RP [Yamatai/Asteria] The Kami and the Sun

[Kim]

31st Ichigatsu, YE 40.

Springtime in Yamatai wasn't to be missed. There were festivals, though they varied from place to place depending on the province.

Lukina hadn't at first understood why Bhelith had waited for so long to meet the new Vice-Premier. It seemed that, for a little while, the Lord Empress had simply returned to her subservient Empire to hide. Neither Vishta, nor Yuumi, nor Chiharu, had stirred her out of that den of hers, even to join what Vishta had introduced in the most serious tone imaginable as a 'pillow party'. Bhelith had respectfully declined, citing reasons of concern about her holdings in Asura, and then to all real appearances Lukina had watched Bhelith go home and do nothing.

The Empress didn't sleep; she seemed utterly incapable of stopping. Though, every once in a while now, Lukina found her drifting off somewhere else. That was just how things were, with the monarch. John had been correct to compare her to a cat. She seemed to embody the spirit more as an elf than as an actual nekovalkyrja. It echoed Lukina's own sensibilities, perhaps to the point where she could have questioned whether her stray-cat nature had actually been not only in her mother's blood, but also in hers. Were elves all destined for this sort of wandering life? Did they just pass from one strange hobby to the next, until they passed?

And then, Lukina had realized.

It was because of the small child the Lord Empress now held swaddled in her arms.

With no fanfare at all, no announcement, and with a strange prescience that might have simply come from the advice of some doctor or other, she had waited to meet Chiharu until she had given birth to her daughter.

The recovery had been swift. Lukina wasn't sure, again, whether it was some drug or medicine, or whether Bhelith had used Yamataian technology to recover - but she had done so with remarkable swiftness. She gave birth. She let John coddle the child. Afterwards, for a week, she sat quietly of nights sipping wine, running her empire, healing, and that lasted for a few days until eventually, Bhelith had visited her child again. Lukina had nearly given up hope of that. The Blackspear seemed black-hearted too, a murderer and a cold person who didn't even look at her own child, a child she had carried now for just short of a year. How was it different from the Vekimen children? How was it different from any other child?

But then, she had gone. It had taken a while for her to pick up the child. John had named her, but then Bhelith had named her daughter Nimue, and nobody had argued. She had picked up Nimue, and she had smiled a little bit.

Lukina simply stood by and tended to her Empress as a dutiful handmaiden. Her thoughts often turned towards the Azalea Free Company as she waited. The Lorani province was well in hand for the time, though she knew trouble was building beyond the Paju province. But she, for lack of a better idea, had watched this little pink creature with her stubby little angled ears, little tufts of spun gold curls and bright blue eyes, from a distance. She had been afraid to get too close to this infant. There was some fear in her heart towards seeing another of her kind born into this new world when she had killed so many.

Will she walk our path? Will she get to live a normal life?

There had been, for no nameable reason, this uneasy feeling looming in Soran Nast's court that Bhelith would kill her own child. Bhelith had apparently hated her pregnancy. Anyone who had mentioned it had received a bone-chillingly hostile look, like staring into the eyes of some peevish dragon, ready and willing to tear out your heart. Not even Vishta, a spoiled Empress born into the position by blood, had dared look over-long at the pregnant elf. Now it seemed different. Strangely, although one couldn't call Bhelith a mother, she seemed at least dimly aware of her child, and while others normally took care of the babe, Lukina had sometimes caught the monarch checking in on her.

But once, to Lukina's immense surprise, and even shock, she had discovered Bhelith nursing. The scene seemed so impossible that it couldn't quite stay in the mind long, and Lukina had remembered the golden eyes the most, staring at her as though to dare her to confrontation. She had not dared, and hadn't ever spoken of it. That would have been remarkably unwise. If Chiharu could be worshiped as a god, certainly Bhelith couldn't be viewed as a normal woman, and yet, for a while, she seemed to be so. And strangely, she seemed peculiarly embarrassed about it, which made that worse to ignore. It was almost as though the monarch wished that she seemed to like her daughter to be a secret, and demanded it out of everyone around her. Even the possibility of motherly concern seemed unthinkable.

And yet.

And yet, now, here they were, all bundled up against the late winter cold, and proceeding with a few token honor guards through the gardens surrounding the Premier's office on Yamatai Prime. Clearly Bhelith had waited. Clearly the timing was there. Clearly, on some level, for some reason, Bhelith wanted Chiharu to see her child.

