Prince Birrtek of the Winged Consortium and Vuussh, Second Heir to the Upper Emirate, were to be wed. Their fathers hoped to transform generations of rivalry into a union that would give the bird men and their cyclonic neighbors unchallenged control of the skies. Such a bond had to be created through marriage, so it may as well be between these two, who served no better purpose in their fathers’ houses.

Birrtek had been driven out of more nests than even his philandering reputation would have you believe, and Vuussh was a quiet, withdrawn whirlwind, preferring to remain in his chambers while his peers blew through the world. The dissimilar princes certainly weren’t marrying for love, as they’d never met; and they weren’t marrying to create a new dynasty, as there would be no possibility of a winged man and a cyclone procreating, even if they weren’t both males.

On the day of their gaudy arranged wedding, the officiants nonetheless wished the couple every happiness and even, if they could find it, love. The gods often bring it under the strangest of circumstances, as the saying goes.

Happiness was not quick to find the pair, as marriage did little to discourage their divergent appetites. Once Birrtek insisted that there was nothing in Vuussh’s library that could be as satisfying as bodily pleasures, and the wind prince replied that he had many tomes which would teach one how better to seduce all manner of creatures, birdlike and no. Birrtek took him up on this challenge. In their time spent testing these and other techniques in the field, the two found something was growing between them that far outstripped the companionship they’d been promised. They were falling deeply in love.

Chance brought them together, and further chances made them co-regents of a powerful empire. Their rule was impressive, but their bond became legend. Until the day they died, the pair could be seen, each wrapped in the embrace of the other, flying not as a pair of creatures, but a single thing. On a clear day, it’s said, you can still hear the call of the husbands, shouting in joy as they streak across the skies.