She had been keeping an eye on the bird nearly to the exclusion of everything else. It was important that the bird at least tolerate her as she would probably be spending a great deal of time with this woman in the future. When she asked for her coat again she seemed to snap out of it, "Oh yeah, beautiful floors by the way, I always enjoyed the look of a wood floor." she removed that coat and handed it over to her, eyes glancing about the room approvingly before moving back to Archie. He really was a beautiful bird and if rumors were true about ravens then he was certainly very intelligent, and she could not get over the feeling that he was looking right through her and was sizing her up. When Aaliyah left to put the wet things away she spoke to the bird. "Hello Archie, Aaliyah was telling me about you... Uh, your feathers are very lovely." she spoke as if the bird could understand her, taking her cue from his owner, thinking it would not hurt to appear friendly.
Before she returned she bent over and removed her shoes, not wanting to track anything across her floors, then moved across to one of the windows, slowly enough of course to not bother the bird. "You must be very happy to be inside on a night like this, huh Archie?" she glanced back to Aaliyah when she came back in, "You've got a nice place here, it must be lovely to come home to it and Archie after a long day." Eleni had never lived alone, and thinking of it she was not sure she could have managed it. She needed someone there with her, the loneliness would probably eat at her just as it had before she was born into this new life. But she knew that from now on she would never be alone.
Eleni found her eyes drifting to the pictures she had displayed, "Did you take these yourself?" she asked as she moved closer to one that looked like a lovely little family-run restaurant. She clasped her hands behind her back as she moved to another picture, she would have to look over her book collection in a moment of course, she was terribly curious about Irisi's new life.
The bird regarded her with one eye, turning his head to keep it in profile and watch her more thoroughly. He responded to her spoken inquires with a cawing and then fanning his wings. Abruptly, he was up and on the wing, into the kitchen where he proceeded to walk across the counter and help himself to a grape out of the basket. He didn't appear to be overly bothered now. Nor was he when he came back to the coffee table by the same manner and watched her look at the photographs.
Aaliyah came back from the bathroom and looked at the photographs. "Some are mine. Some are my father's." All of them were either black and white or sepia toned, no actual color in them anywhere. Just photographs matted on white with black frames. "He taught me to use a camera." She was standing there undoing the wrist buttons on her dress shirt. Obviously she could have changed now that she was home, but she didn't apparently comfortable in her dress clothes. After that, she proceeded to roll her sleeves up to her elbow. "I kept these after he died." Her Father raised her. Her Mother, goodness only knew where that woman was, if she wasn't lying dead in a ditch it would be someones good fortune. Not necessarily Aaliyah's but someones. She didn't particularly care for her mother. The woman had come into and gone out of her life a number of times over the years. Usually smelling of booze and sex. It was no surprise that the two no longer saw much need to speak. "And I started adding my own. I tend to take them of places where something has happened to me or for me." There was a picture of the living room before Archie's cage had arrived. "That was the day after Archimedes appeared. I take pictures to remember."
Archie, perhaps sensing he was being spoken of, fanned his wings and made his opinion known. "Yes you, minion of evil," said with all the love in the world. "The day after you popped up in my life and decided my world belonged to you." With that, she turned to go into the kitchen, opening the fridge. There was plenty of food and one had to wonder if she ate this well, how did she manage not to weigh an extreme amount. "I'm thinking perhaps something light, a bit of soup since it's raining." She had the stock and they had time. It would take probably an hour for it to be decent. "Unless there are objections?"
Eleni looked over at Aaliyah as she spoke to the bird, smiling sweetly, thinking them adorable together. She had gone back to looking over the photographs, testing herself with guessing which were hers or her father's. The ones that were clearly more modern made her feel as if she was being given little windows into Irisi's new life, and while she did not know the stories behind them, she felt that she was learning a great deal about her lover. "Oh sure, that's fine." she called managing to draw her eyes away from the pictures to the rows of books on the shelves. "Soup sounds perfect for a day like today." Only as she began to look over the spines was she reminded again at the strangeness of their situation, but this time she stopped caring so much. She was a strange girl, it only made sense that she had strange relationships.
The books were not as interesting as the photographs as they did not tell her as much, so she turned her attention the room she was in as she moved to the kitchen. Leaning against the frame as Aaliyah began to start the soup, she took the opportunity to watch the woman for a little while, trying to see if there had been any physical changes. Not that it mattered so much to her, she herself had not changed at least in a way that she had noticed all that much. She may be a little shorter than she had been, and perhaps her hair had been more wild, but she really wasn't sure. Irisi had followed the tradition of all Egyptian nobility and had her head shaved, so seeing her with her own hair, or at least what appeared to be her own hair was actually rather nice. She liked the braids, not missing the baldness, but she had never complained about it. Adra had kept her hair, her husband forbade her from cutting it off as he liked the wild looking curls, and while it was less comfortable in the heat and she ended up having to wash her hair at least twice a day, she was actually pleased that she had been able to keep it.
