by Robin Roseau
"Yes," said the Goddess. "And I with you." She paused, looking distant for a moment. "But I do not believe next summer. And you must ride Zana."
"She wouldn't be up for a ride by then."
"When will she make her child?"
"It takes nearly a year," I said. "Autumn. But she'll ask me to stop riding her sometime this spring. I've stopped racing her, although she would race if I asked."
"Then the summer after," she said. "Ask Hastiá if that is too late."
She said it seemed like something that had been brewing for a while, and if it were a year and a half from now, that was far better than never at all.
"You offered a big compromise to let me leave," I said quietly.
"I did," she said. "Do not repeat my next words. You have duties in Framara, and what you are going to do there is more important than any of this. Tell no one what I just told you."
And so I nodded.
* * * *
We took our break, which was really a chance for me to stretch my legs. Naddí brought me fresh tea and juice. The Goddess was amused when Naddí stood over me and watched me drink the juice before I could have the tea.
"You are like a little child, and she is your mother."
"My stomach remains Arrlottan," I said. "I do not care for the sweets, or for very few."
"You will not fight her when she gives you your juice," the Goddess said.
"She'd make me drink two glasses if I didn't fight her about one."
"She cares for you." She smiled at me. "You know, I can enforce my order."
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean."
"Would you like a demonstration?"
I looked down. "I'll drink the juice, but only one glass." But I made a face.
"I depend upon you, Yalla. You must be healthy."
"I'm healthy."
"You have not fully recovered from your first year here, have you?"
I didn't answer that.
"I see. Tell Naddí to return with Terélmarestra and your Féla."
"What are you going to do?"
"Tell her."
I sighed and repeated the order to Naddí, telling her it was on order of the Goddess. Naddí smiled and hurried from the room.
"What are you going to do, Prestainamatta?"
"Keep you healthy."
"Can't you just make me healthier?"
"I can heal some injuries, but this is the sort of healthy that comes from eating well and exercising. Your body is accustomed to a life on The Hippa, and you are not giving it enough exercise."
I said nothing, as she was right
"I should tell you about Princess Lásenalta."
"After lunch," she said. "I can tell that is a long conversation, and I want it all at once, and I believe I am going to want to talk to her. We will tell her to be ready to speak with us."
There was a knock, and then my household stepped in, minus Larien. "You wanted us?" Terél asked.
"She wants you to speak in her language," I said. "And she wants you. I was just fine."
"Don't be sullen, Yalla," said the Goddess. "You will repeat my words with no comments of your own."
"Yes, Prestainamatta. She's ordering me to repeat her words without my own comments."
"Terélmarestra, translate my words for Naddiqualestra and Resaírelteena."
"I can't say their full names."
"You may use the names as are most comfortable. Repeat what I said."
"Terél, translate her words for Naddí and Féla."
Terél smiled and nodded. After that, the Goddess spoke with pauses for me to repeat and Terél to translate.
"My High Priestess must be healthy. She must recover her old strength. She must eat properly and exercise sufficiently. She must receive proper sleep. I am granting you authority over this portion of her life. She will be unable to disobey your orders."
"No!" I screeched.
"Repeat my words, High Priestess."
"Or?"
"Or I'll give them even more authority."
I sighed and repeated what she said.
"Do not abuse it," she added. Then she did... something to me. I felt our link strengthen and then something strange happened. I couldn't have explained it. There weren't any lights or anything like that, but it felt like something inserted itself in me. That feeling lasted a moment and then faded.
"We will test it," said the Goddess. "Continue to repeat my words. You will try to resist their orders. Naddiqualestra and Resaírelteena, take turns ordering her to do things for her good health."
As soon as they heard the translation, they turned to each other and communicated silently somehow. Then Féla said, "Yalla, you have been sitting for a while. Stand up and stretch with me."
I tried to remain seated, but I couldn't. I didn't even hesitate to obey. I stood, and then Féla led me through a variety of stretches. Then Naddí ordered me to perform some easy exercises to strengthen my legs, and I did everything she said. Féla had some for my torso, and then Naddí ordered my to kiss Terél's feet.
That I didn't do.
The Goddess laughed. Terél had been translating everything either of them said, after all. "And now they see there are limitations." I repeated that, and Féla replied, "We don't mind."
"Did you enjoy that, High Priestess?"
"No."
"Repeat my question for Terélmarestra to translate." So I did, and my response. "Continue to repeat. You didn't like it because you tried to resist. If you cooperate fully, you will enjoy it quite a bit. You will find you will obey any order from either of them that is clearly for your best health, but not when it interferes with your current duties. However, you will not be able to make up duties to avoid them." Then she laughed. "I imagine in a few days, you won't want to, anyway."
"Very clever," I told her.
"I know," she said with a grin.
"You didn't have to do this."
"I think I did," she replied.
I'll say a little more on this. She was right about everything. Naddí and Féla clearly enjoyed their newfound authority, but they didn't flaunt it and were very sensitive to my schedule. Under their care, I grew stronger and healthier, and I enjoyed the process immensely, once I stopped fighting.
