Chapter Two

The babe greeted the dawn with a mighty yowl that put even Rue’s hungry cries to shame. Rue, upset at the dawn revelry, joined her voice to the newborn’s, waking Arvin. I think Tani might have had something to do with the soundness of our sleep, for upon realizing that he heard two babes crying, Arvin shot out of bed, tripping and falling all over the bed clothes in his mad scramble to get to the front room. The violence of his eruption sent Thom sprawling on the floor so that he woke with a nosebleed.

Arvin ended up on his knees at the doorway, gazing in dumb awe at the sight of Tani bathing his newest daughter, while Thom grabbed a swatch of bedding to hold to his injured nose.

I had grabbed Rue when Arvin started thrashing, tucking her under me as I crouched above her so that she wouldn’t be hurt. I didn’t relax until I heard Laslyn’s tired voice, filled with love, say, “Well don’t just sit there, Mate of my Union! I need someone to lean on if I’m to nurse our newest sweetling.”

It took him a few tries before he could get the words out of his mouth, but Arvin finally managed to ask, “Are you well? And the babe? A sweetling?”

The women chuckled together and Tani answered, “Both your mate and newest daughter are well. Cassie came and got me well in time and the labor was Blessedly easy and short. Now, Laslyn’s had a long night of it with short sleep, no matter the ease of things. I’ll be taking the birthing to the skirt lands in a bit, so you’d do well to see them settled a bed for a while yet. I’m sure the youths can fend for themselves for a time this morning.”

I had left Thom to tend to himself and picked up Rue. I stopped behind Arvin, who still knelt in the doorway.

“Unless a Wonderment’s been done, I think Rue will need to suckle before we’re scooted off.” When Arvin still didn’t move, I nudged his shoulders, which were on a height with my own.

“What? Oh! Oh, yes, well …” he muttered, rising and going to the sweetling. Laslyn caught my eyes and shook her head at her mate and I saw that she had propped herself up on one arm. She beckoned me forward and would have taken Rue from my arms if I hadn’t stopped her.

“No, you’re right that you need someone to lean on. You may be a Wonderment all on your own, but that won’t save us from Papa Arvin’s cooking should you do too much and over tire yourself!”

Arvin turned to us, the frown on his face plainly foretelling an upbraiding, but Laslyn’s laughter stopped it before it came. Tani, finished cleaning the newborn, brought her and Arvin to the birthing pallet and said, “She’s right, you know. We’re no spring chickens and though I’m sure you’ll be wanting to clean and cook, give your form a chance to rest up this day. I’ll bring back breakfast after I’ve seen to the birth products.

“Arvin, give your mate your form to brace hers so she can suckle your younglings.”

Arvin flushed and quickly knelt behind his union-mate. As gently as if he thought his touch might break her, he lifted her shoulders and scooted behind her so that, as she lay against him, she sat in a half reclining manner. He embraced her from behind, resting his chin upon her shoulder, and softly exclaimed, “I can’t believe I slept through the birth!”

Laslyn snuggled deeper into Arvin’s frame before taking the newborn from Tani. She took a moment to settle the babe to her breast before replying, “I have to admit, I’m glad that you did. I love you, dear-heart, but your love for me can make you less than clear minded at such times.”

Arvin flushed and she, without seeing it, scolded, “And don’t you go feeling shame for that, either! ‘Tis a Blessing to me that you care so much. I’d rather have you love me as you do than be as indifferent to my pains as Clyn is to Maudrie’s.”

I don’t think it eased Arvin’s chagrin, but he did seemed to accept her words and was quickly enraptured by the sight of his babe and mate within the circle of his arms.

I squatted to let Rue down and then stretched out beside them. Rue, seeing her mother’s breast, awkwardly attempted to climb into Laslyn’s lap. I rolled to lift her away and she looked at me with all the affront only a babe can show who has been denied her supper.

“’M ‘ungry!” she proclaimed, her whole body full of reproach.

“Let the little one sup first, Ruemella. There’s more than enough milk for the two of you and she’s been up much longer than you,” I chastised, to both Laslyn’s and Tani’s amusement. Arvin merely gave us a considering glance before turning his attention back to his mate and youngest get.

Tani picked up a bloody mess of rags and said, “Come, Cassendra, we’ve the babe’s birthing to be seen to.”

I scrambled to my feet, but was brought up short at Arvin’s frowning protest. “Hold! Cassendra is not a child of our union. She cannot go with you.”