She didn't hold her; that was Lukina's job, and Lukina was terrified of it. But Bhelith had insisted, and for the strange monarch, that was as good an admission of love for the child as Lukina was ever likely to see.

 

[Kim]

Chiharu's office was warm as the nekovalkyrja herself. The walls were paneled in a dark wood, and the carpets a deep crimson. The room looked immense with only a handful of decorations and pieces of furniture to break up the space. Her large desk was elaborately carved Agarorn wood, the burgandy grains were unmistakable. There were 2 framed photographs on top of it with a large modified Captains chair behind it and fancier, plush red chairs in front of it. The most notable piece in the office was the mannquin bearing a full set of armor from the Army of the Precious Sword with a spear and a sword mounted on the wall behind it.

The crimson eyed nekovalkyrja came to the door of her office wearing an ankle length crimson dress, that she had started favoring as her professional wear since she had re-entered the public eye. She smiled brightly at Bhelith.

Something could be said about the contrast between the two of them. Bhelith was taller than the little nekovalkyrja by more than a head. Where the Vice-Premier wore red, the Lord Empress had chosen to wear a layered, form-fitting robe ensemble of black and silver that fell to the just below her knees, and a pair of high, well-tooled, dark-colored boots welted in the same silver that reached up beyond the hem to clasp her thighs so that only the pattern of wiry leaves could be seen. Over her shoulders spilled her luxurious golden hair, just as the wavy, and chestnut volume of Chiharu's fell over her own dress.

And at her hip was the hilt of her strange blade with its wiry grip and oddly shaped handle, leaving her as well armed as anyone with a pistol. That seemed to be the starkest contrast; Bhelith looked like a warrior-queen from some pagan page of history, and Chiharu wore the prime of the Yamataian imperial senator's regalia. They represented totally different types of civilization. And they were here, together, smiling at each other like old acquaintances.

"Naoko-chan! Please come in and have a seat, I will have someone bring tea."

"Thank you," replied Bhelith, in as warm a tone. "The winter here is lovely. I have always found it strange that all of our seasons seem to coincide. It seems, the universe is not as vast and strange as we had thought it, hm?"

"I would say that it was the intelligent design of the Gods, if you still wished to believe in their ability to be divinity after all we have seen and done. Our Gods versus the God of the Elysians versus our far more human Gods in the corporation that manufactered my species and your past form." Chiharu commented thoughtfully.

Her eyes went to the ruby haired half-elf that was awkwardly holding a bundle of fur and blankets behind Bhelith. "You have a little one then? Vishta spoke of it when I saw her last?" The vice premier's tone was full of mirth.

"Did she?" asked Bhelith, in a tone of grim amusement which she seemed to affect simply because she could. She turned, folding her hands in the small of her back, as though giving way for the contemplation of Lukina and the bundle that she cradled so awkwardly in her arms. "Yes. This is my daughter, Nimue."

Curly blonde hair, like spun strands of gold, and blue eyes. Chiharu had never met Bhelith's consort, Chancellor Izgrimmer, but that seemed just as well; he might have flirted with her. The former Senator of Nepleslia had that sort of reputation. However, they were his eyes, and the ears belonged to both of them. They were imperfect spades instead of knives, more akin to Lukina's than to Bhelith's.

Even so the child seemed quiet, and curious, and judging by the slyly proud, if stern expression of her mother, at least beautiful to Bhelith.

"If the gods remain," the Mikado said, "my daughter could be proof of their living. At first, I thought that I must have been cursed. Her father is a rogue of a man. But, I now think otherwise of her. I had never thought that, after so much time destroying, I would create something so innocent. I thought that you would wish to meet her, as I heard you must have spoken to my Herald about redemption."

It was the kindest thing that Lukina had heard her say about the child, though she hadn't said much, directly.

Lukina offered up the precious bundle to Chiharu, her evergreen eyes were questioning. She was not accustomed to holding new life in her hands. Her own form was similarly clothed in softer courtly garments as opposed to her normal, firmer armor. With as uncomfortable as she looked holding the infant, she might have arrived in the Vice Premier's office naked.

