Between Cassie's kitchen and the extra delights that Elizabeth had Lucifer bring, lunch was indeed exotic. They had wine, cheese, olives, meats, fruit, and breads baked fresh that morning from all over the world. It was quite impressive if you knew were everything had come from, however Cassie and Elizabeth had actually become quite used to the world being their grocery store. One item that was significant but only Elizabeth saw the meaning of was the small vase of white chrysanthemums gracing the center of the table. Lucifer had brought them from a field they both knew of where her favorite flowers grew wild, but she had not asked for them. It was a small sign but it meant that her husband was still there.
Lucivar made a point of watching the now quiet Lucifer and noted the singular attentiveness that now marked his manner towards Elizabeth and his complete disregard for anyone else in the room. She bore it as if she were accustomed to it, though Lucivar had never anything like it, and she adroitly gave him little things to do as any good Queen would do if that was what her male needed. He could now understand what Azazeal had been telling him. Lucifer could take care of Elizabeth, but only in this way. He waited on her words unobtrusively but he still waited, not taking initiative.
Cassie and Azazeal were explaining the projects that Cassie and Elizabeth developed for their angels to work on in order to improve their world and the limitations they faced as angels were only allowed to do so much to influence humans as free will had to prevail. This interested Jaenelle immensely and she asked a great many questions that Azazeal answered patiently.
As lunch drew on the tension in the room regarding Lucifer's display earlier had lessened to a great degree, but as they were about to leave, Jaenelle exclaimed suddenly:
"Elizabeth! You really must show us this California you live in. I want to see your city and your home. And Cassie tells me there is a great deal of shopping to be done in Los Angeles."
Daemon and Lucivar groaned, knowing Jaenelle's proclivity for exhausting shopkeepers and shopping companions alike.
"Tilb salman peripsol is not for visitors," Lucifer said evenly and meaningfully.
It was the first thing he had said all during lunch except to Elizabeth. Elizabeth gave him a strangely shocked look and then glanced at Azazeal who shrugged and ignored Cassie's piercing look. She had finally found out what he thought of her home although she was sure he wouldn't have revealed it to her if it wasn't for his strange mood. He had just equated her home with a circle of heaven, a place where an angel existed in the presence of the divine, a place where an angel worshiped, a place where she was not just a human woman. She could tell that Azazeal knew and felt similarly about Cassie's salman but for whatever reason visitors, angelic and otherwise, had always been welcome. Elizabeth's house however was a private sanctuary, but upon reflection, when you examined her personally against Cassie's it made sense. Elizabeth was more than happy to have her horse ranch overrun with angels but her little home had always been a place where she liked to be alone.
"We'll work something out, dear, bring your friend Marian next time and we'll talk about it." Elizabeth said and they said their goodbyes until the next visit.
Several weeks later as Lucivar stepped through the window between worlds with Marian's hand in his he was irritated. Why had Janelle told her about these visits? Why had she told her about his unfortunate confrontation with Lucifer about fussing? He'd gotten an earful from Marian on these subjects and he was almost grateful that she was madder about the fact that he'd hurt Lucifer than that he'd not told her about this world.
Introductions were made and Janelle, Elizabeth and Cassie were just about to take his little hearth witch off for a tour of the Church, when Lucifer approached to be introduced.
"Lucifer," Lucivar started and then paused, not sure how he or Marian would be received, "this is my wife, Marian."
Lucifer regarded Lucivar with a strange mix of mischievousness and amusement before turning to Marian and saying, "Well, well Maid Marian and her Prince, though not of thieves I suspect. Oh well!"
Elizabeth and Cassie smiled catching the Robin Hood reference.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Marian," Lucifer continued with a pleasant enough smile but only a nod, and then he turned back to look at Lucivar again with a disconcerting intensity.
After Marian had been dragged off with the ladies to receive not only a tour but also a detailed lecture on the differences between the worlds, Lucivar said to Lucifer sincerely:
"I have been thinking about it and I have some suggestions for you if you will listen."
Lucifer merely nodded and led him to a couch to sit at ease and hear what he had to say. Lucivar launched into a partially prepared speech regarding the needs of a female. He had really done a good job of breaking things down. After he had asked Lucifer if he could keep track of time and received only an arched eyebrow in response, he started by explaining things like the fact that she should probably eat every 4-5 hours or so and should sleep every 16 hours or so, etc, etc. until he'd said everything he could think of and Lucifer had not said a word. Lucivar squirmed a bit under his silent gaze and said finally:
"If I caused you any embarrassment, I am sorry, if it is a matter of honor we can…"
Lucifer's expression changed to genuine mirth and he laughed, "You really are too easy to play with, you know! Embarrassment!" he chuckled and slapped Lucivar on the shoulder rather hard, "Elizabeth is everything, how could it ever be embarrassing to kneel before her and offer myself. You just don't get it do you?"
Lucivar let himself laugh a bit too but in relief.
"But if you want a fight, Azazeal's your man," Lucifer said, "It would be amusing to see your fighting styles matched against each other and it would give the Ladies something to get hot over."
Despite himself, Lucivar's eyes lit up at the prospect of pitting his skills against Azazeal's in a real battle.
"Only if he promises not to do that disappearing thing."
"Oh, of course! That would be cheating," Lucifer responded, "AZAZEAL!" He roared dramatically. Daemon and Azazeal turned towards them and sauntered over, a bit too much like each another, to find out what Lucifer wanted.
"And so you see, Marian, when we accept their surrender the angels find strength and trust in it and they can be themselves with us and no longer have to search for love and purpose," Cassie said.
