Page 61 of The Boy Bride

He was dressed all in black today, with only a little white decoration on his sash. His hair was tied back, just the top layer, his usual style. He was barefoot. Lill finished the porridge, scraping the spoon around the bowl to get the last of the honey.

“Thank you, that was very good.”

Vanu took the empty bowl and set it aside. He signed something that Lill interpreted as an apology for not being able to speak aloud yet.

“It’s all right,” said Lill quickly. “I am learning hand language as fast as I can,” he signed.

Vanu smiled. “Thank you,” he signed back.

He picked up the comb from the table by Lill’s bed and held it up with a questioning look.

“You want to … ” Lill touched his hair. It was loose—he hadn’t braided it for the night—and must have looked untidy. “Of—of course.”

Vanu knelt on the bed and shifted Lill’s hair across his bare back. Lill moved to give him access, aware that as he did so the quilt around his hips shifted, exposing his thigh and his backside. Should he pull it back into place? Or would that make it seem as if he was trying to hide from Vanu?

Vanu set to work on Lill’s hair. Maybe he had combed his daughters’ hair before. He certainly knew how to do it, starting at the ends and working his way up, gently but not gingerly. His own hair was not long enough to require such care.

Mikhi’s voice rang out from downstairs: “Da! Are you in here?”

“He’s up here!” Lill called back, wanting to be helpful—not stopping to think that since Vanu couldn’t shout at the best of times, he must have some other way of answering a summons.

Vanu pulled the quilt back up around Lill’s waist and gave him a quizzical look as he got up from the bed.

“Da?” came Mikhi’s voice again. She had not been able to hear Lill from all the way downstairs.

Vanu went to the door and out onto the landing, closing it behind him. Lill couldn’t hear their conversation, which must have been conducted silently. He sat in the bed, feeling his face heat with embarrassment. Then he decided he should get up and dress before Vanu returned.

He crept over to the chest and was about to slip back into his clothes from yesterday when he decided to look and see what else might be in there. He opened the lid and saw his wedding garments folded neatly where Vanu had put them away. He shivered at the memory of how they had all come off. On the other side of the chest was another garment, also blue, but a lighter shade, with mountain-style decoration in white. He lifted it out and discovered it was a simple, loose woollen gown with a wide neck and slits in the side seams.

There was a tap at the closed door. Lill froze.

“Are you decent?” Mikhi asked.

“No!” he yelped. He dropped the gown back into the chest and grabbed the black trousers.

“What?”

“NO!” He braced a hand against the door, clutching the trousers.

“All right, I heard you! I won’t come in. Da wants me to tell you that you can come down for the dancing any time you want.”

“The what?”

“What?”

Lill drew a deep breath. There was a loud noise from downstairs that he interpreted as Vanu rapping on the rail of the stairs to get Mikhi’s attention.

“Da says I should wait for you to get dressed, and then we’ll talk!”

“THANK YOU!”

“He also called us ‘kids’ and rolled his eyes! Thought you should know!”

Vanu banged the railing again.

Lill stood with his trousers half on, holding onto the ties, looking down at the gown in the chest. Was he meant to wear that? If there was to be dancing, should he be in woman’s clothes?

Dancing? He’d never danced in his life, hardly even paid attention when he’d seen other people dancing, which had mostly been on missions where he had other things on his mind.