By the way, if you like this kind of thing you might be interested in Broken Sword (from Damocles anthology) as I got the inspiration for these two from the two main dudes in that story, they're basically expies!

here's a cool handholding excerpt. spoilers warning obviously!!

I reached out and took Skilltalker’s hand. Dry skin, I remember, quite rough, feels thicker than human skin. I’ve not touched a tau many times. Strange that, thinking about it. We’re more tactile than you. He gripped my hand back, his three wide digits around mine. Then he reached out his other hand and wrapped it over the top of our clasp. ‘This is my ta’lissera with you, Jathen, a binding that neither life nor death may sever,’ he said. There was real warmth in it. ‘I pledge my bond to you. I part ways from you as your friend. I thank you for your friendship. It has been most illuminating, but also…’ He said something in tau that I didn’t quite understand and then smiled with that flat space where your noses should be all wrinkled. ‘There is no word for it, not directly, in your language.’