The Sighs of the Priestess Ch. 02

When she held his hand, she smiled at him, "If I am to take up the task and be what you tell me that I must be, then it must go a certain way. High priestesses must have a consort. My mother's failing that she wrote on the scroll was that she took up the mantle too soon and took the man when they had fallen for each other. I do not have this luxury, nor do I want to do it this way."

"Inside a fighter, I found the heart of a fighter, but one who is not cruel and cares much for a new slave. Inside a priestess, you found a shy woman who feels much for the fighter, and that is the truth of it. Do not fear, I did not use you or trick you. I have my feelings and you have yours. All that was done was to say it. And there is more to do yet, for we cannot go hand in hand and be in joyful love like young lovers in a meadow until there is more between us than this."

She chuckled and then laughed for a moment.

"I am only almost as bewildered as I was before," he said, "Why do you laugh?"

"I imagined two such as us skipping in the meadow," she grinned. "We are still chained here. I must learn and settle in with what is given me, and you must start your school. But at the least we now know that we have each other. It was all that was meant to be shown to us. I asked my questions and I heard you. It counts for much."

She smiled at him, "And unless you really are dull and dim-witted, I think that you should feel a little happy for my answers then."

He thought about it and it made her grin when she saw the warmth of his smile.

"What are we then?" he asked her.

"We are two who care for each other," she said, "From what I know, we will love each other somehow and sometime. We are friends, and from the things that are shown to me, all of this will last long, and I can say that inside me, I am happy for this – even only this right now. In spite of my scorn and my pride, you held out your hand and offered kindness. In spite of your thoughts, I have eyes that see your beauty below your scars." She smiled with a little shrug, "I like what I see."

She squeezed his hand, "I have my friend who cares for me in this place where no one does, far from where I had anyone. Now, everything is gone. The temple where I was born is no more. My mother and all of the others are dead. But I still live and I have my friend. He is what I want him to be, and so I have made my choice. Now, two friends can rise from nothing, and see what they might become. Can you understand this?"

"A little," he said, "but I do not see the way that you do."

"Not yet," she smiled as she got up and walked to sit on him so that she could kiss him for a moment. She felt happy to feel that he returned it and it cost them a few minutes.

She smiled afterward and shrugged, "We use what was given to us, and I have seen my mother's failings as she told me of them. I have also given thought to how it would be best for us to go forward."

She took his hand and pulled it to her haunch under the singlet. "What do you feel there?"

"Soft and smooth skin," he said, looking confused.

"What do you not feel?" she smiled, "What was there when I came to you?"

"Dirt, and chains and ..."

She nodded, "The dirt you removed, the chains too, though there is another one that I placed on myself in what I thought was my error. It was not so. This was what your not-so-old witch-friend did to tie her foolish daughter to a mighty one with far more sense and patience than the daughter has ever had. In her scroll there, she mentions this last gift that she gives us both. It is the same sort of chain that I place on you - the one that you accepted when I asked there by the hearth and it cannot be seen, but the sores are gone, now that I can help myself, and it is by your hand that it is so."

She took his hand away and kissed it softly, "There remain some things which we must do, and we must do them together. This is another of my mother's failings, for she kept the lock to herself, yet lacked the will to use it."

The priestess smiled, "Neither one of us suffers this weakness."

"This singlet that I wear," she said, "have you more?"

He nodded, "Yes, I don't know why you would want it, but it is yours if you wish to have it."

"I want it more than you know," she said, stepping off him to stand on the floor. His eyes opened wide as he saw that though it remained the same length, it now fit her well. She smiled, "I want it more than I could want any fine robe because it was given to me and it speaks to me of you. Come back to the hearth with me. You yearn to learn more of the faith, and it is time for that."

"It is also time that we learn more of each other in that place." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.