Nina's question waited until showcase settlement, Yuna's semifinal recovery, plus Thea's Bellwether critique no longer competed for attention. None of us wanted a household rule written beneath Selene's perfume and post-event adrenaline. Deliberate timing could not guarantee a wise answer, but it removed several obvious pressures.
We scheduled a ninety-minute relationship-capacity review with four private preparation forms. Each adult answered current desire, available capacity, fears, preferred duration, plus what closure would and would not restrict.
My first honest answer remained simpler than every detailed condition eventually placed beneath it. I wanted Nina, Thea, Yuna, plus the shared life we had built, and I was not seeking another partner.
The word three still worried me because declaring it sacred could turn current commitment into a permanent prediction. I had once believed one relationship would answer every future desire before experience changed that certainty.
