The next day, Sammy had recovered enough to ride by herself. Of course, that didn’t mean Julie wasn’t all over her, trying to help with every little thing. Of course, Sammy let her wife spoil her. Ma left them to it for the most part, wearing a bittersweet smile, sharing a couple of jokes now and then to keep the mood up.

“We don’t need to rush, but I want to keep a good pace,” Sammy said. So that’s what they did.

At the end of the day, they stopped at a small village. Their route this time wasn’t quite so well travelled, not many coming to the cathedral from the north, thus they made do. A farmer had an old stable he wasn’t using and spare bedding to put them up comfortably. The wife and daughter, with some coins for their trouble, bought and cooked a generous meal for everyone.

For the time at the dinner table, wasn’t Sammy just how she always had been. Couldn’t say more than a few words to her hosts and yet the centre of attention, her gestures entirely on point while Ma translated, room filled with smiles.

Back at the stable, darkness broke to the steady flame of divine fire in a bucket. Once heated, Sammy and Julie washed, very much something they did together these days. And as they did, Sammy took note of some things.

“Shall I heal you?” she quietly asked, holding Julie’s hand to show the small cut.

“I’m used to little scratches,” Julie mumbled.

Rather than letting go, Sammy moved her hand so their fingers were entwined, then kissed the thin scab. “Please?”

Rarely hearing her wife plead, Julie melted. “If it bothers you,” she said, looking away.

“It does bother me to see my wife hurt, however small. That said, I think you misunderstand: it is more where the cut is and how unhygienic that would shortly be.”

Though it took Julie a moment to catch on, her face soon prickled. “With Ma around?” she whispered, her entwined hand fidgeting.

“We can be discreet,” Sammy replied.

If Julie was honest, just the thought of it made her feel so hot, which only made it harder for her to disagree, slowly losing all reason. “You can… heal me, and we’ll talk about anything else later.”

Sammy smiled coyly to herself, knowing her wife well. But she put those thoughts to the side and let go of Julie. Cupping her hands, she summoned a small pool of holy water. When Julie went to dip her hand in, though, Sammy whispered, “Allow me.”

Julie stilled. After a second, Sammy moved so only one hand was cupped with holy water, the rest falling and disappearing. Then she pinched out a single drop and carefully spread it over Julie’s scab. Drop by drop, she did that until the scab faded and the pink scar underneath thinned to nothing.

“Remember how soft my cheek became? I worry your skin would become weak and easily cut and blister,” Sammy said, then tilted her head. “Well, if you do not mind the pain, I would heal you as many times as necessary.”

Julie smiled. “No, this is fine. And thanks for thinking about that.”

“Why thank me for thinking about you? As your wife, that is my third favourite thing to do.”

Swallowing the sudden lump in her throat, Julie felt confident she knew what the first was, but asked, “Your second favourite?”

Sammy answered with a kiss, not just their lips, but tongues meeting too. “Would you like me to show you my favourite?” she asked.

Julie glanced over at Ma, but Sammy gently pushed her cheek, their eyes meeting once more. “Only if I can show you my favourite thing to do too,” Julie mumbled.

Smile widening, Sammy kissed Julie’s forehead and pulled her naked wife into a tight hug. “What a tease my wife is, how lewd she is,” Sammy whispered. As usual for these days, Julie took such words as a compliment.

Despite all their flirting, they finished up and let Ma wash too—who thanked them for both the aural entertainment and the warm water. Afterwards, they settled in for a story.

Only, today, Ma asked for one: “How did wife and wife meet?”

They shared a look, but Julie left it to Sammy to tell. “She was the daughter of help at my family’s estate and eventually began training to be a guard. While I saw her around as a child, it was at the start of our adolescence that I suppose our… romance began. One of the boys tried to bully her into a date with an archery competition, so I joined and claimed a kiss on the cheek as my prize.”

Ma clapped little claps, smile broad, and they said, “How sweet! Please tell me more.”

So Sammy recounted the events of that day, once again impressing Julie at how her wife could say so much and yet never give the impression that she was a princess.

