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The sound of a door softly opening and closing stirs Tally from her sleep and she lifts her head slightly, blinking into the early morning darkness. She can barely make out Sarah’s tall form in the lowlight, stretching her arms and just a touch out of breath, shedding a hoodie and dropping it onto the end of the bed- her bed- that Tally is still currently lying in, as she begins to cross the room headed towards the bathroom.
“Hey,” Tally murmurs, still half-asleep, and Sarah immediately stops, turning towards the sound of her voice. “Did you just get back from your run?”
Even in the poorly lit room, Tally can still see Sarah smiling softly at her as she comes over to stand next to the edge of the bed and sits down on it, the mattress dipping slightly under her weight. Closer to her like this, Tally can see Sarah’s slightly flushed cheeks, the sheen of sweat on her arms and chest, the ponytail that is now messy and loose, and Tally smiles sleepily at the sight of it.
Sarah always goes for runs ridiculously early in the mornings, early enough that by the time she is back and getting showered for the day, the rest of base, including the Biddies, is only just waking up. She looks so different like this, so unlike the General, and it always sends a thrill through Tally whenever she gets to see Sarah like this, unguarded and not worried about keeping up appearances, unworried about letting Tally see her as just Sarah and not General Alder. It is something Tally will never tire of.
“Yes,” Sarah’s voice is raspy and she sounds slightly out of breath as she reaches over, tucking some of Tally’s sleep-mussed hair behind her ear.
“Does that mean I have to get up now?” Tally shivers lightly as Sarah’s hand sinks into her hair, nails scraping lightly against her scalp, and she watches as Sarah throws a glance at the clock on the nightstand next to her.
“Not yet,” Sarah shakes her head, removing her hand from Tally’s hair. “Not for another half hour, at least.”
“Good,” Tally mumbles, eyes sliding back shut, and she burrows further into the pillow beneath her, hearing Sarah chuckle lightly. “Another thirty minutes of sleep sounds really nice.”
“I’m sure it does,” Sarah’s tone is amused, and she doesn’t get up from where she is sitting on the bed. “And while you could spend those thirty minutes asleep…” Her voice is raspy again, but for a much different reason that it had been only moments ago, and Tally finds her eyes slowly opening again of their own accord. “You could also join me in the shower.” Her soft smile is gone, replaced by something suggestive that matches the gravel in her voice, and Tally is suddenly very, very uninterested in staying asleep.
“You sure know how to woo a woman, Sarah Alder,” Tally sighs dramatically, but she sits up in the bed, the covers falling off of her chest, and Sarah grins at her like the cat that ate the canary.
“Is that a yes?”
Tally leans forward, pressing an easy kiss to Sarah’s lips, lingering just the slightest before pulling back. “Sarah, with you, it is always a yes.”
They end up taking a little too long in the shower. Tally, at least, still has a bit more time before her first class of the day, and she takes her time getting dressed afterwards, watching Sarah rush around the room in amusement as she throws her uniform on, before standing in front of the mirror and swiftly and expertly working her hair into its pristine, flawless braid almost effortlessly.
“I still don’t know how you can do that,” Tally remarks, watching Sarah’s hands work her hair. “I can barely braid someone else’s hair and you’re french braiding your own.”
Sarah meets her gaze in the mirror, a smile caught somewhere between affectionate and smug crossing her face. “Lots of practice.”
Tally hums in amusement, leaning over to lace up her boots as Sarah goes back to staring at her reflection, still braiding her hair. “You know, everyone around base just kind of assumes that the Biddies do your hair for you every morning.”
“Really?” Even though she can’t see it, Tally can tell by her tone of voice that Sarah has wrinkled her nose slightly. “I’m not particularly fond of other people touching my hair, even the Biddies.”
Tally looks up in surprise at that, hands stilling in the act of tying her laces. “You aren’t? But I touch your hair all the time.”
Sarah meets her gaze again, all affection this time, and Tally finds herself smiling, but she doesn’t know why. “You should know by now, my love, that you are different. I am comfortable around you in ways that I have not been with anyone in a very long time. I love the Biddies dearly, each and every one of them, but you…it is a different sort of love when it comes to you.” Sarah pauses briefly. “Does that make sense?”
“Yes,” Tally breathes out almost immediately, Sarah smiling again at her answer. “Yes, that makes perfect sense. And I love you, too.”