I even grew to enjoy lora juice.
* * * *
We received the waiting priestesses, one after another. The Goddess told me we would take our time and rush no one. None of them had ever had this chance before. The first was Kenámarteená. She and I hadn’t met before, but I knew her name even as she stepped in, and I also knew she liked being called Martí. Martí was twenty and eight years and traveled the central regions of Alteara, including Indorítanda, where I was the duchess.
I stood, and she crossed to me. I pulled her into a hug. “Good morning, Martí.” We held tightly for a minute, then I ushered her to a chair before resuming my seat. “Our Prestainamatta is here.” I gestured. “She requests you speak in her language. We will take the time we need, so I want you to tell me about yourself.”
That was when I found where she traveled in her duties, which involved a hand clasp between us.
“I didn’t know,” she said when I explained I was the new duchess. “But that is good. It is good land.”
“I will be visiting in the summer, so I hope you will arrange to travel with us.”
“I will,” she said. “My home is somewhat east of your duchy, but my aunt’s family works on one of your farms, I believe.”
“Can you find out before the summer?”
“Yes. I will do so.”
We talked for a few minutes before I asked her, “Well, what did you wish to discuss with our Prestainamatta?”
“I met someone, a few years ago,” she said. “A man.”
“Ah.”
“We. Um. You know.”
“I think I can guess.”
“I like my duties, Prestainamatta. I do not want them to change. But I want a child, and I hope she would be a gir
l. We have been trying, but I am not in his village often enough.”
“What does he do?” the Goddess asked.
“He is the son of a cooper.”
“Is his help necessary for the family business?” the Goddess asked. “Could he be away for a year or two?”
“I think the business would be fine, but we could not ask his family to support him when he is not working.”
“Are his needs extensive?”
“They are simple, but he must eat, and he wears through clothing. His horse must eat.”
“Does he have a home to pay for?”
“He and his older sister share a home above the cooperage, and it has been in the family for generations.”
“So his financial needs are modest. He could travel with you.”
“I didn’t think we allowed that,” she said. “I know when it is two women, but he is a man... And my stipend isn’t really enough for two.”
“We will increase your stipend to cover the extra expense,” I said. “If the amount is modest as you have indicated. Is this the solution you desired?”
“I didn’t know what I desired,” she said. “I didn’t know what was possible.”
I turned to the Goddess. “Is this possible?”
“This is an easy solution, and of course it is possible. Surely you have something more difficult for me.”
Martí laughed at that. “I would like a daughter. Can you help ensure the results?”
“Yes,” said the Goddess. “But if I do this, you will only ever have daughters, and I do not know if later I can reverse what I do. Will your man expect a son?”
“He loves all children and has told me all boys, all girls, or a mix are all the same to him.”
“Do you need to think about it?”
“I have. If you can do this, I would be very grateful.”
“Of course,” said the Goddess. “Yalla, you will need to touch her. I will direct your hands, then I work through you. It is very intimate.”
Martí gave final consent. We moved her to lie down on one of the long sofas with her knees up. And then the Goddess and I knelt beside her. The Goddess took my wrists and moved one of my hands flat on Martí’s stomach. The second cupped her womanhood, which startled me a little. Martí laughed nervously but said nothing.
And then I felt my link with the Goddess. Again, I couldn’t have said what she did, not exactly, but I felt magic entering me and travel through me into Martí. It took several minutes, and then it was done.
I had to help Martí sit up, and she fanned herself a few times. I sat down beside her, the Goddess on my other side, and I held Martí while the Goddess returned to touching and holding me.
“Thank you, Prestainamatta,” she said finally. “Will you take my daughters as your priestesses?”
“I do not normally do that,” she said. “To take too many girls from one family is unfair to that family.”
“My family considers my devotion an honor,” she replied.
“There are other concerns,” the Goddess said. “How would you feel if your daughter of ten and four were here yesterday afternoon?”
“In the same room?” Martí squeaked.
“Hopefully not, but you would both know what had happened. Humans can be very strange about such things.”
“That is manageable,” Martí said after a minute.
“I would be unhappy if one of you went to the village because the other were here,” the Goddess said. “If you ask again, I will give your daughters straight, night black hair, but I may not take them as my priestesses. And if I take one, I may not take more than one.”
“Please consider them,” Martí said.
“All right. But you may not teach them my words unless I choose them. Promise me.”
“I promise,” Martí said.
* * * *
Some of the women only wished to speak with the Goddess, having nothing specific in mind. We gave them the same time we gave others, and promised future opportunities. Others had difficulties to solve, some large, some small. One had a phobia of spiders and asked for help. The Goddess promised to see to her when we were outside, as we would need several spiders for the process. The abbess of one of the abbeys had a difficulty with two of the younger priestesses and wished the Goddess to intercede.
The girls had traveled with the abbess, and so they were led into the library and ordered to stand to attention.
