Aka Amy

"The thing is you've already got past the hardest part," I commented. "At least according to what I've heard from others in similar situations? That seems to be the thing they get hung up on the most."

My guest responded with a quiet, "Mhmm?"

I continued, "It's obvious to me that you've already reinvented yourself, and you did that long before you even heard of me. That's the hard part, apparently?"

"Mmm," they made a thoughtful sort of sound, then slowly tipped over and exposed their fuzzy tummy.

My hand gravitated into position and I started rubbing their warm belly and stroking their soft fur as I continued, "The challenge for you is to figure out who your new people are, and how to reach them. Assuming that's your goal, I mean?"

This time the only response I got was a happy contented purr.

"Siggy," I sighed as I looked down at the small tortoiseshell cat laying on its back alongside my right thigh. "Are you even listening to me? Or are you just here for the tummy rubs?"

Despite my sceptical tone I didn't actually stop rubbing their tummy. Between the soft warm fur and the soothing rumble of their purr it was really relaxing.

The small cat responded with another quiet, "Mhmm?"

"If you actually want my help you need to pay more attention Sigrun," I gently chided them. "I don't mind if you want to stay in your cat shape, but you have to participate more in the conversation ok? So I know I'm not wasting my time."

"Mmmm?" they made a sort of whiny sound as they snuggled closer against my leg.

I frowned at them, "If you just want to be a cat and get pets and attention, why not find a nice loving family and get yourself adopted? I'm sure lots of people would appreciate a cute little cat who won't ever grow old or get sick."

That finally earned me a legitimate answer.

"I've tried that," they responded, "But it always ends the same way. I move in, get comfortable, then suddenly the humans start talking about taking me to the vet for shots and to get me 'fixed'. So I tell them I don't need shots and I definitely don't need to be 'fixed'. Then I promise I won't have heats or spray their furniture or anything like that. And I tell them my name and pronouns, so they know what to call me."

"That's usually when they start freaking out," the cat sighed. "And after that things tend to go downhill pretty quickly."

"Um," I almost had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing, "You just start talking to them out of the blue? I can see how that might startle or alarm your average human. Do you also tell them you're a deity?"

"I've tried that too," they responded, and it sounded like they were pouting. "It doesn't make things any better."

The purring stopped as they elaborated, "They freak out, they don't respect my pronouns, they ignore my name. One or two have tried to exploit me to make them money. I've even had a human threaten me? Not someone I tried to adopt but he was a friend of theirs, and found out I could talk and could do magic. He threatened to hurt me or my human unless I granted him various miracles."

That made me grimace, "I can't imagine that ended well."

"No," they sounded grumpy at that point. "It did not. I might not like being a warrior goddess, but I'm more than capable of filling the role when I have to. After that incident I had to leave again, even though it wasn't my human's fault. After that I didn't think it was wise to keep trying to find humans to live with? Then I met you, and both you and your girlfriend seemed safe and nice."

I continued rubbing their tummy through all of that, and finally asked "So do you want to find more worshipers? Or do you just want to be a cat?"

"I'm still not prepared to let you stay here all the time," I added. "I'm sorry Siggy. Even if you're small and don't take up space I'm not ready for another roommate. Me and Tess need our private time together, and I'm not comfortable having you around for that, knowing you'll be listening in."

The cat sighed again, "I understand. And I don't really know about the worship question? I guess I need to figure out if there's some people I'm comfortable with. People who'd be comfortable with me. Would anyone even want a goddess who was happier being a cat than a person?"

"You might be surprised," I grinned. "I'm sure your people are out there, we just have to figure out who they are and how to find them."

Before either Siggy or I could say anything else the apartment door opened and Tess came in. She looked like she needed a glass of wine, and I really wanted to talk with her to find out how things went with Ada.

"Sorry kitty," I said as I gave their tummy one last rub. "This is one of those times I need some privacy with Tess, which means you have to go home now."

They sounded like they were pouting again as they responded, "Fine. Maybe I can come back tomorrow so we can talk more about finding worshipers?"

"Maybe," I replied. "Although if you want that, you need to participate more. It's not just about getting tummy rubs and listening to me talk the whole time. Now shoo kitty, this is my Theresa time."

By that point my girlfriend had shed her purse and got herself a glass of wine. She moved to join me on the sofa as she said, "Hi Siggy. I take it you're just leaving?"

"Yes," they sighed as the rolled over onto their paws and stood up. "Your cruel girlfriend is banishing me back to my lonely island retreat."

"Sounds rough," Tess replied with a smirk. "I'll be sure and have some words with her about it later. Bye now."

The cat made a "Hmph" sound, then they leaped off the sofa and vanished in mid-jump.

"So how'd it go?" I asked as I slipped my arm around my girlfriend's waist and shifted closer so we could cuddle.

She wrapped her arm around my shoulders and held me close as she sighed, "Not great. At least Ada opened up to me. She's trying to find somewhere to stay and looking for work. She didn't come out and say it but it seems like her whole life's falling apart. Without her parents' help she can't afford to finish university, and it feels like she and April are over. April hasn't asked her to leave yet, but that's probably because she knows Ada has nowhere else to go."

By the time she was finished my stomach felt cold and heavy. I shook my head and mumbled, "Damn. I didn't realize things had got that bad."

Tess had some wine then continued, "Ada's family have been doing their best to make the situation worse. They've been threatening her, talking about taking her to an exorcist so they can purge the demons from her body or some nonsense like that."