The smile that Sarah gives her in return is the same smile that Sarah always gets on her face whenever Tally tells her that she loves her; soft, open, and burning with the sort of affection that always has a thrill shooting down Tally’s spine, the sort of affection that makes Tally remember just how damn lucky she is.
“Darling?”
Tally jerks back to the present. “Sorry, what?”
“I asked if you could get my boots out of the closet for me.”
“Oh, yeah, of course.” Tally quickly finishes lacing up her own boots before heading over to Sarah’s closet, sliding the door open. She bends down to grab the boots, but stops just short of actually touching them as something dangling down from the shelf above her catches her eye. She straightens, frowning, and reaches up to brush her fingers over the length of faded, braided leather of the scourge that is in Sarah’s closet. It isn’t Sarah’s scourge, at least not the one that Sarah uses now, and when Tally traces her finger over the well-worn leather, she can feel Work humming within it, but what kind and for what purpose, she doesn’t know.
“Can you not find them?”
Sarah’s voice causes Tally to jump, turning to find Sarah standing behind her, her perfect braid now finished.
“Sorry,” Tally says automatically, but what exactly she is apologizing for, she isn’t sure, and Sarah’s eyebrows raise fractionally. She knows it probably isn’t any of her business, knows that Sarah is still allowed to have her secrets, but her burning curiosity gets the better of her, and she finds herself asking the question before she can stop herself. “Who…Who does this scourge belong to?”
Sarah steps closer to Tally and her closet, peering in over Tally’s shoulder and when her eyes land on the scourge that has half fallen off the shelf, she straightens slightly. “Ah,” She says, and Tally notes the slightly melancholic tone in her voice. “That’s mine. Or it was. Still is, I suppose, I just…don’t use it in combat.”
“Why not?” Tally asks, and Sarah’s eyes flick from the old scourge to Tally, back to the scourge.
“My father made that scourge for me.”
“Your fa…” Tally’s eyes bulge and she snaps her hand away from the scourge, face suddenly burning. “Oh Goddess,” She chokes out. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t…I didn’t mean to-”
“It’s alright,” Sarah says softly, reaching out to place a reassuring hand on Tally’s shoulder. “You won’t harm it. I put a preservation Working on it a very long time ago. Nothing you could do to it will ruin it.”
“Okay,” Tally says, but she still looks and feels slightly uncomfortable, like she was caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to. She glances back at the scourge, feeling Sarah’s eyes on her. “If I’m being honest here, I didn’t think…well, I never knew that scourges were used outside of the Army. I thought they were something made specifically for combat.”
Sarah sighs behind Tally, and Tally turns at the sound of it, finding Sarah with her eyes locked onto the old scourge. “That…well, that is their primary use now.” She admits. “But just like with our Work, with the Seeds that we sing, combat and what we do with them here in the Army is not their only use…nor the intended one. It is just something that turned out this way, thanks to the Accord. And myself.” Sarah clears her throat almost uncomfortably, and she doesn’t meet Tally’s gaze, but she isn’t done talking. “Before the Accords were signed, scourges were mostly ceremonial, provided as gifts. My father made me that scourge when I turned sixteen, but after I signed the Accords, I made myself a different one. I couldn’t…well I didn’t want to use the one my father had given me. Not in combat. Not for them, not after what they had done.”
“Sarah, I’m so sorry,” Tally quickly apologizes again, and her words have finally have Sarah turning to look at her.
“Don’t be,” Sarah shakes her head. “You’ve done nothing wrong, my love.”
“I know, but-”
Tally is cut off by Sarah heaving another great sigh, one so forceful that her nostrils flare briefly, and she squeezes her eyes shut.
“Is something wrong?” Tally asks hesitantly.
“I’m late,” Sarah says, and her tone sounds almost normal, but Tally can hear the thinly-veiled frustration behind it. “The Biddies are wondering where I am.”
“Oh!” Tally quickly bends down, grabbing Sarah’s boots and thrusting them into the other woman’s arms. “Here, I guess you still need these.” She glances over at the clock as Sarah makes her way over to the bed to sit down on the edge of it, pulling her boots onto her feet, heart sinking when she sees the time. “I have to go too, if I want to make it back before my entire coven wakes up and starts wondering where I am.”
