3rd person P.O.V
Tally focus:
Tally's phone call with her mother was going somewhat better that Sarah's meeting with the imperatrix. She urged Tally to follow her heart and told her that if the decision was made to stay separate during the reel then they would have to be separate for all of the Beltane celebrations and may have to use work to do so. May said that the matrifocal blessing would be very strong over the course of the Beltane celebrations, and that they may have to manipulate the reel if they did not want the deal with the very high chance that they would be paired together.
This information sat in the front of Tally's mind as they were in training that afternoon. Anacostia was teaching them all how to properly use a windstrike. It was this confusion which Tally turned into anger as Abigail's one track mind chastised her for not thinking only about the training, this criticism quickly turned the unit angry and put them at the front of the line to strike blocks of concrete. Shortly after that Anacostia dismissed them all for the diner service.
Tally was quick to eat her dinner and leave the mess to go to the gardens. She knew that Sarah and the biddies would be eating dinner at this time and was content to sit in the gardens for a while before knocking on the door. Sarah had given her the day-to-day schedule that she and the biddies followed unless there was an emergency, which Tally had memorised prior to arriving at the base. Tally decided to climb up the same tree she had waited in a few weeks ago, she sat with her legs dangling from the branch kicking and swinging, toes occasionally brushing the leaves on a bush just behind her.
Tally had been sitting in the tree for a good ten minutes before she saw Sarah walk up to the base of the tree. "Hello, Tally. Been there long?" She asked as Tally jumped down down the branch. "Not too long, besides I like sitting in this garden, it's very relaxing and there's never anyone else here." Tally said as she moved forwards to walk next to Sarah.
"I should hope that there's nobody else in these gardens. They are part of my personal wards, only myself and people I allow can see and access these gardens and my office via the external door." Sarah said, reaching out to hold Tally's hand as they took a slow walk towards the door. Tally glanced over in surprise. "Really, I'll still knock on the door, in case you are in a meeting that ran late." Tally said, receiving a smile from Sarah who lifted their joined hands up to kiss Tally's knuckles. "My mom gave me some advice for Beltane, this morning after I told her about our plan." Tally said as the group reached the office door. Sarah holding it open for Tally and the biddies to go first.
After shutting the door and making her way up the stairs Sarah directed Tally towards the living room they were in the night before. "What kind of advice did your mother give you?" she asked settling Tally on the sofa before she collected two glasses of wine for the two of them. Turning back to the sofa she handed one of the glasses to the young witch. "Because the Imperatrix was not the most helpful, she tried to order me to use work to manipulate you and the reel so that you ended up with a boy or girl of your choosing that was not me." Sarah said, leaning into the sofa cushions.
"My mother said basically the same thing, she said that the Matrifocal blessing would be the strongest it would ever be during Beltane and during the time we consummate the marriage. She said that if we did not want to end up together after the reel then we have to be properly angry with each other and completely avoid all forms of contact with each other for the duration of Beltane, or use work to manipulate the dance." Tally sighed learning back into the cushions of the sofa resting her head on the back staring at Sarah's face.
Sarah sighed and Tally could visibly see the grief and confusion on the biddies faces from the chess table and reading tables in the room. "So it seems the only options are me using work to manipulate you and the dance, both of us sitting it out completely, or avoiding each other completely from tomorrow morning onwards." Sarah summarised, sipping her wine. Tally nodded in agreement." I don't want you to have to sit out on behalf of me and I don't really want to use work to manipulate you Tally. I care too much about you to do that." Sarah said, reaching out for Tally's hand once again.
"So then it seems our only option is for us to completely avoid each other from tomorrow morning onwards and only interact in an official capacity. '' Tally said with a frown on her face. "This could also mean that we both end up with other people after the reel." Tally said, sipping her own wine and nearly draining the glass.
"Participation isn't mandatory right now so if at the time you decide not to dance it can't be held against you, that is one of the rules for the base celebration." Sarah said. Taking both of the now empty wine glasses and moving them over to the table behind the sofa. "So that can be a small comfort for you." the older witch siad, moving closer to Tally to pull the red head into an impromptu hug.
