Miranda coughed up her nintine juice and blushed furiously.
“More info than we needed there, Zule,” Tempest laughed.
Zalana and Terena bowed their heads. Zalana whispered, “Is it a vision you will share?”
Miranda finally managed to compose herself enough to relay the vision of her and Zulien. They all agreed what she told them was a positive sign. For some reason, she felt it was important to keep the vision of her pregnancy a secret.
Zalana said, “Miranda, and Tempest this concerns you too, we have arranged your ceremony for tomorrow. Usually, we have more time to prepare, but the Magistrate of Battle said it was important to have these completed quickly. Is there anything special you would like us to add?”
“I never really thought about my wedding before,” Tempest mused.
“Well, I certainly never thought about one,” Miranda said. “I think I would like to carry a bouquet. I’m sure you don’t throw them here, but I could keep them to remember the ceremony.”
“Who do you throw them at?” Zulien envisioned a bunch of fesinia flowers aimed at his head.
“The bride tosses the bouquet into a group of single… unmated, women. Whoever catches it is supposed to be the next one married,” Miranda explained. “I would like to keep mine. When they dry, we can hang them over our bed for good luck.”
Tempest agreed. “That sounds good.”
The young women did not ask for anything else. The mothers were beginning to look exhausted from everything that happened, and Miranda reached over for Zalana's hand. “We appreciate all that you and Terena have done to welcome us and make the ceremony a special day. Why don’t you rest for a while in one of the chambers?”
Zalana gasped. “I cannot lie down in your chamber. Suppose you wish to return?”
“Nonsense. We will be busy with the altar for quite a while. You should feel more refreshed after the ritual tonight.”
Tempest added, “Mom, you really need to lie down. I can see how tired you are. Go on. I’ll wake you up if the big guy gets cranky.” Tempest was finally satisfied with Taliquant’s hair, and moved his arm to sit in his lap.
Terena was confused and not sure if she had been insulted. Miranda caught her blank stare. “Mom is short for mother where we’re from.”
“You called me mother?” Terena was shocked.
“It’s not official until tomorrow, I guess. My own mom never really wanted the role. You wouldn’t mind filling in for me, would you?”
“My heart has yearned to have a daughter. It sings with joy. Never has its heavy weight been lightened so.”
Tempest laughed and looked up at Taliquant. “Well, big guy. I guess I know where you get it.”
Taliquant and Terena looked at each other in bewilderment. Get what?
They finally convinced the mothers to try to rest. Miranda sat on the edge of the clearing, watching Tempest order the warriors around. The fathers pitched in and the altar was beginning to take shape.
The Major came up and announced the guard was changing. He took off in the shuttle that brought the replacements, and the new guard took their positions by the hills. Miranda became bored and began walking barefoot through the soft blue grass. Wild flowers in bright hues sprouted in haphazard pockets and she began gathering some, thinking she could ease the extra burden on the mothers if she made the bouquets for her and Tempest.
She had not noticed how far she had wandered, and when she looked up she saw she was close to one of the perimeter guards. “Thank you for guarding us,” she said, as she stooped to pick a pretty red flower with yellow and green spots.
“It has been a pleasure, Ancient.”
As he spoke, Miranda backed away from him, a really bad feeling starting in her stomach. The guard reached for her, grabbing her braid as she turned to run. “Zule,” she screamed. The guard to his right ran towards a tree.
Miranda was kicking and screaming as the man returned with a small shuttle, and she dug her little feet in the grass and tried to claw the big warrior. “Perhaps I have misjudged, and you are the primitive,” he laughed.
Miranda drew a swatch of blood down his cheek, and he placed a beefy hand around her throat and lifted her. She kicked frantically at him as his grip closed her windpipe, and then she went limp. The guard dropped her to turn and open the shuttle door, and immediately she was on her feet and running as fast as she could.
Zulien and Taliquant passed her with looks of outrage on their faces that froze her blood. She stopped and turned around as Tempest caught up to her, gasping for breath. Zibula whizzed by in the shuttle and blocked the smaller craft’s escape.
The other guards had joined the foray and were trying to pull the mates off the imposters before they killed them. By the time Miranda and Tempest walked back, two guard warriors held each of the men. “Miranda!” Zulien ripped free from the guards that were restraining him. He ran to her and clutched her to his chest.
The guards whispered something to Taliquant. He nodded, and they let him go to Tempest. The guards who had been holding the warriors made, a quick scan of the trees. They came back a few minutes later and the Major walked up to Zulien. He looked sick at his failure.
“The guards… the real guards… have been drugged. They have been pulled beyond the tree line. They must have been lured there.” He would lose his commission over this. “Ancient, I hope you have not been injured. Commander, I will of course sign any document you wish to log and have it delivered to the Magistrate.”
“Do you recognize the imposters, Major?” Even with his mate’s foiled kidnapping, Zulien was patient and fair. He continued to hold her close, stroking his comfort into her.
