Militat Omnis Amans (Every Lover is a Warrior) Part 10a/?

["Beckett, Kevin" <kevin.beckett@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Militat Omnis Amans (Every Lover is a Warrior) Part 10a/?
K. Beckett (c) 2000, with the exception of musical lyrics which are (c) the
individual artists / labels.

Disclaimers:
Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show
belong to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy etal. Everyone and everything
else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living,
dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

This story contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult
women, and was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If
this offends you, don't read.

Rating: 
R

Other: 
The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any
translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells
and other craft work come from my traditions, so please don't take offence
if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think
it should.

Archiving etc.: 
On "Stake and Chakram Library"
http://members.spree.com/entertainment/kerrison29
Which is maintained by Bill LaBarbera
Anyone else, just ask and I will say yes.

Spoilers and other ramblings:
Everything up to the middle of season four - I diverge then.

Thanks to all who have commented, I appreciate everything that was said. As
before, all meaningful criticism, support and suggestions are welcome. 
Please be patient, it takes me awhile to get everything down, as I have very
little free time for writing.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five
acknowledged senses have been enclosed in < >.

mailto:kevin.beckett@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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A priori:

Willow's strike force has found a home deep in the mountains where they can
rest, regroup and make plans to continue her attack on the demon
hell-mouths. Buffy was suffering debilitating dreams as a result of her
nearly not surviving her leap across the gorge, and had gone to Amana for
help. As a result of the discussions she had had with the senior mage,
Buffy realized that she could make the bond between herself and Willow a
more visible one and arranged to have a romantic evening alone with her
love, at the end of which she proposed to her. After accepting Buffy's
proposal Willow had begun to make plans for the upcoming hand-fasting, one
of which was the magical creation of the wedding rings, which she did with
Buffy's assistance. After finishing the rings they were heading to the
baths when they noticed that Daithi had brought in a number of young women.
When introduced to the group's apparent leader both young women had been
stunned, for facing them was Buffy's twin.

Synopsis for part X:

The group will try to get a handle on what a Buffy twin means. They will
also celebrate the marriage of Buffy and Willow. Willow will have a
revelation on a method of closing the hell-mouths, while elsewhere on the
mountainside unfriendly beings are intensifying the search for Willow's
strike force.

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Part X - Docendo discitur (One learns by teaching)

Barring divine intervention
There is nothing between you and I
And if I carelessly forgot to mention
Your body your power can sanctify
Come feed your hunger your thirst
Lay it down the beast will die
You can question my heart once again

Am I your passion your promise your end
I say I am
Yes I am
Your passion your promise your end
Yes I am

Yes I Am
Melissa Etheridge, Yes I Am
(c) 1993, Island Records

Willow looked at the twin of her lover standing before her and asked, "who
are you?"
"Lady," replied Buffy's twin, "my name is Sonya."
"Ok Sonya," continued Willow as she began to pace back and forth, "you say
you were called. Who called you?"
"One night, as I was sleeping, the Goddess came to me in a vision and told
me that I was needed here."
"She did say that she would provide help," commented Buffy, speaking for the
first time since finding out that she had a twin sister on this world.
"That's true," replied Willow, "but I just don't have the energy to deal
with this right now." Turning to Amana she continued, "Amana, I'm way too
tired, dirty and hungry to deal with this now. Find them some rooms, maybe
on the third floor, get them feed and cleaned up, and we will discuss this
at dinner."

Willow then turned back to Sonya and said, "Sonya, this is Amana, she is
going to make your group comfortable, and we will continue our discussion
tomorrow."
"Our thanks, Lady," replied the other young woman.

"Ok, Buff," said Willow as she grabbed her lover's hand, and practically ran
towards the door to the baths, "on to the baths."
"Alright, lover," replied her very confused soul-mate, "but what's the
rush?"
"Too much input," replied Willow, "I'm going to need some time to digest it
all."

"I'm kind of spooked myself," answered Buffy as they entered the passageway
leading to the baths.
"Its more than being spooked," said Willow, "given the similarities between
this world and ours, I should have considered the possibility, but I didn't.
Now the reality is here and I'm the one in charge."

"You'll deal," said Buffy softly as she drew her lover into a comforting
embrace, "just as we have dealt with everything so far." Buffy ran her
fingers through Willow's now very long red tresses, marvelling once again at
its texture and softness. Both women had let their hair grow over the last
few months, Willow's now reached to the small of her back, with Buffy's
reaching well below her backside.
"Lets bathe," she continued, "and talk about other things, and once we've
had a chance to relax and regain some balance we will worry about our new
guests."

