Too many times had she sat through an argument where her daughters were fussing. Sometimes having too many of something was a bad thing, but she smiled. The daughters all sat around braiding each other's hair or trying to talk all at once to their mother. She nodded to their words taking in all of it. It was hard to keep up with all of them. She looked down to the little one on her lap and leaned down to her ear. “Don't grow up too fast. There's way too much gossip here already.” Iva smiled up at her mother and laughed.

Picking the child up Angela set her down on the ground only to stand. The daughters went silent and looked up at their mother. “I'll be back soon.” She blew them a kiss and it seemed like they got up and went off into their own little worlds.

“Mama why do they do that?”

“I suppose its because this is the only real time we can really be a family.” She bent over to Iva and smiled. “Do you not like it?”

“Its weird. They smell funny and sometimes they fight and I don't like it.” Angela laughed a bit and it confused the poor youngling at her feet.

“Alright off to lessons.” She scooted the child off in the direction of the library. “I love you Iva.”

“I love you too Mama.” The girl skipped away and left the Goddess there alone in the throne room.

Putting her hands on her hips she sighed. This was suppose to be family time for everyone to enjoy but normally it just turned into a giant cat fight. She rubbed the back of her head before disappearing. Walking out one of her many rose covered arches the red headed goddess found herself in Adeluna. She was widely known as the Mother. She was the one that was prayed to for a safe delivery. She was the one they prayed to for the harvests as well.

Out of the Triune she was probably the closest there was to a good aligned god. Making her way to the harbor district she found herself outside the rowdy pub The Winking Mermaid. Opening the door the conversations almost stopped but with a smile from the Goddess everything continued like normal. This was a normal thing she did after all. “Two pints of ale please.”

“That bad huh?” The bartender joked with her.

“You have no idea.”

As the trading skiff bellowed forwards down the river Aygul found himself stood at the bow looking at the not so distant city of Adeluna. Its gigantic white castle thrust out into the sky bigger than the mountains he had travelled through. The Great City of Mamlak had been his home since he could remember; it had always been the symbol of might and power, but this great city could rival it in his eyes. 

A while later the boat slipped into the docks through the west gate. Aygul jumped onto the pontoon and tied the boat to the mooring. As he had agreed with the trader, he helped unload the cargo as payment for his ride. It took an hour or so to unload all the barrels and crates, once finished Aygul sat on one of the wooden boxes for a moment. “Where’s best the place to find a drink in this new city friend?”  

The trader smiled a wide toothless grin. “Solider like you will enjoy the Mermaid. Out of here, up to the bakers, turn right. You can’t miss it.” Aygul nodded, stood up and grabbed his pack. He slung it over his shoulder and pulled up his hood. 
“Take care, good fortunes in the markets.” Aygul put his hand in his fist and gave the trader a small respectful bow before turning to leave. “Make sure you get a pie from the bakers, but avoid the rabbit. There hasn’t been rabbit in these parts for hundred years!” The trader yelled as Aygul walked away.

Dressed in an ornately decorated sapphire blue hooded robe: complete with a sash tied in a military knot, gold and topaz beads hung in braids in his thick black hair, the ex-solider from Mamlak pushed open the tavern door and took a breath of its hazy air. Above almost everything else, he loved a good tavern. As he took a few confident steps inside, his amber eyes clocked the dark corners, the drunkest, and the eyes that stared at his bronze skin. It was quite obvious that Aygul was not from round this way. A grin spread across his handsome face as he ordered his drink stood beside a red head. 

The atmosphere was electric, he loved this place already.     

The smells and excitement of the tavern filled her very being as she pulled the mug up to her lips. Tilting her head to the side she swallowed the liquid and put down the mug to the question of a sailor. “Lady Mother will you sing with us tonight?” He stared at her for a moment before a nod came from the goddess.

“It would not be the spirit of the tavern if I did not. Goddess or not I must uphold the tavern traditions!” Angela thrust her mug in the air and the sailors did the same back to her. Green eyes drifted over to the new man. His smell came into her nose. She could smell his travels on his clothing and footware. “Malmak ey?” She gave him a smile. “I am from that direction myself. I come from the deepest reaches of the Harena Desert.”

She nodded to the bartender. “Give the newcomer his drink on my tab.” The bartender laughed at her for a moment but it was all in good fun. “Wouldn't want to be disrespectful and not give you the full Winking Mermaid experience now would I!” She brought the mug to her lips and drank it in deeply. “What would you do if you had lots of daughters and I'm not talking the typical eight or so? I'm talking maybe twenty at the least.”

