Thear Advent Story: Aisling (parts 1 – 5)

[k_a_webb]

Aisling hated talking about people when she knew they could hear her, but she needed to talk to Logan about Trey and he had brought the subject up first. She looked at the back of Trey’s head, wondering what he was thinking, before looking back at Logan. There was something about him that she really didn’t like. When she had some time to herself she’d work out what it was. Until then she had to push away that feeling so she could talk to him without the dislike she felt creeping into her voice.

“In the end it is up to you,” Aisling said. “Trey may just be one of those people you simply can’t get on with, but I think you need to give him a chance to show you who he really is before you make any decisions.”

“I have lived with him for nearly a year, Aisling.”

“During that time have you ever had a real conversation with him?”

“Of course I’ve had a conversation with him.”

Aisling raised an eyebrow. “What did you talk about?”

“Does it really matter?”

“There is a difference between a real conversation and the sort of conversation you’d have with someone you don’t like very much but have to work with.”

“When I look at Trey I can’t help feeling angry, because he hasn’t stopped his father.”

“It’s not up to Trey to stop his father.” Aisling looked at Trey again. “I think he’d probably end up dead if he tried, and I wouldn’t be surprised if people who have attempted to convince the Dorma supremacist movement that they’re wrong have actually ended up dead.” She turned her attention back to Logan. “It’s better that Trey is alive and able to help us.”

“Is it?”

“Trey is not his father, Logan.”

“You don’t know him.”

Aisling smiled. “Neither do you.”

“I know him better than you, Aisling.”

“Maybe you do, but I would doubt it very much. You look at him and see the mask he wears. I see him and know he wears a mask.”

Logan looked at her and Aisling could see hatred in his eyes, which made her feel very uncomfortable. “Why are you talking like this? Trey is not a nice person and…” He shook his head. “You should understand where I’m coming from because you’re a true priestess.”

“Trey is a true priest.”

“Persephone told you that?”

Aisling nodded. “I’ve also seen it for myself. Trey is the High Priest of Bast.”

“What if they lied and Persephone showed you a vision she’d created herself in order to get you to believe in Trey when you shouldn’t?”

“Persephone has been my deity since I was six-years-old. I trust her to be tell me the truth, and if you don’t trust Anubis then I think that is a major problem you need to deal with.” Aisling ran her tongue over her top lip, thinking about the words she should use. “We have been watching Trey since Bast choose him to be her priest, because we knew that he was someone who could easily lose his path, but he never has. He has been a true priest for a long time now, and, considering what I’ve seen through the years as well as what I’ve been told by people who know him, I believe he will do what is right for Thear.”

Logan shook his head. “I don’t think he knows what is right for Thear.”

Aisling sighed. “What would you do?” she asked, knowing that she needed to understand Logan’s point of view.

“Get the mixed bloods somewhere safe before the Dorma supremacist movement, or either of the other two, make a move.”

“That’s what Trey thinks needs to be done too.”

“How do you know he’s being honest with you?”

“I can never know for sure that he is being honest with me, any more than I can know that you’re being honest with me, but I trust him. Nothing you say to me will change my opinion of Trey and what I think he will do in order to keep the people he cares about safe.” Aisling looked at Logan, wondering whether he would ever be able to change his opinion of Trey. “Maybe I am making a mistake. Anything is possible. However, I have talked to people who knew him from before Bast chose him and they believe that he changed when he was chosen by her, because he realised then, in the same way that other people have, that his father had lied to him about Herne being the one true deity of Thear. It’s the same thing with the Uisdro and Poseidon, and the Tein-Igni and Anubis.”

There was a long silence. Aisling hated not knowing what Logan was thinking, but at the same time she was grateful for the quiet. She was at the Residence and it was a strange situation for her, because she knew the only reason she was the High Priestess was so she could get North Square ready for what was coming. When she saw Trey disappear into a room, which made her feel very alone, even though she knew he couldn’t really talk to her. If someone saw them talking then it would put him in danger.

“Aisling,” Logan said finally, “I understand why you feel like Trey must be a good person, but I have never seen any evidence that he is.” He sighed. “During the time I’ve been here I’ve watched him closely and I just can’t believe that someone like him, someone who obviously prefers Dormas over the other two races, is honestly on our side. I think you should keep as much information from him as possible, because he will tell his father and all our plans will fall apart.”

