Popping in next to Petunia, Ceeley holds out the note she was given, "Book mistress has a letter for you."
Puzzled, Petunia takes it and then spends the next 5 minutes slowly reading it as she exercises language skills she hasn't needed in over 300 years. When she finishes, she reads it again, an expression of disbelief on her face. Numbly she wanders out to find Sorcha and Garund before handing them the letter.
Sorcha takes the letter and glances at it, "Erm, Petunia. Can you tell us what's wrong, as we can't read this."
"It's from Karen. She says that she's taking Lyasa out to the shore of the sea of magic, as she didn't have any problems moving to the next realm. She says that if they're not back in three hours to come and find them. There's also a list of instructions for how I can do that."
Petunia looks up at them expecting some sort of censure, instead she's met with proud looks on both of their faces.
"Why do you both look so proud?"
Garund moves over on the seat and gestures for Petunia to sit between them. Once she's sat down he begins to speak.
"I know you've been with us for a long time, but you've barely had enough experience of our society to have an impression of us. Your wife is a Titania, not only that but she's the chosen of a Great One on top of it. We have all sworn ourselves to you individually, however Azaria our clan leader has sworn herself to your wife. We could all feel the bond when she introduced herself. If she wasn't like you with keeping her magic disguised all the time we'd have recognised it when she surprised you. To us, our Titania and Oberon are more than just ruling figures, they are also our protectors against the light and darkness. They are our guides and elders. Finally, they never, ever share power. That you've both been teaching Lyasa, and Karen just offered to train Sorcha in how to suppress her magic so that she can visit her daughter, is already beyond any of our expectations of how one of that level should behave. With you, I was slowly building up your training in our ways as you came to us with no real knowledge of how to use your magic.
"At first it was because you saved my nieces life. Since our hunting trip it's because you have claimed our clan as your own. Even had I not really believed it before, your refusal to return to earth until we were safe when your wife arrived cemented it to us. Maybe in 50 cycles of Bethnas you would have enough knowledge of magic to stand as a credible threat to the winter court, and we could all return to the clan lands full time. But until then I would have needed to tread carefully to avoid revealing the fact that you're not actually a null. At the moment, the whispers in court are that you've turned Lyasa's magic inside out making her a null as well. To them it's the only explanation as to why she isn't dead from iron poisoning already.
"I don't know enough of your home world to be able to draw comparisons that you might understand. However, you need to understand that you're second only to Great Ones, and in many ways more important because Oberon's and Titania's call this home.
"I hope this poor explanation has explained why we're proud of Lyasa. That doesn't mean that we're not worried, but you've seen the vengeful fires and the triple darkness. So you know that just living here means that we're living life on the edge, and we might die at any time."
Petunia just sat there for a few minutes, her mind reeling at the knowledge they just imparted. That they're painting both Karen and herself like the Pharaohs of old, God Emperors of their domain.
"No, I can't accept that, I'm not some infallible god to your people. I'm just a housewife that gained magic and was kidnapped. I don't want to lead you, I don't want to be looked upon as a god or an emperor. I'm just me."
"I know, and we don't want you to lead either. The reason why we still revere the Bloody Rose is because she gave us our freedom. But even with that, we can't fight our nature. Part of that nature is that we form bonds to the strongest amongst us. So if we can't fight our bonds, we can still choose where those bonds go. And so we chose individually to acknowledge a Titania that doesn't see themselves as above us, that counts us as friends rather than subjects. Who we think would stand with us against the courts rather than standing over us and treating us as little more than chattel."
Sorcha takes Petunias hand, "You've already taken my daughter as your own child, and your wife has recognised that too. You've protected the most important thing in my life already. Why wouldn't we trust you and your wife with her life for the possibility of having a daughter that can stand with you in defence of our people?"
Petunia can only sit there with a stunned expression on her face as the true depth of her relationship with the clan is laid out in bald terms. If she's honest with herself, she'd have probably done all of that anyway without the near worship aspect. The estimate of 50 great cycles in order to get an understanding of their culture was still blowing her mind. It really put into perspective that Lyasa had already seen more than 240 great cycles. Numbly she takes a goblet from Ceeley with a mumbled thanks as her minds still going over this information. Maybe she should take a couple of phases to let the knowledge settle and come back to it then.
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Lyasa shivers with excitement, fear, and more than a little awe at how slowly and smoothly the worlds are flowing from one to another as Karen guides her magic through the worlds. It's so smooth that it seems like the rivers in the sky are actually coming closer rather than changing from one world to the next. She's not even aware that they've stopped traversing realms until Karen's voice breaks the silence between them.
