With a quick change into that purple dress she had found on her first day here in the city, Phoenix made her way downstairs. She had managed to pick up a few other options she could live with while they had been checking out other tracking options, but she didn’t have very many to cycle through yet.

  As she arrived back at the reception area, she was disappointed to see a different elf she didn’t recognize at the counter and hesitated. Gncing around as she wondered how to possibly approach them, she noticed a sign over a door decring it as a lounge restaurant.

  Out of curiosity and social avoidance, she decided to check that out first. While she had been grateful on that first day to have some real food again, she had quickly realized the following day that she wasn’t actually hungry here. The realization made her recall two things. The first was one of the first things she had learned in this world from a kidnapping mage: being in a higher Caste zone would sustain her without food or Bits. The ambient magic alone would sustain any Caster that was below low Emerald here. The second thing was that while Ta was merged, she was basically a pnt that could eat light instead.

  Despite not needing the food, though, she enjoyed eating it and experiencing the new fvors of elvish cuisine. As she looked around hoping to find a booth, she spotted a familiar person and felt a wave of relief as Zevan turned to look her way. She gave a wave and a welcoming gesture, and Phoenix made her way over to the booth she was already sitting at.

  “A bit early for most. You here for breakfast or just exploring?” the machite gemite asked as she gestured for her to take a seat across from her.

  “Exploring mostly,” she admitted, “I’m actually gd you’re here because I mainly wanted to find out where I might find, like… a diagram or list of all the torc color meanings. I haven’t seen anything while shopping, and it’s still a mystery to me.”

  Zevan gave a mischievous-looking grin and asked, “You’re curious? Should I have changed your ribbon to be pink instead of white?”

  Phoenix gave her a ft look, “I just said I don’t know what the colors mean.”

  The other woman gave a rough ugh, “Fair enough, but I thought my context was enough. Pink means someone who’s curious and questioning. Someone who hasn’t quite figured out what they are or want and is open to exploring options.”

  She nodded along, thinking that might fit since she was curious, but she wasn’t so sure about the exploring part yet. “What about the others? I guess I just want to understand what all those options are.”

  Zevan nodded and took a sip of her drink before offering Phoenix a chip while expining, “The options can be broken down a few ways. The first is your current Status versus what you’re Seeking, while the second yer both of those can be broken down into is your Identity versus your Retionships.

  “The Status options are more straightforward, in my opinion. In that category, the Retionship options are gold, which indicates that you’re in a committed retionship, like marriage or living together, and iron, which is the opposite and means you’re single and not really courting someone yet. In the Identity part of Status, you have bck, which indicates you have a submissive personality, or there’s purple, which indicates you’re dominant.”

  “You don’t wear any of those colors, though,” Phoenix pointed out, gesturing to the silver and orange torc around Zevan’s neck.

  “I choose not to advertise my Status because I prefer people to ask me those questions. Usually, if a color isn’t worn, the assumption will be that it doesn’t apply at all, like some people who are neither dominant nor submissive, or that the person has complexities that they’d rather expin with a conversation. For me, there’s currently someone I like, so it feels disingenuous to imply I’m not in a retionship when there’s only one person I currently want to be in one with.”

  “I see,” Phoenix replied, mulling over that interesting nuance. “Were there others under Status?”

  “Well, there’s also white, which I already expined, but it actually falls into both Identity and Retionship Statuses by being touch adverse and against courting anyone.”

  “Right, then the other category you said was Seeking?”

  “Yeah. Again, not everyone will wear those colors, especially once they’ve found what they’re looking for. I’m sure you’ll see plenty of pin gold torcs around the city belonging to happily married people.”

  She recalled the gold one around the receptionist’s neck that also had three other colors she didn’t know yet and pointed out, “But some gold torcs are still seeking something else?”

  “Or simply something more,” Zevan corrected, “Under Seeking Identity, you have my orange, which I said means interested in men. Then there’s green for women and yellow for kosper. We don’t really have a color for the tuzosper, but I think that’s because most of them wear white when they’re here. I think people just assume that they’re not interested now. Blue means they’re seeking any gender, though.”

  “Is just genders under the Identity section?”

  “There’s also red, which means you’re seeking many people, not just one. Like white, this one also kind of falls into both subcategories, though. People who like either being with multiple people at once or simply have more than one retionship at the same time.”

  “What else is under the Retionship side then? I assume seeking that commitment to get a gold torc?”

  “That’s what silver represents. Wanting to turn it into gold someday,” Zevan expined with a gesture to her own neck again. “I hope to turn my crush into my husband someday.”

  She gave a little sigh and leaned back as she added, “The st one is copper. It means you’re just looking for something casual or temporary. A lot of visitors that won’t be staying here forever often wear it while they’re staying in the city. They don’t want to be alone, but they also can’t commit to a life here. Others may mix it with gold, this usually indicates a primary retionship they are devoted to but also want more casual retionships with others. Sometimes, you’ll see gold and silver mixed, though, too.”