Sarah immediately stands up from the bed, only wearing one boot, and she reaches out for Tally, pulling her close so that she can kiss her, long and slow, unhurried, like they both aren’t already running behind, and Tally finds herself wishing that she could stand here all day, kissing Sarah goodbye.
“I’ll see you tonight?” Sarah whispers when they finally part, and it takes Tally a moment to regather her thoughts, fingers digging into Sarah’s waist.
“Of course,” Tally whispers back, earning a grin from Sarah, the kind that made the skin around the corner of her eyes wrinkle. “There’s nowhere else I would rather be.”
“Rae, what does this phrase mean again?” Abigail asks, wrinkling her nose in confusion as she stares down at her Mothertongue textbook. The three of them are seated at a small table in the library, surrounded by open textbooks and scattered notes, studying for an upcoming exam…well, at least Abigail and Tally are studying. Raelle is sitting there, half bored, studying for Mothertongue pointless to her now that she can speak it fluently and effortlessly.
“I already told you, Abs, I’m not helping you two anymore. You gotta remember this shit on your own, otherwise you’ll never be able to pass the class.”
Abigail’s nose wrinkles further. “When did you become so responsible? It’s weird.”
“When Grafton almost caught me passing Tally some of the answers last exam, that’s when. I don’t feel like getting kicked out of War College.”
Abigail begrudgingly rolls her eyes, but she turns back to her notes, frowning at what she has scribbled down on the paper in front of her. Raelle goes back to staring off into space, and Tally starts to turn her attention back to her notes as well, but a movement out of the corner of her eye catches her attention, and she glances towards it, having to hold back a smile as she sees Sarah and the Biddies file into the library, Sarah’s eyes meeting hers almost instantly.
Abigail and Raelle don’t seem to notice the General’s presence, and Tally is wondering if she can feasibly sneak away for a few moments and find a closet or bookshelf to hide away with Sarah in, when a soft, almost nervous voice interrupts her thoughts, grabbing the attention of everyone seated at the table.
“Tally?”
Everyone in the Bellweather unit blinks, looking up to find Penelope Silver standing next to their table, hands behind her back as she looks at Tally almost shyly, a light blush coloring her cheeks.
“Pen!” Tally says in surprise, still feeling the weight of Sarah’s gaze on her from the other end of the library, and she looks at the younger girl in curiosity. “Is everything alright?”
To Tally’s surprise, Penelope’s cheeks seem to turn a darker shade of red, and she ducks her head, looking at the ground momentarily.
“Everything is fine,” Penelope says as she looks back up at Tally. “I…” She hesitates for a split second before suddenly reaching forward, thrusting something into Tally’s view.
Tally blinks once, twice, looking down at the card in the pink envelope with her name written in loopy handwriting on the front of it, a small box of chocolates underneath it. “Wait, what-”
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Penelope says, embarrassment making her voice shrill, and in the next instant she is gone, the card and chocolates falling on top of Tally’s textbooks.
“Damn,” Raelle murmurs, blonde brows now up onto her forehead, and she turns to look at the flabbergasted Tally who is staring down at her gift in shock.
“What the hell was that?” Tally finally manages to ask, and she can feel Sarah creeping from a safe distance over her shoulder, most likely curious as to what has just happened.
“Seriously?” Abigail laughs. “You have to ask?”
“Ask what?” Tally frowns, and both her sisters roll their eyes.
“Tal, come on,” Raelle says with a light groan, and Tally’s confusion only increases. “Penelope has a huge crush on you.”
“Huge,” Abigail repeats with a firm nod of her head. “Astronomical, even. It’s almost ridiculous.” She frowns back at Tally. “How have you not noticed?”
“What?” Tally gapes at both her sisters. “A crush? On me?” She shakes her head a little too quickly. “No, no that’s…Pen doesn’t like me, not like that.”
“Ah, no,” Abigail shakes her head. “She definitely, 100% does. I promise.”
“She’s sweet, Tally,” Raelle says softly, and Tally freezes, eyes locking onto Raelle’s. “Do you like her back?”
“No!” Tally says instantly, eyes widening. “I am not interested in Penelope like that, at all. She’s a sweet girl, but I-I…” Tally trips over her words, desperately hoping that Sarah is not close enough to hear this embarrassing conversation. “I don’t like her like that.”
