FIC: Militat Omnis Amans (Every Lover is a Warrior) Part 13b/14

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

Militat Omnis Amans (Every Lover is a Warrior) Part 13b/14
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
are (c) 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.

Rating: R - for sexual acts between women and violence. If this offends
you, don't read.
----------------------------

Having described the people that their daughters were named for, Buffy
then went on to explain why they had chosen them as name 
sources for their daughters. She indicated that both Faith and 
Kendra, the slayers, had had terrible lives. They had never had the
opportunities for a real life, either by being forced from an early life
into slayer training, or by growing up in an abusive 
family. Buffy explained that the pain that the two women had 
grown up in had distressed both her and Willow. They had 
therefore decided to name their daughters after them, to try to 
'rehabilitate' the names, by giving their daughters the love, 
support and care that neither Faith nor Kendra had had.

"Rehabilitate," asked Aiofe, curiosity evident in her voice, "why do
names need to be rehabilitated?"

"It's just that some of the people we know back home have a 
problem with the name Faith," said Willow, "especially after what she
did to us, and Buffy wanted to try to bring back some respect and honour
to the name."

"And Kendra never had a chance back home," added Buffy, "she 
missed everything in her childhood, and when she was a teenager, things
that I got to experience. So this is our attempt to bring back the
balance."

Both Kendra and Faith chose that moment to decide that they 
needed changing, attention and a meal, and began to fuss and 
wail.

"Mommy time," said Willow, reaching across the table to pick up 
her fussy daughter, "Aiofe," she said, "would you be a dear and 
bring over some diapers?" 

Both young mothers then set about their now routine task of 
cleaning their daughters and settling them down to the breast. 
Willow had just finished Kendra on one side and was in the 
process of burping her, before offering the other breast, when 
there was a discreet knock on the door to the workroom.

Willow looked up at Bridie with a 'can you get that,' in her 
eyes. Bridie opened the door to admit Sonya.

"Is now a good time, Willow," asked Sonya. Buffy's twin had 
filled out over the past four months. Her muscles showed the 
effort of the constant exercise, training and good nutrition that she
had experienced. While she was still a far cry from Buffy in her prime,
especially with the enhancements precipitated by Buffy being initiated
as the Goddess's Avatar, she was a formidable 
young woman.

"No problem, Sonya," said Willow, "why don't you grab a drink 
from the sideboard over there and sit. We can talk while I 
finish up with Kendra here."

Once Sonya had settled, Willow then said, "I just wanted to take some
time to chat before you left, to make sure you were 
comfortable with everything."

"I think we're ready, we have the supplies we need, and have been fully
outfitted with arms and armour," replied Sonya, "I do have a question
or two though."

"Ask away."

"I know what and why we are going out looking for other mages, at least
in the context of our mission. However, I'm not too clear on the why
now, in the middle of winter."

Willow spent a moment collecting her thoughts, saying to Buffy, 
-perceptive isn't she?- She covered the pause by settling her 
daughter back on the breast and then replied, "you are the first to ask.
I haven't discussed this yet with any of the others."

Buffy, Bridie and Aiofe perked up at Willow's words, and drew 
their chairs closer to the table, as if to be as close to the 
arch-mage's words as possible.

"And," said Sonya.

"I think we are running out of time," said Willow.

"How's that," asked Aiofe.

"In my meditations, and spirit travel, I've noticed a massive 
increase in demon activities lately, not more than two or three 
weeks or so from here. I think that Amana and Grael's humanity 
in letting Hugh go free has given too many clues as to our 
whereabouts to the demon leadership."

"Are we in immediate danger," asked Bridie, the concern in her 
voice mirrored in her eyes.

"Not just yet, I don't think," replied Willow, "but I foresee 
that we will be visited by the demons before the end of winter."

"Major bummer," said Buffy.

"That is why I need you to move as quick as you can, Sonya," 
continued Willow, "and to get back here before the end of January at
the latest."

"Five weeks or so," said Sonya, contemplating this new 
information, and answering the question she had on the amount of supplies
she had been given; also thinking about how the time 
pressure would affect her search for mages. "Do you have any 
suggestions on how I should proceed?" 

"I think that you should get down the mountain as fast as you 
can," said Willow, "and get as close to the capital as possible, without
attracting any attention from the demons who have laid 
siege to it. Once you are there, establish a base in one of the surrounding
towns and then seek out as many of the mages as you 
can, and get back here. You know that I can use all the 
experienced people you can find, but at a minimum, I need you to find
eighteen. Amana and Grael have arranged for you to carry 
extra food, clothing and other items, to be used as you see fit 
as trade goods, either for the mages I need, or for bribes."

"I won't fail you, Lady," said Sonya, getting up from the table 
and heading to the door, "you have my word on that."

"I know," replied Willow gently, "finish getting ready. I'll see you
all just before you head out."

