Lolo had the whole morning to pack up and get ready for the coronation scheduled for right after lunch. While Et’zana slept, she picked out a green and black dress and took the time to do her hair and make-up extra well. The green in her dress really brought out the green in her eyes, enough to make her eyes appear more green than brown.

Once packed, Lolo left the room to observe the coronation preparations. In order to accommodate more people, the coronation was to be held in the large west courtyard with decks on either side and a large, raised platform in the middle so everyone standing in the courtyard could see the proceedings. Lolo found a spot on one of the surrounding decks to lean on the railing and watch servants arrange flowers in giant pots and sweep the courtyard one last time. An area to the left of the platform was set up for musicians to perform during the ceremony.

“What do you think?”

Huo Lohse startled as someone approached her from behind. “Hi Philige! I didn’t expect to see you before the ceremony.”

“I know. Sorry to be so busy.”

“No, no! I didn’t mean it like that. I understand. You’ve had a lot going on.”

“Things should calm down after today,” Philige said, joining her against the railing.

“How are you settling in, Bear Tribe Leader?” Lolo teased.

“Philige,” he corrected her. “I don’t really like the title. And besides, we’re friends, right?” Philige searched her face.

“What a strange question.... Of course we are friends!”

Philige smiled and turned to watch more flowers arrive to add to the giant pots.

“Will your uncle come to the coronation?”

His smile turned sad, and he shook his head. “It’s best that he doesn’t come in case he causes a scene. After that night, he hasn’t completely recovered. I told you before that after my parents died, he changed.”

Lolo nodded. “I remember.”

“Well, something seems to have pushed him over the edge this time. He’s not in his right mind.”

“I’m sorry, Philige. Even if he was… well, you know. Even like that, he’s still your uncle.”

Philige seemed relieved to be understood by someone that knew his uncle's abuse first hand. They stood in silence for a while; Philige was one of only a few people Huo Lohse felt this comfortable to just be still with.

“Anything interesting?”

Philige and Lolo turned to see Standig joining them.

“They are just arranging the flowers,” Lolo said. “They’re quite lovely, actually.”

Standig gave Philige a look, and Philige took the hint to leave. "Um, excuse me, I have somewhere that I need to be." He turned to leave but doubled back. "I almost forgot. Lolo, I found these in my uncle's room." He pulled a stack of letters out of a bag at his hip.

"Letters?"

"Yeah. Most of them are letters you wrote to Standig over the past year."

"Thanks, Philige."

Standig and Lolo sat down on the deck to rummage through the pile of papers. Tadellos had opened and read every one.

"Well, now we know why you didn't get my letters."

"Oh. I actually knew already," Standig said sheepishly.

"Since when?!"

"During the big fight, uncle said something about your letters, so I knew he’d at least intercepted them."

"I don't think I wrote anything particularly inflammatory in these letters." Lolo scowled trying to remember. "I don't know why he felt the need to keep them from you."

Standig just shrugged. "Hey, Lolo, this letter is addressed to you." Standig pulled a small envelope out of the pile with a beautiful picture of a lake drawn on it.

"That's from Durfein!" Lolo snatched the letter from Standig and opened it eagerly. The letter was dated back to the weekend right before the exchange.

Dear Lolo,

I knew you would probably worry if I didn't show up for the exchange this summer, so I'm writing to tell you that I'm not coming this year. You and your father gave me an incredible gift last summer by encouraging me to study art and giving me the opportunity to prove my skills as an artist to my parents. They aren't exactly thrilled by my choice, but your father wrote a letter to them that convinced them to let me pursue my own path.

For this year's exchange, I had hoped to do something similar to last year, studying Bear Tribe art and artisanry, but Tribe Leader Tragen rejected my proposal. Instead, I will be spending the summer studying on my own among some of the smaller tribes.

Don't try to respond to this letter. I will be moving around a lot and probably won't get it if you do.

I wish you all the best and hope to see you next summer if not sooner.

Your friend,

Durfein

"Well, I'm glad to hear that he spent his summer doing what he loves," Lolo commented and passed the letter to Standig to read.

While Standig read Durfein's letter, Lolo stacked all of her letters to Standig in a neat pile for him to take back to his room.

Standig handed Durfein’s letter back to Lolo. "It seems silly that my uncle kept this from you."

"Have you spoken to your uncle since he abdicated?"

"No!" Standig said this like it should be obvious. "Why would I ever want to talk to him?"

