Disclaimers – Go
see part 1.
Feedback –
Always, comments can be sent to kevin.beckett@justice.gc.ca
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Perhaps
One Day Remembering Even This Will be Pleasant)
I’m
coming, I’m coming home to you
I’m
alive, I’m a mess
I
can’t wait to get home to you
To
get warm and undressed
There’ve
been changes beyond my dreams
Everybody
wants me to sing
There’ve
been changes beyond my grasp
Things
I’m sinking in
So
keep me, keep me in your bed all day, all day
Nothing
heals me like you do
Nothing
heals me like you do
London
Rain (Nothing Heals Me Like You Do)
Heather
Nova, Siren
©
1998, V2 Records
|
T |
he young blond woman looked around at the
forces arrayed against her, and at the chasm before her, and decided. She paused for a moment, asking her Goddess
for assistance, ran to the edge and leaped.
Just as she thought she would make it across the ten meter distance she
realized she wouldn’t and began to fall the two hundred meters to the floor of
the gorge.
“No!” She screamed aloud as she suddenly
sat up in bed, half-awake half-dreaming, covered in sweat, even though the
ambient temperature in the room was barely above freezing.
“Buffy,” said the concerned red-haired
woman sharing the large king-sized bed, “wake-up love. You’re having the dream again.” Willow, due to the shared link between them,
had been instantly aware of Buffy’s dream, and just as instantly awakened, but
as had happened before, it hadn’t affected her in the same way.
Willow quickly embraced her lover and
began to softly stroke her face, neck, and shoulders trying to both comfort and
reassure her. In addition to comforting
Buffy, she was also trying to insure that they did not disturb the two other women
who shared their bed, and who were, thankfully, still cocooned asleep deep
under the multiple duvets and comforters which nearly smothered both them and
the bed.
“Shush love,” Willow said softly, almost
crooning, “you’re safe; you’re alive and ok.”
Willow continued her reassurance efforts as
Buffy slowly regained awareness of her surroundings. It was the wee hours of the night, with over two hours of dark
remaining before the early summer dawn.
“Water,” Buffy finally croaked, and
looked around the large room which was lit only by a small lantern, as if to
reassure herself that she was in fact safe, “my mouth feels like it’s in the
desert.”
Willow reached across her soul-mate to
the night-table and poured a glass of water from the pitcher that was now a
permanent feature of their bedroom, “here you go Buff,” she said as she passed
over the water; Buffy immediately began to gulp the water, rapidly draining the
glass, then passing it back for a re-fill.
Buffy had been periodically having the
dream of falling into the gorge ever since the day, four months ago, when she
had made the Herculean effort of leaping it.
She had nearly not made it across.
Just as she thought she would fail, and plummet to her death, she reached
out in desperation and managed to snag the edge of the cliff with one hand. She had hung on in desperation, for what
felt to her to be hours, but in reality had been only seconds, until Daithi had
reached down and pulled her to safety.
Willow’s strike force had immediately remounted their horses and had
headed up into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where Padrick led them on
what had turned out to be a two week journey to one of the more isolated
villages in the area. It had taken
longer than expected since they had been required to dodge roving patrols of
demons most of the way.
The village of Morning Breeze was more
than isolated. It was remote and hidden
in a small valley up in the high Rockies, at well over 1,300 meters in
altitude, far from the main roads and trails that criss-crossed the
mountains. It had once been a small
silver mining town, which had almost become a ghost town when the mine was
depleted over forty years previously.
It had survived, barely, on supporting the small sheepherders and
homesteaders that dotted the mountains on the slopes of the valley. As a result of this isolation, it was
unknown outside of the small area immediately surrounding it, and therefore a
perfect hiding location, more than suitable for Willow’s needs. The only reason that Padrick even knew about
it was due to his grandparents having been born in the town, while the mine had
still been in operation. The town, with
its population of less than fifty, had only one small general store, no working
inn and limited amenities for the weary travellers. The one thing it had was seclusion and a large number of
abandoned homes.
Willow had instructed Daithi and Amana to
liase with the villagers and to make arrangements for the use of three of the
abandoned buildings. In particular, she
was looking for two homes and a third building that they could adapt to become
their command and research centre.
After some quick negotiating Amana had settled on one building, or
rather complex of buildings, that she felt would be perfect for their needs,
the old abandoned inn. It was large,
had ample working area in the old tavern, and had ten usable bedrooms located
on the three upper floors. It had also
been the towns gambling centre and therefore had a number of additional large
and small rooms on the ground floor, which could be modified by the group for
their own purposes. In addition to the
main structure, several outbuildings included stables, a laundry in addition to
an extensive bath works. It was located
just outside of the village proper and was surrounded by an old fence, which,
once repaired, would provide privacy and some defence against potential
attackers. When Amana had presented her
reasons for choosing the inn Willow had quickly agreed to its use.
When they had acquired the inn it had
required extensive rehabilitation, having been abandoned for over thirty
years. The group had worked steadily
over the first few weeks that they had been in the town cleaning it up and by
repairing the windows and roof to generally make the place habitable, before
they worried about making it suitable for their research and work. They used the barter system to acquire both
the property and the materials they needed in their renovations, by trading the
protection of the guardsmen and the services of the mages for what they
required in material and general labour.
They had also arranged for a number of the villagers to work in the
reconstituted inn as cooks and serving help.
This provided a desperately needed source of employment for the village,
and in return, Willow had agreed to re-open the tavern portion of the inn for
the use of the villagers and the surrounding farmsteads. This arrangement was agreeable to all, since
even in their remoteness the villagers were aware of the troubles in the
greater world and this arrangement gave them employment, greater security and
protection.
Over the last few months they had
discovered that the town had acquired its name in part due to its weather. The prevailing northern wind was bitter and
very cold as it roared down over the snow-capped peaks before it shot through
the valley. Due to the height of the
surrounding peaks the sun rose late and set early, however, they had used the
good weather available in the late spring and early summer to the best
advantage, trying to get as much of the exterior work completed as soon as
possible before the return of the long mountain winter, and its promised deep
snow drifts. They had also taken the
time to repair the covered walkways, which linked all of the buildings, that
provided shelter from that snow and the harsh elements as people travelled from
one part of the complex to another.
