Reflections Of Love

“Our guild is called The Centurions. We’re a small guild of people trying to make a difference in Sydney, maybe make it a safer place. We’re all girls, all queer and most of us are dating.” I sum up briefly. Lena laughs out loud at that. “Seriously? All of y’all are dating?” She asks. I smile; it’s almost impossible not to. Her cheery demeanour is infectious.

“Almost all of us. Our mentor Olivia, the Lady Of The Beasts, isn’t dating us. The rest of us are in a polycule though.” I reply. “Clunky title, she’s gotta change that.” Lena remarks, and I can only shrug. I don’t disagree, but that’s the title the system gave her. “So that’s why ya both came? Y’all are a package deal huh?” She asks further, smirking.

Mia puts an arm around me, kissing me on the cheek. She looks back to Lena and nods. I can see a hint of red on Lena’s cheeks, and I grin happily. Turning my mind back to business for the moment, I speak. “We wanted to get to know you a bit, see if you might be interested in joining our guild…among other things.” I say, unable to resist flirting a little.

Lena leads forward, putting both her elbows on the table and adorably resting her chin in her hands. "Well whaddya wanna know about me?" She asks. Mia takes the lead for this one, mimicking the water mage's body language and playful tone. "What do you want out of life? What's your ambition?" Lena looks up to the sky, tapping her foot on the ground as a stim, as she thinks.

"Safety and fun. Fun and safety. Everythin' a gal could want." She says simply. "What does that look like to you?" I ask her, intrigued and trying to keep the conversation flowing. This time, she answers without missing a beat. "I looove fighting things, it's fun as hell. Throwing an ocean at people and watching them come out soaking wet, miserable and knocked flat on their back never gets old."

"And safety, well I need to be safe so I can spend time with Emma." Lena says. She gets this wide, goofy smile on her face, and it's pretty obvious that Emma is her girlfriend. Her smile is contagious, and how clearly happy she is makes Mia and I smile too. Lena leans back in her chair, looking up at the sky, her mind suddenly far off. "Gaia I love that girl. She's always understood me, I dunno how."

"That's adorable, oh my Gaia!" Mia blurts out, and Lena giggles. "Y'all are pretty cute yourselves." She flirts, winking at us. Then her expression is right back to that goofy smile. "We've been dating for 3 years now and being with her is a dream. She's my other half, she completes me, she's funny and sweet and kind and gorgeous and loving and caring and always there to comfort me when I'm upset."

"She made me a priority since day one. I think we could both tell the moment we met, we met someone special." Lena gushes. Then she sighs, a wistful look coming over her. "What's wrong?" Mia asks. I'm too busy being taken in by this raw expression of beautiful emotion to be able to formulate words. "The only problem with our relationship is that I have to hide the abyss from her. She's a mundane." The water mage speaks regretfully.

I gasp softly. Lena looks at me with a sad smile. "Isn't there any way....?" I ask, really not very well educated on the topic myself. She shakes her head. "The separation is clear. Mundanes can't get into the abyss. You're either born with magic or you aren't. I looked for years and couldn't find any cases of mundanes learning magic or getting into the abyss without Gaia deleting their memories." She says unhappily.

I make a promise to myself right then and there. If there's a way Lena can introduce Emma to the abyss, I'm going to do everything I can to help that happen. I don't much care that I'm once again following the lesbian stereotype of crushing too hard on girls too quickly. I don't even care if Lena is interested in us or our guild. Love that pure deserves to be shared in full. Sapphic relationships are beautiful.

Mia stretches her hand across the table and offers it to Lena. She takes it without hesitation and Mia squeezes gently, reassuring the water mage that she's not alone in this. Lena smiles at her gratefully. "How'd y'all meet?" Mia asks, trying to distract Lena from the fact that she has to hide a part of her life from her beloved. It works and the brunette's toothy, loving, goofy grin comes right back again.

I feel my chest flutter a little. Lena's mood is infectious, it's almost scary how she inspires emotion in others. "I was at a coffee shop a few years ago, running late to my mundane job. I stopped for coffee cause fuck em, I'm already late. Shit if I'm not gonna order a coffee. I get up to the counter and the barista introduces herself as Micah. So I say 'Hi ‘Mocha’, can I get a triple shot iced coffee?'.”

“She just stares at me, I guess she's confused. So I go 'Sorry, I guess you get that a ‘latte’?' She doesn't say a word, just stares at me. Then I hear giggling from beside me, and I turn to see the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. I looked around and a few people were staring at me. One was even smiling a little. But Emma was the one laughing.”

“We hit it off after that. Emma wasn't in a rush and I ended up being an hour later than I would have been if I didn't meet her. Best hour of my life honestly, couldn't have asked for a better person to make me more late to work." She says, chuckling at the memory. "That's the most adorable thing I've ever heard!" Mia swoons, and Lena giggles. "It's a pretty cute story." She agrees.

"Anyway, enough about me and my hot amazing girlfriend, how'd y'all meet?" She asks. A worker chooses that moment to bring over our drinks and food, and we thank him appreciatively. I take the lid off my hot chocolate and blow on it, knowing it'll be too hot for me at the moment. I take a bite of the banana bread, leaving my hot chocolate to cool down for now.

I look to Mia to find her already gazing at me, grinning with that same lovestruck look on her face that Lena had talking about Emma. Seeing my girlfriend direct that look at me makes my heart flutter. “This one just has an something about her.” Mia says, still looking at me. I feel my cheeks heating up.

Mia kisses me on the cheek, then turns back to Lena. “Gemma’s a latebloomer and I noticed when she started using her powers. She seemed nice and interesting, certainly better than the usual people we get around here, if you follow.” She says, and Lena nods in understanding. The two of them presumably having lived with the abyss for their whole lives are a bit more used to gangs being a regular part of life than I am.

“We hung out more, one thing led to another and we ended up getting together.” Mia finishes off. Lena smiles. “Okay I wanna know: was there a moment you knew?” She asks. I look to Mia, also curious about her answer to this. She hums, finishing a bite of her muffin, and taking a sip of her milkshake.

“I guess I didn’t really notice that I’d fallen for her at first. Things happened pretty quickly, the Uhaul lesbian stereotype and everything. A gang tried to kidnap her right outside my house once though, and I fought them off and saved her. I got so scared, ya know? I was so afraid that they’d already got her and so relieved that she was okay.”

“That kinda **** me to see my own feelings. It’s not just that I cared about her, I like, CARED about her. I dunno how else to really explain it, but it put things into perspective. Life is short and dangerous, especially in the abyss. If you don’t take risks and go for what you want, it won’t happen.” She finishes off.

Lena smiles and nods emphatically. “I know exactly what ya mean. Emma and I couldn’t stop hanging out together. That feeling of never wanting to leave and all that. And over time, it turned into this feeling of safety and security. It’s less….intense now I guess, but still just as strong. I dunno if that makes sense.” She says.

Mia and I nod. “I guess that’s how love is supposed to be in the long term, right? The people that feel safe, like home.” I say. Lena smiles dreamily. “Exactly like that. Emma’s my home. Seeing her after a hard day at work or fighting off some weirdo group, it’s amazing.” She says.