Season Content Notes: play violence
The Great Goddess escaped Iberto soon enough, as she would, and took off after the running minstrel. Iberto, lost in the fun of a hunt, gave chase as well, though his prey was the Great Goddess.
As Iberto expected, Amir first ran for the Temple entrance, and the goddess let him evade her. Amir would need to choose to stay — that was the point. With the Great Goddess moving slowly and not trying to be stealthy, it was easy for Iberto to keep up and harass her, slowing her down further. Giving Amir time to think and understand.
This was an answer Amir would need to find for himself.
Just before the minstrel crossed the threshold, he paused. Iberto smiled. Perhaps this one would indeed know how to find his prey. Amir turned just as the thought crossed the hunt-called’s mind and dashed into a side hall.
With a laugh, Iberto called out, “You are on your own now, my friend,” and dropped back, letting the goddess surge past him. She paused to bump her head into his hand and rumble her joy before continuing on.
Knowing the Temple as he did, it was easy for Iberto to determine where Amir would go. So Iberto slipped through the halls to put himself in front of the minstrel.
The chase would, of course, last as long as the Great Goddess wished it too, with her Chosen aiding the hunt. After a few turns and dashes, Amir saw Iberto and tried to dodge around him.
Iberto lunged for Amir but allowed him to get past.
Then, to Iberto’s delight, Amir stopped and faced him. “You are playing with me.”
The hunt-called laughed. “You learn quickly. Good.”
Iberto lunged for Amir again, and this time Amir met him halfway, trying to grapple with Iberto. But none can capture the Great Goddess’ Chosen, and every time Amir thought he had a hold, Iberto slipped through his fingers.
The goddess caught up with them then and roared, the sound echoing through the Temple. She pushed Iberto aside and pinned Amir with one great paw.
Amir lost his breath in one great huff as the goddess pinned him. Iberto righted himself and continued to smile. “Very well done, Amir.”
Iberto could see the fear on his friend. It was in the whites all around his eyes, the shaking in his hands. He did not know what courage it took for one who did not know the goddess, who had been taught lies about her all his life, to turn and stay. But Amir had done it, just as Iberto had hoped.
The goddess transformed before them back into a living statue. Instead of pinning Amir, she held out a hand to him. “Take my hand, my prey, and be mine forever.”
Amir did not allow the fear of whatever lies he’d been taught to dissuade him. He reached out and took the Great Goddess’s hand, allowing her to pull him to his feet. “You call me prey. What does that mean?”
The goddess smiled. “You are whom I seek. Hunter and prey. Just as you hunt the answers you desire, I hunt the answers concerning you. You are my prey.”
Iberto smiled and took Amir’s other hand. “It means you are her priest, the first such in generations. Welcome, brother.”
Amir gaped at him, and the goddess laughed, sharing her pleasure with them both. “Come, mine, we will talk in comfort.”
Hannu was one with the Green, watching a new Called join the Temple through the Green’s eyes. She wished she could be there, could comfort and support the new chosen, ripped from their life by the hunt-called. As the light of the Calling faded, she blinked back to herself with a sigh and looked around the old shrine she was visiting.
The shrine was worn down and in disrepair. It hadn’t been tended properly in some time. Still, there were signs of worship. Smooth areas in the moss-covered stone and worn spots on the paving slabs. This was not right. Hannu moved to start cleaning the shrine.
Hannu communed with the Green as she worked, and, through the Green, connected with the forest surrounding the shrine. It hummed with all the busyness she was slowly learning to recognize as the sign of a healthy forest. How much time, how much knowledge had she lost, locked away in the Great Temple? Until Iberto… but she wouldn’t think of Iberto. She had trusted him, thought him a friend. But how could she be friends with someone who would violate people as Iberto had violated Kira, the new Chosen of the Sun?
The busy hum of the forest calmed her, and she allowed her focus to drift to all the small notes in that hum. After a time she didn’t recognize, a young voice said. “Excuse me?”
Hannu blinked back to herself and looked up. A girl in apprentice garb stood awkwardly in the doorway of the shrine.
Hannu blinked again. “Yes? Can I help you?”
“I came to make an offering to the Green before I collect the herbs I was sent for.” The girl scuffed her foot on the ground and shifted her weight. “Did the monks send you to tend the shrine?”
With a smile, Hannu stood and approached the child. “Ah, young one. The Green is pleased with you.” And so it was; Hannu could feel the Green’s delight in one who used its gifts well.
“Um… thank you?” the girl was clearly confused and didn’t know what to make of this strange woman. Hannu sympathized and sought to set the girl at ease.
“What herbs do you come to collect? Perhaps I can help.” Hannu gestured for the girl to come in and talk for a bit.
The girl tightened her grip on her basket and looked past Hannu to the offering place.
She stepped cautiously into the shrine, trying to edge past Hannu. “Comfrey and… and yarrow, mostly.”
Hannu nodded. “You see many broken bones, child?”
“Of course,” The girl nodded. “It’s breeding season, and the farmers are sometimes not quick enough to escape the mating livestock.”
The answer surprised Hannu, who had grown up in town. The dangers of livestock breeding had never occurred to her. “I see.” The Green nudged Hannu, and she closed her eyes a moment. “There is little comfrey left near this shrine, but you’ll find a fine stand of yarrow in the hollow under a rotten log five minutes walk north of here.”
The girl’s curiosity got the better of her this time. “How do you know that?”
“The Green showed me.”
The apprentice’s eyes widened. “You can speak to the Green?”
Hannu laughed. “Anyone can speak to the Green, child. Most people can’t hear its answer.”
“But you can? How?”
Hannu hesitated, remembering the trouble she had at one of the small temples when the monks learned she was there. But this was a shrine, and the monks were far away. “I am the Chosen of the Green.”
Mouth agape, the girl stared at Hannu. She couldn’t seem to put words together and, after a moment, bowed.
“The Green’s blessing on you, child.”
“Thank you, Chosen. I… I should go find the yarrow… I don’t want to keep my master waiting.”
“Go, child. Perhaps we will meet again.”
The girl nodded and scampered out with her basket.
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