Acolytes (The Enclaves Book 1)

by Nel Franks

  As we approached the Temple, I could see the torchlight only reached partway up the immense grey walls. I looked anew at the huge building. In class, someone had said it was the same shape as a structure called an igloo she had seen in a book, and the learning mistress had scoffed at her, claiming that igloos were tiny and made of ice. I could see why she laughed; tonight, the Temple was grand and powerful. We had been taught it was shaped to represent the Womb of the Goddess, the source of all life. It was roughly circular in shape, and its massive stone walls were rounded up to the roof. There was a central low turret that crowned the building, with slightly bulging windows that were gleaming. Those lens-windows directed light onto the Shrine at all times of the day. And when the Temple was lit inside, like tonight, rays of golden light shone out through the windows across the whole of the Core.

  We tiptoed silently in through the covered portico. At the end, the enormous doors into the chamber were fully open, which only ever happened for very important ceremonies. We all stood up a bit straighter as we glided in. It wasn’t often that young girls like us were the centre of celebration.

  Exactly as we had practiced, we processed into the middle of the Temple, between the tall swelling columns on their curved paths that outlined the shape of a woman’s labia, around the Fount of Life. But tonight, in the ceremony, it felt so different from our giggling rehearsals. The Temple at night was awe-inspiring; the light from the huge candelabras filled the centre but faded away until the distant walls were shadowed and mysterious. Usually, the air smelled flat and dead, but tonight it smelled like wax candles, incense, and flowers. Over the shuffling of our feet, I could hear the soft splashing of the sacred Fount. The water bubbled up into its dark bowl in the floor in the exact centre of the chamber, surrounded by the columns. The Fount of Life was the spiritual heart of the Temple and we’d been told it was a mystery; nobody knew why the water rose from the deep well beneath the foundations, or whether it would ever run out.

  Beyond that, against the far wall, the Goddess statue on the Shrine gleamed in the soft light. The central aisle dipped gently; the enormous slate flagstones were worn all along the meditation path, skirting the columns, then in towards the Fount, around it and out the other side. It amazed me that the ordinary shoe leather of generations of sisters could wear down stone. I craned my head back, trying to see the figures carved on the tops of the columns. The Chief Mistress of the Temple harrumphed behind me, and I quickly dropped my head back to a proper respectful position. We’d been told often enough during our instruction in the Ways of the Goddess that ‘the whole Temple was a glorification of the unique power of women to bring forth life’. But tonight, it seemed especially significant and obvious to me – now I was old enough to bear a baby.

  Surrounding the Fount and between the columns were the uncomfortable benches where we had to sit for our transition vigil. We settled onto the benches, facing towards the Shrine for our meditation. Of course, they placed us too far apart to be able to whisper. The tutors, six Temple Apprentices in their dark blue robes, were murmuring behind us. The two with the first watch began to pace the circuit around the outside of the pillars. They reminded me of silent shepherd dogs circling settling sheep.

  We had to stay seated all night, which I’d never be able to do. I was restless and fidgety. Everyone else began to relax into the meditation we’d been taught, and gradually became calmer and still. I tried; I really did.

  Eventually though, I was just cold, and fighting to stay awake. The tutors prodded us if we nodded off. We were supposed to stay awake all night contemplating the meaning of becoming an Acolyte. But I’d already thought of everything I possibly could. I’d considered how I’d no longer be a child living in the Children’s Dormitories, with the same group of girls that I’d known all my life. I couldn’t imagine life without Gaia and Rosie with their beds beside mine. Gaia and I had been in the same dormitory forever. I had a faint memory of when Rosie came to us; she’d had been some kind of trouble in her old dorm room. Gaia had decided to adopt her, and we’d been sister-friends ever since.

  ‘Becoming an Acolyte was the turning point of a young sister’s life’, so they kept telling us. Maybe some of my turnings were going to lead to disaster. I was so clumsy I was dreading Perimeter Squad training. It was going to be so bad. We’d been told we wouldn’t be sent to the perimeter until we were much older. As the target of the marauding Outcasts, acolytes were kept safe in the Core whenever there was a raid, while the older women were the fighters. Our contribution was going to be working in logistics, food, and healing. Even so, we still had to do physical drills. Oh, Goddess!

