It was a beautiful morning in the sprawling nation of Irnu. This was not a surprise: every day of every season was a beautiful one. Spring days were bright and bracing, the sun rising into a cloudless sky over dew-bedecked fields. Summer days dawned bright and hot, the heat of the day warming and tanning bare skin, warm breezes wending their way even into the cool shade. Autumn days were cool and damp, the trees gilded in all the colours of a sunset. Even the winter days were delightfully chill, snow and ice sparkling in the sunlight, the icy wind driving people inside to curl up together by an open fire.
It was no surprise because this was Irnu, the nation of the Old Gods. Other countries followed philosophies and idols, distant stars and veiled deities. In Irnu, however, the old gods still ruled - ancient gods of earth and wood, of storm and river, of pain, pleasure, sex, and blood.
By the time Mia and Eli came downstairs into the Cardinal's spacious taproom, breakfast had been cleared away, and the days' work had already begun. Roth collared Eli almost as soon as he walked into the room, saying he needed help with a collection from the market, and after a long, warm hug, Mia watched him walk out of the door. She joined Dina in the kitchen, where the woman was humming cheerfully as she chopped vegetables for the day's meals. After a long moment of silence, Mia spoke.
"So, we - me and Eli, we -"
Say the word, dammit,
she thought. "Had... had
sex
last night." Despite everything, she still blushed at the word.
"Oh honey," Dina said with an impish smile, "we know." Remembering how loud she had been, Mia buried her face in her hands, mortified. But a moment later, Dina was laughing, wrapping her arms around the girl for a warm, tight hug. "It sounded like it was wonderful, and we're so happy for you."
Mia hugged her back, unable to keep her face from breaking into a wide grin. "It
was
wonderful," she gushed. "I just wanted to, so we did it. He touched me, and then he put it inside me, and it was
bliss
," she finished, squeezing her eyes shut.
"Oh!" Dina suddenly said. She bustled out of the room, returning a moment later with one of the rainbow-edged flowers from the vase in the taproom. "You might want one of these, dear."
Mia watched curiously as Dina carefully stripped the flower of its petals, throwing the stem out into the yard. She carefully divided the petals into two piles, offering one to Mia while she folded the rest into her mouth. She took the petals. "What are these?"
Dina finished chewing and swallowed. "A gift from the deities," she explained. "Prevents pregnancy. Unless you two are trying to -?" Dina didn't get to finish the sentence before Mia, face bright pink, shoved the petals into her mouth. She had been so caught up in the...
physicality
of her time with Eli, that babies hadn't even occurred to her as an outcome.
Stupid
, that little voice in the back of her mind said.
Sluttish
.
Shut up
, she told it as she chewed. The petals were delicate and cool, seeming to melt on her tongue, leaving a delicate but sweet aftertaste.
"Do all the women eat the flowers?" Mia wondered allowed.
"Unless they're trying for children, yes," Dina answered, returning to her chopping. "The men too."
"How often do I need to...?"
"Hmm," Dina pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Well we were always taught to eat a flower every two or three days, so I guess it wears off after that. Most everyone I know who isn't aiming for parenthood eats one a day, though. Roth and I always share one immediately after." She flushed slightly, not out of embarrassment, but out of the pleasure of remembered trysts. "Or I have one before I go to bed, if I've lain with anyone else in the day."
Mia had quietly poured herself a mug of water while Dina talked, and took a sip just in time to choke at the woman's words. Through her coughing, she said "You lay with other people?"
"Of course, dear," Dina said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Everyone does. Well, most everyone does."
Mia remembered something about that - about the Irnian version of marriage not including vows of fidelity. Somehow, she hadn't connected the thought to Dina and Roth, though. "Doesn't Roth get jealous?"
"Not really," the woman shrugged, as she swept a board of chopped vegetables into a stewing pot. "Sometimes, I suppose. Everyone does - it's not always easy to see the one you love more than anyone in someone else's arms."
"How does he do it, then?" Mia instinctively recoiled from the thought of any other woman putting their hands on Eli the way she did.
"Because it's not about me, it's about him," the oldest woman responded. Mia frowned at her, and she sighed, leaning back against the wooden countertop. "That kind of feeling - jealousy, possessiveness - is all very natural, but it's not about the other person. It's about you and your fear - fear of losing out, of someone else taking the one you love away. But the thing is, they aren't yours, so they can't be stolen. I'm not Roth's, and he isn't mine - we belong to ourselves and the gods, and we share ourselves with each other. And we also share ourselves with other people, as they do with us. Jealousy and possession aren't really our way, here."
Mia's mind boggled, expanding for the tenth time in as many days. She was suddenly struck by an odd memory - a market trader, giving Dina a playful swat on the rump as she had turned away. Her lack of embarrassment or shame, how they had both laughed and smiled at each other. Had he been one of Dina's... other people? Her
lover
? Mia thrilled at the word, perhaps the most beautiful taboo she had ever heard. "So everyone just kind of..." she waved her hands vaguely.
"I mean, not everyone with everyone," Dina said, pulling the next lot of vegetables onto the cutting board. "Not everyone wants to share themselves with everyone. Some people only like certain kinds of people. My brother prefers men, for example, and only occasionally has sex with women, although he shares other pleasure with them quite often. No one is ever forced to do anything. But, in general, everyone shares themselves with each other. Pleasure is divine, after all - a gift from the deities."
Mia slumped against the counter, thinking. "I don't know if I could... share Eli, like that," she said.
"That's really between you and him, dear," Dina said.
Mia looked at her carefully. "Are you happy?" she asked seriously. "Having - having
sex
with anyone you want, sharing Roth, living here?"
Dina laughed, then - a deep belly laugh that filled the entire lower room of the inn, cutting through Mia's pensiveness and making her smile. "Oh, honey," the older woman purred. "What do you think?"
Mia grinned. "I think you and Roth are the happiest people I've ever met."
Dina nodded. "My life is good, Mia - full of joy, and love, and pleasure. I wouldn't exchange it for any other life in the world."
There was a long period of silence in the kitchen, and then Mia took a deep breath. "Dina, can I ask you something?"
Eli looked down at the delicate multihued flower he had been handed. He was waiting outside a shed with Roth, a bulky handcart nearby, ready for the delivery of firewood they had come to collect. It had been Roth who had broached the topic of Mia and Eli's lovemaking, congratulating him with a hug and a lopsided grin. While the hearty well-wishes had made Eli blush, he couldn't help but be grateful to the older man, as his easy cheer and affirmation helped to further quash the ingrained sense of wrongdoing and sin that still played at the back of his mind. It also gave him an opportunity to pose some questions to someone with a lot more... experience.
"You eat the petals," Roth explained, plucking one off the bloom and popping it into his mouth.
"And it stops... babies?" Eli asked awkwardly.
"Mhm," Roth assured him. "A gift from the deities - that's why you'll find them everywhere. As long as you eat one every couple of days or so, you won't father any unwanted children. To be safe, Mia should probably eat them, too. You ever decide you want a bigger family, just stop, and things will go back to their natural course, so to speak."
Eli tentatively plucked a petal off, placing it on his tongue; it seemed to dissolve, leaving a sugary flavour that made his mouth water. He quickly finished off the rest of them. He would need to broach this subject with Mia carefully; he certainly didn't feel ready to be a father, but while she seemed very happy to abandon their old beliefs about sex and intimacy, he didn't know if she had assume that children would just...
happen
, soon enough. That was how it would have worked if (when, he liked to think) they had married. Had her new outlook changed that?