Even with the current relatively good weather, the altitude, combined
with the already cold temperatures on this earth, resulted in barely temperate
days and incredibly cold nights.
Everyone dressed in multiple layers of clothing to shield themselves
from the climate.
<You ok love,> asked Willow,
shivering in her warm woollen nightshirt, after Buffy had downed the two
glasses of water.
<Fine,> replied the Slayer quietly,
and in answer to her lover’s unvoiced concern, <honest love, I’ll be ok.>
Buffy once again looked around the room
that she and Willow shared with Aiofe and Bridie, as if to finally banish the
thoughts of the dream, and to think over what it all might mean. Befitting Willow’s status as the leader of
the group, and the fact that it housed four people, it was the largest bedroom
in the inn, fully five meters by four and it occupied one corner of the second
floor. Embers glowed weakly from the
fireplace on one wall and it along with the lantern on the bedside table and a
ceiling lantern completed the sources of the room’s illumination. Several dressers, tables and chairs
completed the furnishings.
<I want to know why I’m having this
dream,> she continued after her reflection, <and why its happing more
often.> After another pause she
continued, <maybe it is time to talk to Amana about this,> realizing that
there might be some things that it was better to talk to an impartial person
about.
Willow sighed inwardly with relief, using
all of her considerable mental abilities to hide that relief from her
lover. For the last three months, ever
since the dreams began to be a regular fixture of their nights, she, and the
other young women who shared her bed and their love, had been trying, without
success, to get Buffy to talk to the older mage about the dream and what it
might foretell. Now it looked like her
soul-mate might actually try to get some help.
<You sure about this?> she asked
tentatively.
<Positive,> replied the slayer with
some confidence, reaching over to the nightstand to get another nightshirt to
replace the one that she had drenched in sweat, <I’ll go see her after
breakfast.> Buffy proceeded to
quickly remove her sodden shift and replaced it with the new one.
<You sure you are ok?> Willow
continued gently, as she softly caressed the other woman, <what can I do to
help?>
<Just hold me,> replied Buffy,
<and let me fall asleep in your arms.>
<You only have to ask,> replied the
Arch-Mage, as she carefully enveloped her lover and gently stroked her arms and
belly, until she fell back to a dreamless sleep.
----------------------------------
At breakfast the next morning, four young
women sat and discussed their plans for the day. They had not changed, outwardly, with the obvious exception of
Buffy and Willow’s pregnancies, in the months since their flight from the demon
forces that were chasing them. However,
inwardly, all had undergone profound transformations. Gone was any sign of nervousness and self-doubt. The women had become assured in themselves,
their abilities and, most importantly, their love for each other. Their status as quasi-refugees, and the lack
of any other support, had required them to develop a reliance on each other
that would normally have taken years to accomplish. However, undercutting this reliance and self-confidence was a
growing stress level, due in no small part to the same forces that had
contributed to that self-confidence; a situation which had the potential for
disaster.
“So,” commented Aiofe, “you are actually
going to look for some answers?”
“About time,” injected her long time
companion, “I mean we’ve been after you for weeks now.”
“I know Bridie,” replied Buffy, “it just
took me a while to realize it.”
“Stubborn slayer syndrome,” quipped
Willow.
“Enough already,” replied an exasperated
Buffy, “I said I’m going to talk to Amana, end of discussion. Now, what have the rest of you got planned
for the day?”
“Well,” replied Aiofe, “Bridie and I will
continue to work with the senior mages in converting one of the old gaming
rooms into another workroom. This one
for Bridie and me.”
“Sounds good,” replied Willow, “I’m
planning on spending my day searching the surrounding area for herbs and other
components we need.”
“As far as I know,” added Bridie, “Daithi
and the other guardsmen are going to continue searching the surrounding area
for signs of that demon force looking for us.”
“Sounds like a productive day all
around,” said Buffy. “After I finish my
little talk with Amana, I’ll continue working on the siding of the main
building with some of the townspeople.
How about we all meet back here for lunch?”
“No problemo,” replied the other women.
Buffy remained sitting at the breakfast
table as the other three women stood up to attend to their daily plans. Just as she was leaving Willow turned to her
lover and asked, <do you want me to stay?>
<It’s ok love,> replied Buffy,
<I’ll be alright.>
<Don’t get any splinters in any
sensitive spots.>
<If I do, I’ll just have to get you to
take care of me,> said Buffy, <now scat, and get to your collecting.>
<Yes boss,> answered Willow as she
gave her lover a mock salute. <Love
you.>
<Ditto.>
Just as Willow was buttoning up her coat
in preparation to leave, Amana entered the old common room of the inn, which
the group had converted into their dining room. It was a large room with a high ceiling and several fireplaces,
which provided both heat and illumination.
After wishing Willow a good day, and good luck, she saw that Buffy was
sitting alone, and came over and asked, “Good Morning Buffy, how are you
today?”
“Oh,” replied the pensive Slayer, who
uncharacteristically had not even noticed her entering the room, “Good morning
Amana; not so good I’m afraid.”
“How’s that,” replied the older
woman. She had been aware for some time
that something was bothering Buffy, but had not been willing to pry, hoping
that in time the younger woman would come to confide in her. “Are you having problems with your pregnancy,”
she asked as an opening to the conversation.
“No,” replied Buffy, “nothing to do with
the baby.”
“Then what?”
“It’s just that I’ve been having this
recurring dream,” began Buffy. With
that, she let loose all of the pent-up worries and frustrations she had been
feeling over the past few months. Not
only about the dream, but also how she was beginning to feel superfluous.
“But,” replied Amana, who had started to
eat her own breakfast during Buffy’s monologue, “you’ve been keeping up with
your training, and your magical studies.
Haven’t they been keeping you busy enough?”
“Yes I have,” continued Buffy, “but after
the excitement of our first month here things have calmed down.”
“Only here,” said Amana softly, “outside
of our little haven things are grim.”
