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Afterward, none of them could have been sure about who had been the first to spot their goose. Given the nature of a goose, it was almost impossible not to spot one when it arrived. Its arrival usually involved some amount of chaos, honking, biting, and bleeding; a goose attack was far from pretty and even further from silent. But their geese appeared so suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere. “Guys…” Nomi said, staring at the mostly white Ross’s Goose that was currently staring her down. It moved forward slowly, its pink bill open, and she grabbed her laptop off the counter and backed up at the same pace to keep out of its range. “Are you seeing this in front of me, or…” She trusted her own sight these days, but this wouldn’t be the first time an element from someone else’s life showed up in front of her. “Ah, no,” replied Capheus. “I am too busy looking at my own.” His Egyptian Goose had a gray body, wings of many shades of brown, and a chocolate-brown patch around each eye. It sat in the passenger seat of the van, staring at him so hard he felt disconcerted almost immediately. He wasn’t sure if he should step heavily on the gas or the brake, so he did neither and kept on driving, keeping an eye on it as he drove. “Me too,” said Sun, shortening Jindo’s leash. The dog hardly needed one, but sometimes it was advantageous to follow the rules. She was staring at a large Swan Goose. They were not common in South Korea these days, but it wasn’t entirely unheard of to see one either. This one had white under its brown tail feathers, cream on the underside of its slender neck and dark brown on the top side. Its beak was black but there was a bumpy, white ridge where the beak met its face. It was elegant but wild and threatening all at once; Sun instantly took a liking to it. Jindo wasn’t as sure and began growling. “I’m fairly certain I don’t have one,” Kala said, standing up to peer over the test tubes on the lab table and then bending down to look underneath the desk just to make sure it wasn’t hiding. This was mildly disappointing, though not altogether shocking. She wondered if the goose had shown up at Rajan’s office and smiled to herself at the sort of chaos it might be inflicting even now. And then her heart skipped a beat, because perhaps her goose had appeared to Wolfgang instead. “Yeah, I think it’s here,” Wolfgang whispered, confirming her suspicion at once. He stared at the large Emperor Goose making itself at home on the bar. The end of its tail feathers were white, as was the top of its head. But everything else was a complex layering of white-tipped black that made it look gray from afar. Wolfgang decided afar was definitely a good distance at which to admire it. Previously on the barstool next to him, Felix was losing his shit. He’d jumped back in surprise and was rambling on now about how amazing it was to see a goose just suddenly fucking appear out of fucking nowhere man. “We’ve got one, too,” Riley said, looking at a Snow Goose, also known of course as a Blue Goose. It stood at the base of their bed, right between Will’s feet and hers. Its soft, white feathers were gorgeous, and the hints of black at the tail and the bottom of the orange beak were bold and eye-catching.“Move slowly…” Will advised everyone as both he and Riley bent their legs and pulled their feet up closer to their bodies, just out of biting range. The goose’s black eyes seemed to shine in the moonlight. And though he was glad to see it, he definitely didn’t trust it. He didn’t trust easily these days. “Might be too late for that…” said Lito, as soon as the director yelled cut to stop the scene. Lito was panting from running down a hallway, firing with supposedly perfect aim out each window he passed. The Canada Goose chasing him down the hallway looked royally pissed off to find itself in the middle of an action sequence. The white stripe on either side of its head seemed to underline eyes that were full of maliciousness. Though he knew the goose was here for a good reason, he had to admit this was a pretty terrible time for it to arrive. “You all received your soulmate geese at the same instant,” Kala mused, sitting back down at the lab table and looking around at everyone around her, including a whole flock of geese. “I think this is fascinating. Does that have some significance? Does it have some correlation with our birthday? What do you think it means?” For almost a full minute, no one spoke. Perhaps they were all contemplating. Or perhaps they all already knew… or at least they already felt what it meant.Will was the one to break the silence. He spoke with certainty. “I think it means that we’re all extremely lucky to have found our soulmates.” Keeping the goose in the side of his vision, he rolled from his back onto his side, pulled Riley into his arms, and kissed her. The goose’s noisy honk sounded sort of like a squeak of alarm, and it made him tense up, his nerves on edge, but he kept kissing. And Riley kissed back, cupping his face in her hands, the scruff of his stubble-covered chin scratching against her palms. He held her safe, shutting out the world and its dangers for once and focusing just on Riley. They let the others in, made sure the others could witness and feel and know. But this was a sensation that