eyes wide as saucers. The minotaur beside them had turned his head in her direction, eyebrow cocked, and Lurielle watched in horror as a svelte nymph sitting at the bar behind their table raised her glass in a one-sided toast of apparent agreement.You can never show your face in here again.
"Like I said,'' Ris went on cheerfully as though Lurielle’s voice wasn’t still echoing in the pub’s rafters, signing the credit card slip for the tab she’d closed while Lurielle made a spectacle of herself, "you need to come back to yoga and get centered. I’m signing up for ballet classes at that dance studio that just opened next to the nail salon, why don’t you join me?"
It was a relief to step out onto the sidewalk a short while later, after enfolding a tearful Dynah in her arms and promising that she wasn’t actually mad at her.The whole clan will be there, it’ll be great.She knew she ought not to take out her stress on her friends, even if she’d meant every word of what she’d said, which she absolutely did. It wasn’t the first outburst she’d had over the past few weeks and Lurielle felt as if she were coming apart at the seams.
"Look at it this way," Ris began, slipping her arm through Lurielle’s, the serene smile she'd worn for the past several weeks still taking up residence on her angular face. "She needed to hear it. Better from you, and better in a crowded venue where neither of us could be accused of smothering her, right? Are you going to tell me what’s going on, or do I need to start inventing stories? That’s how rumors get started, you know."
She laughed weakly, leaning into her friend. She reminded herself that they were only work friends, but she’d never had many friends growing up, and she valued the camaraderie from Ris and Silva — and even Dynah — more than she could articulate. "Nothing’s going on," she mumbled. "Really. We’re going to visit his family and I’m sick over it. It’s just . . . everyone acts like my worth in society has suddenly increased. It’s insulting, to be honest."
Ris snickered in agreement. "There's nothing more shameful than being a single female elf. Don't worry," she added, "pretty soon no one will care that you're in a committed relationship. They'll only want to know when you're popping out a kid. The wedding isn't even as important. The big visit is coming up, right? Are you all packed?"
"He texted me earlier to let me know they're planning a big party to meet me. And you know how much I love big parties, after all."
"Oh, big parties are your favorite. Hopefully, there will be dancing, and lots and lots of small talk. I know how much you love dancing and small talk."
"Exactly. Small talk with his relatives, and if they don't like me, then what? Am I going to make him pick me over his family? What will happen then? He'll grow resentful and bitter and have an affair with some tall, gorgeous orc woman who doesn't need his help putting dishes away. And what happens if we've already gotten married by then? What happens if we've already had kids? Is he going to take my kids away to be raised by this big amazon and her whole clan? How would I fight for custody? It's not like I can get any elf to take my case, and how's it going to look being represented by an ogre or a goblin? I'll look like someone whose own kind doesn't even want to have anything to do with her, so why should I be put in charge of raising multi-species kids? I'll wind up alone and used up, the stretch marks from carrying orcs will probably go from my chin to my knees. I’ll still be a short, chubby elf with no social worth, and I won't have anything to show for it except house I can't reach the top shelf in and an orc-stretched vagina that will never, ever shrink back down to normal size after years of him rearranging my guts. That’s it, that’s my made-for-streaming movie."
A cluster of sleek-haired selkies turned to look in their direction as Ris nearly choked on her laughter, each of the waifish young women dressed for a night on the town in towering heels and short dresses beneath their sable-furred coats.
"Wow. WOW. Babe, there is a lot to unpack there. Like, a fucking dump truck worth of unpacking. First of all, I'm sure Khash will not let his family say anything bad about you. That orc is stupid over you. And let's pretend for a moment that they don't like you, which won't be possible because you are brilliant and funny and ballsy as fuck, andcompletelyadorable, but let's pretend for a minute that they suck and they don't see that. Khash is a grown-ass man, he'schosento move away from his family, so it's not going to be that much of an ordeal. Your kids would fucking howl to stay with you because you're going to be an amazing mother, and why do you think you would lose custody?! All we have to do is call that werewolf, that one that almost put me in traction, remember? His family owns the whole town! Boom, now you have a lawyer. You live here, so your custody case would happen here, and no one gives a shit about what some out-of-towners think. So now you've got your kids, you've got your house, you take fuckingeverythingin the divorce. His girlfriend is going to leave him because he won't have a pot to piss in, and you're going to meet some young boy toy werebear who will keep you warm at night and blow what’s left of your back out on the regular. So I'm not sure what exactly you're so worried about, it seems to me like you're going to be fine no matter what."
She was hunched over in laughter by the time Ris finished her diatribe, clinging to the taller elf's arm for support as her shoulders shook. She remembered then why she had become friends with Ris in the first place. At first glance, her tall, slender companion was the exact sort of elf she would have avoided like the plague — pretty, popular, and privileged, too much like the former classmates and clubmates who put her down all her life. But it only took a short time in Ris's presence to learn that she was profane and hilarious, and that even though she had grown up in the same world of Elvish privilege, she wasn't quite a part of it, not truly. She had confessed to not onlynotbeing a member of the club there in Cambric Creek, but having never been a member of any Elvish club. She'd never come out and said so, but Lurielle suspected that Ris was an accomplished faker, and had skated through her school days on her looks and personality alone.
"I hope you feel better now."
"I do, actually. I do. I should probably stop seeing my therapist and start seeing you."
"Or, better yet — you should keep seeing your therapist and come out with us more. You’re not married yet, and even if you were, married doesn't mean dead. I get it, the weather is crappy and it’s not as fun to go out, but I’ve barely seen you in weeks. Don't forget about your friends. And wearefriends, Lurielle, just because we work together doesn't mean we're only work friends. If we only see each other at work then that's all we are, so we need to put in the effort to be more than that."
"Since when did you get to be the wise one?"
Ris smiled broadly. "I'm sleeping with a smarty-pants, I think that helps."
"What?! You never said you met someone! When? Who is he? Tell me everything!"
"I took your advice and ordered off the menu," Ris shrugged with a cat-that-ate-the canary grin. "It's just a friends-with-benefits thing, but he's really great. And it's just . . . I don't know, like you said. Nothing more worthless in society. And it's bullshit that we should even have to feel that way, because I have been onsomany fucking terrible dates in the past few months, it's just so not worth it. But he's . . . I don't know. Different. Different for me, at least.
"And he's an orc?" Lurielle demanded.
"He is! I finally met an orc and learned his name. I haven't said anything because I didn't want to make Dynah feel bad, but . . .yeah. He's kinda great? It's gotten me out of my rut, if nothing else."
"And just that fast, I'm annoyed with her all over again. You can't be so worried about tiptoeing around her feelings that you're not able to share happy news! Ugh, whatever. Peak Dynah. I'm happy for you, and I want to hear all about him this week, understand?"
Pulling into her driveway a short while later, she was only marginally surprised to see Khash's car.