"He is your uncle."

"So? What does that have to do with anything? He's a horrible person, and I want nothing to do with him." A decade of bottled up anger and hurt churned behind Standig's words.

"Standig-"

"No, Lolo.” He stood up and turned his back on her. “I know what you are going to say. You want to tell me that the anger I'm feeling right now will pass. That I should try to salvage a relationship with my uncle. But you don't understand! Your family is perfect. You have parents that love you and brothers that would walk through fire for you. You can't possibly know what it feels like to be hated by the one person that's supposed to love you the most. The one person you've been entrusted with to care for you and-"

Lolo caught Standig's waist from behind, holding him fast and trying not to give away her tears. "You're right. I don't understand, but I know that you are hurting. I want so much to take that hurt away for you.”

Standig took advantage of the moment to compose himself.

“Standig?”

“Yeah?”

“Before I head home, we need to have a rematch.”

The corner of Standig’s mouth curled into a half-smile as he turned slightly to look down at her. “No cheating this time?”

“Well,” Lolo grinned, “no promises.”

They decided to hold their rematch at the ancient courtyard like before. They had a few hours before the ceremony, so they had plenty of time. This time, Standig anticipated Lolo’s claustrophobia and had her ride piggy-back with her eyes closed through the tunnel.

“Thanks, Standig.”

“So, you ready?”

Huo Lohse drew her sword and struck a dramatic pose. “Always.”

Standig drew his own sword and counted down from three to begin the match.

The match turned into more of a show-off session, each of them pulling ridiculous moves to make the other laugh or roll their eyes. After a while, the whole match thing felt like a moot point, and the friends sheathed their swords and high-fived each other.

“Well, that was fun,” Lolo said. “Should we head back?”

“Actually, I was wondering if you’d like to try doing a partner meditation with me one more time.”

“Really?”

“Only if you want to. We’ve still got a couple of hours to kill before the ceremony, and I thought it might be interesting to meditate in that meditation circle we found in the woods over there.”

“I have no objection.”

Standig led the way through the trees to the meditation circle and picked out a comfortable patch of grass to sit on rather than the stone seats.

“'Want me to lead again?” he asked.

“I assumed that you would. I’m still lousy at meditating.”

They sat with their legs crossed, facing each other, knees together. Standig held out his hands for Lolo’s; it was a lot less awkward the second time around. They closed their eyes, and Standig started a steady breathing pattern. Lolo copied him until their breath synchronized. Again, Lolo felt her body relax and her mind clear as she focused on her connection with Standig.

It was strange. This time, her thoughts and feelings seemed to be mixed up with his. Her mixed feelings about leaving for home that afternoon, his newfound sense of freedom, her happiness for Philige’s coronation, his internal struggle over his relationship with his uncle, her relief that Tadellos was now recognized widely for what he was, his general sense of relief.

Before they finished, Lolo was no longer able to distinguish which feelings were hers and which feelings were Standig’s. It was all a little overwhelming, and Lolo became aware of a steady drip of tears falling from her chin. Standig was the one to finally break the connection, and he seemed both exhilarated and tentative.

“Lolo, can you describe your experience just now for me?”

She struggled to find words. "It kind of felt like our minds got scrambled up with each other.”

“Oh good, it wasn’t just me,” he laughed nervously.

“You felt the same thing?”

“Yeah. It was almost like I could hear your thoughts in addition to mine, though nothing quite that straightforward. I was more like…”

“... Like we exchanged emotions.”

“Yeah, more like that.”

Lolo’s forehead furrowed. “I think I understand how you feel about your uncle now, and I get why that feeling is so hard to put into words.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. It’s a confusing feeling. You love him and want so much to be loved by him, but you know that he will never be capable of that. So, instead, you feel betrayed and hurt, and years of abuse has built a feeling of anger and resentment. You want to protect yourself from that pain by pretending you don’t care about him, like he doesn’t matter, but you can never truly stop caring about him. So the hurt just keeps building as you try to find some kind of closure for yourself. You fear that trying to continue a relationship with Tadellos will only open up more opportunities to be hurt, and you are probably right. But at the same time, you really hope that you are wrong.”

Standig’s throat tightened as Lolo talked. He had to swallow hard before he could respond. “That about sums it up.”

“Standig, you know that his actions, the way he treats you, are not your fault, right?”