"Selene, fancy seeing you here."
Lyasa's eyes snap down and latch onto the person that is floating in the air nearby. Realising that she's in the presence of a Great One she throws herself prostrate on the floor in supplication to them.
"Oh do get up." Selene snaps peevishly.
As Lyasa sheepishly gets to her feet again Selene continues, "Did you forget that you're my eyes and hands in the world? So imagine my surprise when I'm having a lovely conversation over tea with Desma and I see the letter that you wrote to Petunia. Of course I had to come and meet the child that you were gifting with immortality and power. After all, it used to happen so rarely, and now she'll be the, what 6th or 7th in three rotations around the star?"
"This is Lyasa, Petunias magical daughter, and now also mine as well. Lyasa, this is Selene the goddess that marked me when I gained my own magic. Good friend, great conversationalist, and occasional pain in the arse."
Lyasa wondered what a pain in the arse was supposed to be, Selene some how managed to come to her rescue, "A pain in the arse is a human, specifically English, saying that means I can be irritating."
"Oh, good." Lyasa says faintly.
"Karen, she's looking a little peaky, be a dear and make some chairs and a hot chocolate for the child. Make not conjure mind you, as I don't want it randomly disappearing on us."
Karen begins to transfigure the surroundings as asked when Selene interrupts her, "No, no, make not transfigure or conjure."
"What do you mean make?"
"Take the matter around us and transform it into what you want. Don't use magic to create matter or force the existing matter into another shape. Actually reform the matter itself. Out here it's easy as it's all unstable anyway and only holds its shape because nothings come along to reshape it yet. Watch what I do, and then take your time and do it yourself while I'm giving Lyasa a hug."
With that, a soft and comfortable looking armchair rises out of the ground as streamers of matter swirl around Selene forming veins, muscles, bones, and skin over her form. Once the streams die down she's standing there wearing a toga before taking a seat in her armchair.
"Come child, sit with me while Karen works out how to do this."
Once it becomes clear that Karen isn't going to learn how to do this quickly, Selene creates a cup of steaming hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows on top.
"Here child, drink up it's safe. This was made by reshaping the world with magic rather than forcing it into another shape or making it out of nothing. It's not a skill that can be taught, only learnt and shown. Now tell me a bit about yourself, what do you want to be?"
Lyasa sips at her drink as she thinks of how to answer, finally she settles on honesty and answers quietly, "I don't know, I wanted to be hunter and tracker like my sister. Then father was killed and I wanted to be able to stand beside my sister as her shield. Then she was lost in the desert and I was locked in iron were Petunia found me, and then I wanted to be a healer. Now I'm going to be a Titania. I don't know what I want anymore."
"It's OK not to know what you want, humans tend to make things move very quickly. Especially humans like Karen and Petunia. I remember what it was like when I grew up on earth, and everything moves so fast even when nothing seems to change much. Of course part of that is because the sun has so much power over their world, if you look over there. Can you see that bright star between those two rivers? That's the same sun that you see on your world, but here it's so faint it's barely a pinprick in the sky."
Karen slows down when she hears Selene talking and pulls out a sheet of parchment and starts taking notes. She doesn't stop though, just in case it catches Selene's eye.
Taking no notice of Karen's note taking Selene continues, "Stars like our sun both produce magic, and also push it away out into the aether, or the Dream, or the realms. This is why it's easier to travel this way rather than moving towards their earth. Of course, the running theories when I was young were that pure magic was at the centre of everything and the earth is on the outside. Of course it wasn't until a couple of thousand years later that they were able to prove that the earth actually goes round the sun rather than the other way around."
Lyasa looks up at her in surprise, "It does?"
Conjuring an illusion of the earth and the sun Selene continues, "It does indeed, and it's why the triple light and the triple dark happen here. If you watch, the earth doesn't go around the sun in a circle, it's actually an oval that's slightly offset from the centre. This means that during the triple light, it's at the closest point it can possibly be to the sun, while during the triple dark it's as far away as it will ever get. One day I'll explain how that affects the magic in your world, but at the moment I think it's a little to complicated for you. Suffice to say that it's this motion that causes these things to happen. However, out here time is so affected by magic that it seems to take longer to travel around the sun than it does on earth. Now, have you ever played cats cradle?"
Lyasa has to shake her head mutely.
"Very well, the first thing we need is a length of string about as long as your arm tied into a loop. Then you hold it over your fingers like this, and your partner pinches the string there and there before lifting it up off of your fingers and opening their own fingers and hands like this..."
