"Eat up everyone," Jazz told everybody in the den once they had a piece of the chocolate pudding cake. The cake was actually vanilla, but the pudding was indeed chocolate and also homemade and not from a mix. Nadia knew from her first bite that she was in love as the cake was nice and moist, and the pudding was rich, chocolatey and creamy. The the chocolate pudding and the vanilla cake went well together, which made it a perfect combination to be mixed together to form an exquisite masterpiece.
"Wow! This is really spectacular," Nadia said once she was about halfway through her piece.
"Now you know why it's one of my favorites," Aeon said with a wink. "The combination of vanilla cake and chocolate pudding makes this a treat that is hard to resist, especially since the pudding is homemade and not from a mix."
"Dinner was really good by the way and I forgot to thank you, though you didn't need to be go to so much trouble just because," Nadia said,
"It was no trouble I promise," Jazz said smiling. "I enjoy cooking, not just baking and Dave helped so that made it much easier."
"You have another winner here," Shonda told her best friend. "If you don't sell this in your bakery you need to, as you would sell out in no time and make a fortune too."
"We've had a lot of rather spectacular desserts over the centuries, but you never cease to amaze me all the same," Dave said. "I know we've had it before, but it's been awhile, as I don't think you've made it since the last time Aeon was home."
"Which was a couple of decades ago," Jazz said, giving her son a hard look, that was part scolding, part understanding.
"Look, I'm sorry for not visiting, so are you ever gonna forgive me for not visiting over the last couple of decades," Aeon asked his mother with puppy dog eyes, which was designed to make her forgive him.
"All right, fine," Jazz said in an irritated tone rolling her eyes. "I don't know how you can resist those puppy dog eyes."
"I certainly have trouble not forgiving one of my children when they give me the puppy eyes," Shonda said sympathizing with Jazz.
"You're not the only one," Dave spoke up and Aaron nodded in complete agreement.
Nadia was fascinated by the interaction between everyone and she knew she'd really enjoy being part of Aeon's family and would have plenty of time to get to know all of them better.
"I know there are a lot of talented bakers in the world, which is where you get a lot of your recipes, but you do improve on them a lot of times. Thanks to your magic and also messing around with ingredients. You take a recipe out of a cookbook and create your own."
"It's not like I don't have infinite time to do whatever I like, and I have to keep myself busy someway," Jazz shrugged modestly.
"True you do," Aaron agreed as he finished his piece of cake.
"We all have various ways to keep ourselves occupied," Shonda noted, as she licked her spoon so it was clean of the chocolate pudding that had been inside the cake.
"Especially when we don't have any children at the time to raise," Dave agreed, as he put his plate aside.
"I have a question," Nadia said.
"You're welcome to ask us anything you want, and we'll answer," Jazz said, and the other three nodded in agreement.
"Did you know Aeon's name meant eternity when you named him?" Nadia asked and all five people in the room looked surprised, including Aeon. "Aeon explained that you more then likely knew the meaning when you named him but still, I was curious if he was right or not," Nadia explained. "He said that you had used all the more normal names long before he was born."
"Aeon was absolutely right, Dave and I did know the meaning of his name before we gave it to him when he was born," Jazz said.
"I have to admit, it's a rather ironic name, considering that we're basically immortal," Dave said with laughter in his dark eyes.
"Most no one will ever know how ironic it is though," Shonda noted with laughter in her green eyes.
"True they won't," Aaron said smiling.
"And if you think Aeon is ironic think of Ambrose, which is what we named another one of our son's, though he's much older than Aeon is."
"Why is Ambrose so ironic?" Nadia wanted to know not realizing how old fashioned that name was, especially in the states or that it meant immortal.
"Because not only is it an extremely old-fashioned name, especially in the century he was born, it also means immortal," Jazz revealed. "My son has complained that there's no decent nicknames for it on more than one occasion."
"True, he has," Dave agreed. "I'll have to tell you the story sometime of why we decided on that particular name for one of our children, but it's getting late and it would take far too long to explain properly."
"I'm really looking forward to hearing it," Nadia said truly meaning her words.
"Oh, you'll learn all our history at some point," Aeon said as he took Nadia's hand, "but we probably need to contact your father to tell him that we've arrived safely so he doesn't worry about you."
"My father is chieftain of the Medjai, and while I did live in Alexandria with my husband, I've never been out of Egypt before so he's worried about me," Nadia explained to everyone.
"I'm assuming he loves you so of course, he worried about you," Jazz commented.