went beyond the cluster. This was theirs. This was survival. This was comfort. This was sacrifice. This was caring. This was a soulmate connection. The goose changed its honks to a flock call, soft and quiet, meant to round up family and bring them together. It sounded like music to them both. And when Riley had to come up for air, she looked down at the foot of the bed to see that their goose had vanished just as quickly as it had arrived. “Wish everything in life was this simple.” She smiled and kissed him again. She never wanted to stop doing this, and she knew that Will felt exactly the same. She could feel what he felt, kissing her, as she knew he could feel what it was like to be kissed by him. The infinite kisses in both directions built, threatening to overwhelm but never quite making it worth stopping a kiss to deal with. The sensations were just too good, too intense, too loving. Capheus smiled as he turned his attention from Will and Riley. It was impossible to keep something like that from the rest of the cluster, but there was also this unspoken understanding of when it was all right to join in and when it wasn’t. This was one in that second category. Besides, he was too busy navigating the streets safely on his way to Nairobi and to Zakia. The goose tried to attack him multiple times, causing him to swerve and correct his course. But he made it to the city safe and sound. His suit was maybe too rumpled for him to appear in front of an audience or on the news, but it was good enough for heading to Zakia’s office and catching her attention. Or, rather, the goose caught her attention. It began honking the very second it spotted her, shaking its tail feathers in some strange dance. It was trying to tell him something, as if he hadn’t already known it was her they’d been coming to find. She abandoned her computer and walked across the room to him, her gaze moving from the goose to Capheus and back again. When she found herself in front of him, she stopped and smiled almost shyly. “A cookie has no soul, it’s just a cookie. But before it was milk and eggs.” he said softly, just for her, quoting Jean Claude Van Damme then continuing with his own. “It took the two together to create something else, something sweet. But what is important are those pieces that found each other and knew their destiny was to be together.” She smiled slowly and stepped up to him. She whispered that she was ready to see what they could create together. And, with their kiss, the goose vanished. Lito took the longest to deal with his goose, though it wasn’t because he wasn’t excited. They couldn’t shoot a movie with a goose crashing into frame every minute, so they had to stop for the day and reschedule. Then Lito had to spend some time in wardrobe getting back into his clothes and having the makeup and fake blood removed. All the while, the goose caused trouble for everyone, even overturning Kraft Services. Everyone on set was relieved when Lito left for home. “Family?” he called, full of hope as he arrived home. He didn’t expect anyone to be home; he wasn’t even supposed to be home. But they were. It was as if they’d known something big was going to happen. “Lito? What are you doing back so—” Hernando began but stopped as soon as he saw the goose. “Lito… is that a...” Lito nodded, dropped dramatically to one knee, and held his arms out. Hernano paused a moment, adjusted his glasses, and then rushed into Lito’s arms, pulling him up to his feet. The warmth and beauty of the moment was like nothing Lito had ever before experienced. No perfectly scripted romance scene could compare. They head footsteps and a squeal and felt Dani’s arms around them both. It wasn’t until that moment that their goose finally disappeared. “I didn’t expect you to have so much company,” Mun said, stepping out from behind a building. He knew her routines, her workout schedule, her walks with Jindo, her favorite places to eat. He knew where to find her. Most importantly, he knew when she wanted to be found. He reached a hand down to pet Jindo, who accepted the scratch behind the ears and then licked his hand. But he hesitated to touch the goose, which looked like it was getting ready to attack at any moment. “I assume it just arrived today?” She nodded and then acted on the movement as if she had sensed rather than seen it coming at them. The goose flew at them, giving no barking warning call, just a loud, drawn-out, vowel-filled honk. They both sprang into ready poses, though Sun took the lead with a defensive stance to block the goose from going any further. Though it would be easy enough to kill it, she certainly wanted to avoid that if at all possible. Who knew what happened to your soulmate if you killed your own goose? She blocked its attacks deflecting its snapping beak, flying webbed feet, and beating wings. Sliding down close to the ground, she let the goose sail over her, a futile attempt on its part and an entirely passive but graceful action on her part. Mun avoided the goose as well, diving and rolling soft, landing just at Sun’s feet. As the goose regrouped to charge again and continue the fight, Sun leaned down and kissed Mun. The kiss felt greater than all the heavenly bodies in the sky combined. She would fight armies to protect him and he would go to the ends of the earth for her. They kissed until the