Biting her lip, Aisling tried not to let Logan’s words get to her, because he was sounding more and more patronising with every word he said. “What is your relationship with Anubis like?” she asked, feeling the need to change the subject.

“Up until last night it was good, I guess.” Logan shrugged. “I don’t know what anyone else’s relationship is like with their deity, so I can’t really compare it, but it’s been useful to have someone to talk to when I need to. He’s been supportive and understanding.” He sighed. “Then Anubis told me that Trey was the High Priest of Bast.” His voice filled with anger. “Trey should not have any connection with Bast. Bast is a Tein-Igni deity and she deserves a Tein-Igni priestess, not a Dorma priest.”

“Do you think that each of the deities belongs to a certain race?” Aisling tried her hardest to sound interested rather than like she wanted to yell at him. “I’ve never believed that personally, but I have heard it said by people before.”

“Yes, I really do. Anubis and Bast are Tein-Igni deities, Poseidon and Persephone are Uisdro deities, and Herne and Epona are Dorma deities. Loki doesn’t connect with any specific race.”

“Why do you think that?”

“I was taught by my family that each of the deities belongs to a race, apart from Loki.” Logan shrugged. “Nothing anyone has said to me has ever convinced me otherwise.”

“What is you’d been chosen by Epona?”

Logan looked at Aisling and it was easy to see the confusion in his eyes. “I don’t think that would have happened.”

“During my time at the training temple three true priestesses were chosen. One was a Dorma chosen by Epona.” She smiled. “The other two were an Uisdro chosen as a priestess of Anubis and a Tein-Igni chosen as a priestess of Herne. None of the deities have ever told their chosen priests and priestesses that their choice is based on their race, so I don’t think that what your family said was correct. It could easily be a belief of the Tein-Igni that has become normal.”

“Aisling, it’s just not possible for that to happen.”

Aisling bit her lip, once again searching for the right words to use. “At the training temple I was taught that a deity choses their priests and priestesses based on the personality of the person, not on their race, or anything else like that.” She sighed. “It was believed, by many of the girls, that they would only be a priestess if they chose the right deity, so they all picked those they thought were right without actually connecting with a deity. I’m a priestess of Persephone because of who I am, not what I am.”

Logan shook his head. “When you arrived I believed Anubis, but I don’t know if you someone like you could really be the saviour of Thear.”

“What do you mean by that?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s just…” He sighed. “You seem to be a very different person to the one I was expecting because you have such strange beliefs. I always thought you’d be the same as me, but you’re not and I don’t know if you are the right person to help us.” He shrugged. “When I say us I mean the Tein-Igni.”

They turned a corner and Aisling found herself wondering where they were going. It was something she should have thought about before, because she had never been to the Residence before, didn’t know what to expect from the building or the people inside it, but instead she had focused on Logan. Both she and Persephone knew that he was going to be an important part of the change that was going to happen, and there were days when Aisling wished she didn’t know as much as she did, but that decision had been made too long ago for her to change her mind. Unfortunately it seemed like he was going to be taking a path that no-one, especially Anubis, wanted him to.

“Is the Tein-Igni more important to you than Thear?” she asked, trying not do sound disappointed.

“I think it is, now. If you’d asked me a year ago I think I might have answered differently, but being here has shown me the good I can do for my people and I want to continue doing it.”

“Even if it leads, in the long term, to the end of the Tein-Igni?”

“Aisling, I’m not against mixed handfastings, although I know some people are, and I think that in order to keep our race from fading we need to marry other bloods. However I do think that we need our own religion, because I don’t believe the same things that other people do.”

Aisling looked at him, biting hard on her lip as she thought about what he was saying. “You would be happy,” she said slowly, unsure whether she was understanding Logan correctly, “if we created a place where people could handfast other bloods, but the Tein-Igni would need to have their own religion.”

Logan nodded. “All Tein-Igni children are taught that we have our deities and other races have their deities, so I wouldn’t want that to end.”

“What about the Uisdro, Logan? They have their own beliefs too, so what would you do if you had a child with an Uisdro girl and she wanted to teach your child her beliefs too?”