"It's bad enough they can't find it in their hearts to support their child," she stated angrily, "But to actually threaten her, to talk about subjecting her to what amounts to torture as if they can eliminate the most important part of her identity, it's disgusting. People like that..."

She cut herself off with a little shudder, then sighed. "Sorry Amy. It reminds me of what Daisy's family were like."

"I know hon," I replied softly. "Did Ada say anything about accepting some help?"

She nodded, "Sort of. I had to bring it up, I asked if she'd tried praying to you for help? She said she was praying, but admitted she didn't feel comfortable asking for more help. She said you'd already done so much, she didn't want to seem greedy. Anyways I hope I was able to convince her there was no harm in asking again. Especially since it sounded like she really does need it."

"Thanks Tess. I..." my voice trailed off for a moment as I grimaced. "Actually I can't tell you if she prays or not, that's a privacy thing. But fingers crossed she'll ask for my help sometime soon. Thank you for reaching out to her though, I really appreciate it."

After draining the last of her wine she gave me a sad smile, "You're welcome cutie. I really hope you can help her. I guess it's too late to salvage things between her and April, but maybe if you could help Ada get a fresh start that'd be best for both of them."

I nodded, but didn't respond. What I did or how I helped her would depend on what she asked for, what she wanted. And I wasn't going to break my rule about not messing with people's minds. On the other hand I'd be keeping an eye on her, and if I caught her family trying to hurt her I might just lift my no-smiting rule. I had the distinct impression Raven would appreciate the opportunity to deal with some nonbelievers in her own angel-of-death way.

After a few moments I pushed those thoughts aside, there was something much more appealing I wanted to talk to my girlfriend about.

"Hey, do you know what today is?" I asked with a smile.

She replied, "Saturday? July twenty-third?"

My smile got wider as I reminded her, "It's basically the one-year anniversary of when you first summoned me. It was Friday July twenty-third last year, night of the full moon."

Tess grinned, "Technically it was Saturday the twenty-fourth cutie. I didn't start casting the spell until after the clock struck twelve. And you and I didn't properly meet until later Saturday morning. So the anniversary is actually tomorrow, silly."

"Well for me it started Friday night," I pouted. "I guess you're technically correct, but I was hoping we could celebrate tonight? And I don't want to keep you up late tomorrow night, since you have work Monday morning."

She got a thoughtful look on her face as she asked, "That means your sister's birthday's coming up soon too right? That was only a couple days after we first met."

I nodded, "Yeah. Her birthday's on Wednesday? We talked a bit yesterday while you were at work, I figured we could take Hailey and Alex out for dinner next Friday or Saturday night?"

"If our folks are doing anything with her it's probably going to be on Wednesday," I added. "I haven't heard anything about it though, so odds are if they're doing something I wasn't invited."

Tess frowned, "I know you're not on great terms with your parents. Or at least not with your mom anyways. But how do you feel about that? Does it bother you, being excluded?"

I shook my head, "Nah. If we were invited I'd either have to decline, or we'd go and risk having it all blow up in our faces again. This is probably for the best."

"Anyways," I added, "I don't want to talk about my parents right now. I don't even want to talk about Hailey. This is about you and me, and our 'one year less a day' anniversary. I thought we could order Chinese food, drink too much wine, then get adventurous in the bedroom. Just like we did a year ago?"

That put a smile on my girlfriend's face. The smile quickly shifted to a smirk as she reminded me, "Actually we got adventurous on the living-room sofa first, as I recall. And now I'm wondering how you and I can get 'adventurous' tonight, since we've both come a very long way from your awkward first-time experience."

"Well," I replied with a sly smile, "Considering I'm a goddess and have access to magic and I'm capable of doing all sorts of wild and wonderful things, I have a feeling you and I can come up with some good ideas?"

That had the expected effect on Tess, and her amused smirk became a slightly hungry looking smile. Her eyes swept up and down over me as she seemed to be sizing me up, while her arm around my shoulders held me a little tighter.

"Oh, I've already got quite a few ideas in mind for you cutie," she finally responded in a low sultry voice.

My heart fluttered and I tried to tease her, but it maybe came out sounding a bit too eager as I asked, "I suppose that means you'll be expecting me to be the 'tiny goddess' again tonight?"

"Hmm," she pretended to think it over, "That's a good place to start cutie. It's hardly a new adventure though, since you've already done that for me several times."

She held me a little tighter, then pulled me up onto her lap and gave me a long passionate kiss. Then she pulled back and smirked, "How about you give me a preview of what it'll be like when you're my happy horny little housewife? And don't forget you're supposed to be loyal and obedient too."

That sent another little flutter through me, but it settled noticeably further down than my heart. I gulped as my cheeks got even hotter.

"Yes dear," I replied meekly, though I wasn't exactly selling it with the big smile plastered across my face.

Theresa was better at controlling her expression than me, but even she couldn't resist a little grin as she stated, "Good girl. Now why don't you get changed into something more appropriate? I'm going to order us some dinner."

I slipped off her lap then with my heart racing in anticipation I hurried into our bedroom to find something fun in our lingerie drawer. By that point I didn't even care if we ordered dinner or not, I was already looking forward to the rest of the evening.

And there was no doubt in my mind that our 'year less a day' celebration was going to be something both Theresa and I would still be thinking about when the time came for our two year anniversary.

~ End of Book 3 ~