It was weird seeing Dei surrounded by children. Jance tried to find another adjective, and failed. "Unsettling" didn't even cover it. "Disturbing" wasn't quite right, either. "Weird" worked just perfectly.
They weren't entirely children- teenagers were closer to demons or angels than humans in their ability to get into trouble and cause massive property damage. But the boys were hanging off his arms and shoulders like spawn half their age, while the girl tickled anything within reach. They were laughing, like they were some sort of normal family- and the woman was standing nearby, leaning in whenever she got the chance, still unsure of her place in the tangle of limbs but slowly gaining confidence. She belonged there as much as anything. They were just a normal family, doing normal family things.
Normal looked weird on Dei. He wore it well (Jance had made a business out of having an eye for what people wore well), but he was Dei- he wore everything well if you left it on him long enough.
The woman had come to be measured for a wedding gown, the girl for a bridesmaid's dress. The boys were there to torment their sister, and Dei was along for the ride.
Winter weddings were good, he decided, digging out his tape measure. They were hopeful. New Year's weddings were even better: they were lucky. The last time he'd measured someone for a dress, he'd witnessed the end of the world. The dress had gotten torn to bits- part of him still hadn't forgiven Opal for that.
Lyra hadn't given him any details on the dress; he'd been told to make something appropriately expensive and impressive. A pair of butterfly wings flashed through his mind, and a fall of long, silky white hair. Butterflies in winter? It would be perfect- everything he did was. Lyra wouldn't appreciate it at all- but he would, and it would give him something to smile about.
His sister wouldn't mind, he was sure of it. She'd always been a little vain.
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