At the end, Ma turned to Julie and asked, “How was it for you?”

Caught off-guard, Julie took a moment to think over it. “I, um, admired her since I was small, so I was… happy. And I thought she was very beautiful when she… did the archery? I only saw boys and men do it before, it wasn’t something the other Roy—female guards did.”

“I see. And you loved her?” Ma asked.

Julie froze for a moment. “That’s, um, maybe I did. I wasn’t sure for a long time, but….”

With Julie trailing off, Sammy finally spoke up—after pulling Julie into a side-hug. “I have felt her love since soon after we began our journey.”

“Good for wife and wife,” Ma said, smiling. They asked a few more questions before Sammy asked for a story. Tonight, Ma’s story wasn’t of a woman, instead about a job they had for a while. When their chatting finished, Ma made sure to give wife and wife lots of room. “Please, pretend is wall here, no mind me.”

Sammy chuckled, holding Julie tight. “We do have quite vivid imaginations.”

So the night passed and morning came and, after breakfast, they set out once again. Things were a little different, though. At their midmorning break, horses grazing, Ma asked for another story of wife and wife’s travels, happy to hear the queer tale of the apparent guests at a hotel in Hopschtat. In return, Ma spoke of a pair of queer men they once met.

“It funny, I meet many, but sad no queer women before wife and wife,” Ma said at the end.

Something Sammy had thought about before, she said, “Men are… more free to leave their family, and they seem more compelled to engage in such acts. I would say there are as many women, just that they lack the nerve and freedom to commit, perhaps satisfied with an emotionally intimate relationship that no one notices.”

The other two nodded along, then Ma said, “That make sense. The men I tell you far from family. One said no talk since”—Ma counted their fingers for a moment—“fifteen years?”

Having followed Ma’s counting, Sammy nodded. “I imagine it is common for them to leave home when they cannot come to terms with marrying a woman. Oh, but, I feel I should say that… there are certainly queer people who like men and women and simply end up marrying as expected.”

Julie chimed in, saying, “Like Chloé?”

Although Ma looked eager to hear, Sammy smiled. “Tomorrow’s story?” she said.

Ma pouted. “We soon finish, so I want every story.”

That got a giggle from both wives and, after sharing a look, Sammy said, “Do not worry, we shall talk plenty.”

Conversation coming to an end, Julie went to check over the horses and Sammy followed. However, instead of the horses, Sammy looked at the plants. A thought coming to her, she tended to some chewed grass with holy water. Little by little, the blades of grass grew back and, after some more water, were soon as tall as the un-nibbled grass.

“Wow,” mumbled Julie.

Sammy turned, surprised, but fell into a soft smile. “Do the horses have any saddle sores?”

Julie shook her head. “They were well-fitted at the Royal Palace and we’ve been careful not to push them,” she said.

Although Sammy wanted to pout, she knew that wasn’t something to pout about, so turned her frustration to better thoughts. “Any bites? We have been going through patches of wild grass, so a flea wouldn’t be unexpected.”

Smile turning wry, Julie said, “I watch when I brush them, but I haven’t noticed any sore points.”

This time, Sammy couldn’t stop her pout—especially since Julie teased her. “Shall I be a little rougher with you, then? I could cover you in hickeys and wash them away by morning.”

Suddenly, Julie didn’t find the situation so funny, lowering her head and hands fidgeting. Before Sammy could say that had been a joke, though, Julie said, “I wouldn’t hate it.”

Again surprised, Sammy soon slipped into a soft smile. “I’ll only do such a thing if you would like it.”

Barely a whisper, Julie said, “I’d like to… try it.”

Suitably seduced, Sammy closed the distance and drew Julie into her embrace. “How happy I am my wife talks to me on these matters,” Sammy whispered, hand idly brushing through Julie’s hair.

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“You’ve been very patient with me,” Julie said.

“That doesn’t mean—”

“Thank you,” Julie said, a little forceful and yet so tender, her hands scrunching up Sammy’s riding habit. “Thank you for helping me find my love.”