  Over the nine years of being an acolyte we were also supposed to discover our life’s work. But what happened if you couldn’t decide on what you wanted to do? Or you were really bad at it?

  But these were all old thoughts. I couldn’t come up with anything new.

  So, I watched the tutors without turning my head. Their soft leather shoes paced the path worn in the stone around us. My feet were freezing; I wished we’d been allowed to wear shoes. The swish of their dark blue Apprentices robes, and the colour and glimmer of their silk year-bands kept catching my eye. I was trying to identify where they had been each year. The one in charge, a final year Apprentice, had the full set of nine year-bands. Each band gleamed in the colour of the House she had been assigned to, with short strips of ribbon of different colours identifying the various disciplines she had studied. I could see her lowest band was red, and the first ribbon was white, so she had spent her first year in the Healers and her initial deployment there was as a First Aider. I wondered how she felt going to an emergency when she was so inexperienced? Her eighth and ninth bands were both silver for the Temple, with black ribbons, meaning for the last two years she had chosen to specialise as a Reverencer. I wondered what it would be like to be so sure of what you wanted to do.

  Tomorrow, I would have new robes, coloured pale blue for the Initiates level. I was sure to make a mess of sewing on my first-year band, coloured for whichever House they had chosen for me. What would they put me in? What had I shown interest in? I couldn’t decide, and went over all my favourites – definitely gardening, herbs, I would love animals, possibly the Children’s Rooms. But Gaia had suggested earlier that perhaps the Council of Chief Mistresses would choose something I was bad at, and I should improve in. Well, that could mean almost anything. But wouldn’t they save that for later on, when I might learn to do it properly? Oh, please, let it be that.

  Shifting uncomfortably, I could see Gaia, a few rows ahead of me, sitting straight, gazing serenely at the Shrine. She seemed to have recovered from whatever she had been uncomfortable about. She has always been good at meditation. It made her annoyingly calm when everyone else got tense. Perhaps she would get her preference for the Reverencers in the Temple. She did everything well, so elegantly, she would always be beautiful. Not like me, clumsy as a new calf.

  I slid my eyes sideways, as I heard the soft swish of a passing tutor. I could see Rosie down the row. She hadn’t pulled up her hood up, despite the cold. Her ears were red, and occasionally she snuffled. What would the elder sisters choose for her? Oh Goddess, not animals! She was scared of the big ones. She was good with the little meat stock, poultry and rabbits and guinea pigs, but she cried every time they went to slaughter, so that would be a year of hell for her. Perhaps she’d get lucky and they’d send her to the Clothing Rooms in Crafts. She loved sewing. On the other hand, she’d always said she wanted to save that for her Apprentice years. I couldn’t work it out anymore; I was too cold and sleepy to think.

  To keep myself awake, I began to see how far I could look around the Temple without moving my head. That gave me a headache, so I looked instead at the great gold sculpture of the Goddess on the Shrine; it almost seemed to breathe as the candlelight shifted over its form. It was not an actual person shape, sometimes it looked like an old woman, and sometimes a girl, and sometimes just an abstract lump. How
had it been made? Gaia would be proud of me; she always wanted to know where things came from or how they’d been made. Then I stared blankly at the wall behind the Goddess, trying to work out how you could cut stone so smoothly. The Temple was very old, so it must have been done in the Time Before. That meant the blocks must have been cut at least several hundred years ago, maybe thousands. I couldn’t remember exactly how long ago the Great Disruption had been. All I could remember was that the pandemic of the Great Disruption marked the end of the Time Before, and then came modern times. I really should have listened more in the Children’s Learning Rooms. Oh Goddess, I hope I didn’t get assigned to the Temple - they’d expect me to remember all that stuff!