The crimson eyed nekovalkyrja met the half-elf's gaze, the question and the discomfort as she finally smiled. Chiharu obliged the half-elf and accepted the infant into her own arms. She had not held her godchildren in years but she remembered what it was like to hold a child's warmth in her arms and cradled against her chest. She gazed down at the little girl's face and smiled.

"The Gods never truly left us, they still walk among us and beside us. I can still feel their influence here, even though they have left. PANTHEON replaced them but the essence of them still remain," the nekovalkryja gently rocked Nimue as she gazed at the soft features. "The blue reminds me of Geshrintall and the gold of Irnirni. If ever, she is of both our worlds. What life, future, will this little one forge, live?"

Lukina stood near Chiharu and Nimue to reclaim the infant if and when the Vice Premier decided to pass the child back. Her heart warmed at the sight of the love and appreciation for the little half-elf princess but it tightened as well. She also worried about Nimue's future. The love of a warrior goddess and the love of a warrior empress, the path forward was strongly winding towards the blood soaked fields that had occupied her own life. The stars called strongly to them all, the Herald hoped that Nimue would bask in the light and feel love like a normal child. There is a chance for her to be loved.

At least, she did not have to worry about the child, in that moment. The two matriarchs, even the one she found more frightening, hovered over the child. Protectively, perhaps.

"Her own, no doubt. Mine as well, it seems."

Bhelith offered her arms for the child.

Chiharu smiled and gently held up Nimue for her mother to reclaim her. "She has time to make those decisions- provided war doesn't touch our shores. I got to see my godchildren grow beyond the need for me to guide them, but they are a different species, younglings only stay small for a few months... we are sakura though we struggle to stay in bloom beyond it."

 

[Kim]

"Flowers fall," replied Bhelith, gentling the babe in her arms, "And the tree goes on living, to bloom again in the springtime."

The elf wasn't a natural mother. Children had never come into her care and contrary to certain romantic and somewhat outdated beliefs, simply the ability to have a child did not make a woman a mother; a nursemaid existed for this purpose, and for all subsequent purposes, she had her consort. Still, Bhelith cared enough to try holding the babe in a manner befitting someone who might be concerned with the child's well-being, and Nimue, a quiet child not prone much to crying, reached up to grasp at the strands of the monarch's hair.

"I see you have not lost your poetry. I fear, I have somewhat neglected that art in recent years, so you will have to forgive me if I cannot seem to keep up."

"I had too much time alone to practice mine, I fear," the crimson eyed nekovalkyrja remarked with an almost remorseful tone. "I have also become familiar with some of my own legend. I am the one who was loved and died despite her beloved's best efforts to return her to life. She returned only long enough from death to end the Heavenly Wars before she faded from life once more. Woefully romantic." Her gaze rested on Nimue's gentle face, and how the infant played with Bhelith's hair. Though the elf didn't ignore it, she did let it continue. Nimue's little hands could do her little damage.

"Little mention of the path we cut through the Heavens under false pretenses. The countless numbers of Elysians that we murdered in the name of Uesu. None of that seems to matter these days. The Elysians are a nation within Yamatai just as Xiularia and Asteria are nations within Yamatai... though I do fear what would happen if you would turn against us, me, if you decided to fully pull away like Ayana did."

"To the victor belong the spoils," said the other victor. "History is rewritten by those who survive it. Though, it helps to have control over people's minds. If I recall, the three of them gave that up while I was in stasis with the Draconian. I would not expect they have completely given it up still, realistically." The babe did tug a bit hard, so Bhelith looked at her. "As for turning away, I am as I have written."

"I pray that it doesn't come to that. I do not want to another species eradicated as the Freespacers were at Halna. I would rather my Nao-chan alongside me than against me. I would like you to come home, though, your home is no longer here, is it? Rebuilt by your own hands in the far corner of what was the Yugumo cluster. You have a family member settling that other planet, Heled was it?"

"Heled, yes."

Lukina might never have considered Bhelith a 'Nao-chan', but the Mikado let it pass without comment. Nimue burbled. Bhelith gentled her, cooed a moment, to shush the child. Hanging in the air was the implication; in a fight, Chiharu and Yuumi against Yui and her army, Bhelith and all her allies might not be able to tip the scale even, let alone balance it into their favor. Of course, she would fight anyway. Chiharu knew that, and so did Lukina, and Lukina might have been brave enough to place bets - Bhelith rarely took on fights she didn't know she could win. However, that moment passed.

