Aniña nodded and placed her book on the ground, “That sounds cool, yes, please.” She wrapped her arms around Sequoia and rested her head on her. She hoped it would be an interesting story but didn’t practically care. Whatever Seauoia wanted to tell was her choice.
Sequoia cleared her throat and began. It was a story that reminded her of the whole Jar Halei/ Irria story. "In a small town, there lived a woman named Kalla. She was beautiful, but she was also kind. A joy to all who saw her. One day, her mother grew ill, she died not long after. Her father soon followed, devoid of all joy when his wife was dead. Kalla was left alone.
"The entire town grieved alongside her, and when Saint Jaya came to read a single person's fortune, they allowed her to go. The Saint told her that if she stayed on the edge of the river outside of town, her true love would pick her up and carry her to a fanciful palace, where she would live happily if she did not ask for the person's name or look at the person's face.
"The next day, Kalla walked to the river and sat. She waited for hours and hours until a cloaked woman joined her at the bank. They talked for a while until the mysterious woman revealed that she was Kalla's true love. Kalla was delighted and went with the woman immediately.
"What she did not know was that the woman was actually Saint Jaya in disguise. The saint had been watching over the town and had taken a liking to Kalla. However, saints were not allowed to take on spouses, so Jaya needed to keep her identity secret.
"Jaya and Kalla lived happily for some time. However, Kalla could not keep curiosity from her mind. She wondered what her wife looked like. What it would be like to watch her as they slept together. One day, Jaya fell asleep early and, overcome with curiosity, Kalla removed her wife's hood, revealing the saint's face. She screamed her wife's true name, only to call down the might of The Creator.
"Jaya had been missing for several months, and once The Creator saw where she was, they struck her down with Kalla alongside her. With her dying breath, Jaya muttered a spell that would put them in the sky together so that they would be together in death.
"The Creator would not allow this. They took Kalla and placed her on the eastern half of the sky and put Jaya on the other so that even in death they could not be together. And so, the two lovers were kept forever apart, both by Kalla's curiosity and Jaya's willfulness. Their suffering is a lesson to us: Never disobey the gods."
Aniña stayed quiet for a while, fiddling with a strand of her wife’s hair, “Wow… that’s… wow…” She didn’t have words for the story Sequoia told her, “That’s cruel. That they would part them like that. They were lovers why would you keep them apart?”
Sequoia thought about it. "Kalla disobeyed the saint and Jaya disobeyed The Creator." She couldn't put it any clearer than that. There was nothing more wrong than disobeying The Creators will. "Their love was not supposed to be. The Creator couldn't reward them for love that never should've happened."
Aniña shook her head a little and rested her head in the crook of Sequoia’s neck, “You’re culture is weird. The only punishment we get if we disobey a god is if it’s Othylia and the Faryo. Love is love, no matter if it’s a Saint or a God or such…* Her muffled voice came quietly with a small sigh.
"Love isn't as romanticized in my culture, I think." She frowned, kissing the top of Aniña's head. "Besides, Jaya broke the oath of saints. Oathbreaking is kind of the worst thing someone can do- right behind disrespecting The Creator." She looked around the room absentmindedly, letting her eyes catch on a clock. "Habibi, we can take the gunk off your shoulder now."
Aniña slowly removed her head from Sequoia’s shoulder with a small smile, “Finally, I feel a little better thanks to it, thanks to you.” She kissed her wife on the cheek in thanks, “Okay, yeah let’s get this shit off.”
Sequoia twirled her finger in a 'turn around' type gesture, ready to peel all that gross shit off her wife's shoulder. "I'm basically the best healer in the world. I take my payments in kisses and cool stories." She rubbed her hands together, preparing to see a gross but hopefully non-poisoned shoulder wound.
“That doesn’t sound like the worst payment I‘ve ever heard of, actually I quite like it.” Aniña giggled and turned around, there was no more pain or little to none coming from her shoulder. She bit her lip as she waited, hoping it worked.
(Going to bed. Goodnight.)
Sequoia put her hands on the patch of purple-grey crust that covered Aniña's shoulder. She picked at the top and peeled off a huge piece right off the bat. She pulled on another and another, slowly revealing a large scratch surrounded by shiny red skin. The patch didn't stick to Aniña's skin too terribly, so she figured Aniña wouldn't be in much pain. "I'm going to get some bandages. Want to come with?"
Aniña nodded a little and turned around, planting a quick kiss to Sequoia’s lips before she stood. Her arm felt better, a little sore but a lot better then before, “Yeah, let’s go get them.” She picked up her book from the floor with a smile.
(Okay, night)
(Sorry I've been off! I have robotics on Friday and it takes lots of energy so I'm not really alive until I've been home until 9 or 10.)
Sequoia smiled, grabbing her dress and pulling her down for a deeper kiss. Once she remembered to breathe, she pulled away, all but skipping into the next room. She snatched some gauze pads and bandages from the first aid kit and patted the loveseat beside her in a 'sit down' gesture.