He had to turn his face away from her to keep himself from crying. He stood up and cleared his throat several times.

“Do you need a hug?” Lolo, who was shamelessly crying herself, stood up and opened her arms.

Standig accepted the hug, and Lolo felt a few drips hit the top of her head. When she let go, Standig quickly moved his hand to hide his face, using his sleeve to absorb the tears around his healing nose.

"That partner meditation thing is some deep stuff," Standig finally managed to say.

"Yeah. It's intense. Does that bother you?"

"It probably would if you were anyone else. I now understand why Matron said it could be pretty intimate."

"I wonder if she really had any clue just how intimate it could be. Or, for that matter, if we've experienced the full depth of that potential."

"You think it could be even more, you know, intense?"

"I'm just saying, we've only ever done this twice. I doubt we've hit the limit of possibilities." Huo Lohse paused to think. “Hey, Standig, does the Bear Tribe have a library?”

“Of sorts, why?”

“Would the library have any books or records on partner meditation?”

“Probably. Are you thinking you want to do some reading?”

“Well, I’m curious to know how far we could take partner mediation, but I also don’t really want to be surprised by it. I’m not going to lie, some of that emotional exchange stuff was a little unnerving…. Not that sharing your emotions or sharing mine with you was unnerving, just the shock of that experience without some kind of warning….”

“No, I get what you’re saying, and I agree. I’ve been meditating for forever, but I’ve never experienced anything like that. Actually being in someone’s head, feeling what they feel…. Without advance warning and an opportunity to consent, I could see it easily becoming a kind of abuse or violence.”

Lolo shivered a little. “On that happy note, should we head back?”

Standig looked up at the sky. “Probably. We still have time, but if we want good spots, we should be a little early.

***

The coronation was as Standig said, simple but well attended. Lolo was glad they arrived early.

“Lolo, I’m actually supposed to stand on the stage,” Standig said when they made it back to the courtyard.

“Oh. I guess that makes sense. I’ll see you when it’s over?”

“Well, I don’t have to go up right this second. I can keep you company until then.”

“Sure! I’ll keep you,” she grinned.

“Hey, isn’t that your dad?”

“What? Where?” In the Bear Tribe crowd, Lolo’s five and a half feet was short, and she couldn’t see much.

“Over there,” Standig pointed, “with your brothers.”

Sure enough, there, on the side by the musicians’ circle, stood her entire family. She shouldn’t have been surprised to see her parents at the coronation, but she was. Lolo ran to hug her mom. “I didn’t know you guys were coming!”

Beta Xini looked her daughter over and smoothed out a small section of Lolo's hair. “Whenever a new tribe leader rises, most other tribe leaders will attend, or they will at least send representatives from their tribe to attend the coronation ceremony as a sign of respect and to encourage good inter-tribe relations.”

“It’s also tradition to bring gifts to the new tribe leader,” Ming Lang added. “Here! Take a look at this. Do you think Philige will like it?” The Alpha produced a dagger from under his travelling cloak. Standig could have sworn he’d seen it somewhere before.

“Except for the color, it looks just like mine!” Lolo exclaimed.

The Alpha nodded. “It should. They’re a matching set.”

Lolo pulled her dagger out of its hiding place in her belt and held the daggers side by side. The sheaths and hilts of the daggers were black, but while her dagger was decorated with green jade inlays, the dagger her father had brought had blue lapiz inlays instead.

“What do you think, Standig?” she asked

“It’s beautiful.”

“But do you think Philige will like it?”

“I’m sure he will. I know I would, and you like yours.”

Satisfied, Lolo passed the blue dagger back to her father and concealed her own green one.

The musicians started tuning their instruments and playing prelude music.

“That’s my cue, Lolo. I’ve got to go.” Standig left to stand on the platform next to the council of elders.

After he’d left, Tribe Leader Lang leaned over to Lolo to ask, “is it just me, or did that young man get a lot bigger since last summer?”

Lolo laughed. “His name is Standig Tragen, dad. He’s the new Bear Tribe leader’s brother. And it’s not just you. He says he put on five inches this last year.”

“Five inches?!” Ming Lang was incredulous.

Lolo nodded and tried not to laugh. “Bears! Am I right?!”