Instead she said, "I spent a long time climbing to the height of power, here, and then when I left I tested myself in many foreign places. Sometimes I succeeded. Often, more often than I will admit, I failed. In this, I find more kinship with the Jiyuuians than with your people, or my own. If anything, it shall eventually become a nation of half-elves. I do not intend us to rule it. I prefer to allow it to rule itself."

The Monarch canted her head. Nimue had lost one of the strands of her hair, so the elf let her grasp another. Her expression bore only a little compassion. It was her action that showed it.

"They are a breath and an idea, a word whispered on the wind. Hope. Freedom. In a dozen languages, and a hundred dialects. They will not fight on my orders. Actually I think that if I told them all to go to war, there would be an argument, it would not happen immediately. Some of my advisors have told me this is unwise. But, I know their spirit. They will not be beaten. The nation is theirs in a way that the visage of democracy could never grant it them, for they keep their ways rather than losing them to homogeny. They find meaning in reference to each other with respect and dignity. They earn their place, every one of them, and I turn none away who will pledge to the banner. Against a great nation like Yamatai, they may seem a rabble, but the last Asterian will carry the last standard until the day they die, and the sight of that cloth flitting in the wind will continued into whispered legend that will eventually inspire someone to raise it again."

Bhelith kissed the child's forehead. She looked up, afterwards, and her smile seemed more serene than mocking.

"It is not my home. I lost that a long time ago. However, it is what I have chosen, and I find that I do not at all regret it. I enjoy my new people. Guiding and protecting them has become my purpose in this age."

Usually, the elf's smiles were barbed, bladed, or darkened by what Lukina knew to be the Lord Empress's inner thoughts. The woman was a cynic. She hated people. She despised with a vitriol that almost never scratched the surface or marred her perfect expressions, but Lukina knew, one blood-soaked fiend to another. No - the woman was a devil. At least, she might have been the darkest and most reluctant angel.

But not to Chiharu. Not just then. Not that smile. Lukina could tell she believed the words she said.

"I should like for you to see our capital. The ship, the mountain, the lights. You can stand upon the loading gate and as far as you can see, until the foot of the distant hills, such a number of species and cultures have built their homes and businesses that it may rival even this city. A thousand, thousand dreams, melded into a forged bonfire of them. Kyoto is more populated, but Soran Nast is extremely diverse. I think that you would enjoy it."

"I left with the United Outer Colonies. I heard Ayana, Uesu, Melisson, Katsuko... they spoke and I listened. I resigned my paltry new commission and left. I was given responsibility over my friend's children and I left with them to Jiyuu. I saw their hearts and I felt it, because I was among them," Chiharu intoned softly, the door had closed behind Bhelith, Lukina and the guard that had been permitted. She could feel the presence of at least one that was unseen but she supposed, it was expected. Yamatai did not hold a good reputation and Bhelith with her child and Asteria beside an assassin were pressing concerns.

The living Kami knew her office was sound proofed but she wondered if somewhere, someone mistrusted her as the returned war hero that had been living under a false identity in a separatist nation. She was a "boomerang" and had dealt with the mistrust of the Jiyuuians within the refugee camps as much as the Yamataians when she was still lost.

Gold and silk had replaced durandium and emerald, death had given way to life, they were at the beginning of a cycle of rebirth. "The Tange cut through us and the Mishuu ate us among other horrors. Minutes to hours in the darkness clutching a gun while children clung to me for protection. Hope and freedom sakura torn away by a harsh and bitter wind," Chiharu's voice grew softer to a near whisper, though she knew the elven women could hear her.

"Rescue came at the hands of Yui's Hinosami. The elven mage who was enslaved, turned into a pet and then blossomed into freedom and power as a ship's captain and a war hero, Hanako. Even Ayana was once a slave that earned her freedom from the yoke of Yamatai. But here we stand, birds with restored wings inside the largest golden cage imaginable. You are as free to fly as you believe. We have not learned where the sky ends and the cage begin," her expression was wistful. The words filled with the gravity of the implication. "I would like to see your new home and its diversity. I still wonder, what would happen if Ayana were to return. Would those that are hiding in Nepleslia return to her call? Would she muster her forces in defiance once more? Would she turn her nation against you to reclaim it?"

