A New Tradition

Cupid 542 -- Early January

The teapot squealed as if triggered by 542 flying into the kitchen. Angela must have timed it perfectly before she got into the shower. The house was much better since she moved back in with him, and it became their home again. Everything seemed to be immensely improved by the talented muse's radiant presence. Where 542 had been on the brink of being relegated back to the Lust Division before the triumph of the last Valentine's season, now he was focused and inspired again. It wasn't a result of his muse's magical influences. Those powers did not work on fellow magical creatures; it was instead a result of her love for him.

This time last year, Angela had been his supervisor In the True Love Division of cupids. Far before that, she had been an accomplished muse, and they had been in a relationship for half a millennium before her work got noticed. That resulted in her being asked to join the TLD. There was a prohibition of magical creatures dating if they were both in the love department. 542 had kicked himself for years for not fighting for her a few centuries ago. He hadn't wanted to stand in her way; if he had, she wouldn't have earned her name.

A name was a big deal for any magical being. It was not given at birth like it was for mortals; instead, it was bestowed upon an individual by the council for an extraordinary feat. For Angela, she had shepherded a relationship that was not only a stunningly powerful earthly union but also inspired Shakespeare's works. The woman who shared her life with him had managed to do a fantastic job with love and still tangentially act as a muse. Even if the mortals had all but forgotten about the inspiration for the Bard's stories, the magical world had not.

Once a magical creature had been honored with a name, it was the strongest of taboos to ever refer to them as the number they had been assigned at birth. That was a secret struggle for 542 as his love's number and all the memories from before were branded on his mind. Last year, Angela decided to return to being a muse again. It was what she was born to do, even if she had been fabulous in the True Love Division. Nothing made her happier than inspiring others.

542 steeped each of their favorite types of tea as he broke out his notebook. He had shot from nearly the bottom ten percent to near the top in the last year. It would be decades until he likely caught the attention of his new boss. The trouble with being middle-aged in his third millennium was that a single year was the blink of an eye for most magical creatures. The relationships he created on Earth and Angela served as powerful anchors to keep him in the moment and not cause time to blur past him.

"Morning, babe!" Angela flew into the kitchen wearing lilac-colored vestments that looked like Calliope's back in the Greek ages when 542 was a mere child. It was the formal uniform of any muse supervisor. The humans never depicted Calliope's angelic wings back in ancient Greece. The mortals had lost the secret mixture of components that had allowed them to poke through the ethereal cloak that masked the magical divisions' movements. Still, a ton of art dappled the world and depicted that trying time for the supernatural world.

"You headed in to work this early?" 542 moved to kiss her cheek as she grabbed her cup and saucer. Angela met his lips with her own and smiled after the kiss. It was one of their many little games that made life together more enjoyable.

"I got an hour." Angela alighted in the seat beside him and pulled close. Her blond hair glowed with a warmth and mystical internal light. "I thought I would get ready and hang out with you for a while before I needed to go in for meetings. Setting goals for the year isn't my favorite day."

"You just made my day better. If that helps."

"It always does, my love. What are you working on this morning?" Angela rested her head on his shoulder, and the scent of a fresh meadow of wildflowers proliferated through 542's senses.

"I was checking in on a bunch of successful first arrows before I started back on my big project." 542 turned and gave the beauty another soft kiss. First arrows were the shots from cupid's bow that the mortals had written about for centuries. It wasn't the only dart in their quiver but was by far the most famous and influential. It also took a much stronger dose of magic to create. As a consequence, additional first arrows were frowned upon.

It doesn't seem to matter that an intern missed the shot; the first fletching has already been loosed.

The arrow was a blast of magic that led mortals to get closer. Human emotions served to multiply magic that was input to create it and return the power back into the ethereal world as a far more potent force than anything the magical divisions could make on their own. It was a symbiotic relationship that enriched both worlds immeasurably. Love seemed to be one of the most potent supernatural influences, and the True Love Division was considered critical and prestigious.

"Have you decided on the pair for this year?" Angela snuggled closer to him. 542 had almost forgotten how desperately he needed her to be complete.

