Vex was looking out at the guests too: at Snow, who shied from touch; and Kash, starved for simple affectionate contact yet surprised when he got it; to her beloved Percy, who'd been as touch-starved as Kash before Vex and still held a firm line between appropriate in public and for private time only; Lillith, who had not been able to show her true self for so very long or trust almost anyone to get close. Vex could have been like any of them, the coldness of their father's house seeping into her bones. That it hadn't, that Vex touched and hugged and cuddled easily, finding and offering comfort and fondness through touch, it was because she'd always had Vax.

"As it should be, brother." And she gave him a sisterly peck on the cheek.