  AT DAWN, THE PALEST sunlight reflected off the Shrine. Finally, we were motioned to rise, with the silent signal, so I stifled my moans as my stiff back complained. My stomach rumbled and I looked an apology at the tutor nearest me. She had her knitted cap pulled low to keep her ears warm, but I caught the corner of her grin as she gave me the slight hand sign for ‘no matter’.

  We filed back down the hill then to the small Reverencing Hall. No singing crowds lined the route this time; lucky things, being warm inside now! We walked in silence, hopping between the ice-covered puddles, our bare feet so cold we were stumbling and shivering in the damp morning breeze. I did manage to glimpse the first slivers of early spring sun shining through the thin new leaves; they glowed like the flesh of limes.

  Inside the Hall it was much warmer, with a fire in the large grate at the back of the room. At the other end, the Chief Mistresses from each of the nine Houses were standing behind a long table loaded with pale blue robes. They each clutched some woven silk bands in the colour of their House, and in the other hand, short ribbons in a variety of colours for each of their disciplines.

  The Most Elder Sister stepped up onto the dais, signalling for silence as we pottered to our places on numb feet. My place was always at the back behind Marien, who was about twice my size, so I was glad the Most was raised where I could see her. At least I had the fire behind me, and I would thaw out.

  The Most took off her hat, which meant we could push back our hoods. Her fine silver hair rose out to frame her face, which looked pale and worn, and I suddenly realised she must be really old. But her voice was warm, and she smiled with beauty, all the lines of her face crinkling to make her radiant.

  ‘Young sisters, this is a great day for you. Today you stop being children and begin your journey as Acolytes towards adulthood. You become part of our productive workforce, and you will begin your training in the Perimeter Squad, taking part in the defence of our beloved Female Enclave.

  ‘You also start your journey towards your right to give birth. All girls begin this process at the time of puberty. Giving birth is still some years ahead of you, but in the last year, each of your bodies has signalled it is ready. Now together we must fully prepare your minds and bodies to serve the Goddess.

  ‘Today you move on from the fixed curriculum of the Children’s Learning Rooms. You will start to build the knowledge and skills to be a working member of our community. Your elder sisters have spent much time charting a course for each of you, from which we think you might most benefit. We have considered every one of you, compared all our recollections, and reflected on what you have most enjoyed, and most struggled with. In year one of Initiate Acolytes, we give you no choice about your assignment, but we will not make it too difficult for you. As you know from the children’s rooms, there is no point in trying to teach something for which the learner is not willing, or does not have the capacity, or is not ready to embrace. So, we will not give you something you cannot bear.’

  There was a rustle of relief from around the room.

  ‘As I’m sure you have heard from your older sisters, in each of the nine years of your Acolyteship you will be apprenticed in one of the production Houses. Most of you will spend only one year in each House, doing three or perhaps four deployments amongst their disciplines. As your interests become clearer, you will be given more choice. But for now, it is important to have a broad experience. The Enclave needs all of us to know the basics in every area. Your elder sisters will value your work, no matter how menial, because without the humble tasks done, the great endeavours cannot be completed.’

  She paused, and we all looked up at her.

  ‘Come forward each girl, leave childhood behind you, and receive your robes for year one, the start of your Initiate level.’

  She lowered her hand, and I could hear the smallest sound as everyone smiled and relaxed. Then the Chief Mistress of the Temple took up a pale blue robe, and held out her only band, coloured pale grey for the Temple, with a short black ribbon for the Reverencers. I held my breath for Gaia.

  ‘Josine, take off the smock of childhood, and step forward an adult.’

  Josine! She was a lump who never stayed for the full length of meditation. I saw Gaia’s shoulders drop slightly. But Josine could sing sweetly and in key. Perhaps reverencing might suit her, at least to start with.

  Several other girls were called and stepped forward, coming back clutching their ribbons.

  ‘Gaia, take off the smock of childhood, and step forward an adult.’

