Niko Drabble 1

Niko toyed with his braids, idly rolling one between his fingers. 
“What do they mean?” he looked over at Hyacinth a little surprised, so far the younger man had been quiet. They were cousins but like most of their kind they hadn’t interacted much on earth. It was weird, honestly. To have so many of them in one place but that was why he and the others had been sent here. To establish their story and let the others come to safety. And Joi district was safe. Though after so long in the woods it made his skin crawl to be in a city again. He didn’t plan on staying long. He belonged with his clan, as did Ridi.
“Oh uh, a few things. This one says I’m a father. Ridi has matching beads but in the opposite order.” he said lifting the one he’d been playing with then putting it down to point at others, “This one says what clan I belong to. This one says I’m a devotee to Takr. Usually I braid them together since they’re all intertwined but today I wanted them to be separated. '' he shrugged. The braids were traditional but also personal. When the traditions were first explained to him he thought he would never want his life there for everyone to see. But like a lot of the traditions he’d adopted it had felt right. His first braid had been for Ridi, but a close second had been for his clan.
“Do all Thesatri have braids? Or is it more of a Selgino thing?” There was a lot of learning to do for the transplanted Akarluh. He understood that and they needed to fit in more.
“It’s less common in the cities, but still practiced. Almost all the Selgino clans do though. At least the clan braids, it's not required. Pretty much everything is personal choice here. There’s all kinds of traditions and everyone seems to know them but not everyone actively participates.” he shrugged. It was one of his favorite things about the Selgino, that they left you room to choose who you want to be. He considered that for a minute.
“Which considering we’re supposed to be a hidden clan it might not hurt to design a clan braid.” Hyacinth gave a little smile.
“We go from hiding who we are to announcing it?” Niko smiled a little too.
“Yeah I suppose that might be a hard sell.” he agreed.
“It might be kind of nice, actually. To stop hiding at least in one way.”