An elder gave the musicians a signal, and the musicians switched from their prelude music to a very dignified-sounding anthem. Philige passed solemnly through the center of the crowd and climbed the stairs of the platform to be sworn in as the new Bear Tribe leader. A council elder presented him with an ancient ceremonial staff and a newly crafted sword to symbolize the merging of ancient traditions with new leadership. Philige was then presented to the crowd as the new tribe leader, and all Bear Tribe members in attendance sank down on one knee and bowed to pledge their allegiance to him while visiting members of other tribes simply bowed as usual to show their respect.

Philige gave a very short but well-worded speech thanking everyone in attendance and promising to do his best to fulfill his duty as the Bear Tribe leader. The music was queued again, and Philige led the council of elders and his brother off the platform and back toward The Great Hall. The ceremony was over as the music ended.

As people started leaving, the musicians played some postlude celebratory folk music authentic to the Bear Tribe. Lolo saw a group of children dancing near the platform and joined them. They danced in a great circle holding hands, moving to the right and then to the left. Clap, clap, move in, move out. Around to the right and then to the left. Clap, clap. In then out. It was a simple dance made lively by the way the children skipped around the circle, but the circle of children dwindled as parents collected them to leave.

“I didn’t know you liked dancing.”

Lolo spun around. “Durfein?!” She gave him a great big hug. “I didn’t know you’d be here! How have you been? I missed you this summer! How did your studies go? You’ve gotten taller! And slimed down.”

Durfein laughed. “And you are exactly as I remember you.”

“Come!” Huo Lohse dragged Durfein to the corner where her family stood chatting happily. “Dad, look who I found!”

“Durfein of the Badger Tribe!” Ming Lang clapped him on the back. “Good to see you again.”

Durfein bowed to the Alpha, grinning from ear to ear. “The pleasure is mine, I assure you.”

“So what brings you here? I understand that you didn’t come to the exchange this summer in favor of your own independent study,” the Alpha inquired.

“What else but the coronation? I come to represent the Badger Tribe on behalf of my parents and present this to the new Bear Tribe leader.” Durfein pulled out a masterfully constructed, guilded iron tree sculpture from a large backpack.

“Durfein, did you make this?!” Lolo asked, eyes wide.

He nodded. “It turns out that the Elephant Tribe has several world-class blacksmiths. They use an interesting wire-twisting technique to build strong cables for suspension bridges. I just found a way to twist those same wires into art.” Durfein grinned at the expression of wonder on Lolo’s face.

“This is fantastic, Durfein! What kind of tree is this?”

“An apple tree. See the fruit?”

“You’re kidding!”

“No?” Durfein was confused by her response. “I’m not. Why? Is there something significant about apple trees?”

Lolo grinned. “Just a funny coincidence. I know Philige is partial to them.”

Durfein and the Lang family meandered their way to The Great Hall to present their gifts to Philige. They represented the last of the visiting tribes. Philige was standing on the top step in front of The Great Hall greeting visiting tribe dignitaries with Standig and some of the elders.

When the Wolf Tribe leader presented the dagger to Philige, Standig leaned in to whisper something in his brother’s ear. Philige glanced in Lolo’s direction and smiled, so she assumed Standig told him about her matching dagger. When Durfein presented the apple tree sculpture, Philige shot Huo Lohse another look as if to ask if she’d had a hand in the choice of subject. Lolo shook her head and shrugged her shoulders at him, and Philige accepted the gifts graciously.

An elder informed Philige that he had welcomed the last of the visiting guests, and Philige instantly dropped much of the formalities to chat with his friends.

“When do you leave?” Philige asked Qingchi.

“As soon as we are done here, we’ll collect our bags and head out.”

“So soon?” Philige glanced at Standig.

“As it is, we’ll be pushing nightfall before getting home.”

Philige nodded. “Travel safely.”

“I’ll walk you back,” Standig offered, mostly to Lolo.

“It only takes a minute to walk around The Great Hall, Standig,” she said in mild protest.

He ignored her and walked her back anyway, but, instead of dropping her off at the entrance to her corridor, Standig grabbed her arm and dragged her into the garden to take the long way back.

Despite the large crowd by The Great Hall, the garden was quiet.

“Standig? Is this really necessary?”

He responded by stopping abruptly in front of her, causing her to walk right into him, to catch her in a hug. “I realized while I was standing on the platform that you would probably have to leave without saying a proper goodbye.”

“I thought you didn’t like goodbyes. I had to chase you down last year.”

“It’s true. But this is less of a ‘goodbye’ and more of a ‘see you later’.”

“Well, then see you later, Standig.”