Page 79 of A Tribute of Fire

“Come forward and bind your words with your body,” Maia said, and my first instinct was to run, not knowing what she meant by it, but I had already proven to myself that I could withstand a great deal of pain. I got to my feet and stood in a spot close to her and the fire.

Maia held up a dagger and it glinted in the firelight. “When the earth began, the goddess cut her palm with her golden sword and from the drops of her blood came all the plants, all the trees, the rocky, desolate ground turning fertile. So too we cut our palms to make our vows. We bond our words by blood, by life.”

Then she set down the dagger and took a large fresh leaf and a small glass container and lifted them up. She poured the contents of the container onto the leaf. It was thick and came out slowly. “We use the sap of a tree, the goddess’s lifeblood, sweet and sustaining, to symbolize how she blesses these vows, and seals her words with her own blood.”

When she had put enough sap on the leaf, she put the container back and kept the leaf up, careful not to spill. “The leaf is the symbol of the goddess because the leaf symbolizes all that is good about her—fertility, hope, growth, rebirth, life, abundance, peace, revival.”

Maia put the leaf back onto the table and took the dagger again, reaching for my hand. I gave it to her and she held my palm up and quickly sliced along the surface, causing blood to gush up.

“Let your blood drip onto the leaf, mixing with the blood of the goddess.”

I did as she instructed, turning my hand so that the drops would fall onto the sap on top of the leaf.

Maia picked up something else and it took me a moment to realize that it was one of the braids that they’d shaved from my head. She used the dagger to cut off a piece and gave it to me.

“Place your hair onto the blood and throw the leaf into the fire. That will seal your words, your blood, your vows, to the goddess as an offering. You must promise in your mind to never break these vows.”

There was only a moment of hesitation as I considered what I was promising. There was nothing in any of my vows that would prevent me from traveling back to Locris. I would serve the goddess by restoring the land she’d abandoned, reinstating the worship of her there. I didn’t have to live in this temple to follow her.

I threw everything onto the fire and watched as the edges of the leaf caught fire and began to burn, and the room filled with the smell of a strange mixture of sweetness and burning hair. Smoke rose from the leaf.

I promise to keep these vows,I thought.

“The goddess accepts your offering and now you are bound to her, as she is bound to you.”

An unmistakable soft whisper somehow thundered inside me.

Euthalia.

I glanced around, wondering if anyone else had heard it, but nobody reacted.

And I should have felt nervous about a goddess calling my name, but I was filled with a strange kind of peace and comfort. I let that wash over me, let it lessen the overwhelming emotional pain I’d felt since I’d woken up today.

I also felt love. A kind of love I’d never experienced before. As if I were precious and important. Cared for. I put my hand over my chest and closed my eyes.

The goddess knew me. She offered me her protection and love. Those words were not spoken, but I felt them all the same.

I knew that I could never break the vows I’d just made.

We stood there quietly for several minutes, until I finally asked, “Is that it?”

Maia smiled broadly at me. “No. There is more.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

What more could there be?

“You are about to join a special sisterhood,” Maia said, and I was confused. Wasn’t that what I’d just done? “Please retake your seat.”

I walked back over to the center of the square and sat down again.

“Five is a special number to the goddess. There are five elements, earth, water, air, fire, and aether; there are five fingers on our hands, five toes on our feet; your head, arms, and legs are five limbs; we have five senses, touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste, which we use to experience life and all the blessings the goddess gives us.”

And there were five acolytes.

“This is why you take your vows on the fifth day after your arrival. And your new sisters have been waiting for you so that you could form an adelphia.”

At my quizzical expression Maia explained, “Your adelphia is made up of five sisters. It is an even higher bond and deeper vow than the one you share with other acolytes and priestesses of the temple. Your adelphia will perform your religious ceremonies together, learn together, train together. You are required to provide protection to one another, and you are legally and spiritually bound as a unit. Do you all agree to join as an adelphia?”

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