Realizing that it might have grown a bit uncomfortable in the silence of her watching the other woman, she said the first thing that popped into her head, "How long have you had Archie? He seems very comfortable here with you."
"Soup it is then," Aaliyah went about finding what it was that she wanted in order to make what she was thinking of. She had vegetables to chop, stock to heat, and there was chicken in the house she could use. She honestly didn't notice Eleni watching her as she moved around the kitchen. It was nearly as if she were home alone in those moments, her mind utterly focused on the things she needed to do in order to make dinner good. It was a far cry from the world she once survived in. The one where all her meals were prepared. Her hair, currently braided into small braids, and hanging midway down her back was all hers. Why she had chosen to wear it long in this life, she didn't know? It was pretty. She could take it down, though she wasn't really prepared to do that. It took a long time. So she only did so when it was absolutely necessary. One day, she might actually just decide to let them go to being dreads. Maybe it was an actual reactions to having her head shaved in her previous life, choosing to stay away from allowing someone to shave her head. She truthfully didn't allow anyone to do much of anything for her anymore. Probably because she had been royalty, everything had been done for her. Now she seemed to want nothing with having others to wait on her. "The better part of the last two years," she replied to the question as she diced an onion on the cutting board.
The Bird once again hopped up and fluttered into the kitchen past Eleni's head. He then settled himself on the counter and helped himself to another grape. He gulped it down. Aaliyah reached over and stroked his facial feathers. "How long have you been in the US?" The discussion of her being a foreign student hadn't really said how long she had been in the country. The onions went into a skillet to sweat for a moment while she moved onto a carrot. The stock was starting to warm in its pot.
Eleni was actually rather proud of herself, not flinching or ducking when the bird flew by her. She wanted to get used to Archie, he was a beautiful bird and he meant a lot to Aaliyah, so the idea of it not being so difficult pleased her a great deal. "Three years, off and on. I usually go back to Patras over the summer and my folks fly over here for the holidays and during my spring break, which of course my mother complains about since she doesn't speak English." Despite the rough patch they had been through when she first told her parents that she preferred girls to boys, it was mostly with her mother as her father had been pleased that he wouldn't have to worry about her bringing boys home, they were a pretty close family. A far cry from the way her family life had been during Adra's time, for which Eleni could not have been happier. She loved her parents and family was very important to her.
"I'm still trying to decide if I like it here better or not. Greece is beautiful and it is my home after all, but I've had such a good time here, and of course you are here so I suppose that tips the scale in the US' favor." it wasn't something she thought over that often really. Sure, she missed her parents and the hotel they ran within walking distance of the harbor, but she knew she had to move on and move foreword with her life. She had to be with Irisi and she was here and that was good enough for her. She could be happy in the middle of nowhere as long as she was with the woman she loved.
"Do you need any help?" though she probably couldn't be of much help as the kitchen was certainly not the place for her. She was alright with that, she never aspired to be a great chef or even a cook. Sure, she liked watching all of Gordon Ramsay's programs and she had recently discovered Good Eats with Alton Brown, it may have given her delusions of grandeur from time to time, but she generally realized how poor of a cook she was before she stepped into the kitchen.
"I've never been outside of the US so unfortunately I don't remember anything about Greece," even in her previous life she had never been outside of her home country. Egypt had been all she really needed. The two had discussed the idea of running away in the direction of Adra's home, but it was decided it would not be good should Adra be spotted. After all, her family had sent her to Egypt to cement relations with the Pharaoh. How would it have looked for the gift to the Pharaoh to return to her home? Even if it wasn't taken as an insult against the royal family, it would certainly be seen as a declaration of war. Not something that either of them wanted. Perhaps that was why they had waited as long as they did, because of the far wider implications of their relationship. Irisi's brother had been the Pharaoh of Upper and Lower Egypt, commander of the finest army the known world had ever seen, the master of all he surveyed. It wouldn't have taken much for him to raise his army against Adra's people in anger for being made a cuckold. And then there was the fact that it was his own sister usurping his place. "I've always considered traveling, but there was always something keeping me from doing so. Until a few years ago, when I moved here, I had my Father to care for." It was almost an echo of her previous life. Back then, Irisi had been the keeper of the Pharaoh's mother when her brother first married. Hence why they would not know each other for months. Then Irisi's mother had died and she was brought back to the royal court at Cairo to take her place as servant to the current Queen. How odd it was to try and teach Adra about the proper running of an Egyptian household. Something that only became stressful as the tension between them increased. "Now he's passed away. I suppose I have no real reason to remain." It was true. She had no significant love for the US. No significant love for anywhere really. She could write anywhere she could find a table.