Later that evening, after Buffy and Willow had had the opportunity to bathe
and change into clean clothing, the entire strike force was assembled in the
common room of the inn eating dinner. 
Turing to Amana Willow asked, "what does this development mean, and what do
you recommend we do now?"

Frankel hemmed and cleared his throat before saying, "Amana, if you please,
I think that I may be able to provide some incite on this matter."

"How's that," asked Amana, "do you think that this has something to do with
what we are trying to accomplish?"
"Not directly," replied the sage, "at least I don't think so."
"Then what do you think," asked Willow.
"In my initial research of the various worlds, and in the development of a
theory to explain it all, I determined that this 'twinning' of specific
people might be possible. That is to say given similar conditions, on
similar worlds, people might come together in the same manner, to produce
children, and that those children would meet and produce children and so on.
However, in looking at the mathematics of this aspect of the theory I put
the odds of this actually happening at an astronomical level."

"How high," asked Buffy softly, "are we talking like one in a billon or so?"
"More like 1 in an octilliard," replied Frankel.
"Huh," asked a very confused, and numerically challenged, Buffy.
"One followed by fifty-one zeros," answered Willow.

"If we factor in other things," continued Frankel, "such as surviving the
demon onslaught, travelling through dangerous territory and knowing just
where to travel to, the odds of Deity help not being involved are too small
to warrant consideration."

"Ok," said Willow, "I'm willing to buy into the idea that they, or at least
Sonya, received some Devine help, and that there may be plans going on that
are bigger than we are, but I need some more info before deciding what to do
with them. Amana, what did you learn as you were getting them settled?"

"A few things," replied the older mage, "first that they were all 'called',
however, based on their accents, they have all come from various parts of
the country. Second, as a result of this geographical diversity, some will
have been travelling for only a few weeks; others would have had to start
travelling shortly after you arrived in February. Third, they are all
tired, filthy and very undernourished; apparently conditions out in the
countryside are bleaker than we thought. Some of them told me that they've
been chased and harassed from the moment they started. Fourth, they all
congregated in one area down the mountain, it was only a few days ago that
Sonya said it was time to come up and find this village. Apparently only
Sonya was told how to find us, and she had been waiting until everyone
arrived before heading up the mountain."

"Well, as usual," said Willow, "that answers a number of questions, but asks
a bunch more."
"Such as," asked Buffy, still not totally comfortable with the idea of
having a duplicate on this world.
"Such as why they are here," replied her lover, "and what we are going to do
with them."

"Those questions can wait until tomorrow," said Aiofe, "lets finish dinner
and get to bed."
"That is an excellent suggestion," continued Bridie, "if I'm not mistaken
the two of you have lots of work to do - after all you are going to be
hand-fasted in four days."

"Not that I was going to forget," said Willow as she stifled a yawn, as the
exhausting efforts of the day overtook her adrenaline high, "but you're
right, I definitely need to get some sleep, and soon." Willow looked over
at Buffy, who was sitting next to her, and noticed that the slayer was
beginning to nod-off, "and judging by my lover's droopy eyelids, she's not
doing much better."
"What," asked a sleepy Buffy, "what are you three talking about?"
"Nothing love," replied Willow, "just that it's time to get to bed."
"That I can deal with," said the slayer as she slowly pushed herself up from
the table and stretched her arms above her head, "bed, smooches, snuggle and
sleep."

With that the four young women said their goodnights to the rest of the
group and headed up to their room. As they were leaving Amana turned to
Grael and asked softly, "everything going to be ok?"

Grael thought for a moment before replying, "I think so. This might prove
to be a catalyst that Willow needs to come to a solution to our problem."

The two older mages then fell into general conversation with Daithi, Frankel
and the other guardsmen, discussing the work yet to be done on the inn, what
was to be done to get ready for the upcoming wedding ceremony and other,
safe, topics of dialogue. As the evening wore on, the various members
gradually left the table to their own beds eventually leaving only Amana and
Grael sitting before the fire.

Amana poured the two of them another glass of mead before turning to her
long-time friend and lover asking, "is this all going to work out?"
"I believe so."
"But..." prompted Amana.
"But, I think that it's going to take a lot more work before we're done."
"I agree, and I think that Buffy taking the step of making the relationship
between them permanent, at least here, is a good start."