chosen, directing them to do as they were bid. When ecstasy once more claimed the Lady, all about her were released from the spell and sated at once.
In the silence, the sounds of the feast beyond could be heard echoing about the chamber.
She climbed from the bath, refusing aid, and pointed at one of the untouched guards, calling him to her. She made no demand but that she be filled. When he was spent, she waited, demanding to be filled. For three days she took no meat, took no wine, and took none other but that one guard, demanding to be filled. Upon the third day, she clung to the guard when he was spent and called for the doctors. As they tended the Lady, the priests met in their council chamber.
“Yes, but what could this mean?” demanded one priest above the clamor.
“I should that fairly obvious,” the Master said calmly, raising his hands to settle the others.
“She took too long to rise the first time,” an older priest called Namel asserted his oft repeated claim.
“Nonsense,” the Master brushed off the concern. “The stronger the vessel, the stronger the child. If anything, her resistance is indicative of a fit union. Besides, the Frost came earlier than it ever has, the First Fall was heavier, and she claimed the bath without hesitation, all unprecedented. How can anything raise doubt concerning the import of this Lady?”
“Perhaps it can't,” Namel persisted, “but forgive me if I question the nature of that import. She rose twice. And what is this business about being filled, and by that one soldier? Who is he? What is his import? Clearly the gods are at work, but how?”
“Calm yourself, Namel,” the Master replied. “I know not who the boy is, nor why she has fixated upon him, but surely the second rise indicates that Lior was pleased with the Lady, pleased enough that he was loath to let her go so quickly. Perhaps her appetite these past few days has been nothing more that the shock of being deprived of the god's touch, an attempt to recall the sensation.”
In the silence, the sounds of the feast beyond could be heard echoing about the chamber.
She climbed from the bath, refusing aid, and pointed at one of the untouched guards, calling him to her. She made no demand but that she be filled. When he was spent, she waited, demanding to be filled. For three days she took no meat, took no wine, and took none other but that one guard, demanding to be filled. Upon the third day, she clung to the guard when he was spent and called for the doctors. As they tended the Lady, the priests met in their council chamber.
“Yes, but what could this mean?” demanded one priest above the clamor.
“I should that fairly obvious,” the Master said calmly, raising his hands to settle the others.
“She took too long to rise the first time,” an older priest called Namel asserted his oft repeated claim.
“Nonsense,” the Master brushed off the concern. “The stronger the vessel, the stronger the child. If anything, her resistance is indicative of a fit union. Besides, the Frost came earlier than it ever has, the First Fall was heavier, and she claimed the bath without hesitation, all unprecedented. How can anything raise doubt concerning the import of this Lady?”
“Perhaps it can't,” Namel persisted, “but forgive me if I question the nature of that import. She rose twice. And what is this business about being filled, and by that one soldier? Who is he? What is his import? Clearly the gods are at work, but how?”
“Calm yourself, Namel,” the Master replied. “I know not who the boy is, nor why she has fixated upon him, but surely the second rise indicates that Lior was pleased with the Lady, pleased enough that he was loath to let her go so quickly. Perhaps her appetite these past few days has been nothing more that the shock of being deprived of the god's touch, an attempt to recall the sensation.”