“I don’t know what the Uisdro believe, but if it isn’t too different from my beliefs then I wouldn’t have a problem with it.”

Sighing, Aisling shook her head. “I was taught that all the deities of Thear make their choice based on who and not what the person is. Other Uisdro were taught that Poseidon is the true deity of Thear and then there’s a sect of the Uisdro who believe that Persephone is the one true deity of Thear. I’m sure there are different beliefs to yours within the Tein-Igni, so in order to make everything work then we’re going to have to think long and hard about what we want our religion to be. The one thing I really don’t want to do is make it so that only the Tein-Igni can be priests or priestesses of Anubis and Bast, because it is against what I know the deities base their decisions on, and it will cause major problems if Anubis calls a Dorma girl to be his priestess.”

“Anubis wouldn’t.”

Aisling raised an eyebrow. “I disagree.”

Logan stopped walking and looked at her. “It’s likely that we’re never going to agree on this,” he said, shrugging, “so maybe we should just stop talking about the deities.”

“Logan, if we’re going to create a safe place for everyone to live, no matter what race they are or what beliefs they have, then we’re going to have to talk about the deities. If you met a true priest or priestess and they happened to be an Uisdro with a connection to Epona, what would be your first reaction?”

“They aren’t a true priest or priestess.”

“Why?”

“To be a true priest or priestess they must have a connection to the right deity. A true priest or priestess of Epona must be Dorma.”

“What about a Dorma with Tein-Igni blood? Their colouring is Dorma, but you know that their father is Tein-Igni.”

Confusion filled Logan’s eyes again. “I don’t know,” he replied. “If you were taking skin colour then they would have to be a priest or priestess of Epona or Herne, but their family line means that they also have a connection with Anubis and Bast.” He shook his head. “I guess it’s something I need to think about.”

“No one knows what their heritage is beyond a certain point due to the loss of all our histories. It is entirely possible that you have a Dorma or Uisdro relative, and I think it’s important for everyone to remember that.”

Logan ran a hand through his hair. “Aisling…” He shook his head. “I know that it’s possible, but at the same time it just doesn’t seem real.” He sighed. “It’s like imagining my grandmother’s grandmother. Grandmother knew her and spent time with her, so she obviously existed, but to me she never did. A lot of my family doesn’t like talking about before the fire though.”

“It’s the same with a lot of people. There are some in my family who don’t like talking about anyone who came before the fire, although we do know of them.”

“I’ve always wondered why our history was destroyed.”

Aisling smiled. “So have I.” She was happy to be talking about a subject that seemed less problematic. “It seems strange that everything was destroyed, rather than just the history of one race. It would make sense for the Dorma to destroy their history if something happened that they didn’t want to remember, but I can’t understand why the Uisdro and Tein-Igni would have done the same thing if it was a Dorma mistake.”

“I think it’s possible that all the histories were kept here, which made it easy for the person to destroy everything.”

“That does seem like a sensible idea, but then I wonder why that would have happened.” She looked at the wall next to Logan, thinking. “Were the High Priests and Priestesses something more then than they are now?”

“We do seem rather young to be given the position of High Priest or Priestess, especially as we were all called at the end of our studies. When I think of a High Priest I think of someone older, with more life experience, and I wonder why it changed so much.” He smiled. “I wish I could find answers to all the questions I have about Thearan history, but I don’t know if it will ever happen.”

Sighing, Aisling looked at Logan, knowing that she would have to keep North Square a secret from him. Even though they had a common interest there was something about him, probably his belief that each deity was closer to a specific race, that made her feel very uncomfortable, and she couldn’t help thinking it was the Residence that had changed him. Their eyes met, just for a moment, which gave her a chance to see the dislike in his eyes. It was quickly hidden, but she knew, without any doubt, that he didn’t like her anymore than she liked him.

Before Aisling had met Trey and Logan she’d believed that it would be much harder for her to like Trey than it would be for her to like Logan. Instead she found Logan had some very specific beliefs about the deities that she never thought he would have, that she was sure he had kept from Anubis, and Trey, of all people, seemed to be more like the man she needed to help her get to a point where she could create a sanctuary. It was unexpected, which was actually strangely nice.