"I think so; it might be more of a challenge than last year."

"But this year, you get to use magic again." Angela smiled proudly at him.

A year ago, he had helped a pair of roommates realize how much they had been in love with each other. This was under the specter of him being relegated back to lust from the True Love Division, the major leagues of the cupids. 542 knew from all his research that the lovely pair of women belonged together and made a perfect couple. The feat had taken requests into many other magical divisions and called in favors accumulated over a few centuries.

"These two have both been through so much since I missed a decade ago, Angela. Their hearts are all but sterile, at least regarding the romantic variety of love." He pointed to notes and diagrams in his notebook. Scenes in the margins started to animate as he motioned toward them.

"You got this, babe. You could have gone with an easier target to make this new tradition an annual thing."

"You know me, I love a challenge." 542 smiled before collecting another smooch.

"I always wondered why you were so enamored by me." Angela chuckled. "Or do you prefer a challenge like seducing your boss?" Angela smirked at him, proud of needling him lightly.

"I believe I was the one seduced, not the instigator, my love."

"You may be right. What will you do when you run out of misses to atone for? You haven't missed anything in a year!"

"Have you been checking on me?" 542 tried to look shocked before she gave the cutest shrug. "I still have plenty of misses for a few more years of this tradition. After that, it might have to evolve, like my love for an impish muse."

Angela nuzzled in for a kiss. "Why these two?"

"Well, it must happen this year. If either has another heartbreak, it might be the last time they really try. Plus, we might have a couple of things helping us." 542 motioned to his notebook, and a pair of women that had started his winning streak coalesced on the papery surface.

"Us?"

"I'm going to need a muse to pull this off. If I'm looking for a muse, why not go for the best?"

"You do have me forever, my love. Whatever you need, just let me know, and it's yours."

"What about half an hour with the woman I love?"

"I can't think of a better way to start my day." Angela grabbed his hand and flew them toward their bedroom.

Tabitha -- Early January

Are you sure about this?

Tabitha kept herself from panicking before walking into the classroom to start her doctorate. This had always been a goal, but after a hellacious few years, she doubted it was in the cards for her. The physicians' group she worked with was splitting the bill to get her over the hurdle.

Do it for Clem.

She took a couple deep breaths before stepping into the room.

I'm sure this place will be clogged with cutthroat overachievers.

Tabitha mused to herself as she reached for the door handle.

Then again, it's a doctorate in nursing, not an MD.

Most doctors she worked with were great, but that didn't eradicate the stigma in her profession of many being self-absorbed asshats. Tab could only think of a single doctor in her group that would fit the typical description. Fortunately for her, she worked at an office on the other side of the city, and Tabitha hardly had to interact with the woman.

Tabitha peeked into the room with the little window beside the door and saw a typical distribution of nursing students: a multitude of women and just a couple of men. Most of the fellow doctoral candidates looked a decade older than Tab, though a cluster of three looked like they should still be undergrads. They were pretty much the only people on campus this early in January. The rest of the college students wouldn't be back for two weeks. The doctorate program wanted to get an early start and introduce the students to their advisors before the crush of students returned.

Sitting by herself and reading was a familiar face from Tabitha's master's degree program. Natalie Evans was the most brilliant woman in the room anywhere in the university; at least Tab was convinced of that. It didn't matter the equation. Nat seemed to be able to do it in her head, even if she was thorough enough to test her work on a calculator before she was satisfied. The woman was a few years younger than Tabitha. She had started the master's program right after her undergrad, while Tab had gotten some time as an RN before she started working to become a nurse practitioner.

When Tabitha stepped into the room, a pair of sapphire blue eyes looked up and waved her over to the empty seat beside her. "Tabi!" Natalie cheered as she slipped her e-reader into her backpack.

"Yay, looks like I do know someone in my cohort." Tabitha slid into the seat beside the pretty brunette.

"You know someone else as well. I ran into Chris when I was finishing my paperwork." Natalie said in a near whisper through a grimace.

