Rata woke slowly from the first real sleep she had had in months. She could feel the soft curves and generous breasts of her sisters pressed against. Tears welled up in her eyes, darkening them to a deep royal purple like unto the robes they wore as high priestesses.
They had loved one another well into the night when all of Tavia's three moons shown like giant jade amulets in the dark night sky. They had laughed together. They had cried together. They had talked, sharing secrets like she and Soji when they were mere novices, sneaking up late at night when the others slept to speak of their dreams and hopes.
But the truth was that they were not novices. They were not even simple priestesses. They were the High Priestesses of the goddess...rock, water and air. All of the elements necessary to bring forth her life. And yet in wake of the troubles that were to come, she felt as barren as the womb from which the healing nectar of the goddess flowed so freely. The three most powerful vessels of the goddess's love were powerless to stop that which was to come.
She felt the heat of tears running down her cheeks. Then she felt her sisters turn in her arms, wrap themselves about her as if to protect her from it all with their very lives. But they could not, none of them could. "What are we to do?" she whispered.
Mya laid her head between her breasts as if just the soft pounding of her heart were enough to hold the answer. Soji brushed her hair gently as she had when they were girls, soothing and comforting. Her voice was a mere whisper, "I do not know, sweet sister. But I trust our goddess that there is something that we can do. Must do. She would not give us such forewarning was there not something, some way, that we might..." her voice trailed off.
It was the question in Rata's mind for months. Do what? Survive? Victory seemed unlikely in the utter destruction and havoc of her dreams. The question that she always came back to was...did they want to? Did they really want to survive when the temple and all their friends lay dead or dying about them? What was the purpose of being High Priestesses to a goddess that no one worshipped? A goddess that would allow her temple defiled and her faithful servants slain?
What was the purpose of any of it? For five hundred cycles she and Soji had served the goddess. Little Mya had lost everything, a mother, a father she loved and adored and an other mother. They were forbidden the true love of a man and a woman, though they gave freely of their flesh, weak imitations of that sacred bond. Their wombs were shut as surly as the temples doors were closed and bolted shut each evening. What was the purpose of any of it?
She felt the gentle tug of suckling upon her breast. Looked down to watch as Mya drank that which never was. Rata lifted her hands, entwined her fingers in the long red curls of her sister, held her to her breast, comforted even as she was comforted. She turned her head and smiled up at Soji.
"We will find a way, sister of the waters. I promise you, together we will find a way," she whispered as she lowered her equally dark head to suckle upon the other mound.
Rata felt the power building, felt the sweet communion of their goddess building inside of her as her sisters sucked, toyed and bit lightly at her nipples. Each was so different. Mya suckled softly as she imagined a babe would upon her teat, drawing forth the milk that it needed to live and grow. Soji was bolder, her tugs stronger, more like a man, a lovers.
Rata closed her eyes and imagined it...a mate, a partner, lying next to her, holding her in his strong arms, even as their babe suckled upon her breast. An intimacy unlike any she had ever known or ever would. She gave herself over to the secret desire of her heart, allowed her sisters to minister to her, her mind to drift away in fantasy.
She felt her body thrumming with energy, felt powerful once more, her goddess flowing through her and in her. Waiting just beneath the surface ready to erupt at any moment. Unlike anything she had ever known. Just when she would have blown like a geyser, spewing forth her scalding hot waters for all, she opened her eyes.
It was not Soji's sweet, familiar face that she saw. It was his. "No," she cried out as she felt her sisters withdraw, reach for the coverings and draw them up to cover them, protect themselves from prying eyes.
***
Soji turned with wrath upon the guard that had opened the chamber door, "How dare you? Did not the High Priestess of the water and I tell you that we were not to be disturbed? By anyone? Not until we emerged from our sister's chamber?"
The young acolyte stood cowering in the door way. Soji would have almost felt sorry for him had she not known that he had interrupted something special, something important. Something that might well have held the key of salvation...for all of them.
She was not sure what it was. She had caught only the briefest of glimpses before they were interrupted. A man, she did not recognize him. Unlike any she had ever seen. Huge, shoulders far wider than she had ever seen, his hair darker than the night sky, his skin a rusty bronze. He knelt at her feet. That in itself was not unusual, she was after all the High Priestess of the rock, men knelt before her all the time, worshipped the goddess at her feet.
No, she was what was different. In the vision, her stomach was round, like she was with child. Though she knew it was not possible. She had the distinct feeling that they shared that intimate bond. That the man worshipped not just the goddess through her, but her. As a woman...and she dare not even think it...a mother. It was their babe that grew inside of her. Though she did not know how that was possible.
She felt the frustration of being close, so close to an answer, only to have it snatched away. She channeled that anger now at the young man, "Why? What do you want? What is so important that you countermand the direct orders of your High Priestesses?"
The guard dropped his head, stepped back a bit as the other man pushed his way through the door. His eyes scanned the scene, took in her naked sisters, twinkled in some cruel and lust crazed way that made Soji's stomach turn. She was glad that they had not yet eaten this rising or she feared she would have vomited. She pushed her sisters back, pulled the covers about her naked breasts and rose up to greet the man. A man whom had once been her lover.
"Versil. What do you want? You of all people should know that when the High Priestesses are indisposed they are not available. To anyone," Soji was shocked at how strong her voice sounded. Just a few risings ago, this man held her enthralled in his spell, words woven together of a new age, treaties with old enemies, a life together.