Deftly Lyasa attention is drawn into the game for the next few hours while Karen vainly tries to reshape the matter around her without using transfiguration or conjuration. Eventually Lyasa gets comfortable and relaxed enough to fall asleep in Selene's lap. When she does Selene gets Karen's attention.
"You should get some sleep too, I'll look after both of you, and I'll talk to you both again when you wake up."
"Has it really been that long? I'm sorry for leaving you to look after Lyasa."
"Don't I've enjoyed it, it's been a long time since I've been able to do this with a child, even if she is what you'd call a teenager. And don't worry about getting the hang of this quickly, it took me a long time, and Desma took longer than me."
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Lyasa wakes in a comfortable bed with sheets made from an unfamiliar fabric. Opening her eyes she stares at the sky, the rivers of magic making the memories from yesterday flood back. Wide eyed, she sits up and looks around at the world she finds herself in. To one side she can see Karen sleeping in another bed, and on the other side of her bed is an armchair with Selene sitting there reading a book written in English. As if she sensed her looking at her, Selene looks up with a smile on her face.
"Come child, sit with me. Are you hungry?"
When Lyasa nods Selene creates a simple dish from when she was last on Earth, "Here child, it's just bread and cheese, but it should fill you up."
"Thank you."
"You're most welcome child. While Karen is sleeping I'm going to ask you a question. However I don't want you to give me an answer until you've finished your breakfast so that you have time to think about it. If you agree, I would like to give you my mark much like I've given Karen my mark. It would mean a couple of things, that you need to be aware of. The first being that it will change you, you'll still be an Aes Sidhe, but your reproduction cycle will change to a human one. This means that you'll menstruate on a regular basis, bleed between your legs if Petunia hasn't explained it already. You'll also need to have sex in order to get with child rather than just mixing your magics as your people are wont to do. Additionally, I'll be able to see and hear everything that you do, as well as find you anywhere. I'll also be able to talk to you when you learn how to listen, but that only works when I'm in the same realm as you. In return you'll receive a significant increase in the quality of your magic. You will also have my symbol on your forehead whenever you channel sufficient amounts of magic. If you were mortal your life span would be greatly extended too, but that's a moot point here. I'm only able to make you this offer because both of us are keeping the magical density at a level you're already used to, and so you haven't yet become immortal. If you choose not to take my offer, then once you're immortal I will never be able to offer it again."
Lyasa swallows her current mouthful of bread before speaking, "This increased level of magic, will it enable me to protect my family and clan better?"
"Yes child, it will."
"Could you teach me to use my magic?"
"We can include that in our agreement."
"How about being part of my family, as you can never have too many mothers."
Selene finds tears forming in her eyes, "I would be honoured to call you my daughter."
Lyasa smiles happily, "I'll finish eating, but I don't think my answer's going to change, I'll accept."
True to her word, Lyasa hadn't changed her mind by the time she finished eating. As such Selene started the bargain.
"Lyasa of Clan Yewglisten, I Selene offer to you my mark and a measure of my power along with the benefits and disadvantages that it brings. In return for accepting it I will teach you how to use your magic, and I will take you as my Daughter and count myself as one of your mothers. Do you accept?"
"I Lyasa of Clan Yewglisten accept your offer of my own free will and with no coercion."
"Then let our bargain be struck and sealed by our magic."
As the last sentence was completed, Lyasa felt Selene's magic reach into her own right into the core. She was struck with the sheer difference between her core and Selene's as it seemed like a light stone compared to the sun. Ever so carefully it broke off a small part of her own essence and replaced it with a somewhat larger piece of her own essence. Once it was placed small changes ran through her magic and her body.
Karen's voice broke the moment, "So why did you demand I acknowledge a life debt rather than doing it that way?"
Selene looks a little sad at the question, "If I could have done it this way with you I would. But you were rapidly forming a magical body, and without the debt I couldn't mark you before you became immortal. As without a magical body of your own you can't enter into bonds and bargains with magical beings even though debts can be recognised as it's a one-way thing and only requires that one of us has magic and the other has acknowledged that it exists. I wish I could have waited and struck a proper bargain with you, but you'd have not just needed a magical body, but to also have some magical education under your belt so that you understood what we were doing.
