[Galadria]

LOL, thanks, Kaltia. Feel free to print it out.

Cythera shook her somewhat sweaty locks vigorously."Not even an imp," she reassured her,"Do you really think I would, in your house, without your permission?"
"Well," replied her friend, "since you put it that way, no."
"Anyway," the blonde wizard went on,"You know I'd want your help. But I'm getting to the end of my rope. Do you think we could ask Toth?" This was the minor demon they had questioned about Sefa's knife.
Galadria nodded in agreement. "I really can't think of anything, offhand. Perhaps we should consult him. He is, after all, an expert." Toth lived in the Second Hell.
A pleased look came over the little blonde woman's face. She had wanted to find the material component by herself, since a feat like that would have given her increased magical prowness, but she had to consider herself stumped. "Very well, then, "she said gratefully," if you'll let me just rest and freshen up a bit, can we do it after dinner?"
The dark mage again nodded. "That'll be just fine," she answered," since we're going to be husbandless, tonight."
Noemi caught this. "Attalus and Odo are gone?" she asked, alertly.
"It's just us girls," said her sister in reply.
"All right," the redhead murmured. Galadria ignored her.

After dinner, they all gathered under the dome. Candles were lit, incense burned, and the three women seated themselves on the trio of black benches that surrounded the altar of Tres, with Sefa in anxious attendance. She was very conscious of the dagger at her side. The preliminary chants were done, and Galadria summoned the demon. As before, he appeared as a yellowish figure, seemingly running very fast.
"Toth," the dark sorceress began,"there is something we would know."
"Ask, mistress," the demon agreed. He was wheezing less, Sefa thought, maybe this time it won't be so hard on him.
"Toth," the Lady commanded,"tell us if there be ought of your world nearby." The figure seemed to both sniff and peer about.
"Yes, mistress," he wailed, "there is somewhat, both below and behind you." Galadria thought. That would be her study, she realized with a start.
"Toth," she inquired," what can you tell me of it? For I know not of what you speak."
The creature appeared to be squinting through the glowing atmosphere around it, and said finally, "It is irregular, smaller on one end than the other, flat on one side curved on the other. It is hollow."
The dark mage pondered. She knew she had only time enough for one more question, for the demon had begun to scream. Then inspiration struck her. Smaractus' flask! It was sitting on the big table next to the scrying bowl.
"Toth," she asked eagerly, "did this thing once hold a being from your world?" She had no idea where the genie had come from, but the evil mage would not have used something as precious as planar material to hold anything else.
"Yes, mistress," wailed Toth, to her delight, "release me."
"Go, Toth," she said, kindlily, with a gesture of dismissal. The creature disappeared.
She turned to her fellow mages, whose faces were alight with expectation, singled out Cythera. "Cyth," she said , savoring each word."I think we've got your component."
After some excited discussion and plans for further experiments for the morrow, and sitting around the fire in conversation, they retired to their rest. As she halfway expected, about thirty minutes later Galadria sensed a familiar prescence beside her solitary bed. "Noemi?" she asked sharply.
A quick magic fire showed her sister kneeling by the bedside in her nightclothes. She looked at her imploringly. "Please, Gal," she asked urgently, "I can't get to sleep. Can I just sleep with you? Attalus isn't here. No one would know. I'd like it so much. Please, Gal, just to sleep. I didn't close my eyes last night. Please?"
"Oh, all right," the dark mage said crossly, pulling down the covers. "But just sleep, mind you."
"That's all right," said Noemi happily, jumping in besides her and quickly cuddling up. "Ooh," she purred, "thank you so much." She wriggled her head into the crook of her sister's elbow, laying it on her shoulder. She sighed in complete content. Galadria stroked her hair. It was an old gesture with them.
"Better?" she asked.
"You just can't know," the redhead responded blissfully.
A thought occured to her sister, "Em," she asked suspiciously, "You were awfully fresh and bouncy today. Did you really not get any sleep last night? You looked awfully fresh, today." A giggle from the figure clinging to her gave her the answer.
Galadria grimaced in the dark. "Noemi," she said,"I don't think you love me sexually. I think you just want a mother to snuggle with."
The redhead giggled again. "Okay, Mommy. However you want to think of it."
"I'm serious, Em." she said intently. "You say you have all these fantasies about me, but once you get here, all you really want to do is cuddle. Tell me truly. Have you ever had sex with another woman? Did Anya do anything to you?" Anya was Smaractus' vampire sister.
"I don't know what question to answer first," Noemi complained sleepily. "No, Anya never even touched me, that I remember. She was a vampire, she was just interested in my life force. No, I've never had sex with another woman. What does it matter? I love you. The only woman I would be interested in would be you."
"What matters, you silly goose," her sister said tartly," is that you're really not in love with me. You just love me, like I love you. You're just not interested in having a relationship with a man at this time, and that my physical presence comforts you. That's all."
