Phil & Sheals going to a Lodge party (or coming home from one? Also yes they have parties it's official). They have just started ~dating~ and no one knows about them yet?
THIS IS SO LATE, I’M SO SORRY, THERE HAVE BEEN MANY THINGS HAPPENING IRL, BUT I JUST HAD TO WRITE SOMETHING FOR THEM. I HOPE IT’S OKAY!!!!
Music blended with the gentle murmur of talk in the dim room. Low-burning candles cast an intimate light over the room and its occupants. In the beginning, The Lodge had been purely practical in its design and set-up. Powerful women coming together to protect the single, eternal, enduring force that would always connect them where politics, alliances, and country borders failed.
In the years since it had been established, however, it had evolved. It had been a gradual thing, that had taken a lot of time, but had reached the place it found itself now almost accidentally. Somehow, none of them were quite sure who had begun it, or how it maintained itself so smoothly with virtually no previous arrangement or set-up, but there had become a tradition now for the ladies of The Lodge to meet at least once a month for a casual get together.
The rules of The Lodge still applied. No politics, no arguments, no outside strings attached. They left their baggage at the door. Unlike the official meetings of their Lodge, however, these traditional gatherings were far more informal, and generally far more fun.
Philippa stood on the fringes of the room, almost completely swallowed by the shadows, taking a small break from flitting amongst the others, socialising and scheming in equal measure.
She sipped at the drink in her hand, the alcohol a pleasant sting to the back of her throat, while her sharp eyes darted around the room. The women had broken up into small clusters now, Yennefer, Margarita, and Triss were in the centre of the room, talking animatedly together. Assire and Sheala were talking together in a quiet corner. The others had fractured off and slipped into other, smaller rooms, to conduct matters of their own.
Philippa was sure, however, that she was the only one alone. It didn’t bother her. She enjoyed being able to stand on the outside, looking in, observing the others, drinking in the scene and all it told her.
She took another idle sip of her drink, closing her eyes for a moment and letting herself indulge in the odd sense of calm peace that always settled over her during these parties. She didn’t have to scheme here. She didn’t have to be assassin, or conspirator, or adviser, or politician, or enemy, or friend. She only had to be. It was a liberating feeling, and she let herself enjoy it. It had been so long, so long since she had felt this...Free.
Sensing someone behind her, she opened her eyes again. She didn’t have to see them, to know who it was. Sheala’s warm arm slid briefly around her waist, startling her with, what she would no doubt consider, an overt display of public affection. Philippa had no qualms whatsoever about being perfectly open with her lovers, no matter where they happened to be. Sheala however, Sheala preferred to keep things more private, which was why the sudden contact was surprising.
Before she could comment on it, however, she felt the warm brush of Sheala’s lips at her ear. “I’ll see you at home,” was all she said, before sliding out of the room.
Sheala was typically the first to leave these events. She consented to dress herself in fine clothes and accompanied Phil to them with little complaint, but always slipped away at least an hour before anyone else.
The whole encounter had passed in a few seconds, all of it contained within the shadows and yet....Yennefer caught her eye over the rim of her own glass as she sipped delicately at it, allowing her attention to wander from Margarita for a moment to raise her eyebrows suggestively at her. Triss winked.
Philippa tugged the shawl she had around her shoulders a little tighter and resisted the urge to either frown, or roll her eyes at them. They could think whatever they liked, they would hear neither confirmation nor denial from her lips, and she refused to be ruffled by their prying.
Stalking over, she inserted herself into their conversation with practiced ease, and within a few minutes, had turned it smoothly to a topic of her choosing, directing any potential prying questions or teasing remarks in another direction.
Though she tried to remain focused on her conversation, however, her focus kept slipping. Her mind kept drifting to the tower room where Sheala would be waiting. To the feel of her arm around her waist. The soft warmth of her breath against her ear.
She closed her eyes, trying to pull herself together, but the memory continued to tug at her, like an itch she couldn’t quite reach, demanding notice, demanding attention.
She should remain, she should maintain the illusion she and Sheala had set-up, hiding their relationship from the others, keeping it private, contained. An intimate secret that was for them, and them alone but...Fuck it.
Turning smoothly, with only a vague attempt at an excuse and warning of her imminent departure, Philippa moved towards the open window. Her strides were long, smooth, and easy. She transformed mid-way across the room, and took flight, soaring into the waiting velvet darkness of the night sky without once breaking her rhythm.
The same sense of freedom she found from the Lodge’s parties enveloped her as she flew, gliding through the empty, silent skies like a ghost. It remained with her as she alighted in her and Sheala’s bedroom, seeing her partner turn to her, not at all surprised by her arrival, a small smile tugging at her lips. It bloomed into something that she might well define as love, when she swept Sheala into her arms and kissed her.