"Before you ask, the reason why I couldn't do it to an immortal is because the mark of a god is different from other types of bonds. When we mark a mortal we are literally placing a piece of ourselves inside their soul or essence, but souls are greedy things and seek to take more than we're offering. However, because we're so much more than a mortal we can hold off their soul while we disconnect that bit of ourselves from the whole. An immortal on the other hand doesn't have a soul, they are their soul and they have a body. I'm sure that Hogwarts has explained that to you before. However one implication of this is that if we try to put a piece of our soul into an immortal there's no way for us to hold it away from our own essence so we can't stop it from keeping the connection open and draining us. That's why I couldn't wait, as for why I did it, I was lonely and bonding to you would give me a link to the world that I could follow through the sea. You see, out there there are no planets, there's no gravity, there is only the sea of magic. You can sort of navigate to the sun by going against the solar wind as it pushes magic deeper into the sea and away from the sun but you can't find a planet unless there is a significant source of magic flaring there or you have a bond with someone or something that's already there. That's because space is unimaginably big, well it used to be anyway, there's muggles now that can model the true scale of space. I know you've both been warned about moving to the next realm because it's a death sentence, or at least a disembodiment experience anyway. That's not because it happens instantly rather it's like falling of a moving ship on a dark night. It doesn't matter if you can move faster than the ship, unless you're lucky or know where to go you're going to drown before you find it. Once you've lost your true body it's impossible to make a new one as in the worlds that are stable enough to form a true body it takes far more power than we can call forth due to needing to manipulate the iron that's in our blood and bodies. You can inhabit another body temporarily, but it will wear out quite quickly, and the more magic you use the faster it will wear out. Sorry, I'm rambling.
"Karen, I am very sorry for forcing our bond on you, and I'm sorry that I can't remove it."
Karen comes over and gives her a hug, "Shh, it's ok. You didn't do it to take advantage of me. You've not held it over me and I hope I can trust you not to abuse it in the future. If you want to make it up to me, then you can come back to Lyasa's home and talk to Petunia with me. If she agrees we can all bond ourselves together the same way Harry and Petunia did with Ceeley."
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It was almost a full day later by the time Selene and Karen had raised the magic around Lyasa to the natural magical density of the area. As Karen expected, as her magic hadn't settled yet it was able to adapt to the increase easily enough. This indicated a difference between humans and Sidhe that she hadn't considered, as doing the same thing to Ginny or Dudley would kill them. Equally, before their magic stabilised the first time she could have taken them out to the sea as fast as she wanted to with no other precautions and they'd have been fine while the same journey would have killed Lyasa.
Lyasa tugs on Karen's sleeve, "Are you OK?"
"Oh sorry, I was just thinking deep thoughts."
"OK, can we go home now?"
"Sure, Selene do you want to come too?"
Selene freezes in indecision for a moment, "I… I think I will, thank you."
"Ok, Lyasa, you lead the way back to your world, and we'll follow. Go as fast as you feel comfortable, as I don't want you to hurt yourself."
Lyasa smiles and hugs Karen, "Yes mum."
With that she fades out of the realm and both Karen and Selene follow. It takes them all of 10 minutes to get back to the Sidhe world, and then it's a matter of seconds for Karen to step them all back to the house. Selene's body is already starting to break down once they cross the final barrier as the magical density is no longer high enough to replace the need for the various materials that she couldn't reproduce.
When they enter the house Lyasa is immediately bundled into a hug by Sorcha, "Did it work baby, are you ok?"
"Yes mama, it worked. Even better, the Great One Selene has marked me too."
"Oh, my little baby, I'm so proud of you."
"She also agreed to teach me magic and be another one of my Mummy's, she even came back with us. Mama, this is Selene, Selene this is my mama, she had me as a baby. This is Petunia mother and you already know Karen mother. That's my uncle Garund over there. Finnán and Cuana are the two by the door, they're only here for a couple of phases before they go back to the clan. Buanait is either downstairs or out on an errand, she's also visiting from the Clan."
Sorcha looks torn between continuing to hug Lyasa and falling prostrating herself in front of the Great One, "Great One, we weren't aware that you would be visiting. If we'd known we'd have arranged for delicacies to be brought from the Clan as well as appropriate furnishings and raiment's for you."
Selene glances at Petunia and Karen with amusement clear on her face, "Don't worry about it, I rather like the informality that is practiced by most people in England on Earth at the moment. It saves a lot of time and awkwardness. Yes, there's still time for pomp and ceremony sometimes, but this isn't one of them."
The sidhe all freeze as the request wars with generations of tradition and veneration and their minds are trying to come to terms with it. Even Lyasa is looking somewhat gobsmacked, even though she's not quite old enough to have been taught all of their history, rites, and ceremonies. Petunia tried to imagine what they were going through, and the closest she could think of is if the queen or king of England came round for a BBQ and told you that she didn't want people yes ma'aming and no ma'aming her just give her a glass of wine and a plate.