The offer of help made her look up. "If you can manage to chop celery without cutting off fingers, that would be appreciated." Nothing difficult really. As long as you didn't put your fingers in between the knife and the cutting board, you weren't likely to cut off anything while cutting celery. The carrots were done, they would go into the pan with the onions in a moment. Aaliyah reached into the salt container on the counter and sprinkled some salt into the stock. She rarely actually put any salt in her stock to start with. Probably because the act of adding it later was automatic and there was no reason to make it overly salty. "Is your family all right with you as you are?" It was perhaps a more tactful way to ask than to come right out and ask if her family was all right with her being a lesbian, but Aaliyah tended to skirt the edge of impropriety as much as possible. "My Father was not okay with it. He tolerated my behavior, but he was never okay with it."
Happy to help in a way that she was sure she would not screw up or burn herself, she moved to the counter, collecting everything she needed. When she began cutting she was quite pleased with her new found competence with cutlery, but she was sure to focus most of her attention on it so she wouldn't do any damage to herself. "So you're not from around here then? You will forgive me if it is abundantly clear, I have a hard time with the differences in American and English accents. They taught us basic British English in school, though I believe my professor was Scottish so you must tell me if I say anything strange or pronounce it incorrectly." English had been hard to learn, damn hard, and she swore to herself that she was going to forget it as soon as she was finished with her classes. Obviously things had not turned out that way and she only thanked God that she had managed to learn anything at all as her first month or so was rather hellish.
Her brow furrowed a little, "Well, that's rather hard to say. I mean, at first they were a little uncomfortable with the idea. My mother said I didn't follow the usual type, I wasn't butch and all that, I told her I didn't have to be like a man to like women, it usually resulted in fights. My father has been real good about the whole thing, very supportive, and somehow he's managed to bring mother around to the fact that there isn't anything wrong with me. I mean I still get the feeling that my mother is disappointed, but last time they came to visit me we went out she kept pointing out the attractive girls sure that all of them were gay because they 'looked too perfect'. It was a very odd evening and I've begun to wonder if my mother has any latent bisexual tenancies, but things are actually alright now. I think it's easier for them to accept it since I'm here and they don't have to see me go out with girls or bring them home." there hadn't been some sort of rejection of her, which she was thankful for, but it had been a bit uncomfortable for a little while. "But you have to remember, we aren't so caught up with 'sexual morality' in Europe as everybody seems to be here."
"I speak American English, though I suppose one could say better than most." Aaliyah tended to pronounce all the parts of a word that were necessary to understanding. So her -ing ending words actually ended in a 'g' not a 'n'. "But no, this is not my hometown as some would say." The name of her hometown wouldn't mean anything to Eleni. It was a small town by the estimation of even those who lived there. "I actually come from a small town on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts. I procured my primary degree there. Then I moved away to start secondary schooling, but when Father fell ill, I ended up giving up and going home to look after him. My mother being as she has always been, gone." Aaliyah didn't know her mother, nor did it truly bother her. The entire story was not something she dwelled on. It was her history. It had happened. That was enough for her. "Though my Father has always loved me, he never was able to reconcile himself to the idea that I would produce him no grandchildren." The carrots went in with the onions and she pulled out another skillet for the chicken. She wanted to brown it before it went into the soup to insure that there wouldn't be anything harmful in it. "It never kept him from wanting me around. I buried him with his chessboard, it was a handmade piece, his absolute joy other than his camera, which I kept." Olive oil went into the pan for the chicken. "We spent god only knows how many hours sitting in the living room playing chess. Even when his arthritis was bad, he still wanted to play. He'd just tell me where to move his pieces." The recollection made her smile. "He was an ornery old man as some would say. He met Death with his eyes open. Not many can truthfully say that. Most close their eyes and pray." It amused her. It really did. An odd thing to think about someones death amusing a person, especially when it was a family member, but Aaliyah found her father's death a source of amusement. "He went exactly as he lived. On his own terms."
Not one single tear. But she didn't see the need to cry over the old man. He'd have called it a damn waste. Just what he called her liking girls, a damned waste. "I don't so much care for the morality of the people around me. The very same person who preaches at me one minute is quite likely beating his wife behind closed doors. I care only for the feelings of those I truly care for." A very pragmatic way of looking at things, one could be sure. "And I suppose that means it boils down to you and Archie at this point." The bird was currently trying to nose his way through the plastic to get at the chicken he could clearly see. "If you'll wait a moment, I'll give you a piece. Greedy."
