Larka smiled as she sat in the water, it was just up to her waist where she was sitting so it wasn’t deep enough to even make her legs float. The water was warm and, thankfully, she had managed to get her oversize parasol in place stuck in place such that it gave her a shady spot to sit in.

Two separate giggles peeled into the sunny sky as the toddlers that were playing in the water around her splashed about. Larka laughed as well when some water was splashed her way as she watched her two youngest play. Celeste had brought them some toys for the water and beach and they were loving them. ”Lilly, share please, Conner don’t just grab for toys, ask nicely.” Larka spoke in her mommy voice to the one and a half year old twins.

Both twins were just wearing their diapers while Larka had on some pants she had cut down to shorts for the beach and a simple top that she had cut into a sleeveless top. Just sitting on the shore under the shade of a tree was a large wolf with dark yellow patched into her fur, while some other… creature sat closer to Larka. The strange beast was a mix of a few other beasts complete with large antlers on his head. Larka’s familiar and the wolf a companion from when she was a puppy.

Larka reached over with her right hand and grabbed a toy that wasn’t being used before it floated off out of reach. A splash behind Larka made her glance behind her to see Kyu, her wolf, pad into the water and sit just a little deeper in, to help keep the twins from going further into the water.

It had been a very interesting year and a half since the twins were born but things had calmed down and Celeste and Larka were enjoying life never before. They finally had the family they wanted, with the twins and of course their adopted daughter Akira, who wasn’t as small as she used to be thanks to mishaps. She was off exploring as normal, but Larka was hoping she would be come home for a few days soon, Larka missed Akira when she was away and she was great with the twins and they loved her in turn.

But in the here and now, with Celeste out making some coin, Larka was playing housewife today, the couple took turns now and then on who was bringing in money to keep them supported. Lilly and Conner were playing nice together, she had Kyu and Tsar here to help to keep an eye on things. But the Lake, being so close to Sularia, they were perfectly safe here barring some huge ordeal. Larka still had her sword with her of course, she never left the house without it for protection, never could be too careful. It was in its sheath, in plain view, but out of reach of the twins, and more than a few times they had had their hands rapped, gently of course, for trying to touch in. In time in the couple would teach them how to use a sword of either Larka’s kind or Celeste’s, if they wanted to learn of course.

It was just a perfectly peaceful afternoon.

She had to get out of that city, Sirona was just not comfortable in Sularia. It wasn’t that the city was populated primarily by females, it was that everything seemed to be sexual in some way. That wasn’t to say that it was, but with Sirona just saw it that way because that kind of thing made her uncomfortable. Deciding to go and see the Lake area she had flown over maze, not wanting to deal with it, and was now walking casually along the beach.

As always Sirona was in her full armour, sword and shield at her side, but she did have the hood of her armour down. That left her raven black hair lose around her face, and in the afternoon sunlight her blue eyes still glowed, white wings almost blinding in their purity of colour. The angel had to admit, the Lake was beautiful and the water looked inviting, but this wasn’t a very private place and she didn’t want anyone to see her outside of her armour.

As she walked along Sirona spotted the large parasol before she could the squealing laughter of young children from behind it. Still a ways off Sirona didn’t realize that she was walking closer towards it, it had been a long time since she had any kind of interaction with children. However before she could see around the parasol a large…. Creature with antlers poked its head from around it and snorted at her. The angel stopped, what was that thing?!

That snort apparently was to catch the attention of someone else behind the parasol as a human woman poked her head from around it and eyed the angel. Sirona blushed and bowed. ”I, I’m sorry to disturb you, miss, I didn’t mean anything by it. I’ll be on my way.” Sirona bowed again and turned to leave but the woman called out to her, asking why she had been coming closer. Sirona stopped and turned to see that the woman had moved the parasol aside.

That allowed the angel to see that there were two little ones splashing in the water near the woman, who Sirona had to assume was their mother. Along with the antlered beast and a large wolf! The woman didn’t have a lot of clothing covering her, enough to be modest, more or less. What Sirona noticed right away, of course, was that the woman also only had one arm, she looked fit and healthy despite this. She had to be warrior of some kind at one point but perhaps had settled to have a family, which was admirable in Sirona’s eyes. She wondered where the woman’s husband was. ”Oh, uh, I heard your little ones and was curious was all. I don’t get to, uh, how do I say this without sounding weird…” Sirona pondered, but the woman spoke up first.

Larka was keeping an eye on the twins when she noticed Tsar look at some behind her and snort. She watched him for a moment before leaning to the side and looking behind her as well, to see the woman in the armour standing a short distance away looking in their direction. As the woman spoke her apology, Larka was eyeing her up. Armed with a sword and shield, and her armour looked well fashioned and tailored for her body. A body that Larka had easily noticed the two large white wings attached to it. An angel, a being that Larka had never seen before. She was gorgeous, Larka would freely admit, well proportioned and everything. Larka liked what she saw, a lot, and she knew that Celeste would like her as well. The facial tattoos and glowing blue eyes just added to her over all beauty.