Everything Sammy had been ready to say fell apart at those words, leaving her to just smile and continue tending to her precious wife. Eventually, old thoughts came back to her.

“There’s something I have been meaning to talk about. I think a reason it has been difficult for you is that you didn’t have loving parents to learn from. In a few months, you have learned what most people are gradually taught since birth. I am so very proud and thankful to call you my wife.”

Julie didn’t know what to say, thankful that her face was buried against her wife’s shoulder. In the end, all she could think to ask was, “Why now?”

Sammy chuckled, still brushing her wife’s hair. “Ma asked you if you fell in love with me that day and you said maybe. I want to tell you that you didn’t, not truly. This is more my philosophy than truth, not that there are truths about love, but I think… love isn’t a feeling. Not exactly. The feeling of loving someone so much that it compels us to action, I think of that as love. Love without action is too hollow to me.”

Julie followed along as best she could, not entirely understanding the nuance of what Sammy was getting at. But it left a simple enough impression behind. “Then, when do you think I loved you? When I kissed you?”

“Our first night travelling,” Sammy instantly answered. “When you came up with a nickname for me.”

That made Julie fidget. “That’s not….”

Chuckling, Sammy squeezed her tight, then loosened until they could look each other in the eye. “Love doesn’t have to be this big and dramatic thing. That’s simply when I felt… my feelings could be returned.”

“You already loved me?” Julie asked, frowning.

“Mm, a little. Day by day, moment by moment, it grew until it engulfed me. And I felt your love grow too, however slowly it did. I saw it in your eyes, felt it in your touch, heard it in your voice,” Sammy said.

It was a lot for Julie to think about and, when it became clear she had no answer to give now, Sammy gave her space, returning to her practice with holy water.

Although a little quieter, the rest of the day passed as usual, just with Sammy tending to plants and flowers whenever they stopped. Over dinner, Ma shared a story of another queer couple.

“I think lots what you say yesterday. These two, they friends since little. I think they intimate long time, but they run away when family tell one to marry. Before I saw them intimate, they told me, mm, women too trouble. I like that. Women too trouble, but men trouble too.”

Once Ma finished, it was Sammy’s turn to talk about Chloé, the woman who wanted a gentle and caring man. And who Sammy thought could settle with the right woman.

“Most people, when I tell them of our relationship”—Sammy gestured to Julie—“they do not understand, cannot imagine two women being together. Yet Chloé… accepted us and wished us well. My intuition, my instincts, tell me she is at least a little queer.”

Ma nodded along. “She sound interesting. Man not like a man… but she no like me, right?”

Sammy chuckled, shaking her head. “Maybe she would. I think what she wanted was to feel… safe, like her lover was her equal. So I am sure you could do that.”

“Yes, many woman like that.” Holding up their hand, Ma said, “Smaller fingers very popular.”

Sammy looked at Julie’s hand and said, “Indeed.”

Catching that, Julie looked away, face soon prickling from her blush.

So the evening went and night fell in the village, wife and wife in one room at the inn as Ma took another.

When morning came and breakfast soon after, though, Sammy grew concerned. “Did we practise too much last night?” she quietly asked Julie.

Already struggling to finish her food, Julie put down her spoon, face hot. “N-no. It’s just… my monthly is a little late.”

Smiling, Sammy entwined her fingers with Julie and coyly asked, “Do you think the gods have blessed us with a child?”

And so Sammy broke her wife for a good minute, during which she discovered that the other women in the Royal Palace’s barracks hadn’t exactly explained these matters to Julie. By the time Ma arrived, well, Julie was practically glowing with embarrassment, on the verge of whimpering.

“Mrs Sammy must be more gentle,” Ma said, their attempt at scolding failing to conceal their amusement.

“I shall try,” Sammy said with a dishonest smile.

After the morning fun, the day continued as normal, now following a road towards a trading port.

With the practice from the day (and night) before, Sammy pushed her blessing harder, at lunch trying to revive a dead tree. Lightning had struck it cleanly, trunk split open. It had happened recently, Sammy thinking of the storm a week earlier, tree showing no signs of healing, but not yet decaying.

Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t as easy as the grass. She sat comfortably and became a spring, her cupped hands full of holy water, dribbling out a steady stream. The charred wood eagerly drank it up and began to lighten, the wound slowly closing up.

This time, Ma joined Julie in a muttered, “Wow.”

Although already feeling a strain like flexing a muscle for too long, Sammy pushed on. Another sense, this one told her that the tree was still thirsty, like it pulled the water from her hands. Her breaths deepened, trying to keep her focus. A little more, she thought, just a little more—until she opened her hands and splashed the last of the holy water onto the ground.

A sudden wooziness engulfing her, she leant against the tree for support for the second it took Julie to reach her side. “Are you okay?” Julie asked, tone worried.

Sammy smiled. “I only need to catch my breath,” she said.

After a moment of hesitation, Julie sat next to Sammy and took the tree’s place. Sammy dared not think Julie jealous of a tree. So they sat for a few minutes, then, rested, Sammy stood and offered Julie a hand up. Then they turned to the tree and, upon a few branches, green buds now sprouted.

“When finish be hero, Mrs Sammy make lots of money be gardener,” Ma said.

Sammy laughed, Julie chuckled. “Indeed.”

Evening brought them to camp in a farmer’s field, much to Ma’s embarrassment as their guide. “You sure no want sleep in lounge?” they asked, pouting.

“Mm, we prefer some privacy, but please, you go ahead,” Sammy said.

Knowing why wife and wife wanted privacy, Ma gave in. However, they still helped to put up the tent and borrowed two more canvas sheets to close off the front and back. Dinner then made it very clear why there were no spare rooms, seven children at the table—and apparently two more had already left home.

Of course, Sammy fit right in and, at the end of the meal, began showing Zan how to plait Myee’s hair in a traditional Schtish style. “We go from the outside, under, to the middle, and pick up a little hair as you go,” Sammy said, pausing every step for Ma to translate. Eventually, she carried on without explanation, quickly and neatly finishing the one plait, then did the same for the other side.

Both plaits done, Myee was just babbling and bouncing around, going up to everyone to show them, face scrunched up because of her broad smile.

Talking to Zan, Sammy asked, “Do you understand?”

Ma quickly translated and Zan hesitantly nodded.

“I’m sure no one will notice if it is a little off while you learn,” Sammy said with a smile of her own.

Already late in the day, the family didn’t stay around much longer, children soon going to bed, their mother hanging around to make sure the guests didn’t need anything, father having a couple of drinks, then the house fell into silence. Sammy and Julie washed in the kitchen, Ma keeping watch, before retiring to their tent.

For the first time in a very long time, Julie felt a kind of loneliness. Not a bad loneliness, just that it felt like there really wasn’t someone else nearby, only her and her wife. That had certain consequences later on.

“My wife is so loud tonight,” Sammy said, voice deep and thick.

Unwilling to answer, Julie shut her wife up with a kiss.

Dawn broke early, days growing longer and starting sooner, wife and wife waking to the warmer light of morning rather than at sunrise. They cuddled for a while longer still, exchanging little kisses and whispered flirts. Despite Julie’s good mood, though, breakfast troubled her again.

At their midmorning break, Sammy led Julie a little away from Ma. “Do you need to rest?”

Softly smiling, Julie shook her head. “I’m fine.”

“Then, some massaging?” Sammy asked.

A giggle slipped out of Julie. “Really, I’m fine, just a bit bloated,” Julie said.

“Okay,” Sammy said.

After a kiss, Sammy left her wife to relax, turning to her practice. Confident with holy water, she tried with godsbane. Like in the cathedral, she touched it lightly and felt the crackles run across her skin, slightly numbing. A worry springing up, she hesitated before summoning godsbane in front of her—like she had with the wild beasts, only closer.

As soon as she did, it shot back to her, leaving a painful welt on her forearm. She held back the curse on her tongue, eyes squeezed shut while the pain subsided.

“Mrs Sammy, you okay?” Ma asked.