"And when we accept the wildness and violence of the Warlord Princes and Warlords, they surrender and trust us with their lives. So the males are similar but different!" Jaenelle concluded as Marian blinked quietly to herself. She had received much more information than she could possibly process and all of the information was swirling around in her head but she would put it all in its place eventually.
Then they heard Lucifer's call to Azazeal and they also went out to see what the fuss was about.
Despite the protests of the Ladies, Azazeal and Lucivar were now stripped to the waist and getting ready for a sparing match to the first touch. Lucivar had called in two Eyrian practice sticks and Azazeal was testing its weight and balance while Lucivar moved skillfully though some warm up forms. The women were seated on couches arranged to give the men good fighting space and Daemon and Lucifer were standing side by side, ready to step in if things got too heated, but they looked equally matched in their distain for getting their hands dirty with demeaning hand-to-hand combat.
When Azazeal was ready, he turned towards Lucivar who finished off his warm-up and turned towards him as well. Azazeal smiled and took up his fighting stance and waited. Lucivar smiled back and began to circle him assessing his opponent.
The match moved slowly at first, as such things do, with each man testing the fighting style of the other. Finally, Lucivar decided on a full on Eyrian attack, with all the power and violence that they are noted for, as Azazeal's style was flowing and defensive. Flying at Azazeal with blurring speed and ferocity, Lucivar looked like a tornado, as he danced around Azazeal, attacking him with devastating blows which were each parried efficiently, but resulted in no attempt to counter attack. Azazeal's eyes were shining with battle fire and he could have won because he could disappear and appear behind Luviar for a strike, he could have won because he could move like lighting, he could have won because his style of attack would have been hard for Lucivar to counter now that he was tired, but instead, as Lucivar's fury increased by the lack of response from Azazeal, Azazeal's defenses were eventually breached and Lucivar struck a blow to his shoulder to end the battle.
Lucifer and Daemon clapped patronizingly, but Lucivar's blood was up now and though he was impressed by Azazeal's skill, he was not satisfied with the challenge that Azazeal had presented.
"Lucifer, you next!" Lucivar challenged still breathing heavily. Before the ladies could protest, he got his response.
"Oh, the gauntlet has been thrown," he smiled at Daemon, "I suppose honor dictates that I must accept!"
"Yes, I think it does," Daemon laughed, sharing Lucifer's amusement at Lucivar's keenness to fight.
Lucifer delicately removed his coat jacket and shirt and, folding them neatly, presented them to Elizabeth with a private wink. He then strolled towards Azazeal, who was also catching his breath, and took the Eyrian practice stick from him and eyed it curiously.
Cassie and Jaenelle asked Elizabeth if he knew how to fight and she had to answer them honestly that she had no idea. He could ride a horse like he'd been doing it all his life, he could dance and when they did it was like floating on air, and he could make love like he was everywhere all at once, but his other physical capabilities were largely unknown to her.
After his inspection of the practice stick, Lucifer shrugged at it and then crouching to a perfect Eyrian fighting stance proceeded to perform an elegant and powerful version of the warm up that Lucivar had completed earlier. After finishing, he regarded Lucivar's open-mouthed shock with an arrogant smile and turned to say to the equally shocked Marian:
"Don't worry, I won't hurt your little sparrow!"
At this Lucivar loosed a wild Eyrian war cry and attacked with all his strength. Lucifer defended with precisely the correct Eyrian move for each of Lucivar's assaults. Furious that Lucifer would only defend, Lucivar back off and roared, "Fight, you coward!"
Lucifer smiled and inclined his head. He then launched into a recreation of each of Lucivar's attacks but in a random order. He was quick, brutal, and powerful.
"Hell's fire! It's like fighting myself," Lucivar thought to himself, and then he realized that he was. To end it, Lucivar delved deep into his memory for an obscure move that finally got him past Lucifer's defenses and struck a blow to his opponent's belly.
"Ah, you got me, my friend," Lucifer said with delight and laughed as he caught his breath. It did not escape anyone that Lucifer had just called Lucivar his friend, but no one commented.
"How did you do that?" Lucivar managed as he sucked in air.
"What?"
"Fight just like me?"
"I don't know how to fight really, that's dear old Azazeal's job, besides I'm quicker and stronger than you so the only way to make sure I didn't hurt you was to mimic your strength and skill."
"That's not encouraging!"
"It wasn't meant to be!" Lucifer laughed.
As predicted the Ladies were shyly excited by this display of male strength and their eyes glittered with the inklings of desire that was too raw for them to acknowledge to themselves
Daemon regarded Jaenelle with hunger, his body reacting to her arousement, no matter how unaware of it she was. But there was something else too, a violent haze falling over his vision, a keen awareness of the positions of each of the other males and females in the room…
Daemon jumped as Lucifer came up behind him and in his sage way said, "You cannot deny the rut, Daemon."
"I'm not denying anything."
"Yes, you are, you're terrified."
"You don't understand."
"I may not, but Jaenelle does."
"I could destroy her!"
"And I could destroy Elizabeth with a mere thought, a casual flick of power, but you'd be amazed what love will bring out of you, even when you're completely out of control. She will guide you through it. Trust her or face the consequences, it's simple."
And Lucifer left him then to join Azazeal and Lucivar in claiming kisses and eliciting squeals as they pressed their sweaty bodies against protesting Ladies.
In "real" Enochian, the language of the angels:
Tilb: her
Salman: house
Peripsol: of the heavens