The bond hums softly, like four quiet lanterns waiting.
Not demanding.
Just there.
And for the first time in my life, I don’t feel like I need permission to keep what makes me happy.
Dinner is loud.
Not chaotic. Not frantic.
Alive.
The windows are open to the evening air, the last of the light spilling across the kitchen table in long, honeyed stripes. Solinsisted on cooking “something simple,” which in Sol language means three courses and a sauce that took six hours to reduce properly.
The table is too small for all five of us, but no one suggests replacing it.
Kai is half-leaning across it, gesturing wildly as he recounts something ridiculous that happened during a lesson. Koa corrects his exaggerations without looking up from where he’s slicing bread. Finn has rolled his sleeves to his elbows and is listening with that attentive stillness that makes people confess things they didn’t intend to.
I watch them.
Not because I feel separate.
Because I feel…full.
Sol sets a bowl down in front of me before I realise he’s moved. His fingers brush my shoulder briefly – a check-in, a grounding point – then he returns to the stove.
“I’ve been thinking,” he says casually, which is his warning tone.
Kai groans immediately. “Here we go.”
“A small place,” Sol continues, ignoring him. “Not big. Twenty covers. Focused menu. Seasonal. Something that feels…intentional.”
“A restaurant?” I ask.
He shrugs, but there’s something careful in his posture. “Eventually.”
Kai grins. “We are not calling it ‘Intentional’.”
“I wasn’t going to, dickhead.”
“Good. Because that sounds like somewhere you go to eat fermented air.”
Koa wipes his hands and leans back in his chair, practical already. “Where?”
“Near the harbour,” Sol replies. “Old storage unit by the eastern dock. It’s solid structurally. Needs work.”
“It needs more than work,” Kai says. “It needs exorcising.”
Finn speaks for the first time since the idea surfaced. “It’s a good location.”
There’s no drama in his tone. Just assessment.
“You’ve looked at it?” I ask.
“Twice.”
Sol blinks at him. “When?”