The abbess hadn’t gotten to the root of the dispute. The two girls hated each other. It took the Goddess, working through me, two minutes to discover it was a family dispute.
The Goddess considered them both carefully. “You were both once close friends,” she said. It was clear from the body language they weren’t any longer. “Your first loyalty is to me. I do not ask my priestesses to give up loyalty to their families, but I am first in your lives. Am I not?”
“Yes, Prestainamatta,” they both said.
“You should be united in your devotion and your desire to serve me, my high priestess, your abbey, and Alteara.”
They lowered their heads. “Yes, Prestainamatta.”
“But you are distracted by this dispute between your families, and this serves as a distraction to your abbess, brings strife into the abbey, and wounds my heart.”
“Her cousin-“ began the one.
“Silence!” I said, even before the Goddess could respond.
“No, Yalla,” said the Goddess. “Let her speak. What is it the cousin did?”
“Her cousin,” said the girl, pointing to the other, “stole from my uncle.”
“Your uncle refused to pay for the chest my cousin made,” said the other.
The two went back and forth for a minute or two, casting accusations hither and yon.
“I cannot allow this to continue,” the Goddess said. “Which of you wishes me to release her from devotion?”
I thought that was too much. I thought we could simply divide the girls. But I repeated her words.
Of course, neither girl offered.
The Goddess turned to me. “I can see your heart, Yalla. You must trust me and not argue now.”
“Of course, Prestainamatta.”
“Tell them, Very well. Then I shall release you both, and you may go back to your families where your first loyalty lies.”
“No!” they both said immediately. And then one, quickly followed by the other, fell to her knees and began begging. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry! Please don’t send me away, Prestainamatta. Please!”
The Goddess let this go on for a minute or two. “Maybe,” she said slowly, and I repeated it. Both girls looked up at me, their eyes pleading. “Stand up,” she ordered firmly. “You will both renounce this dispute. It is not for the two of you to resolve. Agree now, or you will leave this place with markedly different hair.”
“Please, Goddess,” said the first. “I won’t fight with her anymore. I won’t.”
“I won’t fight with her,” said the other. “I promise.”
“And to be sure,” said the Goddess. “Hold hands.”
They both hesitated, but I repeated the command in a stern tone, and they quickly clasped hands together. “Yalla, place both your hands over their clasped hands.” I moved forward and did that, and then the Goddess set her hands on mine. “For the next year, the two of you will hold hands at all times, except as necessary for your duties or to see to your personal needs. You will eat while holding hands. You will sleep while holding hands. You may switch hands, but you will connect in this fashion.”
I felt magic flowing through me.
“What one feels, the other feels,” the Goddess continued. “Physical pain is shared. Emotional pain is shared. Joy is also shared. Pleasure is also shared. This lasts until you come before me, vow your dispute is forever over, and ask me to release this bond.”
Something flared inside and then settled around the clasped hands. The Goddess released me, and then I released the girls.
“Taratartal
ia, pinch Rastari’s arm.”
The one reached over and pinched the other’s arm. And then both immediately said, “Ouch!” But Taratartalia kept saying it, rubbing her arm where she’d pinched Rastari’s. “It hurts. It hurts!”
“It will continue to hurt,” said the Goddess, “Until you offer a heartfelt apology.”
“I’m sorry, Rastari!” she said. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry.” She whimpered a little, and grew still.
“Rastari, say something unkind to Taratartalia.”
Rastari put on a mutinous look and clamped her lips together. The Goddess chuckled. “Our priestesses learn quickly. Don’t repeat that. How do you intend to handle this, my High Priestess?”
I smiled at her then turned to the girls. “Rastari, we’re going to get our demonstration. An apology for pinching you wasn’t hard for Taratartalia, but it is more difficult to apologize for emotional pain. Don’t you prefer to practice here while the Goddess can help if necessary?”
“Do I have to?”
“Yes.”
She took a breath, closed her eyes, then said, “Taratartalia, you’re a butt-face.”
Well, they were young, only about ten and six. I could have done better, of course.
It took seconds, but then Rastari began to cry, then to sob. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean it.” But still she sobbed. “I’m sorry,” she said. She fell to her knees, sobbing louder. “I’m sorry! I wanted to hurt you, but you’re not a butt-head. You’re beautiful, and I’m jealous because everyone else likes you more than they like me.”
The Goddess nodded, and slowly Rastari got herself under control. She hiccoughed a few times, then Taratartalia helped her to stand up again. “I’m sorry,” she said once more.
“It’s okay, Rastari,” Taratartalia said. “Please don’t cry anymore.”
“I think we’re done here,” said the Goddess with a smile.
“You two go to the quarters we share,” said the abbess. “I’ll be along shortly.”
Holding hands, they filed out. As soon as the library door closed, the abbess turned to the Goddess. “I didn’t even know what was causing this.”
“Ignoring my questions is harder than ignoring yours,” said the Goddess. “And there is always a reason for a dispute. Always. I believe the family matter was only part of the problem, but if there is more, I do not believe it will last.”