Tally thanked Sarah, and wrapped her own arms around the raven haired beauty. "I suppose this will be the last time I see you then until after the boys leave." Tally said, pulling away slightly but still holding onto her general, her wife. She moved one hand up from Sarah's shoulder to her chin and looked her in the eyes. A question died on the tip of her tongue. "You can kiss me." Sarah took note of what Tally was asking and gave permission for a question that remained unasked. Sarah let Tally take control and move at her own pace. Their kiss was electric and felt like nothing Tally had felt before. It was short and Tally pulled away completely with a smile and blush on her face. She was not the only person with a smile on her face, all occupants of the room currently shared matching grins.
Alder focus:
Sarah felt giddy, an emotion that she hadn't felt in the last hundred years or so. She had never been kissed with such hesitation and love before. All of her previous lovers and partners had kissed her with a sense of urgency that she would leave them, but that was not found at all in Tally. For the last few decades Sarah had only fulfilled her desires once a year on Beltane, she had grown tired of taking lovers throughout the year and when they would leave or die, she would mourn and be hurt.
But with Tally there wasn't that foreboding sense of future abandonment, or the decision to only spend one night with her, she wanted to spend every night with her, to hold her, talk to her, kiss her. She was feeling emotions she couldn't remember feeling before. It's called love Sarah, you're in love. Corrine said in her mind taking pity on the general's emotional confusion. Sarah dropped her forehead to Tally's and moved her own hands up to hold her wife's face. "Tally. I think that i'm falling in love with you" Sarah said quietly, volume wasn't needed for this conversation.
"So am I." Tally said before moving her head back and giving Sarah a last kiss on the cheek. "I will see you after Beltane Sarah." The younger witch said almost as a whisper before leaving the room. Sarah rushed to her office window and watched Tally walk through the gardens and stop to smile up at the window almost as if she could tell that Sarah was watching her.
That night Sarah fell easily into a peaceful and happy sleep, she did not dream, she hadn't dreamed since taking her first biddy. That was often one of the positive effects of the biddy bond: not a single body would dream or have nightmares and neither would Sarah. Although the next morning she almost wished she had been able to dream and see Tally sitting on the sofa, red flushing her cheeks, a smile on her face, eyes shining from the laps that lit the room.
It was with a good mood that she and the biddies made their way down to the front of the main building, after their breakfast, to greet the witch father and the male cadets. Her cadets and privates lined the stairs and the green opposite the building, all of them excited to see the male cadets, well almost all of them, there was always a few in each generation who had no interest whatsoever in men. Now that she had married she could understand this somewhat, but after spending centuries taking both male and female partners she had developed less of a preference, especially during Beltane.
All of these thoughts sitting in the back of her mind as she welcomed the witch farther and male cadets, leading them past screaming and whistling witches, excited for Beltane. Making the decision to walk past her wife and wife's unit just so she could see her momentarily. She felt a pang of sadness as she walked past Tally having to ignore her while on her trip to show the witch father and male cadets where they would be staying for the next few days during the Beltane celebrations. She knew then and there that it was going to be tough the next few days, even having the men in her presence and on the main part of base was releasing large amounts of energy, she could feel it like electricity in the air. All the influx of energy made her want to do was to search out her wife and spend every possible second with her.
Tally focus:
It felt like emotional torture for the young witch as she stood with her unit and shouted with fake enthusiasm for the boys when really she was shouting for her wife. It was even worse when Sarah walked past her and they made eye contact for all of a second. She felt the full effect of the Matrifocal Blessing once again as the male cadets passed by the girls lining the stairs, energy already filling the atmosphere.
It was a struggle to maintain a calm facade in her training session where they were being taught how to scry. She ended up having the best work in that class, she was somehow able to see all of the flags in quick succession, she would have asked Sarah what that meant but she couldn't see her so she settled for letting Libba tease her about being all charged up from seeing the boys, when in actuality she was all charged up from having kissed the head of the military the night before. She allowed the class and Anacostia to assume.
She stayed close to her unit for as much of the day as she could and when it came time to watch the boys play lacrosse on one of the fields she joined in with a laugh, getting soaked in the rain and and covered in mud courtesy of one of the boys who had decided to first with her, she would pretend to flirt back but her heart wasn't in it. Tally didn't want anyone to suspect anything so she played to assumptions.
It was these assumptions that lead to her being sent a message by the boy, Gerit Buttonwood. She supposed he was nice enough to make a friend, but she was still at this point adamant that she would be sitting out of the reel. Right now all she wanted to do was talk to Sarah, but that was impossible so she settled to giddy-ness and complaining and questioning Abigail about the Beltane celebrations, this would have to do for the week.