“Okay,” Raelle says with a shrug of her shoulders. “But out of curiosity…who do you like like that?”
“Why do I have to like anybody like that?” Tally says quickly, thankful that she somehow isn’t blushing furiously at Raelle’s question.
“You don’t,” Raelle shakes her head. “But if that’s the case, then there are going to be a lot of upset people on Valentine’s Day tomorrow.”
“What do you mean?” Tally’s eyebrows knit together in confusion, not understanding what her sister is getting at, and on her other side, Abigail snorts, reaching over to pat Tally on the shoulder.
“Oh don’t worry, Tal. You’ll see soon enough.”
Tally does see soon enough; and so does Sarah.
People from all over base, people that Tally both does and doesn’t know, people from War College seniors to the fresh-faced recruits in Basic to an almost alarming amount of the Witchfather’s men all somehow seem to find Tally that Valentine’s Day to present her with a gift. Everything from flowers, cards, and chocolates, even various stuffed animals, Tally is given a staggering amount of gifts, and somehow, inexplicably, Sarah is present in one way or another for almost all of them, Tally’s suitors not even caring about who is present when they give her her gifts, and Sarah finds herself becoming increasingly frustrated as the day goes on.
She isn’t upset with Tally; it’s hardly the poor girl’s fault that she is being given so many gifts, and if the surprised look on her face every time someone approaches her with yet another Valentine is anything to go by, she is just as taken aback by this as Sarah is.
She knows that she shouldn’t even be upset with the people that are giving Tally these gifts; Tally is a very sweet person, almost irresistibly so, and it’s not like anyone outside of Tally and Sarah herself, plus the Biddies, naturally, know anything about their relationship, so Sarah finds herself reminding herself again and again throughout the course of the day that it would not be acceptable to Windstrike any of these people across base, no matter how tempting it might be…and it is tempting.
She instead finds herself doing her best to ignore any of the people that approach Tally throughout the day, and by the time dinner rolls around, Sarah staring off into space as her Biddies all surround the large table and eat, an idea crosses her mind. An almost ridiculous, certainly over-the-top idea, but an idea nonetheless, one that Sarah’s brain latches on to and runs away with, and she hears a collective snort from around the table, drawing her back to the present.
“You can’t be serious,” Devon says, staring at Sarah. “That’s a little much, even for you.”
“There’s nothing wrong with it,” Sarah defends herself immediately.
“No,” Peggy agrees easily. “But it is…excessive.” She squints at Sarah, staring at her from across the table. “Are you really gonna go through with it? You know Tally doesn’t care about gifts and that sort of thing, she’s happy with just you.”
“I am aware,” Sarah says, leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms. “But I still want to get her something, and besides…” She casts a glance around the table at her Biddies. “I am Sarah fucking Alder. I will not be outdone.”
“Craven!” M’s voice bellows out from the common area of the Sekhmet coven’s living quarters the next morning, and Tally jumps slightly. Had she been caught sneaking back in? She swallows nervously, both her sisters groaning as they are roused from their sleep by M’s pounding on their bedroom door. “Craven!”
Tally slowly opens the door, Abigail cursing M under her breath from behind her, and their coven leader crosses their arms over their broad chest, leveling Tally with a glare.
“Is there something you would like to explain to me, Craven?”
Tally laughs nervously, fingers gripping onto the door frame tightly. “I don’t…I don’t think so?” She squeaks out, and M looks unimpressed.
“Really?” They ask, disbelief evident in their tone. “So you know nothing about what’s all over the common area?”
“The…” Tally’s brain stalls. She was certain M had noticed her sneaking back in, but the common area? She had no idea what that could possibly be about. “What’s all over the common area?”
M purses their lips for a brief moment, before jerking their head in the direction of the common area. “Just…come see for yourself.”
“Uh…okay,” Tally says with a frown, curiosity getting the better of her. M steps aside to let Tally out of the room and Tally makes her way down the short hallway to the common area, and when she reaches it, she almost trips over her own two feet, jaw dropping open in an almost comical fashion.
“What the hell is this?!” She manages to get out, and she hears M grunt from behind her.
“I was hoping you could explain it.”
