[Galadria]

All right, this is now in its proper place. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Galadria quietly opened the door to Noemi's room, and found her lying on the bed, sobbing vigorously into the pillow. She sat on the edge of the bed, and ran her fingers through her sister's crimson locks. She noted, for the first time.how sparse the room was. Except for a picture of herself and Galadria, she had left everything bare. For a moment she grieved, in a strange way. Then, Noemi, to her surprise, burrowed her head in the pillow more deeply. "Go away," she said with a muffled fierce voice.
Puzzling a little, she rose as if to leave, only to have her wrist grabbed in a fierce grip. A ray of hope came into her heart. This was indeed like the old days. This was not "sad , depressed Noemi." This was mad Noemi. The redhead, tousled, pulled her flushed face from the pillow and glared at her.
"Gal," she said angrily, "You embarrassed me in front of everybody!"
The dark mage allowed herself an amused smile. "Em," she answered reasonably, "what was I supposed to do? You interrupted me, sabotagued a teaching opportunity, and ended what promised to be an interesting discussion, not to speak of ruining everybody's evening and running my apprentice off. Yes," she said, nodding, in reply to an inquiring look from her sister, "He's gone. For good, I'd say. I let him leave freely."
To Galadria's indignation, Noemi nodded in satisfaction. "He's gone, eh? I thought so, maybe," she stated flatly. "Good."
Her sister grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her , roughly. "Em, what are you saying? You were lovers. Is this your way of discarding him?" she cried incredulously.
Noemi's head bobbed in the fierceness of the shake. "Careful," she said with a grin and a chuckle, "you'll scramble my brains."
"What brains?" demanded Galadria. "You deliberately drove off my apprentice on the eve of an expedition, just because you aren't in love with him anymore? When did you come to this ...decision?"
Noemi extricated herself from her outraged sister's grasp and sat, crosslegged on the bed, with a strange little smile on her face. "Well., now, I'll tell you, Gal" she said placidly, even proudly. "It was the other night. You know, the one I spent with you and Attalus, You remember, I was cuddled up to you, feeling your warmth, smelling your perfume..."
"I don't wear perfume," Galadria objected..
"Your scent is perfume," Noemi went on dreamily. "I had my arm across you, under your breasts."
"Noemi," said her sister uneasily,"what are you getting at?"
"Why, it's simple, sister dear," the redhead answered."I was lying there, marveling how different everything was than the night before, and I didn't think your little pep talk was all of it. I felt good. So safe, so comfortable, not having bad thoughts, but just relaxing there, drowsy. It never had been like that with Morgul, or even close. Then it hit me. I never felt like that with Morgul, because I wasn't in love with him. That was just my body. What my soul, or whatever the rest of me wanted was...you."
"Me?" Galadria gasped."But I'm your sister. And we're both women."
Noemi shook her head. "Doesn't matter. I'm in love with you. I can't be happy without you.You're the only thing that matters."
The dark enchanter was scandalized. "Noemi, how am I supposed to respond to that? I'm married, to a man that I love. Do you expect me to kick him out, break his heart? Live together to become two old incestrous lesbians?"
Noemi laughed at that. She was, Galadria marveled, perfectly serene for the first time in she didn't know when. She shook her ruddy head. "No, dear Gal, I don't expect anything like that. I love Attalus, too, and I think he loves me. I wouldn't do anything to hurt him. No, I'll be content just to live at your home. Our home." she corrected. "I won't say I wouldn't like to make love with you, but I like men, too. I won't be celibate. I just won't, can't, love them like I love you. So," she concluded," I know you won't get rid of me, 'cause you love me, too. I'll just stay here, and take part in your life, and I'll love you. You can't stop me, mighty sorceress though you are, even if you kill me. So there, Lady Galadria, what do you think of that?" she finished with a flourish and a toss of her flaming hair.
Her sister took a deep breath. "Well, Em, I'm not sure what to say. I still think that this is some misplaced gratitude, combined with the fact that you have become suspicious of men's motivations since ...your imprisonment." She had a sudden thought. "Em, we've never talked about it, but Morgul said something the other night that's got me thinking.When you were his prisoner, did Smaractus rape you?
Noemi made a face. "Oh, yeah," she said matter-of factly," every once in a while, at night. The last thing he would do after torturing me. Worst thing about it, he'd say things that were supposed to make me think he liked me, even cared about me. But I knew all the time, he was just fattening me like a prize cow, for slaughter, and using me for his own pleasure, in the meantime." She shuddered at the memory. "Believe me, he did far worse things."
Galadria looked grim. "Doubtless. Em, were you a virgin?"
Noemi looked evasive. "Maybe."
Her sister shook her head, engulfed in a flood of pity and rage. "No wonder you have a problem with men," she said bitterly. .
The redhead shrugged. "Not all men. But you know what I thought about, while Smaractus was doing his little act?"
Galadria was not sure she wanted to hear the answer, but she asked anyway. " What, Em?" she whispered.
"You, of course." She grinned. "Not us having sex, not at first, but it became that. It went from 'Gal's coming to save me' to 'It's Gal making love to me, not this degenerate.' It helped," she finished.
"Well, I'm glad something helped," Galadria began to reply slowly, but Noemi cut her off.
"No, Gal, hear me out," she demanded. "I may never get to say these things, again, and I want to...I've got to." Galadria nodded unenthusiastically. She went on, "Do you know what I felt like when, that last day, my cell door opened, and I was steeling myself for another day's pain? I was repeating my chant, 'Gal's coming to save me,' and I opened my eyes, and instead of Smaractus it was you. I thought I was dreaming, or insane. Nothing good had happened in so long, I was afraid to believe it, at first. But it was you, and Attalus behind you. I know he says I was babbling, but I remember, so clearly, what you said. You said, 'Em, baby, it's me, Galadria.' You looked so worried. I think I was just incoherent with joy. It just burst inside of me. I couldn't say anything, then, and we had so much to do, that I never got around to thinking it through.
"After we bought the house, I had a fling with that artist, and then Morgul. But I just wasn't happy. Things weren't right. I made love to them, but it wasn't fun, not like I thought it should be. Then, like I said, you let me sleep with you that night, and everything just clicked into place. I felt like I did back when we were girls, sleeping together. No nightmares. No trouble getting to sleep or waking up early, reliving the bad times. I knew that I didn't love Morgul, I loved you. The minute I realised that, I went right to sleep, and I resolved the next day that I would be real mean to Morgul so that he would leave, and he'd stop looking at me with hurt puppy dog eyes. I knew you wouldn't stop him. And then I would be free to just love you." She closed, and nodded to her sister, a happy grin on her face.
Galadria, stunned by these revelations, shook her head incredulously. "Em," she said carefully," you know I can't be your lover, but I'll never make you leave... I can't help your feelings, but I know mine. I love you, but I'm in love with Attalus."
"I told you, that's all right with me. I'll be having breakfast with you, even if I'm not the one sleeping with you. Even then," she added impishly," maybe I'll manage to sleep with you every once in a while, like the other night, you know, just sleep."
"Well, that'll better have been good, because its going to be a long time before it happens again." Galadria rose from the bed. "Now wash your face and come back upstairs. They're all worried about you. Odo thinks you're going mad."
Noemi jumped up and dived her hands into the washbasin. "Dear Odo," she mused, "If he only knew." Galadria heard her singing as she closed the door. Despite it all, she was somehow relieved.