Amana was not exaggerating. While the news that they were able to
receive deep in the mountains was limited, it was without exception all
bad. The demons had continued, and expanded,
their offensive and more of the human towns and cities had fallen to them. The Capital was still under siege, and it
was not expected to last much longer.
Even in the mountains, they had had demon troubles. There was at least one group still looking
for Willow’s strike force and there had been a steady flood of refugees into
the mountains, looking for security and safety.
Amana was certain however, that Buffy was
still not being completely candid about her fears and feelings, and continued,
“that’s not everything that’s worrying you is it?”
“No,” replied Buffy softly.
“Can you tell me,” asked Amana.
Buffy starred into nothing for a moment
then said softly, “I’m scared.”
“We all get scared sometimes,” replied
the older mage, “its just part of being human.”
“You don’t understand,” said Buffy plaintively,
“I’m the Slayer. I’m not supposed to
have any fear, and to this point in my life as a Slayer I haven’t been afraid
of anything. Not demons, or vampires,
or monsters, or anything; well maybe my grades in English class, but that’s it,
nothing that I’ve faced has scared me, pissed me off maybe, but not scared me.”
“And what is frightening you now,” asked
Amana, having determined some of the grounds for the fear, but knowing that the
young woman would have to articulate them for herself.
“Willow, me - the babies,” began Buffy
slowly, “and…”
“And,” prompted Amana.
“And,” continued the Slayer, “and I
nearly died, again.”
“How does this scare you?”
“I’ve never had anyone who meant so much
to me before,” replied Buffy, “I love her, and I want to make it possible for
us to be together, forever. I’m terrified that I’m going to leave her alone.”
Amana thought this through for a
moment. She knew that the two young
travellers were incredibly, and now due to the psychic link that they shared,
permanently bonded together. She also
knew that as a result of these bonds both Buffy and Willow would remain
together forever, and that in fact their bond would even survive their deaths
in the material world. She knew that
subconsciously Buffy was aware of this, however, she had still not made the
conscious deduction. She decided that
Buffy, having a hands-on type of personality, would need to take concrete
action to put substance to the reality of the relationship that the two women
shared.
“Buffy,” she started, “do you really
think that with the link, and bonds that the two of you now share, that she
would ever leave you, or you her?”
“Not really,” replied the Slayer, not
that convincingly.
“But even though you know,” continued
Amana, “you still have doubts.”
“Yeah,” commented Buffy, “I guess that’s
it.”
“Welcome to adulthood,” said Amana with a
smile on her face, “contrary to what you may have thought while growing up,
things do not get easier, they get far more complicated.”
“Thanks worlds,” answered Buffy with more
than a trace of sarcasm in her voice.
“For you its even harder,” continued
Amana, “you have a very dangerous calling, in which you regularly face
creatures which would gladly destroy you without a thought; you have skills and
talents that you have only recently become aware of, and are only beginning to
learn to use effectively; you are expecting a baby in twenty weeks or so, which
is causing your body, and its chemistry, to undergo massive changes; and, you
are involved in a war on a world far from your own, away from your normal
support group.” Amana paused for a
moment to take a sip of her cider and then continued, “I think that your dream
reflects these conflicts. You
subconsciously know the burdens upon you and it becomes reflected in this
dream.” Amana, seeing that Buffy was
sitting quietly, digesting her words, and not looking like she was about to
comment, continued, “You and Willow love each other, and are meant for each
other. That is obvious to everyone you
have met on this world, and most likely everyone on your home world.” Amana paused once again, trying to think of
a careful way of approaching the possible solution she was thinking of. After a minute or so, in which she busied
herself by finishing her cider, she continued, “have you thought about making a
more visible and symbolic gesture of the bond between you?”
“What do you mean?” asked a slightly
confused Slayer.
“It’s just that nothing is stopping you,
on this world at least,” replied Amana, “from making your bond with each other
a more public one.”
“You mean like marry Willow or
something?”
“Exactly,” pleased that Buffy had deduced
the solution that she had been contemplating, “as I’ve told you before, in our
society a person’s sexual orientation is their own business, and we long ago
realized that it was important for us to recognize that two women, or two men
for that matter, needed the same societal recognition of their love for each
other that a heterosexual couple would receive. I think that this would also help with your internal
conflicts. You would be, in your
concrete eyes, as ‘bonded’ to your lover as you are in your emotional
eyes. This would allow your
subconscious fears to rest, particularly the fear that you will lose Willow.”
“Cool,” replied the Slayer with a
slightly impish smile, “Willow will just love a ‘real’ wedding. We were going to be hand-fasted back home,
but it wouldn’t have had the same recognition and legitimacy as it will have
here.”
“Well,” replied Amana, “you do have to
ask. After all that is the traditional
approach, in both of our worlds, I assume.”
“Oh,” responded Buffy, “I know that, and
have already asked her once. I’m going
to ask her again, and I would like your help in orchestrating the appropriate
ambiance tonight.”
“I’d be delighted to help,” answered
Amana, once again pleased to see the resilience of youth in action.
With that, the two women began to make
their plans for the evening. During the
rest of the morning, the other members of the group observed the two of them
engaging in various mysterious activities.
First, they watched as the two of them cleaned the accumulated junk out
a small back room of the inn, and then watched as they turned the room into a
small dinning room, complete with candles and fine linen. They then proceeded to thoroughly scrub and
clean the room until it was immaculate.
The two of them skipped lunch, with Buffy telling a very confused Willow
to go back to her collecting and promising that she would see her at dinner. They then proceeded to evict everyone from
the kitchen and spent the rest of the day locked up in it. In addition to being a mage, Amana was also
an excellent cook; and in Buffy, she had a more than willing cook’s helper for
the day.
Just before Willow was due to return from
her afternoon of extended herb collecting everything was ready. Amana went to find Grael, to have him
arrange to collect everyone, under the pretext of the mayor giving them a
thank-you dinner for the energy that they had brought to the small
village. Meanwhile Buffy headed to the
baths in order to wash the day’s grime away, and to prepare herself for the
return of her lover.
They had timed everything perfectly. Buffy was just re-entering the inn after her
bath when Willow returned from her herb collecting.
