Embracing the Faithful, Protecting the Heretic.

A/N:Oh right I'm to post this now hmmm... Any way this chapter is me trying to add in some small characteristics to Diana... who has been too much of a "blank slate"... at least in my opinion. Anyway... HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Warning: This and following chapter may contain explicit adult themes.

Chapter 14: Soap and Suds

Leona sat on the side of the large bathing pool where the sitting ledge rose up and widened to an area of marble just barely under the surface of the water. Warmed by the water, the marble slab was wide enough for a person to lay down and stretch out, or as was currently the case, one person could sit behind another.

Like straightening threads before weaving, Diana ran her figures through Leona's hair as she rid it of what knots the day had imparted too the cherry gold curls. "You hair is lovely." Diana commented in awe, as her figures worked through the thick carmine locks. The Piltover shampoo had lathered into foamy suds that smelled wonderful to Diana and she took a moment to enjoy the scent. Absentmindedly the backs of her hands rested between Leona's shoulder blades. "Are you alright?"

Despite the warmth of the water, which Leona had once again heated until steam rendered the room a relaxing sauna, she sat stiffly with her hands on her knees and her shoulders tense. Her eyes were closed as she tried to focus on her own breathing, instead of the hands that massaged their way over her scalp and through her hair. "Nothing is wrong with this... This is normal." Leona bit her lip and held her knees more tightly and she exhaled. "Just tired, it has been a long day." Leona mumbled not wishing to confront the awkward situation of having a bare Diana in such close proximity.

There was a long pause before Diana spoke. "Your hair is finished... do you want me to use the same soap for the rest of you or another?"

"No, I have others for that. Wait, re... rest of me?" Leona sputtered, jerking forward and twisted around to look at Diana over her shoulder.

"Of course. Solari always help each other bathe." Diana affirmed, already slipping from behind Leona to move towards the ornately decorated box which sat beside to the pool and held an assortment of elegant looking vessels. Opening the box, her eyes trailed over the options, each promises exciting smells Diana had never experienced.

"This is ok, I mean common for the rest of the Solari?" Leona asked, her eyes trailing up and down Diana's back.

"Yes..." Diana nodded as she stole a glance over her shoulder at Leona. "Do you still wish for me too?" Diana asked, her head turning away to stare intently into the container of soaps.

"I do." Leona nodded back. "Most of Rakkor uses communal bathing. When I was younger we all helped each other. We did everything together as we trained for the Rite of Kor. But that was a long time ago... You know I always missed bathing with others." Leona sighed as her mind drifted into memories of the past.

XXXxxxXXX (Flashback)

Leona stood trembling her eyes fixed straight ahead and her shoulders tight as she stood at attention.

For the past four years she and the other Targon youth of her age had trained harder than ever in their lives. Even then, She had always been a shield. If ever a weaker peer was harassed she had stood up for them. She delighted in besting those that bullied, but the instructors implored her to stop. That every battle she 'help' with was really a lesson stolen from the weaker peers. That she was doing them a harm greater than she knew.

Still, she could not stand by as the weak where abused. The weaker youth looked to her as a leader, friend, and protector. She knew every name, every voice, every talent.

Now she stood at attention, waiting her turn to battle. Her eyes given nothing else to turn to as she watched her friends be cut down one by one, by those she had spent the last four years holding at bay.

With a cry another a boy dropped to the ground in front of Leona. Hesiod's true talent was his voice. His songs beautiful, sweet and always a pleasure to hear. Now his booming voice used only to scream in the dirt at Leona's feet as his opponent advanced on him.

Leona averted her gaze upwards to just under the sun, as she battled the tears in her eyes."Is this my fault? Have I been selfish?"

XXXxxxXXX

"What..." Leona asked, still lost in thought as she looked to Diana.

"Which is proper for the body?" Diana asked again over her shoulder as she looked at each bottle.

"Oh..." Exhaling slowly, Leona tried to ease the tension that had built in her shoulders. she pushed aside the images of her friends laying on the ground. Something about Diana had always lifted her spirits.

