Assistance grinned (not that anyone could tell), tail waving like a banner as a light purr rumbled out. The magic going 'latent' intrigue them, but they were far more occupied by the excitement of the ceremony than the semantics of it.

The first word that popped to their mind was 'twins,' despite them now knowing the word didn't quite fit. Didn't fit at all, really, except for the fact they had similarly-placed stones. Work partners was a more accurate- if somewhat clinical- term. "'Partners' sounds good.. though maybe leave the 'work' part out of it?" They'd take Researcher's hand, scooting their hind-quarters forward into a position somewhere between sitting and standing upright. They'd glance at Momma Bolormaa, waiting for the next step of the ceremony.

@Researcher

Momma Bolormaa wasn't the sort to second-guess. As she stood there, the ice algid underfoot, she simply accepted that they were... business partners? Who loved one another.

In fairness, some of the creatures from eras past didn't exactly have the same loving relationships that Gembounds now seemed to form. Some had, of course--but many of them had had something more like a battle-bond, or a very good working relationship, and who was Momma Bolormaa to judge what love was to any other being?

"...Partners, then-?" she half-agreed, half-asked.

For a moment she bustled around, ensuring that incense was lit across the pillars, that its sweet smoke was perfuming the air. A single dried red flower was placed atop one of them, symbolic more than ritualistic, most likely--and when she was all done, Momma Bolormaa came back to them.

She sat back, and upright, holding out her hands palms-up toward them as she spoke. "Love can mean so many things... It can come from so many sources. A parent and a child; lovers; two who have worked together for so long; two who have fought side-by-side and saved one anothers' lives..." She was expressing her thoughts, now, but in a sort of speech format, and she didn't think she was doing half bad! "The common factor is that the two feel they are greater together, than they are apart; that they care for one another deeply; that together, they share a life that is more than it would be if they experienced it alone."

Momma Bolormaa allowed for a pause, drawing their names back up in memory. She didn't judge those, either; they certainly weren't the strangest ones she'd heard!

"May Researcher and Assistant find their bond ever-strengthening. May they always be more together than they are when they're apart! May they encourage one another in their growth, and share a life made more wonderful by sharing it."

She sat back, then, beaming, and waited to see what they might say.

@Researcher