Sammy turned and smiled. “Yes. It seems that, without a wild beast around, godsbane rather likes me. I assume because I have some divine power as the hero.”

Ma nodded along, brow furrowed. “Maybe not do that then.”

“Where is the fun in that?” Sammy said lightly, falling into a chuckle afterwards.

Ma laughed, but left Sammy to her experimenting. And experiment Sammy did, first trying to summon the godsbane farther away, then trying smaller amounts, but all she accomplished was a few more welts.

However, she was nothing if not ingenious. After thinking for a while, she lit holy water with divine fire, awkward to do like bending her middle finger and keeping her ring finger straight. But she carefully managed, surprised and pleased it worked so well. Although it took some focus, the result was an ethereal flame, barely seen as a violet haze, yet scorchingly hot. She didn’t dare keep it going for long, her hands thankfully protected by the holy water.

Knowing that that worked, she then tried to make holy water appear somewhere else than her hands. Again, it was awkward, but she persisted until she could make a thin stream, barely a drizzle, pour from the air. After a few seconds, she stopped, pleased with her progress.

“Sammy? Do you need to keep going or should we…” Julie said.

“We should,” Sammy said, going to stand up only to stumble. Julie shot forward, steadying Sammy. “Thank you.”

Julie’s hands lingered for a moment, then she pulled them back. “Are you okay to travel?”

Sammy giggled, a rueful smile left behind. “Honestly, my legs are just a bit numb from sitting like that, nothing to worry about.”

Julie turned away, embarrassed. She knew too well that she was still treating Sammy like she was made of glass. It was hard not to, every stumble reminding Julie of the incident, heart tense.

For lunch, they ate at a tavern, then relaxed outside of the bustling village, under the shade of some trees by a small lake. It wasn’t entirely deserted, some teenagers bumbling around as the waterfront was apparently a popular date spot. Sammy thought that made sense and so, in no uncertain terms, took Julie for a date walking along the lake, hand in hand, a mix of silence, flirting, and giggling as they went.

“You know, my predecessors all left such grand projects behind,” Sammy said.

Julie thought over the cathedrals and the strange “lighthouse” and even the erotic stained glass display. “Mm.”

“At the start, I thought of an idea I long had. To the west of Schtish is that desert and I considered, let’s see, did you know that if you heat sea water, the steam isn’t salty?” Sammy asked.

Considering Julie had only recently learned that sea water was salty, she said, “Really?”

“Yes, the salt is left behind. So I envisioned something like a greenhouse that turns sea water to steam with sunlight, then the steam collects on the glass and runs to crops. Then I refined the idea after realising divine fire would work much better and the heat put out would naturally evaporate water too. All that’s left is to gather plants that can root in desert sand, which would naturally need little water to grow. Enough of them and, gradually, the desert should become dirt. A whole country worth of space to settle.”

One of those things that Julie could only half-follow, she was still left awestruck. “That would be amazing!”

Sammy chuckled, squeezing Julie’s hand. “These days, I find myself instead thinking of the cottage we will one day have and how to make it most comfortable for us,” she said.

Just like that, Julie’s awe shattered. “Really?”

“How mad do you think the gods will be?” Sammy asked, full of mirth. “Instead of some grand boast on their behalf, we simply hide away and live out our days happily and at peace.”

Julie giggled. Somewhere along their journey, blasphemy had become a much less pressing issue.

So they chatted until it was time to go and they returned to the horses. The afternoon passed quietly, Sammy practising some more, then they found a town early evening and decided to stay there. Sammy and Ma swapped stories over dinner before wife and wife retired for the night.

The mood in their room was fairly subdued, Julie’s mood sinking more when she checked her sanitary cloth. Still unsure how to say these things any way but bluntly, she said, “I’m spotting, so… not tonight.”

Sammy kept back her laugh, knowing Julie was sensitive on the issue at hand. “I can still make you feel good if you would like?”

For a long moment, Julie stood there frozen. “Um, yes?” she mumbled.

And Sammy did, bringing another day of travelling to an end.