“Hi Will,” said Buffy as she sat in a
long white wool shift nonchalantly towelling her hair dry in the large common
room of the inn, “how was your day?”
“Hi Buff,” replied the arch-mage sitting down
across from Buffy and stretching her legs out before her, “productive, how was
your talk with Amana?”
“Instructive,” replied Buffy as she
finished drying her hair, “I’ve had my bath, why don’t I help you have yours
before dinner.”
“Sounds like an excellent idea,” replied
Willow, with a little smile crossing her face, as the two women stood up from
the table to head to the baths.
----------------------------------
They headed to the back of the common
room, where the door leading to the baths was located. They walked the short distance along the
covered passageway until they reached the four buildings that made up the bath
complex. The baths had been severely
damaged over the years, and only recently had the group been able to restore
all of them to working condition.
However, Amana had insisted that both Buffy and Willow restrain
themselves to the warm water, indicating that the extremes of the cold and hot
bathes might not be good for their babies.
Upon their entry into the dressing room,
Buffy immediately began to undress her lover.
She slowly removed each piece of clothing, gently massaging Willow as
she did so.
“Mmmm,” sighed the Arch-Mage, “that feels
so nice.”
“Happy to oblige,” replied the slayer as
she picked up Willow and carried her to her bath.
A short time later Willow was lounging in
the warm water while Buffy gently washed her hair. Both women had begun to notice that with the advance of their
pregnancies the buoyant effects of a bath were becoming more and more
relaxing. They had begun to use any
excuse to jump into the relaxing waters.
As she inwardly sighed with pleasure and
relief at the reduced muscular tension in her legs and back, Willow noticed for
the first time that afternoon that the inn was practically deserted.
<Buff?>
<Yes, love?>
<Where is everyone?>
Buffy immediately shielded her thoughts and replied carefully, <they’ve
taken off for the night. A party at the
Mayor’s.>
<Why’s that, and why didn’t we go?>
<It’s a pretext by Amana in order to get
everyone out of here,> replied the Slayer, continuing to carefully shield
her thoughts in order to maintain the surprise, while she busied herself
rinsing Willow’s hair, <she thought it would be a good idea for us to spend
some time alone.>
<Alone,> replied Willow in
amazement, <you mean for the first time in nearly five months we are going
to be alone for a while?>
<Yup,> answered her lover,
<Amana and I even arranged a nice supper for when you finish your bath.>
<What’s for dinner?>
<It’s a surprise, have a little
patience.>
<Want to know now,> replied the
red-haired woman, as she tried to read her lover’s memories, <hey, that’s
not fair,> she exclaimed, <you’re shielding!>
<Only to maintain the surprise,>
commented Buffy, <after all, you don’t want to rune the evening now do
you?>
<Pout!>
“You’ll get over it,” continued the
Slayer aloud, “now, let’s get you out of this bath and into some clean clothes
for supper.”
“Sounds yummy,” replied Willow as she
proceeded to exit the bath and wrap herself in a large towel, which had been
held by Buffy.
The two women entered the inn; as Willow
proceeded to head back to their room to get dressed she was stopped by Buffy
who said, “It’s ok Will. I’ve got some
clothes for you already.”
Buffy held Willow’s hand as she led her
to the room that she and Amana had worked on all day. Willow was amazed at the transformation of the former storage
area. The floors and walls had been scrubbed
till the old oak panels shone with the soft candlelight, which had been used to
illuminate the room. The room also had
a fireplace with a cherry fire already blazing in it, to add additional light
and heat. An old worktable had been
transformed into a dining table, complete with linen tablecloths and burnished
copper tableware. Two comfortable
chairs completed the table setting. A
sideboard was loaded with several dishes that were being kept warm in chafing
dishes in addition to several decanters of wine and spirits. Amana had used a process to de-alcoholise
the wine, which retained the flavours of the spirits, while eliminating the
risk to the young women’s pregnancies. Draped over one of the chairs was a long
bleached wool shift, similar to the one that Buffy was wearing.
Buffy proceeded to pull the shift over
Willow saying, “here you go love, this will keep you nice and comfy while we
eat.”
Willow noticed that the shift had been
lined with what felt like silk, and was sinfully cool next to her bare
skin. The fine hairs on her body became
electrified by the touch of the material and she experienced a quiver that ran
through her body. She also noticed that
even with the lining the shift was so sheer that it was almost translucent in
the candlelight. She commented softly,
“Buff, I’m not wearing anything under this, and you can practically see right
through this material.”
“Its ok love,” replied the Slayer,
“neither am I. Its not as if anyone
else can see us now is it?”
“I guess not,” replied Willow, “now
what’s for dinner?”
\“You just set those pretty buns down in a
chair,” replied her lover, “and I’ll show you.”
The two young women then proceeded to sit
down to a marvellous feast. First, they
had a mouth-watering leek and potato soup garnished with celery leaves and
lightly spiced with rosemary, so creamy that it practically dissolved in their
mouths. This was followed by a fresh
spinach salad, which was served with a sunflower oil and pine nut
dressing. Buffy served a light fruity white
wine for these two dishes which complemented, rather than distracted from the
food.
“Where did you learn so much about food?”
Willow commented when they had finished the salad, “everything is so tasty.”
“I plead ignorance,” replied the Slayer
with a mischievous smile on her face, “Amana is the source of the food and
potables, I was simply the cooks helper today.
You might say I was the number one person
on the chop and stir brigade.”
“Well everything has been yummy so far,”
said the red-haired witch licking her lips, “what’s next?” The heat from the fire was beginning to provide
a deep flush on Willow, perhaps aided by the intimacy of the occasion.
“You’ll like this,” replied Buffy as she
rose from the table and went over to the fireplace. Using a pair of fire-tongs she proceeded to remove a large piece
of slate that had been warming in the fire and placed it on a fireproof mat in
the centre of the table. She then
collected several bowls from the sideboard and retuned to her seat.
“This is we-cook stuff,” she said as she
showed Willow the bowls, which contained thinly sliced beef, chicken and spicy
sausage, all of which had been marinated in a sauce containing spices, oil and
garlic.
