Page 80 of A Tribute of Fire

I said yes along with the others. Again this did not feel like something I could disagree with—it seemed that it was necessary in order for me to stay at the temple. I had already made so many vows, what was one more?

If I had to put on an act and pretend to belong, to be a sister in their adelphia, then it’s what I would do.

“Step forward.” Maia took out more leaves, more sap, and handed me another chunk of hair from my braid. The other girls all cut a lock from their own hair and placed it on the leaf in front of them. Maia passed the dagger around and we each cut our palms to put blood on our leaves. I winced as I reopened the slash Maia had made earlier.

“Grab your sister’s wrist with your cut palm,” Maia said. I reached out for Io’s wrist and she gave me a brief smile. She took the arm of the dark-haired woman next to her and the two others did the same, one of them holding on to me. We were in a tight circle, our bodies pressed together.

Maia said, “This is your sacred sisterhood, your adelphia. You are bonded by blood, by life, willing to sacrifice your own to save your sisters’. Where one goes, so go the others. This bond is never to be broken, even in death. Do you swear this?”

It struck me as a bit silly that I didn’t even know the names of most of the women in this circle, but I was about to promise to lay down my life for theirs.

“Yes, I swear it,” we all said.

“Place your leaves in the fire to seal your vows.”

We released one another and took turns putting our leaves, blood, and hair into the fire. I wasn’t sure if it was only my imagination, but as my leaf went in, it seemed to turn the flames around it green.

That humming, buzzing feeling I’d had in the flower garden returned and my body felt light, as if I could float away.

“Go back to your dormitory and get cleaned up,” Maia said after we stood there for a couple of minutes in silence, me trying to figureout what was happening, why I’d been experiencing so many strange sensations ever since the ceremony had begun.

Then she turned her gaze on me and smiled so kindly that I could see why Io liked her. “Lia, I know this was probably quite a bit to take in. Usually acolytes have several days to prepare before the vow ceremony and you didn’t get that opportunity.”

“In my own way I’ve been preparing for this for a long time,” I told her.

“It is customary after an adelphia ceremony for the sisterhood to eat alone in private, so dinner will be brought to you in your room tonight. It is important for you to get to know each other since you haven’t had that chance yet. You’re a special kind of sister to one another now.”

The other girls headed for the stairs and I turned to take in the goddess one last time. I would have to come back here the first chance I got to see if she had the eye.

“Do you need anything else?” Maia asked and I shook my head, worried that my lingering might have aroused her suspicion. “Then enjoy your meal and get some rest. Tomorrow, the hard part begins.”

I wanted to ask her what she meant by that, but she’d turned her back to me to put out the fire. I headed up the stairs to find Io hanging back, waiting for me. She didn’t say anything until we were outside the temple.

“Did you hear the goddess speak to you?” she asked in a low voice.

“What do you mean?”

She clasped her hands together. “Did she call your name?”

“I think so.” Either that or I had imagined it.

“Sometimes it’s hard to tell if she’s speaking to you or if it’s your own inner voice,” she observed. “I’m glad it happened to you, though. It usually does, but not always.”

I had become accustomed to hearing voices of my own making in my head, usually Demaratus’s, so it probably was easier for me to distinguish. If the goddess did call me by name, what did that mean?Io was making it sound as if it were something every woman here had experienced, so it must have meant that it wasn’t that special.

Even though I hadn’t been able to compare my experience to anyone else’s, it felt like it was different. Like the feelings I’d had, the connection I’d felt, the strange things I’d heard and seen, were unique. I’d always believed in the goddess, in the ability of an object she’d blessed being able to restore Locris, and it was a relief to discover that it all seemed to be true.

We passed by the courtyard, still filled with women asking the goddess for favors. Something struck me—I’d just sworn an oath of celibacy. “Didn’t you say earlier that the goddess oversees marriage and birth?” I asked Io.

“Yes.”

“Then why did I take a vow not to do those things?”

“Because we need to keep our focus on the goddess, to serve her without giving our attention and devotion to another,” she said.

It echoed what Maia had said earlier, but it didn’t make sense to me, and I’d never liked things that didn’t make sense.

I observed the other priestesses and acolytes as we walked by them. I asked, “Is everyone here in an adelphia?”

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