Chiharu considered this as she traced the corner of her desk behind her with her fingertips. "Did you get to know her before she was stolen away and buried alive? I fear her heart burned with a purer fire than ours. She was loved but, she burned too brightly."

 

[Kim]

There was a pause.

Lukina could see that Bhelith calculated for a brief few seconds, and she knew why, too. Ayana was popularly thought to be lost or dead or captured. Lukina had been watching closely or she might have missed it. Bhelith knew the truth, though Lukina was not certain how. The monarch had a way with that sort of thing. And yet, speaking it aloud here, in Yamatai, would have been quite unwise, even to one of her rarer friends.

"I fear," Bhelith responded, "I never knew the woman, one way or another. As you will recall, the Second Draconian was still frozen in time when the Colonies rebelled. However, I would like to think that, if she were here, she would approve of what I have done for her wayward children. I respect their spirit."

"Ayana was a good person. She didn't deserve that nor her baby," Chiharu's gaze moved to Nimue again. She remembered when Edmond had been born, she had been on the security detail. "His eyes were almost the same shade of cerculean."

Lukina watched the interplay between the two women with deepening concern and amazement. There was a game being played between the two old friends, though she didn't understand why. The Ketsurui seemed to know something, or was playing at it. Had SAINT discovered so easily what they had fought and bled to learn from captured Black army mercenaries? The Jiyuuian Quarter Master? She remained silent.

"Edmond. He's 8 this year, wherever Tio and the Blackcoats have hidden them." Chiharu paused with a slight look of worry, "I pray Megumi cuts to the truth of the matter soon enough. Alive or dead, 8 years is a lifetime to be shrouded in darkness. Better to be a souless doll if there truly is such a thing. Perhaps, it would have better if that bit of Elysian propoganda had been true. But, apologies, I digress. You don't pray to me or follow Megumi, so I guess, you don't want me to bless, Nimue?" Her smile was apologetic, shy, she had always been too humble to truly appreciate being elevated to Goddess status by the people of Yamatai.

Bhelith laughed musically, as she sometimes did, and then she purred out, "Oh, you certainly may, if you like. Though, I had simply wished to show her to you. There was a time I thought I would never create a single thing at all. I felt, you were owed."

"I wouldn't know where to begin, she's already got a beautiful future ahead of her. Why am I owed?" Chiharu's hand settled gently over Nimue's chest. "She's got a strong heart. How is her father? Is he a warrior like us?"

Watching the exchange and cradling her child, Bhelith came nearly shoulder to shoulder with the shorter woman, in a manner of speaking. In truth, Chiharu came nearer the warrior-queen's bicep. Nimue, meanwhile, grasped the fingers offered to her. "No," replied Bhelith. "He is a former senator who hired my soldiers and I to free his planet from the corporations strangling it. A place called Francia, in Nepleslia's northern claim; the corporations forced us off, and he lost the election, but I learned how to purchase men's souls and morality from the loss. I have made him my Chancellor. In truth, he runs the country more than I, as I have never had the patience for bureaucracy. What I order, he translates into clerk-language."

She paused, again, looked up a little to Chiharu from where she had been attending her daughter. "He is a buffoon, and a good father."

Crimson eyes met gold for a moment. Chiharu held her former Liuetant's gaze as she considered the woman, unaffected and undaunted by whatever aura kept others enthralled or intimidated. "You mean to leave then? You've bought your kingdom and created a legacy. Where will you go then?"

"Am I so transparent?" The elf blinked, and then she narrowed her eyes near the edges, giving Chiharu a somewhat rueful smile. "Or do you just guess well?"

Chiharu's expression was still filled with warmth. "You didn't delegate battles you preferred to fight yourself, back in our time. You are too stubborn to change your ways now, especially if you have reclaimed your original body after all this time." Her gaze shifted for a moment to the suit of Precious Sword armor displayed in the alcove nearby. It had been well tended, but its beauty was marred where the armor had been patched over countless battles. "Dawn your armor and ride off to find another battle?"

The Lord Empress turned just slightly and offered her child back to Lukina. Lukina stood mute and nodded respectfully as she accepted Nimue from her Lady. She held the child carefully and waited for what would come of this conversation that seemed to be slipping out of the Mikado's hands.

If it affected her, she didn't show it for long. She folded her hands behind her waist, viewing her child in Lukina's arms for a long moment before directing her attention back to Chiharu.