Once Sonya had left the room, closing the door behind her, Willow sighed
and said rhetorically, "we are the same age, but why do I feel so much
older?"

"Motherhood, and responsibility," said Buffy.

Willow sighed again and said, "I know, it just gets to me 
sometimes. But, can't change the past."

Willow stood up from the table, cuddling her nearly asleep 
daughter, and said, "it's nearly time to see them off. What do 
we do with our cuddle monsters, take them upstairs, or leave them here?"

"Leave them here," said Buffy, heading over to the crib, "we are going
to want to come back after and plan our Christmas Eve, 
remember?" 

"Couldn't forget that," said Willow, joining her spouse in 
settling their daughters.

"Christmas," asked Aiofe.

"We'll fill you in over lunch, promise," said Buffy as they left the
workroom to bid farewell to the slayers.

----------------------------------
Down the mountains, in the demon master's command centre there 
was a noticeable increase in the work being performed. More work than
could be explained by the continued offensive against the 
human inhabitants of this world. Numerous demons were busy 
examining and updating operational charts for various aspects of the
war, in addition to receiving and relaying movement orders to the different
demon armies under the control of this lord. If 
the charts were examined closely, it would be obvious that a 
significant amount of his resources were being expended in the 
mountains to the north, far from any significant concentration of human
forces.

The atmosphere in the room chilled perceptibly when the demon 
master entered.

"Report," he barked to one of his senior lieutenants.

"Nothing so far my lord," said a yellow skinned demon, who was 
standing in front of the main operations map.

"That is not good enough," said the commander, as he strode 
towards the map, "what can you tell me?'

"Using the point where we found Hugh as a starting point, and 
estimating that he had travelled for two weeks before we found 
him, we have laid out a search grid."

"And?" 

"Also assuming that the human scum misdirected him by moving him north
before dropping him off, we have started our searching in 
the area to the south of where he was found."

"Good assumption, but you are saying that you have found nothing yet."

"That is correct, lord. But it is still early days. We are 
continuing our sweep northward, and we will find them."

"How long," asked the demon walking to his throne and sitting 
down, "before we are done?"

"We should reach the northern most point, here, in about six 
weeks," replied the lieutenant, placing his hand directly on the valley
where the village of Morning Breeze was located.

----------------------------------
Later that afternoon, after they had bid farewell to Sonya and 
the rest of the young women travelling with her, Willow and Buffy were
back in the arch-mage's workroom, in the middle of an 
animated conversation.

"Eggnog," said Buffy, "surely we can find someone who can make 
eggnog."

"Eggnog," asked Aiofe, "what is eggnog?"

"Sugar, spices, milk and egg yolks," said Buffy, "beaten together and
then served with whipped cream and booze."

"Sounds good," said Willow, "what else. I know... we can get 
Daithi and the boys to get a tree."

"Pudding, turkey, and yams," continued Buffy, rattling off her 
Christmas dinner wish list, "I'm off to the kitchens. Care to 
join me, Bridie?"

Bridie stood up and followed the slayer out of the workroom with a wordless
glance of confusion back to her lover.

"I know," said Aiofe, "but it sounds like it will be a fun party, anyways."

"That is will be," said Willow. "Now, we need to think of 
decorations. We can use pine boughs, and cranberries on string 
to decorate the common room."

"Why all the fuss," asked Aiofe.

"Back on our world, the general population condenses the 
traditional twelve nights into a single night and day."

"Why?" 

"Well, it basically has to do with religion. The dominant 
religion where we come from usurped many of the traditions of the Goddess,
to help bring the population in line, once they had 
taken over the leadership of a country. It gave the people a 
sense of continuity with their old practices and beliefs."

"Who were these people?"

"They existed here too at one time," replied Willow, "the 
Christians."

"But they fell out of favour centuries ago," said Aiofe, "and 
they were never that big to begin with."

"How did that happen," asked Willow, her curiosity about the 
differences between this world and her own now fully engaged, 
"Frankel indicated that your world went through the same basic 
history as mine did, up until a hundred years or so ago."

"Basic yes," replied Aiofe, "however, there were some major 
differences in the social / political history between our 
worlds."

"But wouldn't that have affected the general history?"

"I think that, the more we look at this multiple world business, the
more we will find that the major trends remain the same, 
driven by economic and societal pressures. However, I think that there
are differences in the 'seasonings', or specific political and perhaps
religious factors on each world."

"So on this world, the Christians never gained the political and religious
stranglehold that they did on mine then?"

"The followers of Jesus did make their influence felt, for about four
hundred years after his death. But once they tried to 
aggressively expand into the Celtic countries they ran into 
serious resistance, and were beaten back by followers of the 
Goddess, who rose up under inspired and some say Devine, 
leadership. The various leaders of the Celtic nations then 
banded together and decided to sweep Europe free of Christians 
once and for all, feeling that they were an intolerant sect and 
would only cause future trouble."

