Cherri

• Born into arranged marriages plural
• Was supposed to decided between two men to decide political alliances, a tradition of her people
• Oops, lesbian
• Ran away with one of the guys to a new county
• Met suki there who was supposed to be dead
• Started dating Suki and her girlfriend, Chiara

Cherri of the Fire was the next in line of long-held ritual of her society, in honor of a powerful spirit that they worship. In the three clans, when two have a male child and the third has a female within the same period of time, the two males will fight for the females hand to decide the alliances of the clans for the current time period. The opponents are trained their whole childhood for these fights, and spar yearly in a public festival to track their progress, until the come of age and have the final fight, to the death. Big problem for Cherri is the whole "being gay" thing really puts a damper on the festivities.
She fought against the advances of her suitors her entire upbringing, and protested the whole event, begging for someone else to be chosen, but her fate seemed set in stone. The last time the ritual was not preformed properly was the end of the fourth clan, and the society couldn't possibly recover from another blow like that. Even worse, Kazume of the Wind, and arrogant, brutish, pseudo-intellectual prick, was far more likely to win the final fight. Decarcha of the water, however, has always genuinely loved Cherri, and valued her happiness and ability to choose for herself. However, he was badly injured in the last fight before the final, and it seemed both of their fates were hopeless.
However, Kazume of the Wind's violent nature spelled his own downfall, as well as that of the entire clan of wind. The clan of wind has coexisted with dragons for thousands of years, but when Kazume mistreated his partnered dragon, they declared they'd end their partnership of he was not executed. But if anything would happen to Kazume, the ritual would fail, putting the clan in the position of either warring with a powerful spirit known to wipe out whole clans, or warring with the dragons, so they went with the dragons to try and avoid dooming the other two clans. Then Kazume was killed by a dragon.
While all this mess was going on, Cherri confided in Decarcha, and the two ran away together, taking a large boat across the ocean to escape. Decarcha was proficient in water travel, but they face hardship as their supplies dwindle and they the boat is damaged. They just barely make it.
Having heard about the great dragon war, they were taken in as refugees and have been working towards citizenship. While they still live together, Decarcha has given up on being with Cherri romantically since she came out to him. She is free to explore her new life, without the pressures her family put upon her, and with the support of a close friend. She eventually wanders in to Chiara's candy store in wonder, and meets not only Chiara, but her partner, Suki of the Wind. Cherri is floored to meet the only surviving member of the clan of wind, and a prominent figure at that, but quickly learns Suki has lost his memory and become badly injured in the escape, as well as losing his dragon partner.
Suki returns frequently to talk with Chiara and Suki about what life in the clans was like, both to help Suki regain some memories and to vent. The three become close, and eventually all enter a relationship together.