  I saw Gaia’s smock slip from her shoulders, but I couldn’t see who had called her because Marien moved in front of me. Gaia’s naked brown back moved forward, then she disappeared. A moment later, she slipped back into place in her pale blue robe, but I couldn’t see the band she held, to know which House and Discipline she’d been assigned. How would she react? Her face showed nothing.

  ‘Rosalind, take off the smock of childhood, and step forward an adult.’

  Oh, I could recognise that voice – the Chief Mistress of the House of Learning. I held my breath as Rosie slipped out of her childhood smock and returned wearing a pale blue robe. Oh, Goddess, that’s good, I thought, as I caught a glimpse of her huge smile. She was clutching a band of yellow with a light blue ribbon, so she had been assigned to the Children’s Learning Rooms.

  One by one, the girls around me slipped out of their faded old smocks and returned to their places in fresh Initiate robes, holding variously coloured bands and ribbons. Some looked jubilant, some sullen. Only Gaia seemed impassive, but then she always did.

  ‘Tomasika, ...’

  I startled. I had been watching the others so much I almost missed my name. Shrugging out of my smock, I was suddenly so nervous I couldn’t think. I tripped on the dress at my feet and banged into Marien. She grimaced and I heard a titter of laughter, quickly silenced. What colour was the band, what colour?

  Oh, the relief! It was dark brown, with a fawn ribbon. I grinned at the Chief Mistress of the House of Agriculture as she slipped the soft blue robe over my head. I moved back into my place with much more grace than I had left it. I was to work for a whole year with animals!

  AFTER THE CEREMONY finished, we separated into groups with a tutor from our new House. There were four other girls assigned to Agriculture and our tutor was lovely woman called Hellar. She gave us each another lightweight robe for the warm months and two heavier robes for the cold weather, plus extra bands and ribbons for each of them. They were to be our everyday wear. Hellar described how they all had to be hand-laundered. She also explained the extra protective clothing the House would supply if needed for each of our given jobs.

  Then she went on to tell us about how our days and weeks would be organised. We would spend most of our time on practical tasks, but each week we would have one day of foundation learning for all the theoretical stuff, to be held in the Acolytes Learning Rooms. This year Agriculture had foundation learning on Fourthday. We would also have a rostered day off in which we could pursue our recreation activities.

  ‘And we expect you will take more responsibility in your self-care, now you’ll be living in the Acolytes Hall—you’ll find out more about that this evening when you move in. You must also choose some new activities for your recreation.’ She handed
us a list of options. ‘And of course, you have to keep up your daily meditation, and Goddess-day Temple ceremonies and services whenever they are held.’ Hellar grinned at my open mouth. How were we ever going to fit it all in? Maybe being more grown up was not all fun and excitement.

  She explained the different disciplines in the Agriculture—Aquaculture, Animals, Fields, Forestry, and my favourite, the Gardens and Orchards. She told us what our duties would be, while we sewed on our first-year band and ribbon around the hem of each of the three robes. I loved the winter woollen fabric, so soft although it felt like it would wear for a long time. Having my own set of new robes felt very grown up, so unlike the hand-me-down cotton smocks we had shared in the Children’s Dorms. I promised myself I would take good care of them, even though I wasn’t very good at looking after things and being tidy.

  She also told us about the risks in Agriculture. Apart from the usual concerns about disease from the animal muck, and injury from misused equipment, there was a slight chance of encountering Outcast scouts when we were out in the fields.

  ‘Of course, we don’t send you young girls far out. That’s for us experienced women who have had many years of training in the Perimeter Squad. You’ll get your training two evenings a week. We don’t want you being whisked away to become one of those Outcast women,’ she grinned. She was kind of joking, but it was still scary. I shivered a bit. Were the Outcasts, who were women like us, really so fierce, so uncaring, they would rip us away from our beloved sisters? As children we had been hustled into the Hospital cellar on the few times there was an Outcast raid, and I had always felt completely protected; they couldn’t get past our defences. Now all of a sudden, I might be out there where the Outcasts were. An anxious shudder ran down my back.