goose was gone. They kissed until their lips felt bruised. They kissed until Jindo barked to let them know he’d like to finish his walk please. Nomi was still backing up, keeping a safe distance from the goose, when Amanita arrived with snacks. “The first place was out of cream cheese. What kind of bagel shop is out of cream cheese? Honestly! So I had to go clear across town, because I’m not going back to that one where the coffee was rubbish…” She gasped and dropped the cardboard tray of drinks that were in one hand and the bag of bagels and spreads in the other. “Is that… no way… is it?” The goose took the spillage of coffee seriously and turned on her, honking, charging. Rushing over, Nomi grabbed her by the hand and dragged her into the bathroom—the only room in the studio apartment with a door. There was a door on the closet too, she supposed, but they weren’t going back in there because of symbolism alone. The bathroom wasn’t exactly the most romantic place to share a kiss, but it beat being attacked by an angry goose. “Go eat a bagel!” Nomi suggested, but the goose honked loudly in reply and banged against the bathroom door. If it kept this up, eventually it might break through. Nomi decided there was no time to lose. She’d been dreaming of this moment her whole life, and she couldn’t believe it was finally happening. With tears in her eyes, she took Amanita’s hands in hers. “Soulmate. Wife. Lover. Supporter. Friend. You’re everything to me, Amanita.” The goose ran into the bathroom door, apparently head first, because its simultaneous honk was a strangled sound. They both winced. “We’d better kiss before it kills itself trying to get in here.” Amanita nodded fervently, smiling, and closed her eyes. The kiss made time stand still. They forgot entirely about the coffee. Sensates were never really alone, but sometimes Kala felt more isolated and lost than she should have. Everyone else had their goose, had their happy moment, leaving her to her work. “Meet me at home,” Wolfgang whispered, beckoned. “Call Rajan and tell him we need him. Tell him it’s urgent.” Which would have been the truth, after all, not even much of an exaggeration. “I’ll put Felix in a cab and be waiting for you in the bedroom.”“Not the bedroom,” Kala replied, thinking of the jewelry on the dresser, the fine bedspread, and the sheer window dressings she’d spent so long choosing. A goose would destroy all that in mere seconds. Sometimes you had to be practical about things. “The sitting room.” He agreed. She made the phone call to Rajan, who didn’t ask any questions but promised to have the car brought around in less than five minutes. The kindest thing would be to explain what was happening during the short ride home, but she wasn’t sure exactly what to say. The goose had come to Wolfgang, not to her. What if the goose rejected Rajan? What would that mean for what they had so carefully arranged? What if the goose rejected her? What if Wolfgang was meant to be with someone else entirely? She wasn’t sure her heart could take that.“What is the matter?” Rajan asked repeatedly as they drove home. “I don’t understand. Are you ill?” She shook her head, but ill was precisely how she felt. Through their bond, she could feel everyone else’s love and certainty, their sense of belonging, their passion and joy. All Kala felt was worry and dread. And, for a moment, she thought of telling him to turn the car around and drive away. If this was going to end in heartbreak, perhaps it would be better to not know. But she felt something else as well, pain and hurt… and she knew Wolfgang was suffering. When they got home, the place was indeed a mess, as though a wild goose had been trapped inside and had to fight its way out. Wolfgang was bleeding and bruised and brandishing a candlestick as a weapon as the Emperor Goose flew at him again for a fresh attack. At once, Rajan grabbed a blanket off the nearest chair and threw it over the goose. It struggled and honked in protest, but his grip was tight. Kala went to the bathroom for a first aid kit. When she returned, she found Rajan and Wolfgang nuzzling, whispering. Her heart skipped a beat. Then they both held out their hands to her. Rajan’s had a gleaming wedding ring and Wolfgang’s had scars and fresh, angry goose bite across the back. The two of them couldn’t be more different, but she couldn’t have loved either man less. After all, she had tried. She tucked the kit under one arm and gave then her hands. They pulled her close, arms around each other, lips pressed to cheeks and foreheads and lips. She closed her eyes, just feeling the sensation of being wanted, desired, and loved, so very loved. She looked around for the goose again, but didn’t see it anywhere. “Now it’s safe to go to the bedroom,” she said, taking the first aid kit out from under her arm. “But, first, let me fix you up so you won’t bleed all over the sheets.” She felt Rajan behind her. His arms slipped affectionately around her waist, as she mopped up blood with gauze pads and applied plasters to Wolfgang’s hands and face. She knew—she could feel—that his leg had been pecked hard as well. “Take your pants off,” she commanded. She felt the warm breath of a laugh in her left ear and Rajan pulled a hand from her middle to take hold of Wolfgang. He swept them into the bedroom before Kala could fuss any further.