“She is Laslyn’s milk-child. Seeing as how Talya is not here, she will do to bring back word of the site.” Tani gave Arvin her Healer gaze, full of absolute self-certainty and an almost arrogant patience. Arvin met her gaze for a pause, no more than the time it takes to take in a deep breath and release it, before Tani’s next words had him lowering his eyes before her. “After all, who was it who proclaimed that he would not have his foundling treated as aught but the name-child of his mate?”

“But, Tani, I don’t know what you mean. What do you want me to do?” I asked, shifting from foot to foot in agitation. I did not like the tenseness between these three adults who meant so much to me.

It was Laslyn who answered me, explaining, “When a babe is born to a woman some of the riches of her womb comes, too. As the Gods formed Mortal creatures of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, so are these elements present at a child’s birth. Just as floods bring fertile soil to the fields, the waters of a birth also bring the remaining elements that a mother’s form sets aside for the new life out with the child.”

She winced, looking down at the new child and flicked the babe’s cheek gently. “Have a care, sweetling! That nipple has to last through three more years of suckling!”

After a deep breath, she resumed. “These elements are the portions the child’s form did not take in, but they still form a strong bond to the child. They are offered up to the Gods to introduce the child to Them and remind her that when her time has passed her form may belong to the Elemental Gods, but her soul needs to return to the Dark Mother.

“But because the bond is so strong, if another should steal a bit of the birthing, that person could bind the child’s soul. A Healer may do so to help a sickly child thrive, but if a person of ill intent got their hands on a portion of the birthing, well, it doesn’t bear to think of what they might do to the child!

“That’s why only three people at most may know where the offering is laid: the Healer who attends the birth, the child’s name-parent, and the child’s oldest present same-sib. It’s in the best interest of the newborn to lay the offering as soon after the birth as possible, so that none may take it before it’s given.”

My eyes rounded at the enormity of such a responsibility and Tani took pity upon my state. She laid her free hand on my shoulder as she drew me with her. “You’ve only to remember the where so that you can guide Laslyn to bring her mark to the offer site.”

“Mark?” I squeaked.

“Aye, well, the child’s name-parent will make a gift to lay over the offering, usually of a part of their form, like a braid of their locks or a wooden disc with a bit of their blood. By laying their mark over the offering, they claim the child before the Gods.”

I thought about this for the time it took us to walk beyond sight of the village. Finally, I asked, “Is that why I’m a Foundling? My name-parent never laid their mark over my birthing?”

Tani glanced down at me and then back to the path we walked. “We don’t know whether they did or no. You’ve heard before how you were found for I’ve told you that tale myself. Someone kept you living and kept you healthy for the time it took you to reach a season’s growth. It seems to me that anyone who had done as much as that would have taken care of such a detail.”

She seemed to weigh something over for a bit. Used to her pauses, I kept my mouth shut and my ears open. My patience was rewarded some distance further when she stopped and turned me to her.

“Cassendra, there’s a bit more to the birthing offer and laying of marks than a first introduction to the Gods and formal claiming. You’ll see more of what I mean when we place the offering, but what you may not see is the last severing of the babe from its mother.

“For the most, the severing of the babe’s chord breaks the physical ties so that if either mother or child ails the other won’t be dragged into their struggle. However, the child is born of the mother’s flesh. Without placing the offering, either may suck the very life from the other before the child is named, if the need is great enough. That’s why there are usually two sent to see to the placing of the offering, to ensure that it is done.” Having said her piece, she turned and started walking again.

In the end, we walked in the forest skirt for three fingers before Tani found a spot that satisfied her.

The site was a small opening, not even a clearing, by the banks of an unnamed stream, flowing from the north and east. On the far bank, a boisterbud bramble grew around a lightning split tree while a small cairn of rocks tumbled into the water on the near bank, slightly north of the bramble. The trees in the forest skirt were spaced far enough apart to allow grasses to grow in the sunny patches, while mosses and lichens grew upon rocks and the trees in shade.

Tani first examined the surrounding trees for timber marks and, finding none, picked up a windfall branch about half as thick as my fist. She used it to dig at the exposed soil and found it still soft.

“This will do,” she pronounced. Giving me a measuring look, she asked, “Can you find this site again, alone?”

I closed my eyes and breathed in the forest scents, letting the peace of the woods fill me. I thought over our trip, recalling each landmark we had passed. Only when I was sure of my answer did I reply, for Tani had no patience with carelessness.

“Aye, I can bring Mama Laslyn here, at least until the first frost.”