  Phoenix nodded in understanding despite feeling her cheek heating up and murmured, “That sounds a bit like what Dazien was talking about most gemites prefer—with triads, I think he said.”

  Zevan nodded but gave her a curious look. “You mentioned your brother was an adopted Shiny gemite. Was he hoping to wear silver here?”

  Her first instinct was to deny that idea, but she had to pause when she finally connected that he was a gemite to the fact that gemites often formed triads. Slowly, she admitted, “I’m not sure? I know he would have worn gold, but I don’t know about the others. I never really asked him what he might be seeking here in that regard. He mentioned he didn’t care about gender a long time ago, so probably blue, but I don’t know if he was actually seeking someone other than Uriel.”

  “Uriel’s one of your other lost companions, right?” Phoenix nodded, and Zevan asked, “What would he wear?”

  Her mind went slightly bnk at that. She tried to recall what he had said that very first night they had talked about romance as a party. “Leadership” was all he had replied with while looking at Dazien.

  “I don’t know,” was all she could answer, and now her mind was curious about what he would reveal to the world once he arrived here with them. He wore a gold silencer normally, which would fit, she thought, but would he be seeking something more, too?

  “Well, now that you know the options, do we need to find you a new torc?” Zevan prompted.

  She thought about that for longer than she thought she normally would have before but eventually answered, “I think white still fits for now. Thank you for the expnation, though.”

  “No thanks necessary. Just don’t be afraid to change the torc if you think something else might fit better. People here are more than understanding if you wear some pink while you’re unsure. One big thing about the goddess Lover is that she is very adamant about enthusiastic consent. The locals here won’t push you into something, especially when plenty of others are more than willing. You should feel comfortable with whatever torc you wear not only being a signal of intent but also a shield from what you don’t seek.”

  “And white protects me from all of that romance craziness?” she nervously crified.

  Zevan’s smile almost looked sad as she quietly said, “Yes, but you may also lose out on finding a compatible partner who might be seeking someone like you, too.”

  She was about to point out that nobody would want someone like her once they realized how broken she was, but a familiar voice calling out to her had her turning to see Saiya and Rayna walking toward her as they entered the lounge.

  “Phoenix? You’re awake earlier than I expected,” Saiya said. She gnced toward Zevan and added, “Are we interrupting?”

  “She was just expining the different torc colors to me,” Phoenix expined. “I think I’m gonna stick with white for now, but we can maybe look for something for you two if you want.” She gave a questioning look to Zevan and asked, “Should we leave you to your breakfast?”

  The gemite grinned, showing off those polished machite teeth, and casually said, “Nah, they can join and tell me what colors they pn to wear. I admit I’ve been curious to see if the twin voxen are identical in this regard.”

  “Definitely not,” Rayna promptly responded, crossing her arms over her chest with a huff. “Saiya has absolutely zero taste when it comes to potential mates.”

  Saiya rolled her eyes at her sister. “Just because I like men doesn’t mean I have no taste, Ray.”

  “Pretty sure it definitely does,” Rayna replied with a shiver. She then nudged Phoenix over to sit next to her and compined, “These booths are definitely not made for voxen tails.”

  After relocating to a table with chairs and going over the various torc colors again, both voxen got a contemptive look on their faces.

  “Well, definitely green for me and orange for Sai,” Rayna announced before gncing over to her sister and double-checking. “Right?”

  Saiya gave a thoughtful hum before admitting, “I don’t think I would mind a kosper if they were a bit more masculine presenting. Maybe orange and yellow for me then? You said we’re meant to mix them, right?” she directed towards Zevan, who nodded in the affirmative.

  “Many will do just like you suggested,” the gemite confirmed. “The torcs are fairly general and mainly to avoid awkward first encounters, but that doesn’t mean you won’t need to get to know the person you might be interested in. Men, women, kosper, or tuzosper are not a monolith. As you said, presentation and personality can often be more important than gender. It’s just an easier one to sort by,” she added with a grin.

  “Then I think silver, iron, orange, and yellow suit me best,” Saiya confirmed before gncing at her twin. “Are you thinking about gold for Moha?”

  Rayna got an uncertain look, and Phoenix asked, “You sent her a letter just yesterday, right? You mentioned trying to keep your retionship going long distance.”

  “Yeah,” the bard confirmed and admitted, “But we never really talked about being exclusive or not. I think it was easy to assume while we were near each other and avaible, but now that the distance is there, I’m not sure if she’s not looking for someone else or if she expects me to be doing the same.”

  Zevan smiled and said softly, “Well, it sounds to me like you need to write another letter and also figure out what you’re seeking in a retionship, including the one you already have.”