Hello All:
This story is now complete. The last chapters will be submitted over the last few weeks. I welcome your comments and votes.
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Chapter 22
A short time earlier...
Ariana and Pathia sat in companionable silence in Pathia's quarters in the temple of the Deity. Ariana held a goblet of Pathia's best mulled wine cradled in her palms. Sighing, she took a long sip, savoring the warmth. They had spent some time reminiscing about the past and old friends, long gone to other temples. At last Pathia had brought her around to the reason for her visit, and she had handed over the prince's missive.
Sighing, Pathia dropped the letter to her desk. Closing her eyes, she reached out to the Deity for guidance. What she was told startled her. Frowning, she asked again, and was given the same instructions.
She reached for a bell on her desk and rang it. When a novice appeared, she wrote a note and passed it to her.
"Make sure the head novice on duty gets this," she said.
"I will, my lady," the novice disappeared.
Pathia smiled at Ariana's questioning look. "Just some minor housekeeping I forgot to address before we came in here," she said, trembling at her audacity in deceiving the high priestess, her former lover in their youth, regardless of the fact that the orders came from the Deity Himself.
"Tell me," she said, changing the subject. "Do you think Prince Alan's concerns are valid?"
"Well, without knowing what he said..." Ariana shrugged. "I do know that I have concerns, and the Deity has asked me to come here and to speak with you. I have already sent letters to several other of the larger temples, both here and and the other cities. But since you and I know each other so well," she smiled, "I thought I would come here myself.
"You know the Deity thinks in terms of generations. That is the reason why our line has maintained a policy of inbreeding in order to keep the purity of our faith stable."
Pathia waved her hand. "I know. Seems like a plot to keep the most gorgeous men for yourself, if I can be permitted an opinion. Your father-husband was a beautiful man, and your husband-son! I only saw him for a short time at the assembly last week, but if he had been unwed, my dear, I would have done my best to trip him then and there."
"You're welcome to try," laughed Ariana. "It seems the Deity has decided to make a change. When He married us, He changed the vows. We are not to cleave to each other alone."
"
Oh my,"
Pathia breathed, and Ariana could see her eyes widen in happy speculation.
"Concentrate, dear," she said. "This has to do with all of us. The Wanton, the Lover, the Father, and the Mother. Not the Children, I believe, nor the Youth and the Maiden. Not yet. We are bid to be fruitful and multiply, as the christians would say. We will recruit more priests and priestesses for the days to come, when our lands may be harried by those who seek to expunge our faith from the pages of history. And those who bear the seeds of great faith will be asked to pass those down to the next generation."
Pathia put the pieces together. "Ariana, are you saying what I think?"
Ariana smiled grimly, "If what the Deity desires comes to pass, I will have many more children. And they will not all be those of my husband-son. And Abiron will have children of his body who are not of mine. The Deity is casting His net wide and arming His borders. The same will hold true for you. More priestesses will come here, and more to the Lover, the Mother, and the Father. You will be asked to bear children, offspring of your loins, whose faith will be as great as your own, and who will carry our belief forward when we are gone.
"The Deity has decided that this storm cannot be held back. We will have to weather it as best we may. But we will fight it every step of the way, from this moment until the very Day of Doom."
"Children," said Pathia, amusement clear in her tone. "That
will
be new. When we take up this role, the Deity has always closed the gates of The Wanton's womb. The same holds true for the Lovers. What other way to be sure that an unwanted child is not conceived? We will have to put new protocols in place to make sure those who come to us for guidance know they may be siring children."
"I think some would choose to bear a child of the Lover, or be pleased knowing they had sired a child on a Wanton. Who knows, it may be seen as a sign of heavenly favor. If not, the Great Temple of the Deity will see to their care," said Ariana. "We have more money than we know what to do with. And no one will be forced to bear or sire a child unwilling.
"And if my foretelling holds true, Abiron and I will be asked to make our home here, in the capital. We can no longer live apart from the rest of the world."
Pathia gave the first honest smile since they had entered the room. "That's splendid! I always said that you were wasted out there in the boondocks. And honestly, Ari dear, how much influence can you hope to wield when you are so far away from the court? Yes, I know there were reasons," she said, waving Ariana's protest away with her hands, "but I am glad you are finally seeing sense. The Great Temple is still here, well-cared for and ready for you and the High Priest to take possession.
"All of our best should be in one place. The leaders of our nation, spiritual and corporeal, should march together. "
Ariana nodded. She hoped Paul would return soon. They spoke more of the time to come, and Pathia, greatly cheered by the thought of Ariana returning to the capital, prattled on, speaking of her plans for when she and Abiron came back to court permanently. Taking a moments 'leave, Ariana left to visit the garderobe, but Paul was not there when she returned. She wandered about the temple, looking for a man wearing a dark blue jacket with light brown hair, but he was not to be seen. Impatiently, she went outdoors. She saw Kris and Sean, her two guards, along with an ill-favored lout that they seemed to have captured spying on them, but no sign of a thin, well-dressed young priest.
"Sergeant, where is Brother Paul? He was to have come for me in the temple long since."
Kris frowned. "You have not seen him, my lady? He left us some time ago. After we caught this piece of dung," he said, nudging Titus with his boot, "he went in to seek you."
Ariana went cold. Walking swiftly, almost running, she clattered back through the temple to Pathia's quarters. She glared at her friend.
"Where is the monk?"
"I sent him to Diana. She is accompanying him now."
"Well, that is well, I feared..." her memory of the terminology of the Temple of the Wanton returned. She blanched and her sight went dim. She heard her voice speaking as if from a great distance.
"You sent...a christian priest...sworn to celibacy...to one of your priestesses...to take away his virginity? Are you
completely mad?!"
Pathia smiled, untroubled by her rage. "I have done as I have been bid by the Deity."
"By the Lover's
