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“You would be better off going through the door on the west side, High Priestess.”
“Where am I now?”
Fíona smiled. “This is the south wing, High Priestess. The west wing is to your left and the east wing is to your right.”
Aisling nodded. “I appreciate your help, Fíona.”
“High Priestess, if there is anything you need then all you need to do is ask me.”
From somewhere Aisling managed to summon a smile, even though she felt guilty because she knew that she'd end up having to leave Fíona behind. Aisling stepped out of her room and closed the door. She turned to the left, walking up the corridor that she had already walked down before with Logan, but she found herself paying much more attention to the Residence than she had then. The walls were covered in designs that she was sure meant something, or at least had meant something to the people who had carved them.
It didn't take Aisling long to get to the doorway, but she didn't step through it straight away. She stood and watched the people in the room. The first thing she noticed was that there were a lot more Dorma in the room than either of the other races. Logan was stood on the other side of the room, watching Trey, who was walking around the room talking to people. He did talk to more of the Dorma than the other races, which was understandable under the circumstances. None of the Uisdro or Tein-Igni walked up to talk to him, but from what Aisling could see he still greeted them in exactly the same way he greeted the Dorma.
Finally Aisling stepped into the room. People bowed, because that was expected of them whenever they came into contact with any of the Highs, but it was obvious to see that no one really respected her. It was understandable. She had only just graduated from the training temple and she didn't think that she was ready to be called a High Priestess. The High Priestess of Epona was the oldest of the Highs at twenty-two, and it wouldn't be long before she had to choose her successor, in the same way that all the High chose their successor, who would probably be a friend or the younger sister of a friend, because that was what happened.
There was a moment when Aisling's eyes met Trey's, so she could see the pain within them. She knew why and it made her want to give him a hug. It wasn't something she ever expected to feel, because it was Trey, and she knew she couldn't do it, but she wanted to be able to tell him that everything would be okay, eventually. To force away the urge she looked over at the altar, which was against the south wall.
It was a beautiful altar. A carving of each of the deities stood on it, and Aisling couldn't help smiling when she saw that Persephone and Herne had been placed next to each other. Some were obviously older than the others, which was why the Dorma supremacist movement believed that Herne was the first deity of Thear. With each step she took towards it she could see something new, something she knew would be on a winter solstice altar, and it made her feel more comfortable than she had all day. It made her realise that not everything at the Residence was going to be different to the training temple, she knew what was expected of her during the solstice celebration, and she could do it.
“How are you?” Trey asked, almost making her jump.
“I'm... getting there.”
“Take your time. We've all been in your position.”
“What happens next?”
“We go through the winter solstice celebration and then we plan for the future.”
“Logan's not the person I thought he would be.”
“It happens.”
Aisling nodded. “He really doesn't like you.”
“I know. He never has and I don't think he ever will. There was a time when I wondered if I could change his mind about me, but he looks at me and sees my father's son. I will never be Trey to him.”
“He's very against the idea of you being the High Priest of Bast.”
“Do you know why?”
“Bast is a Tein-Igni deity.”
“That sounds about right.” Trey sighed. “I wonder when that belief started, because I know that Bast didn't choose me because of my race.”
“Soon we'll know.”
“We hope.”
“We will.”
A noise from the altar drew Aisling's attention away from Trey and she realised that Logan was watching them with a raised eyebrow. She shrugged before looking at the High Priestess of Epona. Her dislike had been obvious from the moment they'd met, so Aisling was grateful that the girl was busy talking to someone. The High Priest of Poseidon still hadn't entered the room. It took her a while to work out what the noise had been, but then she realised that the statue of Herne had fallen off the altar.
“Have you seen what's happened?” she asked, without looking at Trey.
“I guess I should make sure that it isn't damaged.”
“What are you going to do if it is damaged?”
“I don't know.”
Aisling watched as Trey walked to the altar. She didn't know why the statue of Herne had fallen, but she could guess the reason. Herne had wanted to walk away from Thear for a long time and hadn't been able to because of the way the Dorma clung to him as their one deity. For reasons she couldn't quite understand, and she didn't think Persephone did either, Herne felt guilty that his choice to become a deity of Thear had led to the Dorma supremacist movement. If the statue had broken then maybe it would mean that Herne could finally walk away, because 'his' people would realise that he had no connection with them.
When Trey bent down behind the altar to pick up the statue Aisling found herself holding her breath. She didn't think it would be broken, because it was a large chunk of stone, but at the same time she was terrified of the reaction of the Dorma in the room if it had been damaged in any way. Once again time seemed to go much more slowly than normal, which was something she found happened when she was most worried, and when Trey finally stood, with a whole statue in his hand, Aisling finally let out her breath in a sigh of relief.
Moments later, after Trey had placed the statue back in its place, the High Priest of Poseidon walked into the room. Aisling knew that with the final High in the room it was time for the ritual to start. Swallowing around a knot of emotion she walked towards the altar.
© K A Jones 2011
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