“Cool,” replied Willow, “do we have dip
and stuff for it?”
“You bet,” replied Buffy as she proceeded
to show more bowls with condiments such as spiced yoghurt, rice, dates, pine
nuts in addition to the more traditional chopped vegetables and sour cream that
the young women were used to.
“This is great,” gushed Willow, “we get
to experiment.”
“Not to mention feed each other,” replied
Buffy as she proceeded to quickly grill a piece of beef, then dip it in the
yoghurt before offering it to her soul-mate, “have a taste lover?”
Willow leaned over the table, and reached out for the beef with her
outstretched tongue. As she chewed and
swallowed her lover’s food offering, she tasted a combination of flavours,
which caused her to close her eyes and moan in satisfaction. After a moment she reopened her eyes and
commented, “that was too good for words.”
The two young women then proceeded to
spend a delightful time cooking and feeding each another, washing the food down
with a hearty red wine, which had been infused with verbena.
Before long, they had finished the meat
portion of the meal Amana had prepared and were ready for the next course. By this time, both young women were
beginning to feel a deepening sexual tension in the small room. The food, combined with the intense emotions
that each was experiencing was causing a predictable reaction. As Buffy cleared away the dishes Willow
thought to herself, “Goddess, I’m beginning to become aroused. If this keeps up I’ll soon be sitting in a
pool of my own juices.”
Buffy then brought the next, and final
savoury, dish. This time Amana had prepared
for them a traditional Celtic dish of trout that had been de-boned and
filleted, before being poached in white wine and herbs. The older mage had suggested a dry white
wine for this dish, which Buffy also brought over to the table.
“Last one before desert,” she commented
as she arranged the dishes on the table.
“Amana told me that this was her best dish.”
The cuisine lived up to its billing. The fish was light and dissolved in their
mouths. The sauce was full of flavour,
and provided a subtle balance to the trout, almost cleansing the palate after
every bite. The wine’s high notes
perfectly drew out the nuances of Amana’s spicing. The two women were stunned by the food, and ate in silence, each
trying to imprint the emotions and sensations of the meal permanently in their
minds.
They finished, and after a few minutes to
compose herself Willow summed up her thoughts with a simple, “Wow!”
“Ditto,” replied an equally expressive
Buffy.
Buffy shook herself together and began to
slowly clear the dishes from the table.
Willow watched in admiration as her friend and lover performed this
simple domestic task, thinking that she was incredibly lucky to have found the
one person with whom she was completely comfortable. She quietly stood up and came up behind Buffy, who was stacking
dishes on the sideboard, reaching around to give her a hug. She softly kissed Buffy on the neck and
whispered, “Thank-you for a wonderful evening.”
“Not over yet,” replied Buffy, “still
have dessert to go.”
Willow perked up, “sweet stuff,” she exclaimed, “got to have some sweet stuff.”
Buffy realized that Amana had been
correct. She now realized that she
needn’t fear losing Willow. That, they
would be together no matter what happened, and that they both had difficult and
dangerous jobs to do and that by working together they would be able to solve
any problems that arose. She turned
within Willow’s hug, softly kissed her, and asked, <have I told you recently
that I love you?>
<Oh, not in the last fifteen minutes
or so,> replied Willow.
<Shameful. I’ve got to improve.
Forgive me?>
<Hum,> replied the arch-mage,
<maybe.>
<Maybe what?>
<Maybe, if you tell me what’s up.>
Buffy thought for a moment, then replied,
<I’ll tell all, I promise. But lets
finish our dessert, and over a special treat that Amana is letting us get away
with, I’ll spill.>
<Okey, dokey. What’s for desert?>
Buffy uncovered the last serving dish on
the sideboard to revel their dessert.
“Warm ginger cake with hot honey and
cardamom sauce. Also, Amana said that
as a treat we could each have a glass of brandy.”
“Yummy!!”
They proceeded to draw the two chairs
together up before the fire, pushing the dining table out of the way to do
so. They extinguished the candles and
sat hand-in-hand eating their cake and sipping on their brandies by the
flickering light of the fire. Finally,
they finished, and after a few minutes of sitting quietly each contemplating
their own thoughts, and secure in the knowledge that their love for each other
was complete. This reverie was
interrupted by the arrival of Shadow-cat who, after jumping up on the sideboard
to check out the various empty dishes, proceeded to take up her accustomed
place on Willow’s lap. She absently
stroked the cat for a few minutes then turned to Buffy and said, “ok, spill.”
Buffy paused, thought for a moment,
turned to face her lover and stared deep into the bottomless pools of her eyes
before replying, “Willow, you are the centre of my existence. Everything I do and think about revolves
around you. I need you, love you and
constantly want to be with you. I would be lost without you. I know we had planned for this before, but
now, with all of the changes that have happened, and in the knowledge that it
would be on this world legally binding, I would be forever grateful and
honoured if you would, once again, consent to marry me?”
Willow sat speechless for a moment,
before squeaking, “yes,” she dry swallowed a couple of times before repeating,
“yes, by the Goddess yes, I’ll be more than happy, and honoured to marry you!”
Buffy proceeded to embrace Willow in a
bone-crushing hug saying, evicting Shadow-cat in the process, “thank-you, you
have just made me the happiest person alive.”
The two women’s emotions then took over,
with each nearly collapsing in tears.
When she was finally able to control her voice again, Willow said
softly, “how is it possible?”
“Amana,” replied the Slayer succinctly,
“she let me know this morning that part of the problem I was having with the
dream was due, in part, to my subconscious desire for a ‘visible’ bond with
you, and that on this world there was no problem with two women getting
married.”
“I’d never even thought about a
hand-fasting on this world,” commented Willow.
“Me neither,” replied her soon to be
spouse, “I guess with the taint of prejudice back home we never thought it
would be possible, here. We were going
to take the hit back home, knowing that it wouldn’t be ‘legal’ but in this
society it will be both acknowledged and legal.”
“Now,” continued Willow, “the important
question, when?”
“Well,” replied Buffy, “everyone who can
be here, is here, so there is no need to delay too long.”