"He does love his daughter, in fact, all his children, very much, though Nadia is the only girl and the rest are sons," Aeon said. "Whenever we get around to getting married, we'll be having the wedding in Egypt, so that Nasir and Nadia's brothers can attend."
"And your mother?" Shonda asked.
"Oh, she died years ago and I still miss her to this day," Nadia said. "Desert life is hard and living with no electricity or modern conveniences can make it harder. I got kind of spoiled living in Alexandria, but I went back home after Azim was murdered, just to get myself together. While technically, my father no longer has control over what I do since I am a widow he still worries about me."
"Technically, you're still considered under your father's guardianship until you marry, at least, for the women," Aeon explained. "The Medjai society is an ancient one, but they're also very set in their ways. The women who are born into the Medjai can't be warriors, and I can understand their point of view on that subject."
"I understand that point of view too," Dave said, "as the women are essential for continuing and producing new Medjai warriors."
"It doesn't sound very equal," Shonda noted.
"You have to remember it's a different culture from how you were raised Aunt Shonda," Aeon, said. "It's the way they have survived. That's not to say, that some Medjai don't marry others who aren't part of the tribe, because they do, Nadia being a case in point, because Azim, from what I know about him, was not Medjai."
"It's good to diversify your blood, as you don't want to cause inbreeding," Aaron commented. "It's good to know that your tribe isn't so stuck in their thinking that they insist that Medjai only marry others that are part of the tribe."
"Which is why my father didn't protest too much when I married Azim once he made sure that he actually loved me that is and wasn't trying to just scam me," Nadia said.
"Its clear your father loves you very much and the same can't be said for a lot of parents," Aaron said.
"But I'm certainly glad that you're no longer attached, even if I know that you still miss your husband and you should," Dave added.
"I was definitely glad when I found that out," Aeon said smiling.
"I certainly would be," Shonda said.
"They tend to marry young, the Medjai I mean, even in this century, so it's not really surprising that Nadia was married before," Aeon explained. "The younger you marry, the more chance you have of not dying in childbirth, as they live nowhere near a modern hospital and most don't even think about staying somewhere like Cairo when they're close to giving birth."
"Which is why it's best for females to marry young if it all possible," Nadia said. "Now plenty of older woman survived giving birth, but still, it's just better to have your children before you hit 40."
"It was bound to happen where one of the mates to one of our children had a husband or wife, and we're lucky it's only happened twice," Jazz said.
"At least so far," Aaron agreed, "and once was with my daughter Minerva."
"I believe Aeon mentioned something about that," Nadia said, "how it had happened only once that one of the mate to your children had been married before, but had since died."
"We've been lucky at least so far," Dave said, "that such a thing hasn't happened more often. We're bound to get to the point to where the spouse is still alive.
"And what will you do if that happens?" Nadia wanted to know. "From the way, I understand it the mate for immortal is basically all important, so you're bound to have some plans on what to do if and when that happens."
"We actually don't," Jazz answered look at the other three in the room.
"We just have to hope it never happens," Shonda added.
"It would entirely depend on what the situation was at the time," Dave said.
"We wouldn't kill them just so you know, as we don't do that unless we have absolutely no choice," Jazz added. "Besides, that would likely mean that whoever it was, wouldn't want anything to do with the child in question."
They all continued to chat before Aeon, and Nadia bid them goodbye in order to go to the hotel they were staying in.
"Welcome to the family Nadia," Dave said kissing her cheek in a fatherly gesture of affection.
"Thank you," Nadia said smiling. "I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you better, but Aeon right and we need to contact my father, let him know we are doing well."
"We'll let you know how things are going, and when the wedding will be, though that might not be for awhile," Aeon said, as he had escorted Nadia towards the entrance hall.
"You just let us know when and we'll be there," Jazz said, and everybody else nodded in agreement.
"Absolutely," Shonda agreed, and the men simply smiled and nodded.
"We'll probably have to leave out most of the family has the Medjai will be there and I wouldn't want any incidents," Aeon said.
"We'll work something out," Nadia said.
"The problem with being immortal honey, is the fact that they never have to stop having children, so I have more siblings than I know what to do with, even if I call them my cousins when around those not in the know," Aeon explained to Nadia.
"Yeah, you said something about that when I found out you weren't exactly like normal men," Nadia said, as the two left.
~~~Aeon and Nadia~~~
"Well, that was rather interesting," Aaron commented.
"Yes, it was," Dave agreed.
"It was certainly a bonus that Nadia's father Nasir already knew about immortality, and I'm sure Aeon had him help explain it to his daughter," Shonda said.
