In the afternoon, Xurde went up to Erendi and Raku's room to start the rehabilitation session as usual, and first of all they went into the operating room for a moment.
– What are you looking for there? Erendi asked them. Xurde smiled mischievously.
–Did you think that Xurde would allow their body to fill with hair and their voice to become like a wolf's?
– I don't know... Who knows... I guess not –. Erendi replied with a certain indifference.
–Not at all! Vanity, at least... Well. Today we are going to celebrate. It's Raku's birthday, tonight the three of us are going on a trip to the dance house.
As they unlocked the wheelchair to go down to the dance house, Erendi sat on bed.
– I think I can use crutches now.
–Very good. Crutches then. Let’s go.
Erendi supported themselves as they could on their crutches, and with Xurde’s help, who took also the wheelchair just in case, they took the elevator.
–Uff, I don't know, better give me the chair, yes. It's a lot of effort.
–Of course.
Erendi sat in the chair. They crossed the central hall and left through the door of the garden to the dance house. Xurde had prepared the space with the elegance and simplicity that they used to. They had a small low table next to the area of cushions and mats, with bowls prepared for something to eat later, and some fluffy glowing balls on the wooden floor. They began their exercises like every day. Xurde brought Erendi's body over theirs and activated and warmed it up, and then they breathed, moved and practiced their coordination, strength and elasticity. Erendi was progressing at great speed, for they knew exactly what they had to do. Although it annoyed them not feeling agile as before, they really liked being able to share this space with Xurde, and in the small movements and narrow gaps between breath and breath, they found as much intensity and charm as they would have the day they met. The scars on Xurde's hands had closed, but they continued to hurt, the same as the ones on Erendi's head, just as their weakened body sometimes betrayed their knowledge and did not respond, feel, or did something different from what they had asked it to. Then Xurde surrounded them with their body, and they breathed and rested, looking at the ceiling beams. Erendi rested their head on Xurde’s lap, and Xurde caressed their hair, their neck, their face, and smiled at them. It was a space for patience and calmness. There was no rush. The speed was that of care. Erendi looked into their eyes, grabbed their hands and placed them on their chest.
–Hands are like bowls. They may contain water or poison. But they are still bowls. –Xurde heard the beating of their heart in Erendi's hands and on their chest, and their eyes misted over. Erendi smiled and turned to their side, embracing Xurde's hips.
– Raku turns thirty today. I think this is the best birthday of them I can remember. –Xurde continued caressing their hair and two tears fell on them.
– Is it a special day? – Upon entering the door, Raku commented on the decoration of the room.
–It's your birthday! –said Erendi and Xurde in unison. Raku was surprised.
– Can you believe that I did not remember? With all the bustle of the assembly...
Raku and Xurde helped Erendi roll to the table.
Xurde went to the kitchen to get food. Dinner there was most lively. The wine was flowing and there was great laughter and spicy anecdotes everywhere. Ariel and Bjorn ate dinner in silence while the adults went wild a little more than necessary. Xurde took a bit of this and a bit of that. Bjorn glanced at the carafe in case they wanted to take some wine with them for their romantic dinner. Xurde shook their head. Bjorn raised their glass and waved goodbye.
They ate frugally. They laughed. Erendi told some very funny and embarrassing anecdotes of when they met Raku at a solstice party in Erendi's birth house. Raku told many other slightly erotic stories from their many trips, and some more serious ones from some of the deepest passions and ruptures they had experienced. Xurde also told them some of the best–known jokes in the region, those that were always remembered at winter dinners, when they wanted to get out of the general tone of the season. Erendi was in very good spirits. They sang birthday songs to Raku, like the one that says:
The years do not pass
It is you who crosses them with your dances and songs
The years do not pass
It's the dances that come paving the way
Then Raku and Xurde sat very close to Erendi and massaged them, caressed them and kissed them, and the three of them curled up very slowly. They were undressing each other in an infinitesimal dance. The passion was contained by Erendi’s rhythm, who needed to breathe in and renew their energy, and not just deliver it to the outside. Raku and Xurde gave them the abundance of what they had a lot through their lips, their tongues, and their skin. They focused on giving them pleasure and the space to savor it without succumbing to ecstasy in exhaustion. It was a dance of channels that widened, where all the entrances and exits of the bodies were continuously opening infinite invisible channels. Although Raku did not feel very intelligent somatically, the truth is that they had a lot of sexual experience, and they loved directing the rhythm and the story of the encounter, making their lovers feel they possessed all the beauty in the universe. Erendi, who normally let themselves be carried away, was not for this reason incapable of setting limits, but rather on the contrary, they wove a network of contours around the subtlety and softness of the small. This dynamic had been working very well for them for a long time, and now with Erendi's state it was more like that than ever. Xurde, with their natural sinuosity, found the space to let themselves fall into the curves of this narrative created through many years of shared knowledge. The friction of their three skins created a sphere of moist heat around them. Their thirty fingers filled all their centers of gravity and sealed their mouths with triple kisses that were exhaled through all the pores of their multicolored skin.
– Ugh, I can't anymore. Keep going, keep going, and I'll see you.
Erendi needed to rest, but Raku and Xurde were not satisfied. Raku wanted to kiss their sex, but Xurde was ahead of them, until Raku finally released their usual role and let themselves be done until the end. Erendi hugged Xurde, already with half a body having crossed the edges of dream. They kissed sweetly and caressed Xurde's long, straight, black hair until they fell asleep. Xurde wrapped them with some blankets.
Xurde dressed again and lay down next to them watching their calm breathing from outside. Before long Erendi and Raku fell sleep. Xurde was fully awake, and then they saw a flash in the window. They were the shining eyes of Bjorn, who turned around and went away as soon as Xurde saw them. They stealthily left the dance house looking for them. They met in the garden.
–Are you having a good time?
–We need to talk.
– I don't know if I can talk.
–The assembly has asked me what I need from the community.
–And you need...?
– I need to put an end to all this.
–You had many opportunities and you didn’t do it.
–You know what I mean.
– You also know what I mean. But yes, I agree. It's time for the whole house to know.
– I'm going to hold myself accountable. Right now.
– The truth is that I don't care what you do. It's not going to change anything.
Bjorn ran into the house and Xurde walked slowly towards the door.
They went up the stairs.