Tally gapes around the room, mind grinding to a complete halt. The common room almost doesn’t even look like the common area anymore, not with the frankly ridiculous amount of red roses covering the room. Tally is certain she has never seen so many roses in one place in her life, and one of the women on the compound had had a rose garden for Goddess sake. Baskets upon baskets of roses cover the floor, the couches, the tables, even the bookshelves and TV stand have flowers covering them. There is not an inch of the room, save for a table in the center of it, that is not covered in flowers and Tally just stares and stares and stares.
“Craven?” M prompts her, and Tally turns to stare at them.
“Okay, this is a lot of roses…” Tally says dumbly, and M snorts. “But how do you know this has anything to do with me? I didn’t buy these flowers.”
M just points to the table in the center of the room. “You might want to go see what’s waiting for you on that table.”
Tally slowly starts to make her way through the flower covered floor, not wanting to knock over any of the baskets and spill flowers and dirt everywhere, and she hears Abigail swear again from behind her, her sisters finally having gotten out of bed to see what all the fuss is about.
“Tally, what the hell?”
Her sisters quickly follow in her footsteps, stepping around baskets and bouquets of roses as Tally finally reaches the table in the center of the room, eyes widening just a bit further as she realizes what is on it.
Whoever had stuffed the common room to the brim with roses had also piled the table before her high with a staggering amount of chocolates, so many in fact, that Tally is positive it would take her to next Valentine’s Day just to eat them all. Chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate covered cherries, Swiss chocolate, German chocolate, chocolates with labels in languages that Tally doesn’t recognize.
Who in their right mind would have done this? Who could have afforded to have done this? The amount of money spent on the flowers alone would be more than Tally could ever even begin to comprehend, but she is startled out of her thoughts by one of her sisters cursing yet again, and she turns to look at Raelle who is staring back at her with wide eyes.
“Goddess above, Tally, I think some high ranking officer is in love with you.”
Tally almost chokes on her own tongue. “What do you mean?” She squeaks out, and her mind immediately jumps to Sarah, but there is no way that Sarah would ever do anything like this…right? She had just spent the night with the woman, how on earth would she have been able to pull something like this off, anyway?
Raelle holds up her hand, holding out an envelope and a piece of paper that she must have found somewhere in the room, eyes wide. “This stationery…I’m pretty sure only Majors and Generals have access to this type of stationery.”
Tally quickly snatches it out of Raelle’s hands, eyes dropping to the crisp paper now in her hands, and she feels her eyes bulge again. The paper is unsigned, but there is no mistaking the official heading on the top of it, one that confirms Raelle’s thoughts, and Tally would know Sarah’s handwriting anywhere as she stares down at the simple message scrawled on to the paper.
For my love. Happy Valentine’s Day. Yours, always.
Abigail snatches it back from Tally, eyes skimming over the short message on the paper. “I know this handwriting.” She announces with a frown, and Tally feels the blood drain from her face. “It’s really familiar to me for some reason, but I can’t quite place it.”
“Give me the paper back,” Tally tries to sound demanding, but her voice is dry and her hands are shaking and Raelle looks up at her accusingly.
“Not until you tell us who ‘yours, always’ is,” She says, and Tally’s stomach twists, Abigail just staring down at the paper the whole while.
“Just give it back!” Tally says a little more forcefully, not wanting Abigail to have enough time to figure out who the handwriting belongs to. “Please, I-”
“Holy fuck!” Abigail’s screech causes everyone in the room to flinch, but none more so than Tally. Abigail stares at Tally in shock, an excited, yet disbelieving look on her face. “This is General Alder’s handwriting, isn’t it?!”
“Alder?!” Raelle shouts from next to Abigail, causing the taller girl to jump. “What?!”
“It is!” Abigail says excitedly, shaking the paper in Raelle’s face. “It’s tradition for the General to send personalized letters out to witches from High Atlantic families on their birthday before they answer the Call. I got a letter from her every year from the time I was ten till the year I turned eighteen, and it was always handwritten on this stationery, and this is her handwriting, I know it!” Abigail turns back to Tally, eyes wide. “Isn’t it?”
Tally’s tongue is useless in her mouth as she stares back at Abigail. She can see her sisters staring at her, feel the gaze of M on her as well as Gregorio who has now come to see what all the shouting had been about, and she feels rooted to the spot. “I…Well, you see, Abs…I…”
Tally takes a hesitant step backwards and her hand brushes against something on the table, something that is neither flower nor chocolate box, and her whole body locks up except for her head which jerks down to stare at what she has just touched.