She started to leave but Larka smiled and called out, not sensing any threat from the angel, and since Tsar wasn’t trying to gore her with his antlers Larka took that as a good sign as well. ”Wait, I’d like to ask. Why were you coming closer if you meant not to disturb us?” Larka asked and watched the angel stop and turn around(Larka would have liked to see have see better the angel’s backside but the wings got in the way). Larka moved the parasol out of the way so that she wasn’t hiding anything and waited for the angel’s answer.

The angel gave an awkward start to an answer, she was trying not to sound creepy. Considering she had been walking up behind a mother and her children, trying not to sound creepy was going to be hard. Larka smiled as the angel was at a loss for words so decided to be nice and help her out. ”Don’t worry about it, please, come closer if you wish, I can introduce you.” Larka smiled and waved the angel closer. At her hesitation the human chuckled. ”Yes, I’m sure, come, sit. I have a good sense for people, I can tell you meant no harm, only curious. Besides, if you had meant hard, my friends here wouldn’t have given you a chance to get as close as you did.” Larka reached out and scratched Kyu’s head as the wolf watched the angel.

As she came closer and stopped at the edge of the water, which was only a few feet in truth from where Larka, the tall human made introductions. ”I am Larka, this is Lilly and Conner, she’s Kyu and that’s Tsar. Before you ask, he’s my familiar, and he’s overly protective.” She grinned as the angel introduced herself.

Sirona was surprised when she was invited closer, but the woman said that she was sure, reading Sirona’s face easily. That and she did say that he two animal companions wouldn’t have allowed Sirona to get as close as she did if either of them thought she had been a threat. That wolf didn’t look like a normal timber or grey wolf, the fur was nearly blue in hue and it had yellow patched in. Plus she had no idea what the antlered beast was or how it would fight, so Sirona was rather thankful she didn’t have to fight them together. And, now that she was a bit closer she wasn’t blind to the fact that the woman had a sword sitting next to her as well in a sheath just under the water. Within easy reach of her, out of reach of her children and not easily spotted unless you were close like Sirona was now.

The angel stopped at the edge of the water, not wanting to get in with her armour on and she watched the woman turn a bit to better face her. She introduced herself, her twins and the two beasts, quickly explaining in short what Tsar was, a familiar, so it wasn’t a natural creature of these lands then? Sirona would have to ask more later. She smiled though in turn and bowed her head to Larka. ”A pleasure to meet you all, I am Sirona.” She introduced. ”I wanted to get out of the city so I came out for a walk along the shore, I heard their laughter and saw your parasol and was curious. Again, I’m sorry for bothering you.” Larka waved it off with a short explanation and then asked of Sirona. ”I’m new to these lands, I come from Onnen. I wanted to explore these lands, well, new to us anyway, and meet the Gods if I can.” She didn’t want to go into detail on why the latter was true at the moment, perhaps another time, instead, Sirona wanted to change the topic for a moment.

Sirona smiled to the two children who were eying the new stranger in turn, she looked to Larka. ”You have beautiful children, Larka, if I may say. How old are they?” Larka answered a year and a half and the angel nodded. ”You and your husband must be proud.” A look came across Larka’s face and the angel frowned. ”I’m sorry, did I misspeak?” Oh no, perhaps her husband was dead? Did she lose her arm protecting their family and he lost his life?

Sirona, that was a pretty name, Larka was liking this angel more and more as time went on. She explained why she was out at the Lake and then apologized again, Larka grinned and waved her hand slightly. ”Don’t worry, truthfully you aren’t the first and it’s not like this is a private lake either. Besides I like when the twins meet new people, they made strange for a while around new people but have gotten better as they meet more and more. But, to tell the truth, I have never met an angel in all my life, so it’s my first time meeting one same as theirs’. Tell me, Sirona, where do you hail from?” Larka asked curiously.

From Onnen? She was a long way from home then, and Larka had to wonder why they had angels where as she had never seen one in any of the lands she had been to in her life. Sirona also wanted to meet the Gods if she could, which kind of made sense to Larka given that Sirona was an angel. But Sirona changed the topic, something Larka wasn’t blind to. ”Year and a half.” Larka replied with a smile, but that smile faded for a moment when Sirona mentioned Larka’s ‘husband’ and her must be proud.

Sirona spoke but then Larka’s face twisted into a bit of amusement, not the first time someone had assumed Larka had a male partner. She did have two babies of course, so the assumption was an easy one to make. ”No no, you didn’t misspeak, Sirona. That assumption is easy to make, I can explain, please, have a seat if you like.” Larka said quickly to ease the angel.