As the woman beside him started talking to a group of men Aygul was distracted from what was being said by the bartender brought him a small glass filled with rum. Aygul passed him a coin and sipped at the drink, it had been a good few days of traveling without the smallest drop of alcohol. Suddenly the woman beside him spoke to him, guessing in one where he was from. Aygul lowered his hood, revealing his long black hair spotted with beads. A wide grin spread across his face. “No better place to hail from.” He answered quickly, the young solider had no idea who he was talking to. 

“My name is Aygul Fusun, thank you for the drink.” He gave her his flirtiest wink and leant against the bar, casting his eyes once more on the wider room. Sailors to the left, merchants in the middle and what he could only assume was a small band of the local thieves plotting on the right. Just like any half decent pub he had ever seen. 

The redhead spoke to him again, her question was odd; but it made him think for a moment. “I think if I had twenty daughters I would feel blessed by the gods, and would celebrate my good fortune every evening with a feast.” Aygul answered with a dangerous smile. 

Angela laughed a bit and smiled at him. “I hail from Sularia so I could argue with you there. However, we both come from the Wastes so I think we could settle on that.” She brought up her mug and took a drink from it. His wink made her giggle like a school girl before giving her own name, “I am Angela Rose.” She did not know if the man had been paying attention but it did not matter much to her at the time. She stretched a bit and looked around the tavern. It was quite lively.

“You are quite welcome for the drink. I like to keep cute new customers in the tavern as long as I can.” The barkeep groaned and Angela laughed a bit. “What was that for?” Angela looked at the barkeep with somewhat an intimidating look.

“You've only been saying that for the last fifty years so my father tells me,” the barkeep laughed with the goddess as she took another drink.

Angela looked at Aygul for a moment and with another laugh nodded. “Aye, being Fertility makes me have many daughters. They bicker and fight just like any other siblings though. You would think having a goddess for a mother would make them more frightened at least.” She said as she brought the mug back up draining the last bit out of it before slamming it down.

“So what brings you to the largest city in Revaliir? Fame? Fortune? A good bed mate?” Angela made a face that she was just kidding on the last one. “I would be careful around here for now there are shady characters about but you look nice and strong so I figure you could handle yourself in a fight.”

“Rose as in Rosenite. That makes sense.” Aygul had obviously heard of the Rosenite family that hailed from the north the legends of the ancient family spread further than Mamlak. He took her complements with his same devilish grin, raising the glass to her as he drank.   “Does he pay your tab if you keep all the customers spending?” Aygul laughed, and passed the barkeep a few silver pieces, instructing him to pour Angela another drink. 

The next bit took him by surprise; Angela didn’t look anywhere near old enough to have been hanging around fifty years. The words that came from her next made his heart sink; he was leaning against a bar in a shady tavern, flirting with a bloody goddess! His colour drained slightly, but the sparkle in his eye did not. He felt the warmth of the rum he had already drunk. He finished his glass in one go and watched as the barman filled it again. 

“Fortune, not so fussed about the fame. I like to keep a low profile.” He answered with a grin. “Although, a bed mate looking as good as you would be a grand thing to find.” His dangerous grin was plastered to his face as if it could never be budged. Who’d of thought it? An ex solider, drinking with a goddess. 

“As could you I’d imagine. But I’m not here to fight tonight.”  

The barkeep laughed and shook his head. “If I paid her tab for all the customers that spend silver just because she keeps them here.. We could rename the tavern after her.” Angela rolled her eyes slightly. She was interested in this new man who was paying for her drink. She took the mug and thanked the barkeep.

Watching the color leave his face she smirked. It was always great the first time someone heard who she was. That look in his eyes though that was what was intoxicating. She brought the mug up and took a long drink of it. “It's going to take a lot more than a few honeyed words to get me into your bed. You wouldn't know how many men do the trials of my temple do just ask me to be their conquest. I've killed many of them because it's outright foolish to ask a lady such an improper thing in front of her young daughters.” She looked up at the barkeep. “It's another to ask how old I am. I think I look rather good for my age.” She said it with such spunk as she took another long drink.

“Aye, no fighting tonight.” She took hold of his shoulder and pulled him close. “Only songs, dancing, and alcohol.” She put her mug to his and gave him a kiss. It was fast and she was gone before he probably realized what happened. “More songs!” Angela thrust her mug into the air and the sailors cheered with her as she laughed. “The kiss was for good luck.” She gave him the same wink he gave her in the beginning.

Getting up from the bar she put her mug down and held out her hands to him. "Come on. Don't tell me you don't know how to dance or your luck ends here."