She can suddenly no longer hear anyone else in the room over the sound of the blood roaring through her ears, and her heart starts to pound so fast she fears it may burst out of her chest. She reaches out with a trembling hand to once again brush her fingers over the length of faded, braided leather of the scourge that had once been in Sarah’s closet, the scourge that Sarah’s father had made for her, the scourge that was humming with Work beneath her fingertips as she traced the well-worn leather.
“Tally?” She can just barely hear someone (she isn’t entirely sure who) say her name, and she sucks in a quiet gasp to herself, feeling the backs of her eyes itch with the threat of tears.
“I have to go,” She says. Nevermind that she is still in her sleepwear. Nevermind that Sarah is most likely in a meeting now. Never mind that her sisters, her coven, are going to be demanding answers as to just what the hell is going on, nevermind to any of that, because Tally needs to see Sarah. Needs to see her, needs her to explain not about the flowers, or the chocolate, or the simple unsigned letter, no, Tally suddenly doesn’t care about any of that. The only thing that matters now is the scourge, Sarah’s first scourge, the scourge she had been given at the age of sixteen, the scourge that is now sitting on a table in Tally’s dorm room, and Tally needs to see Sarah more than she ever has in her life.
“Cadet!” Sarah hears the frustrated and annoyed voice of her assistant outside of her office door, and the officer she is in a meeting with must be able to hear it as well, pausing in her explanation of how the construction of the new obstacle courses for the privates in basic are coming along. “Cadet!” Sarah’s assistant yells again, decidedly more frustrated, and Sarah’s Biddies murmur curiously amongst themselves. “Cadet, you cannot go in there, she-!”
The door to Sarah’s office suddenly bursts open, and Sarah tenses at the interruption, her Biddies all instantly hissing until she realizes who has just barged into her office and they all fall silent.
“General, I am so sorry,” Her assistant begins apologizing profusely, but Sarah doesn’t spare her a glance, too busy staring at Tally, feeling mildly concerned.
Tally is staring back at her, eyes wide, mouth parted slightly as she looks at Sarah in a way that Sarah can’t quite comprehend, but she can see the unshed tears in Tally’s eyes, see the way her hands are clenched into fists at her side, shaking, and perhaps most strangely, Tally hasn’t even gotten properly dressed yet, still in her sweatpants and t-shirt that she had been wearing when she snuck out of Sarah’s room that morning.
“That’s quite alright,” Sarah holds up a hand, cutting off her assistant’s rambling, and she looks away from Tally to look back at the officer who is looking at Tally strangely. “Sergeant Williams? Perhaps we could postpone this meeting until later this afternoon, I have an important matter I need to attend to.”
“I…” Williams briefly looks like she wants to protest, but she decides against arguing with the General of the Armed Forces, and simply nods instead, standing up and quietly leaving the room.
At a nod from Sarah, her assistant casts a curious glance at the pajama clad cadet standing stockstill in Sarah’s office, but she leaves without saying another word, closing the door behind her.
The minute the door clicks shut, Sarah immediately stands, rounding her desk towards Tally, worry seeping into her chest. “Tally?” She asks quietly. “Love, are you-”
She doesn’t even get to finish asking her question before Tally suddenly launches herself forward, throwing her arms around Sarah and squeezing her so tightly that the breath is forced from Sarah’s lungs. Feeling more than a bit concerned now, Sarah directs a quick, silent request for the Biddies to leave as well, and moments later, they are well and truly left alone in Sarah’s office, Sarah running a hand soothingly up and down Tally’s back as Tally takes in great, staggered breaths from where her face is pressed into Sarah’s shoulder.
“Tally?” Sarah asks quietly again. “Did something happen? Are you alright?”
She feels more than hears Tally respond, a muffled vibration against her shoulder, and she taps Tally gently on her own shoulder.
“I can’t hear you, darling.”
Tally finally lifts her head and Sarah immediately reaches up, brushing away some of the tears that have managed to escape. “You gave me your scourge.”
Sarah’s hand stills on Tally’s face as she finally realizes what this is all about. “Oh,” She says softly, and her hand drops back down to her side. “Oh. Well yes, I-”
“Why?” Tally almost laughs with disbelief. “Why would you…your father made you that scourge, Sarah,” She says, as if Sarah needs reminding of the importance of it. “Why would you give something that was that important to you to me? Why would you trust me with that?”