“I know,” interjected Willow, “next
Friday the moon will be full, perfect.”
“Perfect?”
“You know, moon light…, candles…,
loved-one…, romance stuff.”
“Ok,” replied Buffy with a small laugh,
“next Friday it is. Now…”
“Now,” interrupted Willow as she stood
up, and pulled Buffy up from her chair, before she started to softly caress the
other woman’s breasts beginning to trace circular patters around her areole,
“now, you take this incredibly horny woman to bed.”
<Not that I’m complaining,> replied
Buffy, her breath catching in her throat as her nipples became erect from
Willow’s stimulation, <but what exactly has gotten into you?>
<Just the ‘extra’ ingredients that you
and Amana added to the food,> commented Willow as she began to kiss, lick
and suck on Buffy’s neck, <don’t act, or for that matter even think,
shocked. Did you think that you could
hide that many aphrodisiacs in the food?>
<Not really,> Buffy replied
moaning, and feeling moisture accumulating between her legs, as Willow’s lips,
teeth and tongue continued to work there special magic on her neck.
Buffy slowly slid her hands down Willow’s
sides and reached down, beneath the edge of her shift. She then gradually moved her hands up along
the other woman’s legs, steadily raising the fabric with her hands. Soon she was lifting the material over
Willow’s hips, and the swell of her expanding uterus, and she bent down to
softly kiss the now visible evidence of her lover’s pregnancy. She noticed that Willow had begun to show
the characteristic development of a dark line running from her navel, down
through her pubic hair. Seeing this, Buffy
softly licked along the line, resulting in a quickening of Willow’s breath and
heartbeat.
“That feels so good,” gasped Willow,
“don’t stop.”
Buffy stopped her ministrations,
whispering softly, “too much clothing.
Got to do something about the clothing.” She quickly stripped off her own shift and then proceeded to
strip off Willow’s. “Much better,” she
whispered as she examined her lover, the sweat on her body glowing in the
firelight, “now I can see and attend to you properly.”
Buffy trailed her fingers through the
sweat on Willow’s side before sucking on them.
“My, you taste yummy,” she commented as she reached down, snagging a
nipple in her teeth. She rolled the nipple
between her teeth as she assaulted its tip with her tongue.
Willow was herself busy using the fingers
on one hand to cup Buffy’s left breast while the thumb made circular motions,
stimulating the nipple. She used her
other hand to support Buffy’s head, while running her fingers in her silken
blond hair. She continued her stimulation
of Buffy’s breast even as she approached her own peak. Both women were already in a heightened
state of excitement, even before they began their manual manipulations, and
within minutes, they climaxed in a mutual orgasm.
Their climaxes did nothing to take the
edge off. They immediately began to
caress, kiss and taste each other as love, hormones and the effects of the
aphrodisiacs took over. After an hour
of loving, the exhausted women decided that, before bed it would be best to
have a bath. Each took a second glass
of brandy, reasoning that just this once it couldn’t hurt - too much, as they
retired to the baths.
As they walked naked and hand-in-hand
through the inn to the baths Buffy looked down at her lover and commented,
“have I told you how sexy pregnant women are?”
“You’re pretty sexy yourself,” commented
the arch-mage.
“That’s it,” replied the Slayer, “here we
are, two naked, pregnant women stuck on a world far from their own.”
“Your point?”
“Just that I’ve never been happier,” replied
Buffy laughing as they entered the bath complex.
With that, the two women proceeded to
immerse themselves in the warm water, to gently soap the sweat from each other,
and to bathe before returning to their room for a night of worry free dreams.
Soon after they had fallen asleep, the
stillness of the night was broken by Shadow-Cat as she reappeared in the
room. Seeing that everything was calm,
and that her human was deep in sleep she padded silently to the bed and leapt
up on the pillows behind Willow. She
proceeded to create a small hollow, and then to fall asleep purring
contentedly, “my human is happy. Very
happy.”
----------------------------------
The next morning Buffy awoke, as was her
usual practice, just before dawn. As
she remembered the events of the previous evening, she was filled with a sense
of completeness and rightness to her world.
Looking across her lover, she saw that Aiofe and Bridie had returned
from their evening out, and that both they and Willow were still in a deep slumber. She decided to let them all sleep and after
gently kissing Willow on the forehead, she slipped out of bed to begin her
morning routine.
One hour latter Willow awoke to find
herself entangled with Aiofe and Bridie.
“Oh, goodie,” she thought to herself, “bed warmers, and cuddly ones at
that.”
She too thought about the previous night
and realised that a marriage to Buffy, even if it would never be recognized
back home, was somehow ‘right’ and the next step in their relationship. She thought, “wedding, plans, dresses,
stuff, got to get a bunch of stuff done.”
Realising that she was babbling to herself she suddenly had an idea,
<Buff,> she asked, <good morning love, what’s up?>
<Hi sleepyhead, and a good morning to
you. Just downstairs eating and talking
with Amana and Grael.>
<Got an idea.>
<Spill.>
<Aiofe - Bridie - Bridesmaids?>
<Excellent,> replied Buffy,
<you’ll ask them?>
<Okay.>
<I’ve an idea. Let’s have Grael and Amana officiate.>
<Also excellent. Obviously, my brilliance is rubbing off on
you. You’ll ask?>
<Yep.
Now get your collective buns out of bed and get going on your
exercises. I’ll have your breakfast
ready in an hour, love you.>
<Love you too.>
Willow slowly sat up in bed and in doing
so was successful in rousing the other two women awake. Turning to one of the women she said,
“morning Aiofe, how are you this bright and cheery day?”
“Cold,” mumbled the other woman, still
half asleep, “its way too early to get up.”
“You can say that again,” commented
Bridie as she yawned and stretched her arms above her head, “What time is it
anyway?”
“Its an hour past dawn,” replied Willow,
“and time to get the day underway.”
“Groan,” replied the other two women
simultaneously, “do we have to?”
“Yes you do,” replied the arch-mage as
she jumped out of bed and pulled all of the covers off with her, “besides, I’ve
something to ask you two.”
“You witch,” squealed Aiofe as she leapt
out of bed, “what do you want to ask?”