"What about the reformation and the age of enlightenment then?"

"Once the Celts had swept Europe clean of Christians, their 
nations fell into darkness and superstition, based on old tribal infighting
and mistrust of non-northern peoples. The progress 
that had been made to that point fell apart, and disease and war swept
repeatedly through Europe. Mohamed rose in the desert, and formed the
faith of Allah, and they, the Jewish nations and the 
great tribal nations of Asia clashed repeatedly with the Celts, 
and each other, for hundreds of years. It was only with the rise of
the great Celtic nations in France, Spain, England and Germany at the
end of the fifteenth century that true exploration and 
scientific progress began."

"Close to our history, but with a couple of significant 
differences."

"I understand that once the recent ice-age hit, most of Europe, 
Asia Minor and the Arab nations were over-run with famines and 
the old, bitter, feuds rose up again. They were also inundated 
with refugees fleeing the ice, causing renewed fighting between 
the Celts and the Arabs. The entire area is a wasteland of war 
and pestilence now. The demons would have had no problems taking over
there, it was practically a nightmare on earth before this 
current war started."

"What happened with exploration on this continent then," asked 
Willow, fascinated by this impromptu, and brief, history lesson.

"Well," said Aiofe, "the English and the Spanish led most of the great
waves of exploration, in this, the new world. However, 
once they had restarted their wars in Europe they essentially cut off
the colonies here, and we were left to fend for ourselves."

"And?"

"Well, the colonies gradually spread west and south, settling as they
went, until they finally reached the west coast around the 
end of the nineteenth century."

"What of the native inhabitants. I noticed that I haven't seen 
many overtly native people around."

"For the most part they were gradually absorbed into the European
communities,
and their racial uniqueness melted into the whole."

"So you never had the Indian wars, and the near genocide of the 
native people then."

"Goddess, no. Our way is, and has always been, accommodation. 
Frankly, without the natives, the small colonies that had been 
established would have perished, once trade with Europe had been cut
off and once the ice-age had really settled in."

"One more difference between us, making our world and its history look
bad in comparison," said Willow, "however, fascinating as 
this has been, it isn't getting us any closer to our celebration tonight."

"What can we do to get ready?"

"Well, with Buff taking over the kitchen duties, I guess we are 
on decoration patrol. Let's go find Grael and Daithi and see if we can
get a tree and some boughs."

The rest of the afternoon was spent in frenzied activity, as 
everyone in the inn got involved in the impromptu Christmas 
celebration. If anyone had questions as to why two followers of the
Goddess were so concerned about celebrating an old Christian holiday,
they kept them to themselves. Everyone knew that new 
mothers often had weird, unexplainable, mood shifts and cravings. It
was best to accommodate their desires, rather than risk any 
unpleasant consequences from the mothers falling into the baby 
blues.

By supper time the common room of the inn had been transformed 
into a festive party room, with the addition of a large blue 
spruce tree, which had been decorated with garlands of 
cranberries, ornaments of silver paper and several small wooden 
carvings. The walls, and mantles had been festooned with pine 
boughs, adding their distinctive scent to the room. The floors 
had been swept, and washed, before being rinsed with water 
infused with several essential oils. The fires had all been 
built up, and were crackling, adding their cheery light to the 
room. The three large chandlers had had their oil refilled and 
were all burning merrily.

The weather outside could have been more hospitable however. 
Just as everyone was sitting down to their dinner of turkey, 
goose, stuffing and various vegetables a bitter north wind sprung up,
bringing with it the start of a massive snowfall that would 
last for the next two and a half weeks. 

Willow looked around at everyone, warm and comfortable, and 
enjoying their dinner and had a moment of regret. Turning to 
Amana she said, "I feel guilty. Here we are, having a nice 
dinner, safe and warm."

"Why does that cause you concern?"

"Well... Sonya and the others. I sent them out into this storm." 

"Don't worry, Willow. You know that they were planning to stay 
at one of the farms down the mountain. They will be safe there, and
they all have enough sense to ride out the worst of the storm before
continuing their mission."

"But...."

"No buts, dear. Besides, this celebration is for you and Buffy. Sonya
and the others did not know about it before they left, and would not
be expecting it. It is totally removed from their 
experience. They will spend tonight in the traditional manner."

"I guess you're right, Amana."

"I am, now enjoy your party."

----------------------------------
Later that evening, well after the party had finally wound down, Buffy
and Willow had just finishing feeding, and settling, their daughters,
and were getting ready to go to bed themselves.

"Merry Christmas, sweetie," said Buffy, coming up from behind and embracing
her spouse.

"You too," said Willow, leaning back and melting into Buffy's 
chest.

(Continued in part 3)