Chapter Thirty-Three

Mother/Daughter Time

Mera's point of view

I was unpacking my things, smiling at everything in the room I grew up in. I happened to turn around as my mother paused at my door. I waved her in, and she came in and sat on the bed. Her expression spoke of just how grateful she is to have me home.

"How long will you two be staying?" She asked.

"A few days, maybe a week." I told her. "He has his duties, and I must train with my unit." She was quiet for a time before she brought up what was on her mind.

"So, your father tells me you and Ariston have taken things quite far." She told me, I blushed and nodded.

"We are lovers." I told her.

"He must be quite a man to have so ensnared my daughters heart." She said, making me laugh and nod. "I take it he was your first?" I nodded. "How was that?" I hesitated, not certain I was comfortable talking about this.

"You want to know?" I asked cautiously, though she was no prude and a bit more open minded than my father.

"Of course I want to know. It is a big event in a young woman's life." She encouraged me. I hesitated still. "Come on! You told me all about your first kiss! Why not this?"

"Kissing and sex are two different things." I said again, putting another shirt away in my drawer.

"Ah… well, I see." Came my mother's voice. I turned around and my face turned beet red to find my mother holding up a dark blue negligée. The bottom was silk and barely dusted my thighs, while the coverage of the bust was see through lace.

"Mom!" I said as I quickly snatched it from her hands, hiding it in a drawer and slamming it shut.

My mother was laughing so hard she was doubled over, and I could only laugh with her as I sat down on my bed next to her. She bumped my shoulder with her own and I shook my head while laughing.

"Alright, alright!" I relented.

"So? When did this happen?" She asked.

"About a month ago." I told her. "Though it almost happened sooner many times. The first time he kissed me… I have never felt anything like that. All I could do was kiss him again, and again. We nearly made love that night, three times I felt as if there were no going back. Yet he stopped himself, saying he wanted more from me than some tryst. He wants a real and lasting relationship with me; he spoke of marriage, and then said he wanted to know me, and for me to know him on the deepest levels of understanding before we make love."

"Wow," My mother was truly amazed. "Color me impressed."

"I had told him before that I hadn't been with anyone. And that night we first kissed, the same night we said 'I love you' for the first time, I was more than clear that I did not want to wait. But he insisted. It was three nights later that I convinced him I did not want to wait anymore, and I realized that I was not the one who was not ready. You see, after he lost Elianna, whom he was certain was the woman who was meant for him… he never imagined he would truly fall in love again. It scared him; he feared that I might change my mind, that I would not want him after we were together. The very night before, I had told him that I wanted to be with him forever. He said that forever is a long time; he had lived for five thousand years and was nowhere near forever. So as I gazed into his eyes on that wondrous night that followed, my arms around him, I told him that if it takes the next five thousand years, I would prove my love for him.

"That was what drove it home for him. Though he knew before that I love him, hearing my words made him realize how much so once again. Then he used his powers to line a rose petal covered path with candles, which led all the way to his bed." My mother was clearly moved by my words.

"So, how was it?" She asked. My entire body flushed at the memory.

"It was…" I tried futilely to find the correct word. "He was… We…" My mother smiled with a blush of her own.

"I see." She said, causing me to smile and glance away.

"He is absolutely wonderful." I told her, wanting to tell her everything. "He rarely rushes things, always making sure I am… ready. Playful, tender, madly passionate in all the right ways… skilled. Oh, the things that god can do! And being able to experience everything he feels is beyond words! I swear he has something new to show me each time we make love," I giggled. "Last night he," I trailed off, my hand flying over my mouth and my eyes going wide.

"I take it your fathers decree did not last long." She laughed.

"Please do not tell him," I begged her. "I do not want dad to hate Ariston any more than he already does."

"It is our secret." She told me, a wink as she kissed my cheek. I wrapped my arms around her, while her arms wound around me.

"I have missed you so much, mom." I told her.

"I have missed you too." She told me. "I am so happy Ariston made your first time memorable in a good way." She told me, then laughed. "Mine was a huge blunder!"

"It was with your boyfriend Gregory, correct?" I asked. She had told me when I asked her a few years ago. She nodded and laughed.

"Your grandfather was very protective of me, as you know," She mentioned. "So I had little to no experience when it came to men. We had been drinking, so everything was clumsy, and inexplicably awkward in a way even alcohol could not compensate for. I drank so much I only remembered bits and pieces, but enough to know that when he did one thing, I did another. He went one pace and then tried to shift and… to put it simply, a blunder. I am going to stick with 'blunder.'" I laughed.

"He made me breakfast of burnt toaster waffles and rubbery eggs the next morning. He kept apologizing for botching my first time for me and saying next time would be better." My mother sighed and blushed. "That is one thing I love about your father, he certainly knows how to,"

"MOM!" I stopped her, making her laugh. "I do not want to know THAT about dad!" She laughed louder.

"I was going to say that he knows how to cook." She said between laughs. I somehow blushed deeper and laughed with her. "There is more than a few things I would not say about your father. I would not want you scarred for life, especially not when you found such an incredible lover."

"I appreciate it." I told her.

"As your mother I must ask, and can only hope you two are being 'safe.'" She said.

"We are." I assured her.

"Condoms? The Pill? Or something else?" She asked.

"It is a divine form of birth control." I told her. "It is something like the Pill, but with no side effects. It is a seed; I take it once every two months and I do not get pregnant."

"What about STD's?" She asked.

"Ariston has none," I told her. "Gods cannot catch a disease of any kind. Usually, the most their souls can harbor is a Shadow."

"I am happy to hear that." She told me.

"We do want children though," I told her with a smile, launching into many stories and plans for the future… not all of it, though. Some details I dared not hurt her with.