“Yes I am a witch,” replied Willow who
then paused for a moment before continuing, “but a good one. Besides, I think you two already know what’s
going on, or didn’t Amana spill the beans last night?”
“All she would tell us,” said Bridie, “is
that the two of you needed some time alone.”
“So Buffy could work out some problems,”
added Aiofe.
“Well…” said Willow timidly, “Buffy and I
are going to get hand-fasted next Friday.”
“Excellent,” said Aiofe, “congratulations
to the two of you.”
“About time,” added Bridie, “if there was
ever two people intended for each other its you two.”
“Thank-you,” replied Willow, “But there
is one thing that the two of us would like you two to do.”
“And that is,” said Bridie.
“We would be more than pleased if you
would be our witnesses and support in the circle,” said Willow. “The two of you have become over the last
few months the closest thing Buffy and I have to family on this world. If our real family isn’t going to be able to
be in attendance, we can think of no finer people to stand in their stead.”
“Yes,” both women said. Bridie then continued, “we are honoured that
you asked, and would like you to know that you have become part of our family.”
“But what about Grael and Amana,” asked
Aiofe, “I would have thought that you would have considered them to be family
too.”
“We do think of them as family,” answered
Willow, “and that is why Buffy is now asking them to officiate in the circle
for us.”
“Way cool,” said Aiofe, having picked up
way too many of Buffy and Willow’s sayings.
<Lover, they said yes.>
<Cool,> replied Buffy, <so did
Amana and Grael.>
“Ok ladies,” said Willow, “lets get our
butts downstairs and get with the exercise and bathing. Buffy has promised a breakfast of some kind
in an hour.”
The three young women left their room and
proceeded to get their day started.
Once they had settled into the village they, along with Buffy and the
guardsmen, had resumed their daily exercise routines. It provided a routine to their exile, in addition to the obvious
benefits to Buffy and Willow’s pregnancies.
In spite of their daily grumbling, none of the women would have
willingly given up the exercise, for, as had happened to others, the daily
routine had become a habit that was very hard to break. After their exercise and bath they were
returning to the inn in a very relaxed mood, laughing and chatting, wondering
just what Buffy was going to put together for breakfast.
“Juice and fruit,” was Bridie’s opinion,
“she would be far too dangerous using a stove.”
“Not fair,” interjected Willow, “she’s
very capable in the kitchen, usually.”
“Usually,” asked Aiofe, “what do you mean
by ‘usually’.”
“If she isn’t preoccupied or worried
about something,” replied the arch-mage.
Just as they entered the common room the
three women heard a boom, as the building shook around them. They then saw a cloud of dark smoke billow
out of the kitchen and rise to the high ceiling of the room.
“Buffy,” they all said together as they
broke into a run towards the kitchen, to see just what damage had been done by
the Slayer.
As they entered the kitchen, they could
see Buffy standing over the stove, holding a pot, which was still belching
acrid smoke. There other evidence of
damage, Buffy’s singed hair, her soot streaked clothing and droplets of
blackened porridge that had been scattered throughout the kitchen. Buffy was looking, with a vexed expression,
at the pot, as if it had deliberately caused the explosion. Meanwhile the usual occupants of the
kitchen, the three cooks and their assistants, were trying, with various
degrees of success, to keep from doubling over in laughter.
“Buffy,” said Willow as she came up to
her lover, “what happened?”
“Oh, hi Will,” replied Buffy, “guess I
had too much pressure.”
At that everyone, Willow included, broke
out in laughter over the unintended double meaning in Buffy’s words. They were unable to bring themselves under
control, every time someone stopped laughing, they would either see Buffy, or
remember her words, and start to laugh again.
“This is so not funny,” commented Buffy
when everyone had finally started to calm down, “I mean it,” she continued,
“here I am, trying to do something good and…” at that point even Buffy lost it
as she too broke down, seeing the humour in the situation.
“Anyone for crispy porridge,” she asked
through her giggles, tears streaming down her face, “got lots, with extra burnt
flavour, more than enough for everyone.”
Later that morning the four women were
sitting around a kitchen table, still giggling about the ‘porridge’
incident. Buffy had taken the time to
clean up and had had Amana trim her bangs, removing the worst of the
singeing. They were sitting, eating a
breakfast of meat, eggs, fruit and baked goods, all of which had been prepared
by the experts in the kitchen.
“No porridge,” commented Aiofe, “not for
a long time.”
“I don’t think that I’ll ever look at it
the same way ever again,” added Willow.
“Me neither,” said Buffy, not at all
upset at the events. She was able to
look at the humour in the situation, and realized that the kitchen accident had
given them all a much-needed cathartic release. They had all been so wound up by the events of the last few
months, combined with the pressures of rehabilitating the inn that they were
beginning to become stressed out.
“Well,” said Willow, “now that we are all
gathered together, lets discuss the upcoming nuptials.”
“Yes. Lets,” added Buffy, “after all it
is in five days.”
“How can we help?” asked Aiofe, “we are
ready to be your dogsbodies.”
“List, have a list,” replied Willow, “I’m
sure I have to have a list.”
“Easy lover,” commented Buffy, “deep
breath and take it one step at a time.”
“Right,” replied Willow as she took a
sharp intake of breath and continued, “ok, I don’t think we need to worry about
things such as invites and such.”
“Nope,” interjected Buffy, “that’s
easy. Everyone in the town is invited.”
“So,” continued the Arch-Mage, “we’ll
need you two to make sure everyone knows about the events.”
“No problemo,” replied Bridie, “what
else?”
“Well,” continued Willow, “there are
flowers and other stuff for the circle. I guess your best bet would be to work
with Amana on that. No need to worry
about dresses at least, since we’ll be using our ritual robes.”
“Ok,” said Aiofe.
“Rings,” injected Buffy suddenly, “we
need to do something about rings.”
“That’s ok love,” replied Willow, “I’ve
an idea about that.”
“Well then,” said Buffy, “carpe diem.”
----------------------------------
The four women left the table to start their
various activities. Aiofe and Bridie
went off to find Amana and Grael, to start the required work on collecting the
necessary items for the hand fasting.