"That was a mistake I will not be making again. What did I ever see in that man?" Tabitha shook her head. She and Chris's relationship made it exactly a month before the bastard cheated on her.

"I hear he's objectively good-looking, though I'm probably not the best judge. Rissa is a pretty good source, though." Nat smiled as she shrugged.

Natalie was an unabashed lesbian, so girl talk with the kind stranger had started out a little awkward. It wasn't that Tabitha had anything against lesbians. She just hadn't been exposed to one that looked like such a girlie girl before Nat. She wore an elegant dress that was part of her near-trademark wardrobe.

"She was always a hoot," Tabitha recalled more than one end-of-semester celebration where Clarissa and her boyfriend Clint had been present.

"Ris very much still is." Nat smiled as she pulled out a pen and paper. There were still ten minutes until the session started, but the woman was meticulously prepared for anything.

To the unobservant, Natalie may have seemed to breeze through class, but taking a closer look, her hard work was evident. Tabitha took the cue and got out her laptop to take notes. Nat's preparations were an anomaly among students their age; most preferred an electronic solution. The stylish pen she was using was as elegant as her typical attire. For the first time, Tabitha noticed a diamond ring on Nat's left hand that was opening the notebook.

"Did you get married?" Tab couldn't help an excited squeal in her voice. Natalie had been perpetually unlucky in love throughout their master's degree program.

"Not yet. The wedding is in a little over a month. Lucky for me that we get a week off in February." The beauty slid the ring around on her finger as she beamed proudly.

"Congratulations, Natalie! That's awesome! Who's the lucky lady."

"My gorgeous soulmate. You're not going to believe it when I tell you who."

"Are you still with Carol?" That was the relationship that seemed to be doomed to inevitable failure when they graduated.

"Nope, that didn't even make it through graduation weekend." Nat grimaced, but her proud smile returned almost instantly. "I'll give you one more guess, but I won't torture you for long."

"Let's see, what was the name of the tall blonde bartender at your favorite bar?"

"She's one of my maids of honor or matrons." Nat shook her head. "I'm not sure which is the proper term, as Alison happily married Sara, the other bartender at that same bar. They have an adorable little girl named Maya, who will be our flower girl."

"Aww, that's sweet; they were perfect together. I was just trying to work with the 'You're not going to believe when I tell you.'" Tabitha couldn't stop herself from using quote fingers.

"I'm marrying Rissa." Natalie's smile got broader, and pride sparkled in her stunning eyes.

"That..." Tabitha thought about how close the ladies had been back the first time through school. "Actually, makes a lot of sense. I just thought she was straight."

"So did she." Nat giggled. "I assure you, Rissa isn't."

"That's awesome, Natalie! You deserve it."

"This last year has been the best of my life! What about you? I thought you were headed east with Kirby and jumping into your doctorate in Virginia as soon as we finished the master's program."

"Yeah, that didn't work out." Tabitha winced.

The last three and a half years since they completed their master's degrees had been some of the most trying of her life. That was not an easy comparison of her history. Her very existence had sundered her parents' marriage when she was born.

What should have been a blessed event was instead proof of her mother's infidelity. Her mother and supposed father were both fair-skinned, blond-haired, and blue-eyed. Tabitha was far too brown to have come from their shared DNA. Her whole family, save for her mother and older sister, saw her as a glaring reminder of the failure of a perfect marriage and the utter destruction of a family.

Her mother was just as surprised as anyone else as she swore that she hadn't been unfaithful and the only man she had ever been with had been her husband. The real story wouldn't come out for a few years. At a concert, there was a bachelorette party for one of her best friends. Her mother had gotten blackout drunk and had woken up in a hotel bed with her best friend in the next bed over. Apparently, a perspective threesome for her friend became a foursome when her mother wanted to ensure her friend was safe. Neither woman had any recollection of the next day. It wasn't until a moment of drunken recall when Tabi was five that her mother found out who her father was or narrowed the candidates down to a pair of musicians. Her existence destroyed that friendship as well.