As Karen was coming to learn about Sidhe, Selene's short visit for tea and a chat was extending out to several days of slow casual socialising. She was amazed that Petunia seemed to be so comfortable with the pace of things here, and also at how through they were when something caught their interest, such as the rabbit hole that opened up when she spoke about how she accidently spent 500 years away from earth without reconnecting. Though she did manage to get some amusement out of it by making Tunie blush completely by pointing out that the reason she was able to drive herself to spend that much time on learning those techniques was that she was trying to find her. She didn't intend for them to find out that they were mate bonded, but it came out anyway at which point they decided they needed to start arranging a feast for the two of them to celebrate at the clan lands in a lesser cycle or two.
It was one morning when they managed to wake up without Lyasa jumping on them, or one of the clan asking them what they'd like for breakfast, that Karen was able to talk to her wife privately.
"Tunie love, I'd like to ask you something."
"Sure, let me just pee and we can either do it here or we can go somewhere else."
"I'll be right here waiting for you."
Over the next half an hour, Karen went over her conversation with Selene, and her feelings on it. Once she finished she asked the question, "Tunie, would you like to bond with Selene the same way you did with Ceeley, as family?"
"Do you think she was telling the truth about being lonely?"
"I do, I know she once had lover that she was almost bonded to like we are. But due to the invasion going on at the time she wasn't able to get him out to the sea of magic to make him immortal. The impression that I got from Hogwarts was that she withdrew from life a lot after that point, as apparently gods minds don't work the same way that ours do. Where we can forget things, they remember everything exactly as they experienced it undulled by time."
Petunia sits in silence thinking for nearly an hour while cuddling with Karen. Finally she answered, "I'm willing, but if she's coming into our family she needs to let go of any emotional wounds that she can't heal from. Harry, Dudley and I all have enough scars to heal from that we can't afford to include someone who has emotional wounds that they can't heal from. Hell, even Lyasa has scars from when she was living in the dungeon and her magic was stilling because of the iron manacles. She's done really well in overcoming that time, but most of that is because she knows enough for it to be impossible for anyone to put her in the same situation again."
"I'll go and find her and we can find out… Or she can just pop in because she can hear everything I can hear."
Karen finishes the sentence on a slightly sour note as Selene appears in their bedroom and glomps Petunia with tears streaming down her face, "I accept, I accept."
Petunia gives Karen a puzzled look, in return Karen can only shrug, as Petunia cuddles Selene like she would a distraught child. After a moment Karen joins Petunia on the bed again and cuddles both of them.
While she's crying Selene burbles, "You can't imagine what it's like having perfect recall. I don't mean the way that humans do, I mean the sort that's like you're there again and you can see, smell, touch, and feel everything that was happening at the time. Never dulling and never changing. And you can't avoid them, I don't mean in the way that they'll pop up when you see or smell something that is associated with it although that happens too, but more like when you're looking for a book on the shelf and you're not sure which one so you need to open each book until you find it, and suddenly you're neck deep in the horrible situation again. That time is my worst scar, but I've got hundreds or thousands that aren't quite as bad. We all do, did? Well, all of us that are still alive do. It's why we were all hedonists, anything to distract our minds or dull our senses. We can't even die properly, I was one of the first gods to give up their bodies to power the first of the rituals to protect the earth. At the time I thought it would kill me, but it didn't. So I fled into the dream and tried to let it take me. But it didn't, we just keep existing. I even met an old god from Mars at one point, it used to be like earth with an iron core. But the sleepers came before they could defend themselves properly and they took the core deep into the dream. I can almost understand that thought, as it's the only way to really maintain a body out there, and I'd imagine that if you're old enough people like us are such transitory things that we don't even matter except as a beacon and obstacle to getting the iron that allows them to feel and not just exist. Anyway, enough time passed that there were enough more spots filled with nothing more than drifting in the dream than filled with painful things that I stopped coming across those memories accidentally. That's when I started exploring again, but I no longer had any links back to earth. You two were the first people that I'd seen with bodies since I entered the dream. So thank you for the offer, I accept, I accept with all my heart."
Petunia, crying with sympathetic tears, whispers to Karen, "Can you take us somewhere that we can make a splash without drawing undue attention to my clan or being interrupted?"
"Let me lead and I'll take you to my office, I'm sure they won't notice if we're gone for the rest of the day."