She listened silently, finishing the celery and sliding it into the pot with the side of the knife. Aaliyah clearly loved her father and her words about him and her growing up tugged at her heart strings, leaving her surprised that she did not tear up listening to her. "He sounds like he was a wonderful man." she said when she finished, thinking of her own relationship with her father. They were a close father and daughter without even really knowing each other. He had a more laid back personality than her mother, which made him easier to be around, but he was a quiet fellow to a degree that Eleni actually knew very little about his life beyond what she saw everyday growing up. "My father is a good guy." she said just because it seemed only fair to give her some information about her family since she was so willingly talking about her past and her father. "He was born and raised in Patras too, his father owned a hotel and it passed on to him shortly after he married mama. He's a steady sort of man though he's easily influenced by my mother, which was clear enough when she encouraged him to turn the hotel into a hostel for a year or so when I was a little girl, but her mind changed of course and so it became a hotel once again."
She smiled as Archie still seemed intent upon getting that chicken, and continued. "But my home life was pretty normal aside from the occasional helping out I did when we were a little short staffed. I was drawing ever since I was very little, to which my father was generally indifferent but mother thought I needed to be like the other girls and used to yell at me when she found me off alone with paper and pencils instead of having tea parties and playing dress-up. But truth be told she liked to yell about a lot of things so papa and I just got used to it. She did change her mind about my artistic talent though when I suggested selling some of my work in high school in the little gift shop we had. It was never anything spectacular, just paintings and chalks of the city, or the harbor or the landscapes beyond the suburbs, but it got me noticed and I got a year's scholarship to one of the local art schools. My last English professor was from Huston and suggested that I might have better luck in the states as all I was learning was Greek art, it was all just a whim really, I submitted my portfolio to a bunch of different schools and programs. I got on the exchange program at the university here and here I am."
Not as good of a picture as Aaliyah had given of her own life, but she believed that was just another complementary difference between the two of them. Irisi was practical and usually factual, while Adra was an idealist and had a dreamy outlook on life most of the time. She had been more concerned with displaying more of an emotional story than a factual one. "Is there anything else I can do, or are we venturing into 'you could destroy my kitchen if you screw up' level now?"
Aaliyah offered Archie a piece of chicken out of the package which he happily gobbled down and then hopped up to the edge of the fridge as if he knew he was only getting one. Which was true, he never got more than one piece when she was cooking. He might get more later, but only one piece when she was cooking to minimize the chances of him getting sick. "There isn't really anything left to do but get it all in the pot. I've got bread already made from this morning." Yes, she actually did make bread nearly everyday. The woman had the ingredients in the house all the time. "How many pictures of me did you put in your portfolio?" The fact she had been drawing her face in the coffee shop earlier in the day had not disappeared and considering how integral art seemed to be in her life, it made sense that there were more pictures of her floating around. Still, even knowing that, it was still a strange question to ask.
Chicken sizzled in the skillet, browning, while she put the onions and the carrots into the stock with the celery. Then she took a wood spoon to give it a stir. Before today, the idea of someone drawing her picture at all would have struck her as odd considering she didn't see herself as a particularly striking individual worthy of artistic attention. Before today, she'd have found the idea of past lives and forgotten loves utterly laughable as well; simply something to write into a story and explain why you were skipping the 'get to know you' phase of a relationship. It was the longest and perhaps most tedious section of any relationship, the circle of courtship drawing ever closer to the object of union. She had always considered it on of the more ridiculous tropes to use when writing, if only because it seemed to cut out a large portion of what made a relationship real, the missteps and faux-pases of getting to know one another. Now it seemed less silly. How else could she know this woman as 'Adra' though she gave her name as Eleni? How could she know how it felt to feel her heart beating against her own in pain or fear or even passion? How if they had never once at some point known one another.
That question made her bite her lip for a moment, unsure whether or not to tell her the extent that her face and form had been present in her art. But she supposed it was only fair that she know how many images of her were floating about, especially when she hadn't exactly given her permission to use her image. It didn't make it easy to fess up though, so she found her eyes drifting to her hands as she prepared everything. "A few, there are more of you that I've kept to myself." it felt strange that she was discussing her work with what up until a day ago had been merely a face that had been drifting around her brain for as long as she could remember. "I mean, I haven't shown anyone the nudes of course," her eyes widened as she realized how terrible that sounded, "Not that there are a lot of you nude, but I keep those to myself... Uh, I mean, I don't do anything inappropriate with them, I mean it's not like it's anything but tasteful. I don't draw pornography, and even if I did I wouldn't do that to you because I love and respect you so much, unless you wanted me to, but even then I might have some pretty serious objections. Because I hear stuff like that always comes back to haunt you, not because I think there is anything wrong with you. You're beautiful, and you've got a great body... Not that I would know, I mean, I have a few memories of you and they are all pretty wonderful. And not that I want you just for your body..." she had flushed a deep crimson by the time she managed to stop herself.