Larka stood up, showing that she had much taller than the angel was, even though Sirona was wearing her armour and Larka was barefoot. Larka called up some of her earth magic and formed a chair out of the sand for Sirona to sit on if she wished while Larka made one for herself and took a seat. Looking to the water she waved her hand in a few motions and the sand rose up in a short wall just where her twins were to keep them from wondering any deeper. She knew that Kyu and Tsar would help keep an eye on them to but this would give them a little peace of mind.

Satisfied Larka looked back to Sirona with an amused grin. ”That magic has come in really since they were born. Anyway. Thank you, they are beautiful, and my wife and I are very proud.” Larka chuckled as she watched Sirona’s brows raise. But Larka only assumed it was the normal confusion people had; how did she give birth to twins when she was married to another woman? She didn’t see the rest of it. ”My wife, Celeste, and I are friends with the Goddess of Life and Love, Angela. Through a series of events I’d rather not get into at the moment, Angela was the one that allowed this to happen. She took part of Celeste and part of me, used her Divine power to combine them into life and placed that life into me. So they are still half me and half Celeste and I carried them for nine months like normal.” Larka been watching Sirona the whole time, watching her face, and something now caught Larka’s attention in the way Sirona had been reacting. She decided to test something. ”We do have an adopted daughter, Akira, as well who’s a bit older than the twins, she’s old enough to wonder on her though, it’s how we met before Celeste and I adopted her. She’s a foxling if you ever see her around. Celeste and I have been married for nearly twelves years now.” There, Larka saw it, a slight twitch in Sirona’s smile when she mentioned that Celeste and her were married. She wasn’t doing a good job keeping the slight disgust from her face either. ”Something wrong, Sirona?” Larka aske evenly, guessing where this might go to.

Assumption? Sirona had a look of confusion on her face, until Larka stood up out of the water. She was tall! Sirona thought that she was tall for a female but Larka that much taller than she was! Sirona and more and more getting the idea that, should she want to, Larka would be one hell of a fighter if given good reason. And there two were very good reasons playing in the water. She watched as Larka used some magic to create them some seats and Sirona say on the sandy chair watching as Larka made the barrier so that her twins didn’t go further out.

Larka looked back to her with a grin and Sirona listened as Larka spoke. Wife?! Sirona’s brows raised in question. She had two, the one Larka answered right away, how, then, did she had her wife have children. The Goddess of Life and Love herself had blessed them with the twins, making Larka pregnant and she carried them for the nine months like normal. They had also adopted a daughter named Akira, a foxling, but she wasn’t around at the moment, and Sirona had to guess that Celeste was either at home or in the city.

Sirona had been smiling through out, but at the mention that they had been married for twelve years Sirona twitched slightly, something that Larka caught. Larka called Sirona out on it and the angel had to take a moment to compose her thoughts. ”It’s great to know that you’re happy, Larka, it’s just, have you ever tried to not be lesbian?” Sirona asked, fully exposing how her mind set for such things ran in one sentence. ”I mean, it’s your choice if you want to live that way. I guess I’m just curious to know why you decided on that lifestyle instead of being with a male?” Sirona asked and glanced at the twins as well before looking back to Larka, who wasn’t looking as happy as she had been before hand. Sirona really was homophobic, and what she said was what she thought. Sexual talk did make her uncomfortable, as was this conversation, but she felt the need to talk about it regardless to, what in her mind was a good thing, maybe change Larka’s thinking.

Right away when Sirona started to talk Larka knew what was coming, she was homophobic and had no idea what she was talking about. Larka just leaned back in her chair, tempted to drop Sirona’s out from under her, and allowed the angel to say her piece before Larka would fill her in on what she talking about.

”Are you finished?” Larka questioned but didn’t give Sirona a chance to reply to that. ”Good, now, let me fill you in on a few things.” This wasn’t the first time she had dealt with this kind of thinking. Back when she had first discovered herself sexually her own grandfather had been silently against the whole thing. But had come around once he saw how happy Larka was with her first wife, Lilith.

”I’m not trying to be a lesiba, I am a lesbian. I have way in my past tried with a male and it wasn’t anything I enjoyed. I got enticed by another woman not too long after that and found out that, no, I didn’t like males in that way, I liked women. I was born who I was and who I am now, as far sexuality goes, I just had to find out is all.” Larka explained, Sirona was about to speak but Larka put her hand up. ”I’m not done. Now, I love Celeste dearly, and she has helped me through some of the worst parts of my life, if it wasn’t for her I’d be still a drunken mercenary who spends her nights trying to get any woman she could into bed. I was living like that because half a lifetime ago I was married once before, and my wife and I then adopted twins. I lost my arm defending us all from orcs, who slaughtered my family and left me for dead. I’d be dead because of the bottle or my own reckless nature by now if it wasn’t for Celeste and her love for me, and more recently I helped her through tough times. Because we love each other.”