Diana held one bottle then another. Shaking her head, she replacing each as she explored the scents.

A subtle smile broke over Leona's face while she watched Diana's hair sway. as the girl rummaged through the container looking for an appropriate option. "I never had you for someone exceeded about soap." Leona teased, her lips curling into a wide grin.

Diana scoffed. "Feh, It is not like I would know before now... the only soap the rest of us use is made from rendered goat fat and perfumed with sun blossoms."

Leona wiped soapy foam from her forehead that risked running into her eyes. "I was unaware. Sun blossoms are nice, but don't smell like much."

Diana nodded, bringing a bottle to her nose and sniffing the aroma that drifted from it. "Rendered goat fat does not exactly smell like much ether. No wonder you've always smelled more pleasant." It took a moment for Diana to catch up with her own statement before she was turning to face Leona, a blush on her face. "I mean by comparison..."

Leona stared flatly at Diana. "To goat fat?"

"No, to everyone else." Diana corrected with a smile, only for it to fade when she looked to Leona who raised an eyebrow. "When you are near people... everyone has an air about them, do they not?" Diana asked rhetorically, fidgeting with a bottle of what she hoped was a soap acceptable for use on ones body.

Leona grinned drawing a leg out of the water and to her chest to lean on. Leona had seen few in the Solari order that could leave the pale girl grasping for the correct words, and Leona always enjoyed being one of them. "I see, and out of everyone, you find the air about me most pleasing?"

"Yes, No... how are you using 'most'? As in 'very', or as in 'greatest degree'?" Diana asked, flustered.

"Most." Leona repeated slowly, as her eyes sparkled and hinting at volumes that she left unvoiced.

"Yes." Diana muttered, shifting her gaze away as a blush played on her face. Holding out the bottle in her hand, Diana remained looking away from Leona who was now chuckling. "Is this acceptable?"

"'Most' acceptable." Leona chuckled again as she slipped from her sitting position, to submerge in the water and rid her hair of the suds.

XXXxxxXXX

Aerith sat on her bed, her thumb in her mouth as she nervously bit it. Speedily she read through the manual in her other hand. The combat guide was detailed in every way, however was utterly lacking in answering her most pressing question.

Flipping another page she sighed before skipping head. Every form, every tactic focused on being stronger, or faster, or tougher, or simply more determined than ones adversary. All things that could be expected of most Solari Acolytes even newly promoted Lower Acolytes like herself. Still Aerith could not help by find she lacked any of the physical properties when it came to the subject of combat.

With no answer to the question of how to beat a stronger, faster, larger, and more experienced opponent, Aerith resigned herself to doom. Slowly she closed the book and reached for a leather bound book of blank pages. "I'll just put down some ideas for stories to calm myself and then get some sleep... I'll need a titles... oh how I hate this part."

After half an hour of fruitlessly staring at the first page, her pen wavering as it waited for inspiration Aerith sighed and closed the book. "Maybe I can find another combat tome." the tome of blank pages was returned to the bedside table as Aerith rose and moved towards the front door.

XXXxxxXXX

A/N Please Read: So let me level with you guys/gals. Writing about sex just throws me for a loop. I'm a Christian, so there are nagging moral issues I struggle with before always coming back to this being about the story and plot and art and not erotica.

As a writer I'm always apprehensive when writing on subjects that I have little knowledge about. That being said... I'm a straight male. I know NOTHING about Female on Female sex.

Still, everything I write risk being colored by that male viewpoint as well as limited knowledge. I wish I could easily get across what I'm feeling here but, it boils down that I never wish to write unrealistic things from a position of ignorance. When needed I want to write intimate scenes, driven by the characters and what they would want and desire... but frankly, I'm not a female which makes all of this just a bit hard... really gotta watch my phrasing.

So in a long roundabout way... I'm saying is... to my female readers, if you find scenes within the next few chapters to seem skewed to a male perspective, or miss the mark in some obvious way, or just leave you feeling let down by not highlighting what is important to you in the interaction... Sorry I really tried.

EDIT: Screw soup... T_T