Flight
In the week before their year as khagan is up and another Naadam chooses a new khagan (somewhere between 6.3 and 6.4 MSQ), Oday hosts a festival at Reunion for the Tsagaan Sar. Though it is ultimately for the Xaela to celebrate their unity as the people of the Steppe, there are some foreigners invited, mostly as representatives of their home nations (and mostly friends of the khagan's, thanks to their side hustle as one of the Warriors of Light).
One of the most-anticipated events during this festival is yol racing. (Oday invites the wabbits Loporrits and their broadcasting equipment for this after hearing the broadcast of the race at Ultima Thule.) Oday comes in second in the race they enter, beaten out at the finish ribbon by Saran, one of the leaders of the khagan's marshals. Saran is worried she's offended her khagan, but Oday has never been so proud to lose.
There's also an open division for non-Xaela, non-yol participants, which many of the foreigners eagerly enter, including Thybé and Hien on their own yols. (Weird Mounts Welcome. Other participants include, but are hardly limited to: the Namazu and their mikoshi, Lyse on a griffin, Vedrfolnir, and Faunehm.) Ressaunt and his alkonost win (of course), but seeing Thybé and Hien, neck-and-neck, trade breathless grins as they urge their yols faster, has Oday's heart so full that the alkonost biting the finish ribbon in two takes them by surprise.
When the khagan is no longer needed for the evening, as the sun begins to set in brilliant reds and oranges on the horizon of the Steppe, Oday invites Thybé and Hien along for another flight. Just the three of them, no racing and no hurry, soaring quietly over the grasslands. Tuya's well-trained and intelligent enough to stay on-course when Oday slips off her back to slide over her wing and sit behind Hien on his yol, hugging him tight around the waist. Them saying their "thank you" aloud is more just for him, since the bond of the Blessing is open between Oday and Thybé, and thus Thybé knows what they mean.
Thank you for pushing me onward. Thank you for carrying me with you. Thank you for loving me enough to believe in me, even when I didn't love or believe in myself. Thank you for letting me love you in return. Thank you for being here right now, in this moment. Thank you for being each other's. Thank you for calling me yours. Thank you for being mine.