"Gal," Noemi replied after a time. "You've been asking me all these questions about my feelings. Can I ask you a couple?"
"Shoot," laughed her sister.
"I know you're in love with Attalus, but tell me, what do you feel, deep inside, as you lie here with me?"
She was serious, so Galadria considered it. "Well, let's see..." she began.
"Besides disapproval," Noemi interjected.
Her sister smiled in the dark. "Besides that," she agreed. "Let's see. I guess foremost would be that I'm glad that you're alive and with me, not a prisoner, I mean. I guess I'm glad that you're so happy, just by snuggling with me, and that I can give you that happiness."
Noemi wriggled with joy.
"And, of course," she finished, "I'm furious with that creature for daring to do this to you. He not only hurt your body, he seems to have stolen your innocence and, I hope temporarily, damaged your ability to trust anybody but me with your feelings. I killed him once for that, and I'll keep doing it until his essence is wiped out of the universe. That's all, I think."
They were silent for a while. Finally, Noemi said "See, Gal, that's why I love you so. You always think of me. That's why Attalus, and the rest, too, are so attached to you. Even little Sefa is feeling it. We know we can trust you. You've never let us down. We know that if we're in trouble, you'll be there, by our side."
Galadria snorted. "I'm no such saint. You're my sister. I need you as much as you need me. I trust you, too, you know. I need Attalus because he fills a place for me that even you, dear heart, don't. I need my friends because it's a dangerous world, and besides, I enjoy their company, and where would I get new ones? It's too much trouble."
Noemi laughed. "Talk, talk, talk. Say what you like. I, and we, know. But, Gal, you're right, I don't trust anybody but you, and that's why I can't love anybody but you. I can foresee having sex with somebody in the future, but never trusting them. That's why I said I loved you that way, because I thought that, that way, I wouldn't have to worry about loving or trusting anyone but you. Oh, I'm confused," she sighed. "But if I'm not in love with you, I don't know what else to call it. I think about you all the time. I'm so happy when I'm with you, and especially like this. I do have dreams about us...that you wouldn't like. But you're right. I'm here, with you, like I wanted so to be back when he had me. "
Galadria's eyes stung with sudden tears. She felt a sudden rush of pity and love for this little creature huddling against her. But Noemi was going on "...and I don't feel any desire to ...like start touching you, trying to seduce you. I think, if I was with someone I was lusting after, in bed, I'd start tickling, and touching... you know. But with you, all I want to do is lie here, still, and to not do anything that would make you want me to leave."
"Silly," her sister replied, "you don't have to be afraid of that. I wouldn't make you leave even if you did those things. I'd just tell you to stop. I know you, you would. I love you, and since you're so happy, I'd have no desire to send you back into the cold night."
"I guess I really knew that," the redhead responded, "but I still wouldn't take the chance. You might get mad at me, like you did today."
Galadria grabbed her ear between thumb and forefinger lightly and tweaked it. "Em, she said sternly, "I was annoyed with you today because you were whining and being lazy. That's not like you. I just gave you a push to get you going. I haven't been really angry at you since I can't remember when. I think that you were pestering me because I was busy, and you were trying to get attention. Wasn't that it?"
In answer, Noemi giggled again. "Maybe," she confessed."you were so engrossed in your lists and stuff, and I wanted you to talk to me. I felt lonesome. And if I wanted your attention, "she added ruefully, "I got it.I hope you're satisfied. My buttock has a blister on it."
Galadria smiled. "And if you act like that tomorrow, I'll decorate the other in the same way. Probably scar you for life." He mind went in another direction."So, you say I'm the only one you trust?"
"Uh, huh," Noemi was getting sleepy again. "Completely. Absolutely. After you rescued me when the only hope I had was you, I wasn't so much surprised as happy that something good I knew was coming had finally happened. I never despaired, even when my mind, or maybe someone else's, was telling me that there was no way out, that I might as well kill myself."
The dark mage suddenly understood something. "So that was why you were so mad at me sending Morgul north with Lilyblack. You thought he would cheat on you while he was gone, and you thought I had betrayed your trust."
Noemi nodded, brushing her hand through her sister's black hair. "I guess so, but I didn't think of it like that, then. I thought I was just mad at you for sending him off, but you're right, I did think that you had betrayed me. I wasn't reasoning too well, then."
Another pause ensued, and Galadria had begun to think that she had gone to sleep, but after a while her voice came back. "Gal," she said wonderingly,"how can you figure out things like that? I mean, you and I are the same age, and you've only been with one man, right?"
The dark sorceress agreed. "Attalus," she said firmly.
"Right," replied Noemi,"so how can you figure out hard stuff like that?"
Galadria laughed to herself. "I don't know, Em, sometimes things just seem very clear to me."
Somewhere in the celestial realms, her goddess Tres smiled.