(Aha, that's fine, don't worry!)
Aniña was still a little red from the kiss as she sat down beside Sequoia with a small, content sigh. She placed the book on the floor gently, "Okay… do your thing." She said gently, smiling at her wife.
(Thanks! I'm not super active on Fridays or Tuesdays, just so you know.)
"Great!" Sequoia pressed gauze into Aniña's shoulder, swaddling it under layers of clean cotton bandages. "You're not bleeding and your shoulder actually looks really good, so I'm pretty sure you'll heal up by the time the honeymoon is over. The thing didn't bite you very deeply. Hardly even cut into the muscle. I bet they rely on poison more than their teeth and claws."
(Alrighty, I'm guessing you live on the other side of the world for me as it's Saturday for me rn)
"That, and the fact they usually hunt at night and reply on prey not being able to see them," Aniña sighed a little, "Thank-you, again for helping me with this. If it wasn't for you then I'd probably be dead by now." She frowned a little at the thought, but if what had happened hadn't then they probably wouldn't be as close as they were now.
(Oof. Friday night for me. I'm on central time, hbu?)
Sequoia nuzzled into her neck with a smile, tying off the bandage without looking. "Can we not talk about that? If you'd never been attacked, we never would've bonded. But I don't want to think about us only being happy right now because you almost died."
(Saturday arvo for me)
"Sorry sorry, you're right… I guess." Aniña sighed and wrapped and arm around her, "Why do you always have to be right?" She asked, smiling softly at her.
(K, I'll keep that in mind. Saturday's a no go for me too.)
Sequoia frowned. "We made a deal, Habibi. No comparing yourself to me." She bopped Aniña on the head with a sunny smile. "I'm done with your bandages, by the way. Can you try to move your shoulder, like this?" She illustrated by rolling her shoulder in a wide circle. It would test how well Aniña could move with the bandages on.
(Okay, cool)
Aniña sighed a little and followed, copying the movement. She didn't manage to move her arm as wide but it was still pretty flexible, "Well, it's going to prevent me from hunting for a while but it'll do. Thank-you." She pecked Sequoia on the lips with a soft smile.
Sequoia pecked back. "I don't think you need to go hunting anytime soon. Not with the night stalkers hanging around." A small part of Sequoia just wanted to snatch Aniña up and wrap her in blankets and keep her from ever going anywhere remotely dangerous ever again. She repressed that. No need to force Aniña into a life where she couldn't do what she wanted.
Aniña sighed and nodded, leaning onto Sequoia, "Maybe when we're home… wherever that might be…" She muttered. That was another thing they needed to work out, where they were going to live. If they were going to live together. So many things had changed over the past few days, not that she minded but it still left questions for her.
Sequoia frowned. "What do you mean? I'm supposed to live in your kingdom." It was something someone's parents had insisted upon it. Something about propriety and traditions. She let Aniña snuggle into her, stroking a hand over her hair absentmindedly. She was suddenly hit with the realization that Aniña's home meant Aniña's dad. A cold bolt of fury hit her stomach, though she didn't show it.
Aniña blinked once and cursed a little, "Right, sorry it must have slipped my mind with everything that has happened." Even though Aniña didn't want Sequoia anywhere near her family, it was what was supposed to be happening and that was that, "We don't have to live in my kingdom, whatever you wanna do is fine by me."
Sequoia shook her head with deliberate slowness to show that while she really didn't want to live with Aniña's father, they had to live in her country. "It was in the contract we signed. Like, one of the specific clauses. We could live in a manor like this though, I made sure there were a few loopholes everywhere in case you turned out to be a sociopath or something."
Aniña snorted, "I hope you don't see me as a sociopath, psychopath or something now that you know me better." She said, changing position so her head was in Sequoia's lap and she was looking up at her wife. She smiled softly up at her, reaching up to fiddle with a strand of her wife's hair.
This time Sequoia's headshake was dramatic and strong. "Nonononono! You're really sweet and great and awesome!" She patted Aniña on the head assuringly. Aniña was amazing, definitely not some kind of monster. She might've been a little angry, but Sequoia liked it now that she wasn't on the receiving end of it.
Aniña chuckled and blushed a little, "Thanks Liran. The same can be said for you, just times 100." She let out a content sigh and snuggled into Sequoia a little, making herself comfortable. This was nice. Relaxing. She wished they could just stay here forever.
(I'm heading to bed. Goodnight!)
Sequoia blushed and petted Aniña and blushed a little more. "What do you want to do for the rest of our time here? We have…" She paused to subtract the three days they'd spent here together from the three weeks and the realized she was doing entirely too much math. "We have two weeks and four days here. What do you wanna do for them?"
(Night mate!)
Aniña shrugged her shoulders and tried to stifle a yawn, "I don't know… we could always go into town at some point but other then that I-I don't know." She sighed a little and closed her eyes softly, feeling really tired all of a sudden.