"That's very likely actually," Jazz said. "It's clear to me that Nadia loves her father very much, and so she would trust him to be truthful with her and not pull some kind of prank."
"There are a warrior culture, so I doubt very much that they do pranks," Dave said. "You all know I traveled the world long before I met Jazz and those that have such an upbringing tend to be more serious and so they aren't likely to have the mentality of pranksters. Those that cause trouble are probably told to leave, as I'm sure they have some just like any other society does."
"That these Medjai have been around for thousands of years is pretty amazing," Shonda commented. "From what was said they're basically unknown to modern society. You heard that they live in a hidden village that has none of the modern conveniences we enjoy today, no electricity or anything that would run off it. I doubt they have solar power, which some people do in order to avoid a big electric bill, but I would doubt the Medjai went that route.
"That is not a way to live that I would deliberately choose," Jazz said shuddering at that possibility.
"That's because you were born after it was common, but I've lived like that, as I was born back in the dark ages if you remember and I still prefer my life now with all these modern gadgets and conveniences," Dave commented, kissing his wife's cheek.
"I was born before electricity existed too, but I wasn't as old as you were when it finally became more economical than candles or gaslight," Aaron added. "I agree with Dave's comment about how I prefer my life now that electricity is part of every day life, but I suppose if you've lived without modern conveniences for thousands of years, you're used to it. You simply don't know what you're missing."
"That's true," Jazz said. "I'm sure some people do leave the tribe as the allure of Cairo or some other modern metropolis would be strong, I'm sure. Just look at Nadia, she lived in Alexandria for awhile, but went home after her husband was murdered. I'm sure she's not the only one."
"I'm sure she had trouble readjusting to having no electricity or any modern conveniences, even though she grew up there," Dave said.
"Likely true," Shonda agreed. "I'm looking forward to knowing her better and at least Aeon is finally going to be around more if he's really going to show Nadia the world and not just Egypt. Remember, Nadia admitted that she'd never lived anywhere, but in her home country that she'd always wanted to see places she'd read or heard about."
"Well, she's certainly gonna have a chance now that she and my son are together," Dave said his eyes twinkling, smiling brilliantly. "That our family just keeps expanding makes me very happy and the fact, that Nadia grew up without a lot of possessions just means that she's honest and truthful. Warrior cultures tend not to go for a lot of frills, as they're usually simple and basic. They gather their own food, sew their own clothes, that kind of thing."
"She's in for major cultural shock," Jazz commented. "She's gonna be experiencing things that she never has before, even if she did live in Alexandria for a few years. I doubt she went many places without her husband. She might've lived in a house with electricity so she knows what it is, but I doubt she was used to it as it sounds like her husband was murdered after only a few years of marriage. That they didn't have any children yet says a lot."
"It says that they probably wanted to wait at least a couple of years to have any," Shonda said. "It might've been more years than that for all we know. It's also possible that Nadia had trouble getting pregnant like some women do, even in this day and age. If that's the case, I doubt very much that they ever went to a doctor as she doesn't seem like the type."
"That's true, she doesn't," Jazz said. "She might not realize that it might have been an actual medical issue, which turning her immortal should clear up."
"True, it should," Dave said. "We'll just have to wait and see."
"There's no point speculating, as it's none of our business and we also might be totally wrong," Aaron said.
"We might be partially wrong, but I doubt we're totally off in left field," Shonda told her husband. "If we didn't have so much experience with human nature than maybe we'd be totally off the mark, but we do. However, you're also right there's no point of speculating."
"You're right, we're probably at least partially correct, but there's still no point speculating," Aaron said, kissing Shonda's cheek.
"At least we didn't have to go through our usual spiral of telling someone about immortality and magic if only because the tribe Nadia comes from have fought a great evil in the past," Jazz said said. "There are many supernatural forces in this world, and I do understand why Aeon has basically moved to Egypt, as while they've advanced like the rest of the world, there are still some aspects of the country that are probably like an alternate reality," Dave said.
"I'm glad Aeon was able to help the Medjai chieftain's granddaughter get better and that he's been such a help to them, even if we didn't know before today that Nadia's ancestors have known about magic for generations," Jazz said.
"And at least the chief of the tribe knew about immortality, so he was able to support Aeon when Nadia was told," Shonda added.
"True and it's a good position for people like us to be in," Dave said. "I'm looking forward to meeting Nadia's father at their wedding."
"I believe we all are," Aaron said looking around at the three remaining people in the house.
Everybody continued to talk for a few minutes before Shonda and Aaron headed home.
~~~Aeon and Nadia~~~