Growing up, it was only the three of the women that provided support for each other. All other family practically abandoned them. Tabi's grandparents never truly accepted her, and the shunning from the community had them move halfway across the country before she turned seven. Her mother was never successful in love again, as she was labeled a cheater. She passed away in one of the first waves of COVID that went through the state. Undiagnosed cervical cancer stemming from HPV was a precipitating factor for a woman so young. Tabi wasn't born with HPV but questioned if her conception had brought about that lingering illness.

Tabitha hadn't moved out to Virginia as her sister, Sabrina, was a single mother and needed help with Tabi's niece. Kirby left without her when she insisted that she needed to stay and help her sister out. There was no way she would treat her like their mother had been treated. Tab was going to be her sister's support system. She pulled out of the doctorate program and completed her nurse practitioner certification.

Sabrina being a single mother had weighed heavily on Tabitha the last couple semesters of her master's degree. It wasn't an easy decision or flippantly made, but it was something that she hadn't landed on until the week before she and Kirby were going to leave for Virginia.

"I'm sorry. You two seemed good together. At least much better than you and Chris." Natalie patted Tab's shoulder reassuringly.

"He had no desire to stay so I could help out my sister and be a kickass aunt." Tabitha's voice faltered a little. "A lot of good I managed to do..." She held back tears.

"Oh, God! What happened, Tabi?"

"Sabrina was such a fantastic mother, but I think she was trying to do too much. She was an assistant principal at a suburban high school." Tabitha sniffed back a tear. "They think she fell asleep at the wheel on her way home from school conferences and..." She raced to pull a tissue from her purse, but Nat beat her to the punch. She dabbed her eyes with the offered tissue, took a deep breath, and continued. "I was babysitting Clementine that night when the police knocked on my door. My sister's car ended up in a river off a bridge. She probably never felt anything." She told this tale hundreds of times, but it never failed to pull tears from her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Tabitha." Natalie pulled her close in a comforting hug. Natalie wasn't the touchy-feely type, so this hug meant a lot to Tabi.

"So, I'm a mom to a great five-year-old now. We've only had each other for the last three years." She paused for a second as that wasn't entirely fair. The youngster had a ton of found family aunts and uncles that helped nourish the wounded pair. "At least as far as biological family."

Clem's father hadn't even wanted her to be born and took off somewhere without as much as a forwarding address. Having a great-granddaughter born out of wedlock was almost as abhorrent to Sabrina and Tabitha's grandparents as their brown granddaughter from cheating. Tabitha hadn't been ready to become a mother while she was still processing the loss of her only close family. However, when the best choice for Clem was Sabrina's father, who had shunned her, her mother, and Tabi, or an aunt who wanted the best for the then eighteen-month-old, Tabitha fought for the little girl. Fortunately, Sabrina's will made the choice of Tab clear to the courts.

Even with tears in her eyes, Tabitha couldn't stop herself from pulling out her phone to brag about her adorable and bright little carrot top. "This is Clementine."

Natalie looked at the picture and made an excited squeal before she could speak. "She's adorable! I guess your cute nose runs in the family."

"Surprisingly, Sabrina didn't share the nose with mom or me, but I can see it in Clem."

They conversed for several more minutes after Tabitha finished outlining the absolute horror that her life had been the nine months after completing their master's degrees. Natalie had been a very close friend during her last time in school. Tabi wasn't sure if she would have been able to finish as highly ranked in the class if it were not for Nat's tutoring. Over the last few years, anyone that lacked propinquity with Tab and Clem had been necessarily abandoned as they went into survival mode. Nat was still the same funny and caring woman she had always been.

Their professor made his appearance precisely on time, to the second. It took a ton of willpower to pay attention to the entire introduction. Having a young daughter had likely exacerbated her ADHD as she could never concentrate on anything for too long before she needed to switch tasks for her munchkin. She noted that she needed to go see about renewing her prescription, which Tabi had not been required to utilize as much in a few years.

"Hey," Natalie stopped her before everyone filed out of the classroom to go meet with their advisors. "I know we're not close or anything anymore, but if you ever need anything, call Rissa and me. Even if you just need some free babysitting occasionally."