#poor stubborn Thena just go and sleep with your husband

[softquietsteadylove]

Hello! Wanted to ask you if you could write another Thenamesh AU in Kievan-Rus?

Maybe some interaction with Olga and Thena?

"A word?"

All of the Eternals turned, but the Queen's eyes were on the Warrior Eternal. Thena raised her brows. They were always to respect the rule of the humans of the land. Not that she was always the best at that.

"Please," the Queen offered more humbly, imploring Thena closer, "Warrior Eternal."

Thena looked at the others, who gave the Queen varying degrees of bows before taking their leave. Thena remained on the carpet rolled out over the frigid stone floors of the throne room.

Olga's eyes flicked to the far corner of the room before returning to Thena, "I understand you are no subject of mine."

Thena let her continue. She knew why her eyes had drifted; she could feel Gilgamesh lingering in the room. If she focused she could hear all of his little movements; the shuffling of his feet, his hands fidgeting, even his breathing.

"But I have watched you fight those demonic creatures," Olga held her head high. "Nightmares I thought only existed in legends."

Thena merely nodded. Deviants were getting harder and harder to explain to humans in that sense. But all the better that they became legends and myths and stories used to scare children.

"You are one of the fighters of Lady Ajak's," Olga surmised. Thena never considered a Fighter for Ajak. Although she wasn't even sure she considered herself a Fighter for Arishem. She simply...fought. "The best, in my view."

Thena needed no lavish praise. She had gotten plenty of it over the centuries. Still she bowed her head.

"I would like your counsel," Olga proposed, sitting taller in the massive throne, second only for the one meant for the King. "If you see fit."

"Counsel?" Thena raised a sleek eyebrow. For all she had been revered as a Goddess of War and Wisdom, she had grown rather tired of it.

"On matters of battle," Olga confirmed, now rising from the throne and walking closer to Thena below her. She descended the platform and steps keeping the thrones separate from the rest of the room. Her guards tensed but she dismissed them with a wave of her hand. "Matters of war, if you prefer."

Thena merely looked at the woman, far, far younger than she. And even then, Olga was still young in many ways. "No one prefers war, your majesty."

"It would not be wise to," Olga agreed in not so many words. The two women - equally guarded - stared at each other. "But I think your views on the subject align with mine."

"Do they?"

Olga smiled, and it seemed rather unlike she did when she was sitting on that throne. Olga actually managed much of her husband's ruling, he rather focusing on territory and its expansion. Their partnership was a fine match.

Olga twitched her head, gesturing to the man floating around listlessly, pretending to admire the tapestries hung around the room. "He is yours?"

Thena looked back at Gilgamesh with permission to do so. She smiled; he was very obviously listening in on them. "He is."

"I have seen you two fight," Olga said more gently, speaking less like a queen and more the way one friend might speak to another. "The way you protect each other. I find it rather admirable. Our way of combat is...more brutal."

Yes, the human warriors of this region were some of the most intense and brutal they had come across. They had Thena's full support and admiration for that.

"But of all our current war advisors," Olga slid her eyes in a way that made Thena think she maybe wanted to roll them. "Their views do not...align."

Thena tilted her head, asking for elaboration.

Olga openly admired Thena's hair sitting loosely around her shoulders. "Ferocity need not come from a place of malice, I believe. I much prefer to think of it as a byproduct of love."

Thena smiled. This human woman understood the necessity of force--that sometimes there was no better way to ensure the protection of certain things. Certain people.

"Some think our methods of expansion are aggressive," Olga resumed her more royal demeanour, "but I consider it necessary to keep our enemies mindful of who we are--of what we are capable."

"Yes," Thena murmured.

"To possess more is to lose more," Olga tipped her chin up at Thena, "and I do not intend to lose what I hold dear."

"I understand," Thena agreed.

"I believe you do," Olga's smile grew. She looked over at Gilgamesh again, catching him looking at them this time. His head snapped away. "It's quite all right."

Gil made a face like a child in trouble as he turned again. "Sorry, your majesty."

Olga eyed them as he drifted closer slowly until he was within reach of Thena again. "You are the Warrior Eternal's partner."

"Uh," Gil blushed, as if shyness suited a being of his size and stature, "I guess you could say that."

Thena ran her finger down his arm (she liked flustering him), "in more ways than one."

"You are a fine match," Olga complimented, regarding them as softly as she would her own family. "You, perhaps, remind me of myself and my dear husband."

Gil slipped his hand to the small of Thena's back, gathering that no one was going to gasp in horror or try to order him to remove it. Not that he would listen to that. "Then he's a lucky man."

Olga smiled more fully, looking more like the young woman she truly was. "I certainly like to think so."

Thena leaned into Gil, as if the few minutes spent half a room apart had taxed her.

"I hope I can count on your counsel in the future, Warrior Eternal," Olga nodded, which Thena returned. She wasn't much for bowing. "As a royal War Advisor, you have certain liberties. The royal grounds are open to you, and should you need anything, no one is to deny you."

"We'll keep that in mind, your majesty," Gil did bow to her, much more adept at the manners of any time period.

"Very well," Olga picked up her skirts, ready to return to her massive golden throne.

"Oh!"

She turned partway in her journey, truly a sign of respect and fondness that she would let anyone but the King call out to her in such a way. "Yes?"

"Uh," Gil shrank back, offering a sheepish smile. He held Thena's hand. "Maybe some extra blankets or something?--for her, I mean."

Thena looked at him with love radiating from her. So sweet, her Strongest Eternal.

"She gets cold easily," Gil concluded shyly, remembering to dip at the waist, "your majesty."

"I shall see to it," Olga nodded before settling herself in her throne again. "You will find all you need in your chambers by nightfall."

"Thank you," Thena offered to Olga before turning to Gil. She slid their fingers together, "you didn't have to."

"Of course I did," he countered immediately, pulling their joined hands up so he could kiss each tip of her fingers as they left. "I can't have my poor Thena walking around shivering."

"I am getting better," she argued, pursing her lips at him.

He just grinned at her (like it was so cute or something). He moved his head closer, touching the tip of his nose to hers, "hm, still feels cold to me."

She burst into a laugh.

He pulled her to the side of the corridor, not that there was anyone to witness their affections. He held her by the waist, "I just don't want you to be cold if you don't have to be."

"That's what I have you for, no?" she purred, letting herself melt into him.

"Sure," he chuckled, running a hand over her hair as he held her, "but the trip from your room to my room can be chilly."

#Thenamesh Rus AU #let me tell you #I am delighted that people like this one #I don't know it just has a certain place in my heart #I really do we had gotten more historical Eternals #I think the setting fits them better #Thena goes to her room and finds a heavy fur lined cloak and blankets and furs piled high #which is great and it does make the bed warmer #it's still nothing to sleeping with her beloved Gilgamesh tho #but at least now she has something warm to wear when she's sneaking into his room at night #he still tells her just to come to bed with him #don't bother trying to sleep in your room he says #but she always tries to give it a shot #poor stubborn Thena just go and sleep with your husband