“The little vessel of my mind hoists sail, and makes a course for calmer waters now, letting that cruel sea fall far behind her. Now of that second kingdom I shall see, where human souls are purified of sin and made worthy to ascend to Heaven. And since, O holy muses, I am yours here let my dead poetry rise again from Hell's dominion and let Kalliope now rise to join my song with her sweet strains whose power the magpies felt so sharply they despaired of ever hearing ought.”

Line by line, word by word, Alighieri's tale took shape in Karen's mind as her eyes roamed over the pages of her treasured hardcover copy of the Florentine's epic poem. She sat in her recliner in the den, book laid flat in her lap. Her luxurious golden curls were pulled back and tied with a ribbon of blue silk to keep them from falling into her view and disturb her reading. She was content, adrift in the sea of letters and words and lost to the world around her.

Nora watched, mesmerized as the ancient words of long dead men took her lover away on a journey of the mind that might as well have taken her a million miles away from home. So entranced was Karen in her reading that she didn't even hear as Nora crept up beside her, slipped around to the back of the recliner and encircled her beloved's neck in a hug.

“Did I scare you?” Nora asked with a playful giggle in her voice when Karen let out a shriek of surprise and nearly threw her precious book into the air.

“Yes!” Karen scolded and gave her love a bap on the nose with two fingers. Nora sniffled and wiggled her nose in such a way that Karen had to force a frown to fight the amused grin tugging her lips in the opposite direction. Her brows knit together in a tight V and she stuck her tongue out at the woman hanging on to her from behind. “What do you want anyway?” she asked, mildly frustrated that her reading had been interrupted.

“Oh, I just wanted to check up on you.” Nora said as she pulled away, walked around the chair and planted herself in Karen's lap with an audible 'oof' from her lover. She circled her arms around Karen's neck again and laid her head down on the blond's chest, closing her eyes and listening as her pulse slowed in the calm after her little shock. “You seemed so absorbed in your reading I was afraid the book was cursed and had sucked your soul out of your eyeballs!”

Karen rolled her eyes, then smiled and ran her fingers through Nora's own straight, pitch black hair. She marveled, not for the first time, at what opposites they were physically. Karen's hair was golden blond, Nora's was black as a raven's feathers, her eyes blue like sparkling sapphires while Nora's were darker and resembled rich, fertile soil, where she was pale as her Irish descendants Nora's flesh was dusky and true to her Egyptian heritage. Karen was even taller than Nora, if only by a few inches. Karen looked down at her, eyes closed as she listened to the beating of her lover's heart and the faint, subtle rushing sound as air filled up her lungs each time Karen took in a breath. This, for reasons Karen couldn't understand, was one of Nora's favorite past times when they were together and so close. It was odd to her, goofy even through her eyes, but somehow it just made her love the woman in her lap all the more.

“Ow!” Karen yipped all of a sudden, again almost dropping her book, she had been holding it up in one hand to keep Nora from sitting on it when she invaded her lap. Nora looked up and grinned mischievously at Karen, her thumb and forefinger mimicking a wicked pinching motion. “What the hell was that for?” Karen grumbled as she rubbed the soreness from her right breast where she'd been pinched.

“You were thinking too hard again.” Nora said, suddenly sitting up and shifting around in her lover's lap until she had straddled Karen's thighs and was sitting back on her love's knees. She gently took the book from Karen's outstretched hand and laid it on the table lamp beside the chair. “Your breathing slows when you think too much, so don't lie to me and tell me you weren't.” Nora added as she leaned in and nuzzled her cheek to Karen's. “What were you thinking about?” she asked in a whisper.

“This!” Karen shouted as her hands shot forward and her fingers clutched and danced along Nora's side. Nora burst into a stream of squealing giggles and squirmed about on her love's lap as Karen tickled her mercilessly.

“Ahh! Stop...hee-stop!” Nora said through her laughter, her own hands clutching at her attacker's wrists in an attempt to pull them away from her ticklish spot.

“Never!” Karen replied and intensified her assault until at last Nora managed to pull those cruelly tickling digits away and pinned them at Karen's sides. “Eek! Lemme go bitch!” she laughed as she struggled to break free. “Lemme go or I'll make your punishment worse!”

“Oh hush, you're mine now...” Nora said once the giggles had faded and she regained her breath. She leaned in close again, looked deep into Karen's eyes. “Now, what to do with you...oh, there's so many possibilities...”

“Letting me go comes to mind.” Karen suggested with a goofy grin on her face. To her surprise, Nora did just that. One wrist was released and the hand that held it rose up along Karen's side. Nora gently stroked her lover's cheek with the back of her hand, then it rose higher and two fingers clasped the ribbon holding Karen's hair in place.

“You look better when you wear it down, you know.” Nora murmured as she pulled on the ribbon to undo the bow and send Karen's wild curls falling over her shoulders. She laid the ribbon down atop the coveted book and returned her hand to Karen's face, cupping her cheek in its palm.

“I do it to keep my hair out of my face when I read, you know that.” Karen said more on instinct than in an attempt to argue the point. She watched as Nora's expression turned sleepy, her eyes half-lidding and her lips curling up into a warm smile as she ran her thumb back and forth across Karen's cheek. She couldn't help returning the smile.

“You know what I'm thinking?” Nora asked, but before Karen even had the chance to consider a response she found her lover's lips pressed against hers in a kiss. The hand holding Karen's other wrist captive released its prisoner and joined the other hand in gently cupping the blond woman's face.

Karen's heart began to race and she found herself short of breath, taking in a deep breath through her nose as her lover's kiss sent a tender, warm sensation flooding through her. Her arms encricled the woman on top of her, one holding her around the waist and the other across the shoulder blades. She pulled Nora close against her and both their eyes fluttered shut. All was quiet, all was still save for the rapid beating in both womens' chests that almost seemed to sync up in that brief, tender moment.

Nora withdrew and Karen let out a heavy sigh as if from a breath she did not remember holding. Nora smiled, licked her lips and gave her beloved another peck on the lips before leaning back to sit on Karen's knees again.

“I love you.” she said simply, plainly, honestly.

“Hmm, is that was you were thinking?” Karen asked, tilting her head to one side and giving her lover a lopsided grin. “I could have told you that, I mean it's so obvious.”

“Oh, no, I was just thinking I was in the mood for something special.” Nora replied, still smiling that warm, happy smile as she guided Karen's hands into here lap where she gently clasped them in hers.

“Oh?” Karen said, an eyebrow raised and a goofy grin on her face as she started to think of the possibilities.

Nora nodded and leaned in again, bringing her lips to her lover's ear and whispering so softly Karen barely heard her say “Ice cream...” before she pecked her lover on the cheek, rolled off of her lap and headed off toward the kitchen without another word.

Karen was dumbstruck! She sat there in the silence for almost two full minutes trying to process what had just happened and what she'd missed. When at last the cobwebs cleared she shook her head, chuckled to herself and muttered, “Goofy bitch.” before reaching for her book.