“It was my fault, Zule,” she was still hitching frightened sobs. “I should not have wandered so far away.”
“Shh, Miranda. It is all right now,” he said calmly. “Major?”
The Major walked over to get a better look at the beaten men. Zulien and Taliquant had torn them up pretty bad before the guards could pull them off. “Yes, Commander. They are from the royal guard.”
“Bring them to the quarters, Major. Perhaps the cowards have information to trade for their lives.”
Miranda’s tear filled eyes looked up at him. “You would not really kill them, Zule?”
“I would if they had hurt you.”
Miranda managed to discreetly untie the sash from her hair and place it around her neck, hiding the bruising before it began to show too much. She took Zulien’s hand as the group headed back to the buildings. “What is going to happen to them?”
“After we question them, they will be quartered on a battleship and shuttled to Latisqua to stand charges,” Zulien said without emotion. He could not lie to her, and that is what was supposed to happen. He knew the traitors would be released in space without the benefit of shariver suit, before they left the quadrant. Unofficially, the war had begun.
It did not take long for the beaten men to confess their plan. The royal guard was the weakest of warriors. They were men not suited for the battleships, demoted or with no future. Two more Magistrates had joined with the Old Ways and Commerce to secure the Ancient. Zulien was somewhat relieved to learn they wanted her alive.
The information was communicated to the Magistrate of Battle. “Have the Major and another guard bring them in.”
“Magistrate,” Zulien said. “I would like the Major to remain on guard. It was his perception that led us to find the guards in the trees. If it were not for him, we would be left with the understanding the security in charge of the guard rotation itself had been compromised. At least we know the correct warriors are arriving. The Major and I have discussed it, and he feels, and I agree, it would be wiser to pull the guard closer to the temple away from the tree line.”
The Major looked at Zulien with disbelief. He had never heard the plan, much less designed it. The Magistrate recognized one of Zulien’s strategies. For whatever reason, he did not want the Major to suffer consequences for the s
ituation. “Very well. Have the Major send two other warriors with the prisoners. We need to move you. The valley has been compromised.”
Miranda overheard the transmission. “Absolutely not. We’re not going anywhere until after my ritual. Zulien if we start running now, it is never going to stop. I will not spend the rest of my life in hiding. I agree, for the safety of our families, to move after the ritual.”
The Magistrate’s voice came over the line. “Zulien, the Celestial is to perform a ritual?”
“We have been reconstructing the altar. Miranda and Tempest remembered the design from their world, and they were planning to hold the ritual tonight.”
“By the stars, Zulien. I will send two more regiments to guard the valley. We need the Ancient’s rituals to strengthen us again.”
Miranda whispered to Tempest, “Cripes, it’s only a cleansing ritual.”
“The joining has occurred?” the Magistrate asked.
“Yes, Magistrate. We have had our joining,” Zulien smiled.
Now, it was Tempest's turn. “Does everyone in the galaxy have to know we did the deed?”
Miranda whispered to Zulien, “If you tell him I have visions when I… you know, you will not have another joining for a long time.”
“Miranda, I am proud to bring you visions. Why do you not want others to celebrate?” Zulien decided he would never learn her ways.
The Magistrate’s voice boomed, “The Ancient had a vision? I need to be advised. Her visions are of great importance.”
Tempest laughed quietly and whispered, “Next, he will be ordering you to bed until you predict the outcome of the damn war.”
“This is not funny, Tempest. In case you haven’t noticed, they have some pretty strange ideas about me.”
Zulien relayed the vision and the Magistrate smiled. Zulien asked, “Do you know what the vision means?”
“Not all of it, but she has predicted her planet.”
Zulien, Taliquant and Tempest stared at her. “Don’t ask me. I have no idea what he is talking about.”
When the communication signed off, the Major approached Zulien. “Commander?” The man was flustered. “Why?”
“Major, four Magistrates planned against us. You stood your ground and accepted responsibility for your men and the failure of the regiment. In my eyes, you are a man of honor and the kind of warrior I want on our side.” Zulien shook the man’s hand.
“Thank you, Commander. You and your mate have my complete support. My life is yours.”
The other two regiments arrived by late afternoon along with replacements for the original missing guard warriors. Twenty-seven large warriors stood nine feet apart around the clearing and the altar. By dusk, everyone from the Quillant and their mates was there. They had heard about the ritual.
Zulien began getting nervous while Miranda, Tempest, Zalana and Terena were in their joining chamber getting ready. Vasilla and Ebonisha slipped by the guard at the door, and after introductions, Miranda invited them to join the ritual as well. Ebonisha could not keep the secret, and soon all six mates from the Quillant were busy fixing hair and smoothing shifts.
