Chapter Text
Yusuf and Nicolò had only known Andromache and Quynh a couple of months when the women one day over dinner mentioned the virgin they planned on sacrificing on the eve of Winter Solstice. At first, Yusuf and Nicolò thought they were joking, but as they got closer and closer to the Winter Solstice the more determent it seemed Andromache and Quynh were to go through with their plan.
"Why is...." Yusuf asked after exchanging another nervous look with Nicolò. "You want to sacrifice a virgin?"
"Because it's a beautiful tradition," Andromache replied with her mouth filled with food. "How long have been doing it, Quynh?"
"Before they decided to build the pyramids," Quynh replied as she rolled her eyes with an annoying look on her face. "Men and their cocks."
"Sorry what?" Nicolò asked coughing on the last bit of his bread. "What do you mean with men and their cocks?"
"Sometimes I forget you're only 13 years old," Quynh said with a smile.
"I think you mean 43 years old," Yusuf said. "Still looking good btw."
Nicolò smiled as he reached for the water sack.
"No, he is only 13 years old just as you're," Quynh said. "Remember there's the life before you died the first time and then there's the life you're living now. A life you only have lived 13 years off so far. In a way, you're still a child that has just learned to walk in our eyes."
"What she said," Andromache said still with food in her mouth. "And she is right, you two are still acting like lovesick children."
When Andromache and Quynh finally found Yusuf and Nicolò it was in the middle of a tryst behind an inn. Andromache and Quynh accepted their relationship but asked them to be careful because there would always be people who wouldn't understand two men's love. Something they promised the women.
"I hope as time goes by you get it out of your systems," Andromache added. "Do we have more wine?"
Quynh handed Andromache a bottle.
"But what did you mean with men and their cocks?" Nicolò asked.
"Egos, my young friend," Quynh replied. "The bigger ego a man has and if he also has plenty of money, he wants the world to know it, so he often builds big ugly things like a pyramid. He might say he does it for humanity or to save their souls, but when it comes down to it, it's all about his ego."
"And it's often those we like to deal with," Andromache added. "Because those men often hurt more than they do good."
"That does make sense," Nicolò said. "We have also seen it."
"True," Yusuf replied. "But with all kinds of respect to your traditions, could you not find something else to sacrifice than a virgin?"
"It's a beautiful tradition, Yusuf," Andromache replied. "Something you both will see soon enough."
That night when Yusuf and Nicolò were laying on their bedroll, instead of sleeping with his back pressed to Yusuf's chest, Nicolò turned around and looked at Yusuf, who looked just so worried as Nicolò about the prospect to witness the sacrifice of a virgin within days.
"How are we going to stop it?" Nicolò asked. "It's just as wrong as the Crusades were."
"You're right that it's just as wrong as the Crusades were, but Nico...I don't know how we can stop it," Yusuf replied. "But I think this is a dilemma we'll find ourselves in more than once in the future and we need to ask ourselves what right do we have to meddle in other people's lives and traditions?"
"Until we find an answer," Nicolò said. "I'm going to make sure that our new friends don't kidnap any virgins along the way."