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When they arrived at her little cabin one realm away from the shore Karen didn't waste any time deactivating the stasis runes on the front door.
Standing to oneside of the door she led with her hand and said, "Be welcome in my home."
Giving the thanks the other two both entered through the door into a cosy sitting room, along one wall was a book case full of reference books, both muggle and magical. Situated under the window was a plain mahogany desk, and by a rustic fireplace was a comfortable looking armchair with some lace draped over the arm. Along the back wall they could see two doorways, one opened into a modest bedroom with a comfortable looking kingsized bed, while the other opened into a plush bathroom with marble panelling and a jacuzzi in the middle.
Petunia smiles as she looks around, "This is nice, so where are you going to sit?"
Karen smiles back and conjures a love seat in front of the fireplace before sitting in it with a smirk, "Right here I think."
Looking towards Selene she beckons her in, "There's no need to be bashful, you're going to be family in a minute, so relax we don't bite."
Selene hesitates again so Petunia stands up and pulls her into the room proper, "I get that this is a big thing for you, but I'm not going to change my mind. I'm not playing with you, I had more than enough of white beard doing that to me that I'm not going to do it to someone else."
"I'm sorry, it's just that this isn't even something that I ever dreamed could happen. Gods have tried reincarnation before, but it always ended the same way they'd get to a certain age and then they'd remember everything again. But that's not what you're offering, and neither of you are mortal. I'm just afraid that I'm going to be like all the others, and it will be taken away from me in a few years time."
"It's ok, you'll always be family even if it does work out like that."
"You mean that? I'll be family like Harry, Dudley, Lyasa, and Ceeley?"
"Yes."
"And to do this I have to let go of any mental scars that I can't heal from, by which you're not saying forget them rather be able to look at them dispassionately as something that happened in my past but no longer has an emotional impact on me?"
"Yes."
"When can we begin?"
Karen laughs, "Do you want to conjure the cushions and I'll make some candles and incense. As we might as well make it special."
Petunia laughs with her, "Sure, I think I remember how to do that, though I never did learn how to do your conjuration thing."
A few minutes later they were sitting on cushions on the floor holding hands, Karen and Selene looking towards Petunia.
"Ok, right, erm, I think what we did is opened our magic and concentrated on being family together while allowing it to circulate through all of us. The bond itself then formed on its own."
Karen nods before letting her magic loose ready to flow around the circle, "Lets do that then."
When she felt the others magic join hers, she concentrated on her feelings of family, her love for Petunia, her acceptance and forgiveness of Selene, and what it means to be wanted. She could feel Petunias love for her filling and mingling with her magic, and hesitantly she could feel Selene's magic, still guarded and looking for acceptance. As one they flood her with their feeling of unconditional love and acceptance, and slowly her hesitation wanes and her barriers drop. As their essences mix Karen and Petunia see Selene's life and her mistakes and they meet it with love, forgiveness, and acceptance at the same time showing her their lives, mistakes and regrets. As their magic reaches a crescendo Selene dissolves into motes of lights and at the moment the bond finalises she seems to disappear from their connection leaving Karen and Petunia bound in love, trust, and forgiveness.
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Petunia is the first one to wake with little more than a hazy idea of what happened filled with impressions, love, and a delicious soreness in just the right places. She looks over to gaze at Karen's face peeking out from the top of the sheets, her hair spread over the pillow like a halo. The surge of love she feels at the sight is enough to wake her up, and as Karen's eyes flutter open, she can't help but fall in love all over again, just like that first night after she took her to get magic and came back without her.
"Morning Love, I don't remember much of what happened after we started the circle, but I feel like we took it to the bed."
"Mmmm, I agree, and it feels delicious. How are you feeling?"
"Good, you?"
"Loved and comfortable, the only way it could be better is if you came down here and gave me a hug."
Petunia laughs, "You're insatiable."
"Na, just making up for a 500-year dry spell."
"Any idea what happened to Selene?"
"No, not really. But it feels like she's content."
Petunia closes her eyes and feels out the bond, "It does, but I can't feel any of the others. Any idea where she is?"
"I don't know, it feels like she should be right here, but I can't see or sense her."
"All I can tell is that she's somewhere near or past you."
Karen examines the feelings from the bond with a sinking sense of irony, "Petunia."
"Yes love?"
"I think I've joined the pudding club."
Petunia sits up and looks at her for a moment before it dawns on her what she means and she rolls over laughing hard. She's laughing so hard that even falling off the bed doesn't interrupt it.