“Oh, my love,” Sarah says softly, and both her hands go up to cup Tally’s cheeks, to brush away more tears before they can fall. “How many times must I tell you that you are important to me? That I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone before? That I trust you in a way that I’ve trusted very few people? You’ve not only become part of my heart, Tally, but you’ve become part of my family as well. Giving you my scourge is just my way of trying to show that.”
Tally draws in another shaky breath, her hands on Sarah’s waist squeezing to the point of pain, and she shakes her head as more tears spring to her eyes. “Goddess, I love you so much, Sarah Alder.” She whispers through a stifled sob, and she leans forward to kiss Sarah, short and messy and tasting of tears before pulling back and taking a deep breath, resting her forehead against Sarah’s. “I’m sorry for interrupting your meeting.” She whispers, and Sarah almost laughs, but she doesn’t.
“Don’t be. It was incredibly dull, and you needed me.”
“Still.” Tally sniffs and she pulls away, reaching up to wipe at her own eyes. “I’ll try not to make it a habit.”
“That would, unfortunately, be for the best, I think.”
“Hm.” Tally nods in agreement, content to stay in Sarah’s arms for as long as she is allowed. “So…my common area is overflowing with flowers,” She says, looking at Sarah slyly, and the corner of Sarah’s mouth quirks into a smile before she schools her features.
“Is that so?” Try as she might, she can’t keep the teasing tone out of her voice and Tally scoffs, shaking her head.
“And chocolates. More than I’ll ever be able to eat by myself. I wouldn’t be surprised if my coven were digging into them right- Oh my Goddess!” Tally suddenly yelps, hands flying up to her face, and Sarah jumps slightly, hands tightening their grip on Tally’s waist briefly, as Tally looks at Sarah with wide eyes. “They know it was you.”
Sarah’s eyes widen slightly. “What?” She demands. “How?”
Tally’s face scrunches up, moaning behind her hands. “Abigail and Raelle saw the note. Abigail recognized your handwriting from-”
“The birthday letters,” Sarah says in a rush of realization, and she refrains from smacking herself in the face. “Of course. I knew I should have had one of the Biddies write it.”
“Honestly, Sarah, what am I supposed to do with all those flowers and chocolate? The common room is literally packed with them, where am I supposed to put them all? Where did you even get them all?”
“One of the perks of being the General,” Sarah says. “People are very afraid of disappointing you.”
“And…why? Did you do it, I mean?”
Sarah frowns at her. “Why did I buy you flowers and chocolate for Valentine’s Day?”
“Why did you buy me that many?” Tally corrects with a laugh, and to her surprise, Sarah’s face turns a light shade of red.
“I may have been…a little jealous,” She admits quietly, and it’s Tally turn to frown.
“Jealous?” Tally sounds confused. “Of what?”
Sarah isn’t able to stop the short burst of laughter that erupts from her chest. “You’re serious? Tally, you got countless amounts of cards and flowers and Goddess knows what else yesterday. And I know that you didn’t ask for any of those, that you don’t care about those people like you care about me, but I…I didn’t like that they got to publicly show you that they cared about you, and that I don’t get to do that. I wanted to show you that I cared about you too. That I love you.” She grimaces lightly. “I admit though, I may have gone a touch overboard…”
“A touch?” Tally asks incredulously, and Sarah’s grimace deepens. “But Sarah, you’re right…I don’t care about any of those people. I only care about you. And I don’t need hundreds of roses and dozens of boxes of chocolate in order to know that you love me. You show me that everyday. With the way that you look at me…the things you say to me…” Tally’s cheeks turn slightly pink. “The way that you touch me…I already know you love me, Sarah. The gifts are nice, and I appreciate them, honestly, but…I just need you.”
Sarah huffs affectionately, shaking her head. “That’s what the Biddies said as well.”
“Smart women,” Tally smirks lightly. “Perhaps you should listen to them more.”
“Perhaps,” Sarah smirks back at Tally but then her gaze softens and she reaches up to gently brush a thumb over Tally’s cheek. “I love you, Tally.” She whispers, words feather-light, and Tally grins, her dimples sinking into her cheeks.
“I love you too, Sarah.”