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"Even if I keep the threads separate," she promises, "I'll make sure they twine around each other as I knot them, so they aren't left on their own."

Ulla can appreciate a good piece of symbolism.

"I love this; I'm so excited," Malcolm tells her plainly. "This is so much better than what I'd originally hoped for."

He looks at Ulla for a moment. With the exception of Will and sometimes Francis, he's never sure when it's appropriate to step into someone's space. His family were never huggers. Jessica still isn't. Gil always has been. Will is, thank God.

"...Can I hug you?"

The question startles Ulla, and she laughs. "Always. Sildroher have no taboos against touch, and I'm never sure when I'm welcome to touch humans, or which of them will get ideas I don't want them to."

Malcolm, at least, is safe on the latter front. As she leans into him, she tells him, "I don't miss much about where I grew up, but I miss leaning into a pile of my classmates every day after choir practice."

"It involves a lot of reading social cues," Malcolm admits as he gives her a gentle squeeze. Something he's admitted he's not great at. "And where I come from, it's better to err on the side of not touching people if you're not sure. Will's the first person I've ever been comfortable initiating hugs with because.... he said it's okay. And... if there's ever a day when he's not okay with it, I know he'll convey that to me in a way that isn't hurtful."

He said it's okay for Malcolm to touch him in a lot of ways and the level of intimacy needed to have a standing invitation to touch someone is amazing.

"It must be way more horrible to be used to being touched and then to not have it than to just.... have never had it."

"They didn't even like me, but it would never have occurred to anyone to exclude me from that. Whatever else I was left out of, touch wasn't on the list."

She shakes her head. "I was touch starved for years, until Warren, and then Taylor. I'm grateful at least I had a warden who wasn't shy about it. He hugged me, kissed the top of my head, curled up on me as a wolf. Still does, when I visit; pets my hair and tells me he's proud of me. And Taylor never minds me clinging. Neither does Hjerte. Or Will or Jasper, for that matter."

Malcolm steps back from the hug, nodding understanding.

"Will and I have similar backgrounds involving.... extensive social isolation. Some inflicted by unforgiving social settings and some inflicted intentionally by toxic people around us."

Ulla nods.

"No one wanted anything to do with me. I was grudgingly tolerated at choir practice because they had no choice, and our piles on the sea floor afterwards were only an extension of that." They didn't mean any less social isolation. "Until Signy, and even she... wanted my talent more than me, for longer than she should have. When Roffe joined us, the only thing he was after was my talent. I didn't matter to him a bit."

"Everyone was always just using you? That's...." His voice trails off as something occurs to him.

"...Offering to do stuff for people........ it doesn't make you feel used when they accept, does it?"

Casual question. No reason. Obviously. At least his tone tries to say so and manages it badly.

Honestly, he was excited about the bracelets and it felt like a collaboration when they were talking about it, but she's doing the heavy lifting in every way that matters and he doesn't want them if the cost is making her feel like she's just a bracelet factory to him.

Ulla shakes her head. "No. I don't like it when that's all people want. I don't think you're only using me, so it's fine for you to ask. Or to take my offers."

Malcolm looks visibly relieved.

"So... I can probably bring you the hair tomorrow. That would be okay?"

"Tomorrow is fine. I'll ask Will what stone he likes."

“He’s going to be so surprised. We had a port when it was our anniversary so I secretly planned this whole exotic date and his face…” Malcolm grins at the floor, then looks up at Ulla again. “I want to make his face do that again.”

Ulla laughs, and if she had doubts about Malcolm before, she'd approve of him as a brother in law for that. "You're saving these as a wedding surprise, right? Beforehand, or will I get to see his face too?

“Well, we definitely have to tell him before the actual wedding, so we can plan how we want to exchange them, but I also think you should definitely be there,” Malcolm tells her with a grin.

"Is that a thing that needs planning?" Ulla asks, but inwardly she's reeling from unexpectedly being included. After a second, she asks the more important question. "Are you sure I wouldn't be intruding?"

“Intruding?” He frowns faintly. “You’re making it happen. You can’t be intruding.”

"I could," Ulla replies. "If you wanted that to be a special moment you and Will share privately. You don't need to ask me if that's what you want."

That being said, "But I'd like to be there, if you're sure you don't mind."

“I don’t mind. I invited you,” Malcolm points out. “I think it’s important for you to be there. In case it makes his face look like that.”

Ulla still isn't used to people wanting her around. She considers Warren and Taylor exceptions. And her brothers, Will still new enough that she has to remind herself occasionally. She didn't expect Malcolm's offer.

Her voice is soft as she says, "Thank you."

“Thank you. You’re making this way more special than I thought it even could be,” Malcolm tells her.

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