Meanwhile, Willow lead Buffy to one of the smaller rooms of the inn,
which she and Buffy had earlier appropriated as their own personal workroom, to
put into action her plan for the rings.
Willow was going to try to combine each
of their essences into the molecular structure of the rings. In order to do this she was going to create
pure gold, since it was one of the most magically reactive substances that
could be used for rings. She was then
going to forge the rings, and in their making incorporate both the biological
and magical essences of both of them into the rings. It was going to be a long, and exhausting day for the both of
them.
Willow explained the basics of her plan
to Buffy as they gathered the material they needed together.
“Ok, Buff,” she said, “first we’re going
to purify some gold.”
“What gold?”
“We have a little ore that Grael found in
the mountains a few weeks ago,” replied the arch-mage, “it should provide
enough for two rings.”
“Sounds good,” said Buffy, “how do we
purify it?”
“Well,” replied Willow, “we are going to
have to work together on this. First,
you are going to use your ability to manipulate air to create a small vacuum
around the ore.”
“Sounds ok, so far.”
“Then I’ll use my ability to manipulate
earth to extract all of the impurities out of the ore, leaving us with pure
gold.”
They proceeded as Willow had outlined. They used a previously created box into
which they placed the ore. Buffy
concentrated on the air located within the box, and then gradually reduced the
air content until she had been successful in creating the desired vacuum. At the same time, Willow used her abilities
to seal the box, so that no air would leak back into it. Once the vacuum had been created Willow
looked within to the see the ore sample.
Using her inner eye, she looked deep within the sample until she was
able to identify its molecular makeup.
She identified the parts of the ore that was gold, and then forced it to
gather together and leave the ore sample.
Once they opened the box, they were left with a lump of pure gold, and
another lump of various trace elements.
This had been an exhausting and lengthily
process that took over four hours to complete.
At the end, Willow was exhausted, and there was still a lot of work yet
to be done. After wolfing down a quick
lunch of cheese and bread, which had been brought to them by Amana, Willow set
out to complete the first part of the ring forging.
“That was harder than I thought it would
be,” commented Willow as she finished her lunch.
“What’s next,” asked Buffy?
“Oh,” replied Willow, “not too much. Just forge the rings and incorporate our
essences into them.”
“Curb the sarcasm,” said Buffy, “how am I
going to help?”
“After I create the rings,” answered
Willow, “you are going to collect some blood from each of us, in addition to
some of our magical essence, and then we will both work together to combine
them into the rings.”
“Let’s do it,” said Buffy.
Willow concentrated on the pure gold that
she had extracted. Using her ability to
manipulate the essence of earth, she split the gold into three equal
portions. With Buffy’s assistance, she
created a pocket of heat, surrounding the gold. Once the gold had been heated to the correct temperature she
levitated, and then she started to rotate the gold, spinning it out into three
long strands. As soon as she was
satisfied with the length and consistency of the strands of gold, she then
braided the strands together. Finally,
she split the braid in two before joining the ends of each portion, thereby
creating the basis of the rings. The
rings were still glowing with heat, since Willow had not yet quenched the
rings.
“Ok love,” said Willow, the sweat
dripping off her body and the exhaustion evident in her voice, “your turn.”
“Right you are,” replied Buffy who then
began her portion of the ritual. First,
she used a scalpel to collect from each of them a small amount of blood, which
she then placed in a crucible. Looking
deep within herself, she translated her sight so that she could see into the
magical realm. Finding the ties that
bound her permanently to Willow, she used some of her biofeedback ability to
direct a small amount of the essence and energy from the ties into the
crucible. She then forced the
biological and magical elements to combine to form a single tincture.
Both women then worked together to force
the tincture of their essences into the still reactive rings. Finally, once Willow was convinced that the
molecular structure of the gold had been bonded to their essences, she used her
ability to manipulate water to create a small pool of pure water, in a copper
basin which had been placed under the rings, in which to quench them. Steam rose from the surface of the water as
she released her hold on the rings and they dropped into the basin. After several minutes both women leaned over
the basin and saw on the bottom the two rings, glowing with both reflected
light and somehow with their own luminescence.
“Wow,” commented Buffy as she retrieved
the rings from the basin, “that was amazing.”
“No kidding,” replied the exhausted
Arch-Mage, “I need a bath, food and a cuddle.
Not necessarily in that order.”
“Your wish is my command,” said Buffy,
“will you need me to carry you to the bath?”
“I don’t think that will be necessary,”
answered her lover with a smile, “but you may have to support me on the way.”
As they were leaving their workroom and
heading back through the common room to the baths, the women noticed that there
was a gathering of people near the entrance of the inn. Looking over and seeing that Amana, Grael,
Aiofe and Bridie were all standing near the door Willow called out, “what’s up
folks?”
Amana turned around and seeing the two
women replied, “Buffy, Willow are you finished?”
“Just now,” answered Buffy.
“Good,” replied the older woman, “please
come over. We have guests. Daithi has brought in another group of
refugees.”
<Guests,> asked Willow, <we’ve
had refugees before, but what does she mean by calling this group
guests?> Previously when they had
come across groups of fleeing humans they had offered some sanctuary before
sending them across the mountains to safer locations. Never before had they invited any of them to stay longer than a
week or so.
<Don’t know love,> replied Buffy,
<let’s go see.>
They went over to the entrance to find a
group of about ten young women, surrounded by most of Willow’s task force. They were all in their late teens or early
twenties, and in very good physical shape.
In their soiled and ripped clothing and exhausted expressions, they bore
the evidence of days of hard travel.
Standing just in front of the group, and giving the appearance of being
its leader was one blond haired woman staring at the floor of the inn. Sensing Willow and Buffy’s approach she
slowly raised her head until she was looking directly at them.
Both young women were stunned. Standing facing Buffy was her identical
twin. She wasn’t pregnant, nor was she
in the superb physical shape that Buffy was in, but the face was identical.
As Buffy and Willow stood in disbelief
with the others, she addressed Willow in a voice that was tired beyond belief,
“Lady, we have been called to help.