Miranda and Tempest were getting more excited as their group grew. Zulien was watching lights from shuttles begin to shine through the trees. Soon, mothers of the warriors’ mates arrived, husbands in tow, to proudly watch their daughters in the first moon ritual performed by a Celestial Ancient of the Old Religion since the Battles of Chaos.
The Major walked up to Zulien. “Any suggestions, Commander?”
“We should have built bleachers.” Zulien put his head in his hands. At least he had his crew from the Quillant if there were problems.
Zalana came up to him. “Miranda would like you to light the fire now. Are you all right, Zulien?”
“I never expected all this. I always thought my mate and I would be living on the Quillant.”
“Are you disappointed?”
“By the stars, no. I would not trade one minute of this circus for a life without her. It is just… an adjustment.”
“The ceremony will be over tomorrow and we will have our own private place in the worlds soon, Zule.”
“I know, mother. She belongs to all the inner worlds. It does not mean I can not wish her for myself.”
“You have the part of her that no one else can hold, Zule. It shines in her eyes when she looks at you.”
Zulien smiled and stretched. He leaned down to kiss his mother on the cheek. “Thank you, mother. You always know what to say.” He left to find Tali and light the bonfire.
The guards and visitors formed a circle around the altar. As Miranda left the chamber, she looked at the crowd and whispered again to Tempest, “Cripes, it’s just a cleansing ritual.”
Tempest looked up at the three moons. “So, let’s hit a triple tonight.”
The crowd parted to let the women pass. Miranda approached the altar, the fire mirroring off her golden hair. Everyone was silent. Miranda had a touch of stage fright until Tempest whispered, “Hey, girl. Just do it the way we do back home.”
Miranda remembered the time in the glade and calmed down. She held out her hands, closed her eyes and breathed deeply until she felt herself in balance. In a few moments, she opened her eyes and took Tempest's hand. “Everyone take the hand of the woman standing next you. Tempest reached out for Zalana who reached out for Terena and so on, around the circle. Vasilla was on the end with no one to hold her other hand. “Vasilla, if you feel disoriented or ungrounded, I will come to you at the end of the ritual. Nothing is going to harm you.” Vasilla nodded, nervously.
Miranda raised her hand to the full moon. “Blessings, goddess. I am happy to be joined by believers who have yearned for your cleansing light. Thank you for bringing Tempest and me to this place of love and acceptance. Our hearts are filled with gratitude that you showed us the way to our new families and friends, and our mates. We are confident with the protection and comfort they offer. Your wisdom shines around and through us.”
There were quiet gasps as the beam from the center full moon, narrowed to her small hand. “May the crone and maiden share our joy and our gratitude.” The crescents’ beams joined the other.
It reminded Taliquant of the lasers on the battle crafts focusing on the view port of the Debayluth vessel, and he stared, as they all did, mesmerized.
“I seek, with thanks, only the blessings of your wisdom.” Miranda closed her eyes. The beams strengthened, and her pale skin took on a glow that passed to Tempest. All the women in the circle closed their eyes as the light passed through their hands, and they felt a euphoric lightening of their spirit and a calming, renewing energy.
They remained that way for several minutes, until Miranda opened her eyes again. “Thank you, goddesses, mother, maiden and crone. May your light continue to shine upon your children.” Miranda slowly lowered her arm and the moonbeams broadened to their natural aspects. “Tempest, are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Miranda. I just need to stand here for a moment.”
“I need to let go of you and check Vasilla.”
“I’ll be all right. Zalana's pretty good at grounding me.”
“I sensed she had power. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Miranda walked over to Vasilla. She still had her eyes closed, and Miranda could see tears leaking out the corners of the tall woman’s cheeks. She took her free hand in both of hers. “Valsilla, honey, are you all right?”
Vasilla opened her liquid brown eyes. “It is beautiful, Celestial. I never knew it would be like that.”
“It’s that way for me, too. I love the esbat rituals. You’re welcome to join me for them until you learn to do it yourself.”
“Do you think I can?”
“It might not be as intense at first, but, yes, you can do this. It’s natural, and the more you believe, the more intense it becomes. Letang, I think your mate could use your strong arms to hold her for a while.”
Letang rushed to his mate, and the ot
her warriors took it as a sign and went to theirs.
Miranda walked back to the altar. “We give thanks to the gods and goddesses for joining us tonight.” She nibbled a piece of pancake she had saved from breakfast. “We give nourishment to Shallistar for the gifts she gives us." She crumbled the rest and let it drop to the ground. “We toast your blessings and wisdom." She sipped some wine. “We toast Shallistar for the blessings she gives us.” And she spilled the rest of the wine on the ground.
Miranda left the altar to stand by Zulien. “I feel much better. Isn’t that a kick? Tempest adores the esbats.” She realized Zulien had not spoken, and only a mechanical arm reached around her. “Zulien, are you all right?” He looked completely panicstricken, and Miranda was becoming concerned. “Zulien, talk to me.”
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