“Logan…” Aisling trailed off, not sure what to say to him. “I think we’re very different people,” she continued after a long silence, “and I don’t know how easy it will be for the two of us to work together.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t. You want your sanctuary to be very different to what I would be comfortable with, and maybe it would just be best for the two of us to do our own thing.” Logan shrugged. “Anubis said working together is just one possibility for me, so I guess I should talk to him about what the others would be, before making a definite choice.”

Aisling nodded. “If that’s what you think would be best for you then I’m not going to try to convince you otherwise.” She sighed, wondering exactly what it was that had made Logan choose the path he was walking down. “The offer to work together is always open.”

“Thank you. The door behind you is your bedroom. Your luggage should already be in the room, so I’ll leave you to unpack. A servant will let you know when you’re needed for the solstice celebrations, and the room you’ll need is in the middle of the Residence. Use any one of the three doors.”

Without stopping to let Aisling reply Logan turned and walked away. As she watched him go she found herself thinking about the Tein-Igni. She couldn’t work out if the belief that each of the deities favoured one of the three races had come from the Tein-Igni or whether it was something that the Tein-Igni had picked up from the Uisdro and the Dorma. It was another thing that she didn’t know thanks to the destruction of all the books on Thearan history, which annoyed her.

The Residence had changed everything and Aisling had only been there a short time. Logan had definitely been adversely affected by being at the Residence, or possibly the other Highs, and she wasn’t sure if he would ever step back onto the path that she, and Persephone, had expected him to be on. Trey, on the other hand, had become the person no one had quite believed he could be, apart from Bast. Breathing deeply, she opened the door to her new bedroom.

At the training temple the bedrooms had been small and only held two items of furniture. One was a single bed. The other was a small chest of drawers with a bookcase attached. It had always been more than enough for Aisling because she’d never really had much. A few books on the deities, a notebook for her classes, and the robes she’d been given every year by the clothes mistress were her belongings for the first few years. When she’d made friends with the other true priestesses in her class she had begun gathering small gifts from them, and giving them, in reply, but they hadn’t taken up much space.

Aisling’s new bedroom was too big for her. There was a bed, which was much bigger than her old bed, two chests of drawers, a tall bookcase in the corner of the room, and a wardrobe. Her luggage, one small bag that she’d been given by her mother when she graduated, sat on the bed, and she knew there was no chance that the items in it would fill even one of the chests of drawers. Sighing, she pushed away her homesickness, because she wanted to be at the training temple, in her old room, with her old friends, getting ready to take part in the winter solstice ceremony that she loved more than anything.

Unpacking seemed pointless, but Aisling felt like she should at least pretend that she was going to spend her full tenure at the Residence. She didn’t want to draw attention to herself by being different to all the other Highs. Part of her wanted to run away, because she didn’t want to be at the Residence, and with every moment she spent there she could feel the building, maybe, or the people, trying to suck away her personality, so she became just another High, rather than the true High Priestess of Persephone. Biting hard on her lip she took one of the books she had kept out of her bag and looked at the picture of Persephone that was drawn inside.

It was easy to understand why people believed that each of the deities favoured a race, because the picture showed Persephone in her Uisdro form. When Aisling turned the page there was a picture of Anubis in his Tein-Igni form. People took their expectations from those pictures and all the Highs who had come before. In three hundred years there had never been a Tein-Igni High Priest of Epona or a Dorma High Priestess of Herne, because that wasn’t what was expected, and she wished she knew where the expectations came from. She couldn’t help thinking they had been created for a reason.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, there was a knock on the door. Aisling ran her hand down her robe, which was one of the final sets she had been given by the clothing mistress at the training temple, and went to open the door, even though she didn’t know what to expect when she went to the Residence winter solstice celebrations. An Uisdro woman stood outside the door, smiling, who bowed when Aisling opened the door.

“It is very nice to meet you, High Priestess Aisling,” the woman said, making Aisling feel a little less like she wanted to go straight back to the training temple. “I am Fíona and I have been designated as your personal servant for the full time you are at the Residence.”

“Thank you, Fíona,” Aisling replied, even though she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about having a personal servant. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

“The winter solstice celebrations will be beginning soon, so now would be a good time to leave. Do you know where you need to go, High Priestess?”

“Logan said it was the middle room and that I could enter through any three of the doors.”

“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.

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.