“Sometimes."  Nuri blushed when confronted like this.  "When she wants someone to cuddle with, and someone to pamper her. I am more gentle, and do not often take nibbles. If I am given permission, I may bite, but I do not bite out chunks. Even when inflamed with lust, I do not treat my goddess like a meal.”  Lena smiled.

The image of Haven in her mind was first a dark place, filled with lusty and dangerous people.  That slowly changed as her image of the Others was enlightened.

“Then I will enjoy your warmth at night, Nuri. Were there any other volunteers with your robust frame who did not nibble on their charges without permission?” Lena asked quietly. Mia looked back and forth between the two women.

“I don’t understand.” Mia said, her face reflected her confusion.

“Little one, like Nicci and Hanna, Nuri is from Haven.” Lena said with a small smile on her lips. Mia’s mouth made an ‘o’ shape. “You can tell if someone is from Haven if their eyes are a solid color, with no black spot, or white like ours.” Mia looked into Lena’s eyes, then looked at Nuri’s.

“Master, your eyes have no white parts.” Mia said innocently.

“Oh.”

*****

“It must be a small gift from the goddess then, Mia. Nuri, can you explain a bit about Haven to Mia?” Lena asked her in a slightly subdued tone. She had been silent for a few minutes, then turned to look outside the window. She wanted to think quietly, but couldn’t ignore the girl beside her.

“Of course. We won’t have much time before we reach the town, but I can tell her the basics.” She tapped the wall, and the carriage started to move. The conversation had kept them too busy to realize that they hadn’t yet moved from the front gate.

“Haven is one of many different planes, or places. This world moves around that bright yellow ball so that the days are warm and bright, and the nights dark. Many eons ago, the goddess and her family lived on this plane. Humans were born here, and because the gods were too powerful to coexist with them, they decided to make their own places. The goddess grabbed a large chunk of rock that was far away from this one. She pushed it until it was close but realized it could hurt this plane.” Nuri talked about how Haven was formed.

“What happened next?” Mia asked, enthralled in the story.

“She pushed it to the opposite side of the sun. She also made a door from there to here so she could come back whenever she wanted. The creator of this place went to other places to build and create. The goddess liked how he did things, so she took ten samples of each to her place. Ten trees. Ten plants. Ten grasses and mosses. Ten bugs. She then learned that everything was tied together, the bugs needed things in the dirt to live, while the trees needed those things as well. So she took a big swath of everything. That was where the Great Dessert is now. She spread out this dirt, and made the surface of her rock like that big sample. She found a big chunk of frozen water way out there, and took it to Haven.” Mia smiled wide. She loved it when people told her stories.

“She made Haven like the best piece of this plane. That was when she made it stronger, so she could enjoy it more. She infused her energy into everything. When she went back to this plane, she found that some people here worshiped her. So she took a few of them with her. The first ones of Haven. Then she taught them how to live on her world. She sent one of them back to this world to look around for Others. That one sent back a frantic message. The ones who worshiped her had began to sacrifice people to her. That’s when she started to take them to Haven. Only girls though. That was the beginning of the temples dedicated to the goddess.” Nuri’s story made Mia imagine what Haven might be like. Mia made an ‘o’ shape with her mouth again.

“So the goddess didn’t tell them to sacrifice people to her?” Mia asked. She was surprised, as was the Empress.

“No. But she eventually allowed it only if people were willing. If they were willing, she would bring them to Haven to live. Haven only has girls who worship the goddess, and obey her.” Nuri explained the simple things she could understand in a short period of time.

Kyrie was called the goddess of death because that is what the humans called her.  The gods weren't assigned to their spheres of influence by the creator of the world of Imera.  They just eventually ended up there due to their natures.  There were many other things Nuri could teach Mia about the goddess of death, but they ran out of time. They had arrived at the town.

“Mia, we will have lots of time to talk about the goddess later. Let’s get some things the temple needs, okay?” Nuri smiled softly at her, which made Mia sniffle.

“Okay.” Lena lightly rubbed her head.

“It’s hard, isn’t it, Mia? When people notice, and are kind.” Lena asked her. She nodded and sniffed again.

“Yeah.”

*****

“Again?” Kata rolled her eyes. In front of her eyes, Sol had laid down, but her feet were up near the pillow. Right now, her face was buried between Kata’s thighs, and her tongue rolled around inside her. Hanna chuckled, lifted up and laid her arm over Kata’s shoulders.

“You can’t persuade her to stop, Kata. When she takes a liking to someone, her lust for them will be bottomless for a few days. She’ll even out in a while. However, her lust for you will never decrease. When you come to Haven, your first hundred or so years will be such decadent loving, even the goddess will be jealous. Now enjoy her flavor, Kata.” She pushed her face forward. “The goddess won’t allow her to stay here permanently as she’s your lover, not the Empress’s attendant.”

Sol reached out and grabbed Hanna by the calf. She pulled her down the bed.

“Eep!”

“She’s my mate, Hanna. Now get down here and help me to please her.” Kata rolled her eyes and buried her face back between Sol’s thick muscular thighs.

Mate. Feels more like I’ve just been hunted by a wild beast, or conquered.

*****

“Hanna still has her mind at least.” Ayn snorted. “But Sol?” Lydia growled.

“She claimed Kata as her mate, without a word to the Empress about her intentions. Or to the goddess.” Lydia turned her head and noticed how Kyrie’s first finger of her left hand tapped the arm of her throne.

“Goddess, when do you want us to redirect her?” Ayn asked her quietly.

“When it’s necessary.” Her eyes turned from red to black. “However, I think Sol will make it necessary quite soon.”

Lydia knelt at her side and lightly ran her hands up and down Kyrie’s muscled thighs. All of Haven loved the goddess, and the life she allowed them to live. She took them from a world where they would eventually die, to a world where they could live forever.

They didn’t age. They were regenerated to the age that each person saw themselves as, whether that was middle aged, or a teenager, and were stronger and faster than anything that existed on the world of Imera.

The Others of Haven were given many gifts by the goddess. When Sol laid claim to Kata like she had, it was considered an insult to the goddess by all the Others of Haven.

Kata had not endured an Offering. She had not given herself to the goddess. She also belonged to the Empress.

Lydia became affectionate with the goddess, and distracted her a bit, while Ayn watched Solange and Hanna thoroughly love Kata without restraint. Ayn bared her teeth.

'This goes well beyond what she was asked to do.'  Ayn growled internally, and didn't dare to speak out against Solange as she didn't know how the goddess felt about the matter. She appeared agitated, but their goddess was not one to restrain herself. If she was angry, she acted.

While Ayn and Lydia had those thoughts, the goddess’s eyes narrowed.

‘You better not make my Empress upset, Sol.’ Kyrie’s thoughts were not purposely transmitted to anyone, yet if she had focused on the carriage, she would have seen a small smile flow onto Lena’s lips.