[ A/N: Previous three chapter (699,700,701) had some context and other issues. I've edited them.]
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The morning after the reunion, the new arrivals met the rest of the family.
There were people they had not crossed paths with on the long climb, members who had joined the main group while this batch was still scattered across the lower layers, and the biggest gap was Ainen and his.
He found them at the long tables under the tree, because that was where Ainen always was, with something cooking. He wiped his hands on a cloth and came around to greet the people he had heard a hundred stories about and never once stood in front of.
"So these are the famous ones," he said, easy and warm. "I'm Ainen. I handle the flames, and the food, and on a good day I keep the two separate." He smiled. "You've all been names to me for a long time. It's good to put faces to them."
