Training started the next day, contrary to Sekhmet's plan. They spent the first day bonding without a care in the world. They finished braiding Nerata'ari's hair. She now sported almost a hundred thin black cords down to the middle of her back. Unlike Sekhmet's though, hers ended with perfectly polished blood red rubies that ever so faintly glowed in the dark.
Sekhmet told her partner what little she knew about the origins of her power. There was a higher power than all the Gods, and whatever it was, it was the reason the Gods had their powers. It only spoke to Ra and Zeus, but that was very rarely and only a short sentence or two at most. They always consisted of orders to be carried out, either by lesser Gods, or one of the two of them directly.
She told her about her life history. She reassured Nerata'ari that, contrary to popular belief, Sekhmet wasn't a consort of Ptah's. This greatly relieved the Oracle as visions of being hunted down by an angry God flashed through her mind for a few seconds. Sekhmet spoke of her "birth" when the higher power formed all the Gods into existence at the same time, before matter even existed. She wasn't sure how old she was, because for the first periods of her life time didn't exist, at least not in the way either Gods or humans knew of it now. Sekhmet regaled her with stories of her many battles, inspiring awe and envy in her young lover.
In all her stories though, Nerata'ari found one thing striking, Sekhmet had always been alone.
"Why didn't find a lover in all that time? You went countless eons alone, it must have been awful."
"I never found anyone I felt like I truly connected with. There are other Gods that might make for a good match on paper, but in real life they are the last people I'd ever fall in love with. You on the other hand I fell for almost immediately when you became my Oracle. I saw in you compassion unmatched in all the world, understanding beyond my comprehension, generosity that far exceeded even that of a typical priestess. You have a love for your fellow humans that the Gods would be proud to bear, and it's only surpassed by your love of animals. You have patience beyond measure. I'd be a fool not to fall in love with you."
Nerata'ari almost wept tears of sweet joy at Sekhmet's gushing. When she became her Oracle it was a connection unlike she had with anyone else. Besides the obvious, during the brief communications with her Goddess during prayer she felt truly loved and appreciated, far more than Nerata'ari thought she should be feeling during these times. Maybe this is where her romantic feelings for Sekhmet first began she thought. It would explain why they became flirtatious after just a short period in her temple.
* * *
Training started with unarmed combat. Nerata'ari proved to be both a competent and eager student. Within hours she was already beginning to master the basic stances, strikes, and blocks. During a break for lunch Nerata'ari examined all the weapons and armor along the wall. She ran her hand, still glistening with sweat from the morning's work out, over Sekhmet's chestplate. It was solid bronze and weighed about forty pounds. It looked as though it was almost made as a likeness to her body, it's stomach was flat in the front and curved around the sides, while its upper half was dominated by two large protrusions to fit Sekhmet's massive breasts. Nerata'ari looked at her reflection in the armor, its color giving the world a brown glow. She couldn't wait for the day to wear her own. She imagined it would be obscenely heavy and ridiculously cumbersome to fight it.
Two questions immediately jumped into the young Oracle's mind so fast she didn't know which one to ask first; they competed like two small children for their parents attention.
"Why are we training naked?" she asked. "I mean, I love seeing you naked, and being naked in front of you, but wouldn't it make more sense to wear the clothing and armor we're going to be fighting in so I can get used to it?"
Sekhmet came up behind her, so close that her breasts pressed into Nerata'ari's back, and leaned in, bringing her face next to hers. "It's so much more fun watching you do all this naked" she said seductively in her ear before nibbling on her earlobe. "Besides" she continued, "you need to learn the technique first." She took Nerata'ari by the back of the wrist and moved her arm around as though she was swinging a sword "improperly fitting armor inhibits technique, but you would never know if you started out wearing armor and adjusted your movements slightly, you would just think that was how the technique was done. The armor should always be crafted to the body and the technique, never the other way around."
That seemed like a perfectly good reason to Nerata'ari, not that she would have argued for either of them wearing anything really. The feeling of her lover's body pressed against her combined with the deliciously playful things her mouth was doing to her ear almost made her forget her second question for a moment. "If you have all these powers, why not just think your enemies dead? Why fight them and risk hurting yourself?"