“Good. Now, come here and help me prepare the soil.”

With a graceful movement, Tani sank to the ground and sat cross legged. Settling into place, her demeanor changed from that of a bluff, no-nonsense Healer to the formal face of the Llyrasdan. Serenity enveloped her, and the glow of her Blessing filled her skin, spilling out around her to saturate the soil and laze about in the air. I mirrored her position, feeling clumsy in comparison. She had that effect on people when she took up the mantle of her priesthood.

“What do you See?” she asked and I told her. She blinked, slowly, then directed me, “Look at the land, the water, the air, and See them.”

I started to protest that I didn’t understand, but stopped myself before sound came out. Closing my mouth, I looked around, seeing what I had seen before. I was confused, but Tani wasn’t one for cryptic sayings, even if some of what she said took some thought to find the meaning.

“You said ‘see’ as if it’s not the same as looking,” I finally said.

“It is different,” she confirmed. “When you look at something, you only see its surface, the form it takes. Seeing something means looking beyond the form to the soul, or the Blessing, it carries in that form.

“Try closing your eyes. Start by looking for my Blessing.”

I followed her suggestion, letting my eyes shut and found to my surprise that I could still see her glow. It was deeper, a more vibrant green, and moved around her. My eyes popped open in startlement.

“You’re green!” I squealed.

Tani smiled, “You said so last night.”

“But, but, your Blessing, it’s green! My eyes, they tell me it’s green as the spring is green, but it’s really more like the trees are green!” I cried.

“Aye, I know. Now calm yourself and try again to See the land around us.”

In all I think it took me seven or eight attempts before I Saw what Tani wanted me to See. The first several tries had my eyes popping open at each new Sight as the wonderment of it all filled me full to bursting.

Half way through, her lips pursed with adult vexation, she ordered me, “Go and run off the thrill from here to the sanichwood and back!”

The sanichwood tree was a rare breed and an easy landmark to make with its bark more red than brown and its leaves the color of burgundy wine. I ran going and returning. After the run, I felt somewhat calmer of spirit for the time away from the Sightings and the exercise that burned off some of my childhood Fires.

Tani seemed not to have moved a muscle in the fingers width of sun I had been gone. “Sit as I do and keep your back straight. No slumping! You can’t breathe as well when your shoulders are bowed and breathing is important,” she decreed upon my return.

I giggled and obeyed her. She fixed me with a stern glare, saying, her Healer face rising, “Do you think I’m joking? Aye, well, you’ll find out soon enough that I’m not.”

Still smiling, I replied, “But it’s an obvious thing, Tani! Folk don’t live who don’t breathe! I mean, it just makes sense.”

The Healer in her gave way before the Llyrasdan, her face becoming that blank mask of Serenity. “Explain yourself, please.”

“We eat and we drink and we breathe in and we poop and pee and breathe out. I’m not sure just how the Fire in us flows, but the elements in us are always coming and going and coming again.”

Frowning, I voiced the thought that had just occurred to me. “I think maybe it’s the Fire in us that makes the other elements flow and the flowing is what makes us Mortal. I don’t remember ever hearing of an Immortal that ate or any of the other stuff.”

“No, Immortals – true Immortals – don’t eat or breathe or otherwise, though a Mortal woman may bear a half Immortal babe who does. The child may well live for centuries longer than their mams, but age can take such children, for they are Mortal, too,” the mask of Tani’s priesthood became a fixed thing. I didn’t realize it them, but such was her way of showing deep surprise.

We shared a comfortable silence (on my part, at least) for a while before it was back to the Sightings. By the time Tani approved of my Sight, I looked at the land around us and Saw the Blessings of our surroundings. Some were no more than faint, nebulous glows, others more sharply defined as the strands of a spider’s web, and still others seemed to flow in channels. No matter the style, there seemed to be a wave-like movement to the glows surrounding the moving mortal life. I had a strange feeling that that flowing also occurred within the plants, but if so it was too slow for me to do more than sense. Even the glow of the birthing, wheat gold with russet streaks, seemed to ebb and flow.

When I asked about it, Tani said, “But you already answered your question. It is the flow of the elements within us, moving to the beating of our hearts and the land.”

“But even the birthing is pulsing. True, the orangey-red moves faster than the gold, but the colors are both moving, too.”

“The gold color, that’s the color you see in Laslyn’s Blessing? Then the orangey-red is the sweetling’s. We must put those glows to the land and so sever the last tie of essence between mother and babe so the child may grow as she was meant to.”