"That would be terribly irresponsible," Bhelith countered, still smiling slightly. "Why, what would I do? Go off into the wilderness, leaving my kingdom to fend for itself?"

"You sound as if you have already done it. It's lonely out there but I understand. No matter how large, a cage is still a cage, even if you chose to roost there," Chi offered her friend an understanding smile as her attention settled back on the golden haired elf. "I still find it fascinating that you bring an Agarorn as your attendant and chose her as your herald. I wonder, if you trying to keep death close at hand, though, I don't see it in her eyes."

"I am simply fond of her." Bhelith stated this conversationally, as though Lukina weren't less than ten feet away. She knew enough about the monarch to know not to take it the wrong way. "There are really few trustworthy people in the universe, and so far, I have little reason to doubt her."

"I wonder how things would be if she were male," Chiharu tapped a finger to her chin as she considered this. The Herald flushed a gentle shade of pink behind Bhelith.

As though to add a second arrow to the first, the elf notated, "I imagine, she would be quite attractive as a boy, though the speculation is little use. I would be fond of him, as well, for the same reasons."

"I hope there will be increasingly more life in your future, Nao-chan. We've embraced so much death and hate, it's a blessing to witness new, natural life and love. It's the purest reason for fighting," the kami added gently, looking past Bhelith at Lukina for a moment before looking back at Bhelith.

 

[Kim]

"I should hope," came the reply, "that it is life borne by others. Perhaps I shall find a way to make my lovers go through carrying them, for a change, hm? Or just find other bearers."

Bhelith wasn't serious, but the barb behind the humor pricked true. The elf hadn't enjoyed being pregnant. She shrugged, as though to say, what can you do? Then, she glanced to Lukina, her humor as dark. "How about it, then? Perhaps I shall hand you to the Chancellor. He would only be confused for a few moments, I am sure. He has a habit of pursuing women he finds beautiful, and though he has not met you, you seem his type."

The half elf flushed a deeper shade of crimson. She did not relish the idea of being pursued by another male despite her resolution to not settle on one lover. The men of the Azalea Free Company had complicated her life enough."I fear, I do not have that much resolve, my Lady, to build a larger stable."

Bhelith's golden eyes traveled back, mischivious as any fox. "Perhaps you, fair Goddess? Nekovalkyjra find childbirth pleasurable. Personally I found it hellish. I am sure nobody would notice if you bore all my spawn instead?"

"I have birthed no children," was Chiharu's soft reply. "Motherhood has not called to me though I have all of Yamatai to consider as my children. I would rather see them struggle and bleed as we have. War is what we were born for but, it does not have to be all that we are."

"Indeed. I begin to feel the same way about my own people."

The warm room seemed a bit warmer for the humor. The quiet that permiated it afterwards proved short lived, but came partially from the elf's surprisingly serene, satisfied smile. Bhelith did have a sense of humor, though it was rare to hear her joke at her own expense. A little more soberly, she continued, "You were correct, anyway. I mean to return to Shara. I can smell a war."

"You mean to fight then? Who are the Gartagens about to war with?" Chiharu commented.

"Perhaps the first enemy that strikes their fancy. I have not made a habit of involving myself in their politics so much as their culture. However, I do know that their Empress is won by combat. Marriage by tournament. That would be amusing, would it not? I wonder how jealous I could make John?"

The pale eyebrows lifted, and Bhelith flashed a toothy smile at Chiharu. Perhaps the crude humor hadn't worn dry, just yet.

"And let yourself be bound by another sort of chain? That is an interesting thought. I see you more as the type that would enter the tournament to prove that you are the only one worthy of you," Chiharu mused. "It's archaic way of doing things but it is their culture. What possessed you to walk, naked, was it, across their desert with only a knife?"

"Vacation." The Empress said that as though it weren't a singularly insane notion, and continued. "As I said, I enjoy their culture. The desert is unpleasant, but not for a nekovalkyrja. Most do not realize how resilient their bodies are. As for why I am returning, it is partially to take that test, again. Perhaps I will also enjoy my anachronism in the tournament as well."

"Do you mean to bid for Vishta's hand as well?" Chiharu tilted her head to one side as she watched Bhelith's expression. It was an odd notion but not unheard of in their culture for women to marry other women and produce offspring. She was just unsure of how such a thing would be possible with a Gartagen and a non-Gartagen.