Larka took a breath but still wouldn’t let Sirona get a word in. ”Also, what damned business is it of yours to talk to me as you did about the way I live my life? How does how I live my life affect you in any way? The answer is is that it doesn’t, until just that moment you found out I was married to another woman you were perfectly happy to talk with me. Now you look like I just caught you with your hand in a cookie jar.” Not the analogy Larka would have used in the past but she was watching what she was saying with the twins within ear shot. ”I don’t go around criticizing people for being straight because who they are attracted to makes no difference to me or my life whatsoever.”

Again Larka took a breath and Sirona tried to interject but again Larka cut her off. ”Shut up. I saw you look at my kids after you spoke me like you did. So if you dare have in your mind to think that we can’t raise them properly because there’s no male in our house, you’re damn wrong. Celeste and I can raise them as well as straight couple or gay male couple.” At the mention of two men together Larka thought the angel was about to gag. ”If Conner grows up to like other men, fine, and if Lilly grows up to like boys to, fine. Whatever their choice of partner is they’re going to have my full support and Celeste’s. Because love is irrational in the end, we didn’t decide to fall in love with each other, Celeste and I. Circumstances brought us together, namely me seeing a pretty woman and having sex with her, but she stuck around more than the rest did. She saw what kind of mental state I was in and wanted to help and from that help I fell in love with her and she me.”

Larka used her magic to move her chair right up to Sirona and learned forward so that they were only inches apart. ”So where do you get off telling me I should try and change how I life my life? How about you, Sirona? Have you only ever bedded a male? Have you tried the soft and knowing hands of another woman on your body? Have you ever experienced love?” Larka leaned forward again and Sirona leaned away and Larka noticed that her cheeks were bright red and that she was stumbling over her own words.

It clicked in Larka’s mind and she stood up while dropping Sirona to her butt by making the chair disappear. ”You never have known love, have you? In fact, the way you’re acting, I’m betting that you have never had sex either, have you?” The way Sirona reached was all the very sexual experienced woman needed to know she was right. ”So I’m right, you’re a virgin. So you dared to speak to me about my love life when you yourself have no idea what any of it is like on a personal level. The fact that you’re a virgin is not my place to judge, what I’m upset about is that you dare to judge other people in the way they live, who and what they love, when you have never experienced any of it for yourself.” Larka finished there and watched as the angel got herself back to her feet, Larka looking down at her because of the height difference.

What Sirona had said seemed to have a hit a nerve rather hard in Larka and Sirona wilted a bit once Larka got started in her tirade. The angel pushed herself further back into her chair the more Larka spoke, and Larka was an imposing woman for sure, one arm or not, she carried her strengths well. Sirona opened her mouth to try and apologise, but Larka held up her hand and continued speaking, cutting Sirona off. Larka continued on, saying that she had in fact been married years ago to another woman and they had adopted children as well. But sadly they had been killed by orcs in front of Larka, and now Sirona felt bad and was unable to keep any kind of eye contact with the taller woman.

Sirona tried to talk again but was told to shut up and with the way Larka spoke, being very motherly, pissed off on top of that, Sirona snapped her mouth shut out of reaction. Larka continued to speak and when she moved her chair right up to Sirona the angel shied back in her own chair as Larka asked of Sirona’s love life. There was nothing to speak of, and the way that Sirona was squirming and blushing it seemed the more experienced woman caught on to that easily enough. Sirona tried to reply but wasn’t able to get the words out, talk like this made her uncomfortable and with Larka right in her face that wasn’t helping.

Larka stood and Sirona eeped when the chair was sitting in was gone as Larka dispelled it and she thumped to the ground on her butt. Sirona stared back at Larka when the human called her out for never having sex before and Sirona looked like she was ready to crawl into a hole and die. Larka called her out totally, but did she wasn’t judging Sirona for her virginity, just the fact that she was judging Larka without having any kind of experience whatsoever. Sirona got to her feet as Larka finished and looked away while holding her arms close and still blushing brightly.

After a few moments with Larka looking down at her because of the height difference between them, Sirona finally spoke up. ”I’m… I’m sorry, Larka.” Sirona managed to blurt out, it seemed that Larka’s little talk had sunk in, or at least given Sirona enough guilt to make her think on what she had been thinking. She was silent for a few moments, unable to think of what to say so she just decided to leave. ”I’ll, uh, I’ll leave you and your family alone, Larka.” With that Sirona turned and opened her wings and took off into the air, Larka never tried to stop her. But Larka had given Sirona a lot to think about that was for sure.