Sekhmet stopped flicking her lover's earlobe with her tongue and let it slide from her mouth with a small pop sound, "whatever it is that gives us our powers limits them in certain ways. I can't actually kill anyone with them. You might think I could make a rock fall on someone, so I'm not directly killing them, but then my powers would either fail to create that rock or lift another one. Trust me, we've all tried something like that, it never works. We also can't bring people back from the dead, nor can we travel forwards or backwards in time." She lowered her voice into a more sultry tone, "We also can't make people fall in love with us, although Cupid was once able to make other people fall in love with each other somehow, but that didn't end well."
That was something Nerata'ari was a bit concerned about, the idea that she had been coerced somehow into loving her Goddess, but she never gave those thoughts much consideration. During their time in the temple, and here in Sekhmet's palace, she had come to trust her unconditionally, that last statement was merely a nail in a coffin that already had enough.
They trained for the rest of the afternoon, until the sun dipped below the horizon somewhere behind their pyramid. They took turns bathing each other in the pool, which turned into love making, as is the case for every pair of young lovers throughout human history. They finished the night cuddling in the pool, staring at the stars on the horizon while conversing in hushed tones, as though someone might overhear them and figure out they were in love. They slept soundly in their bed that night, wrapped in each other's arms.
Months went by as their training continued, their daily routine not varying substantially. Nerata'ari's strength, reflexes, and abilities soon matched her more experienced partner, neither being able to get the upper hand on the other in their daily sparring matches.
They were relaxing in the pool one evening, soothing away the day's wear and tear on their bodies. Sekhmet was sitting in her partner's lap, thoroughly enjoying what her lover's mouth was doing to the spot where her neck meets her shoulder when she remembered one minor event that led to the realization of a major problem.
There was going to be an eclipse that night and she didn't want Nerata'ari to miss one second of it. Far more importantly though, she wasn't sure her lover knew what it meant because Sekhmet was training her physically but not mentally, she had completely forgotten to educate her.
She jumped from her partner's lap, turned around, and kneeled between her legs one step below her, the water coming up to her chin. "I'm sorry my love, I just realized that I've been training you for combat, but not for life itself. I've taught you what you needed to stay alive, but not what you needed to make it worthwhile. Please forgive me" she implored.
Nerata'ari cradled her partners face in her hands while lowering herself down to kiss her on the forehead. "You're all I need to make life worth living" she replied, kissing her lips tenderly. "Besides, I can tell by the look on your face that you intend to fix whatever it is that you think you did wrong, so please don't feel like you have to apologize to me."
Sekhmet's heart soared with the sweet words Nerata'ari spoke, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes. "Thank you my love" she said, jumping to her feet to plant a kiss on her lips. "Your lessons start tonight then!" She exclaimed like a young child about to show her parents the most amazing thing she had even seen in her life.
Sekhmet raised her hand and spread her fingers wide, palm pointed towards the ceiling. The roof replied with a low rumble, like distant thunder, that grew to a deafening roar, as though every block above them was about to come crashing down on their heads.
Nerata'ari watched in amazement, albeit with her hands over her ears, as the blocks in the ceiling began to rotate and turn, rolling over each other sideways until the last of them disappeared behind the walls of the room. Above them was nothing but the night sky, filled with more stars than Nerata'ari had ever seen before.
Sekhmet enjoyed the look on her face for a few seconds before interrupting her, "Over there" she said, pointing to the back of the room. In the sky above the back corner, the full moon slowly began its journey through the night sky. Nerata'ari stared intently at the moon in all its glory. She had seen the full moon countless times, and while it looked even more beautiful from her new vantage point, she wasn't sure exactly what it was she should be learning. Just when she was about to inquire as to what she should be seeing she noticed it; a sliver of the moon had disappeared! She looked even closer, assuming her eyes were playing tricks on her, but as she looked more of the moon slowly disappeared.
"What is Iah doing?" she asked thinking the moon God was drunk.
Sekhmet smiled, "he's not doing anything, this is part of the earth's dance through the cosmos."
Nerata'ari sat mesmerized as the eclipse unfolded. She was still amazed at Sekhmet's powers. Her own immortality was still hard to grasp, but she could at least chalk that up to her Goddess. This was completely different. This was a natural event that happened all by itself! Even with her own transformation and sitting next to her Goddess she felt incredibly small and insignificant. As Sekhmet described how large the earth and moon were and how they traveled in relation to each other and the sun, that feeling only increased until she was almost dizzy. More and more, amazing thoughts and ideas flooded her head. Sekhmet had destroyed some planets! She heard the stories but the scale hadn't hit her until now. Her lover, the most gentle, tender person she had ever known, had destroyed things so vast that they were beyond her comprehension.