“How?” I asked.

“We bury the birthing at the roots of a tree, preferably a young one. The tree then takes the nourishment of the birthing and frees the essences. Grab a digging stick and let’s be about it for the sun is wasting.” And with that, Tani Llyrasdan took back her Healer’s mien.

“Will it be the lightning split tree?” I asked, curious.

She shook her head in negation. “No, even though it’s young and thriving, the tree is too noticeable. That and I’ve no wish to fight the brambles.”

“But won’t being noticeable help us to find it again?”

“And any malicious creature seeking to take the essences. Plants cannot take moving essence, just as we that move cannot take a plant’s essence. That’s why the birthing goes to a plant, especially a long lived one like a tree. Where no trees grow, we would give the birthing to a bush or something of the like,” she explained.

“Never give a birthing to the fields, child,” Tani admonished. “If the birthing isn’t taken up before a child’s name day ill luck may follow the babe. Fields lie fallow at winter while trees continue to thrive.”

Tani selected a tree on our side of the stream and we dug a hole at its base as deep as my arm to the elbow. We placed the birthing in and laid the rags that had contained it over, then set a layer of rocks from the stream on top of that before replacing the soil. She then drew a strange rock-like object from her skirt folds. It was bright and shiny and a milky opaque green, almost the color of her Blessing but for a hint of gray undertone.

She set it on the mounding of the soil and sat back on her heels. A frown of concentration creased her forehead as she focused upon the stone. Sweat beaded on her brow and she bit her tongue between her lips. Finger’s width by slow finger’s width, the mosses and lichens we had displaced grew back over the soil.

I held my breath, not wanting to disturb her concentration. A finger’s mark passed before, with a great explosion of breath, she fell back to sit on her bum with her knees to the sky and her arms, trembling, splayed behind her for a brace.

“Wow!” I whispered. My hands itched to grasp the stone, but there was fear there, too, mixed in with the awe. After a moment or so, she gave a deep sigh and gingerly as a Crone rolled herself up to stand and step forward, grimacing as she bent and reclaimed the green orb. It disappeared back into the folds of her skirt.

“That, my sweetling, was about the limit of my Blessing,” she stated, as if knowing what I wondered.

“But, when Herder Clyn’s donkey bit his arm and took a bit of it, you fixed that without so much sweat,” I protested.

“My Blessing is Small and Moving, not Standing. To do so much so fast with the Standing, though the work be Small, takes a great effort for me. Were my Blessing Small and Standing, I’d not be of the Golden Wreath and here, but of the Twining Vines and near-abouts South Watch.” Tani gave the area one more searching look before heading back to the village.

I walked beside her and asked, “What do you mean?”

“South Watch, closer to the Salt Seas Desert, is where most of Corrum’s granaries are. They always need more Standing Blessed and the Small Blessings do best for them. The Hallows Watch area, where we are, is given over to herding and timber land and the Larger Standing Blessings are most welcome here, but ‘tis the Small Moving Blessings that are most needful, for the herders and the lumbermen are always getting hurt by their crafts.”

“You’ve been to South Watch?” I could not quite keep the reverence from my voice, for surely Tani was most well traveled to have seen the strange Salt Seas.

A short bark of laughter escaped Tani. “No, not I! My leg’s are not so hungry for distance as all that! But like the guildsmen, my Temple is in Dar Fallas and that’s were I learned most of what I know of Healing and Llyraskits.”

“What’s the Temple of Llyra like?” I queried.

“Well, for one it’s the Temple of Grains. The Gods, They hear Their names so unless you’ve a need of Them or an offering to make it’s impolite to name Them.”

I interrupted to ask, “But we call you Llyrasdan and Her priests Llyraskits – doesn’t that call Her, too?”

“No, Cassie, for it’s Her name, not Her priests’, that draws Her.”

“But, aren’t ‘Llyrasdan’ and ‘Llyrasen’ and ‘Llyraskits’ all ways of taking Her name, like Thom being Arvinsen?”

“Just so as Arvinsen is not Arvin. He may or may not listen when Thom is called, but Arvin knows that he is not being spoken to. The Lady has many who have taken Her name and pledged their lives to Her Domain. I’m not saying She cannot listen to it all, but I rather doubt that She does. The Gods leave most mortals be for we’ve a nasty habit of looking to the loudest voice for how to live our lives. Those of us who take Their names do so because we are drawn to Their Domains and not to Their leadership. The Gods, by choice, are terrible leaders.”

I had much to think on as we walked back.