Chapter 24: Which of the Young Priestesses

Although most likely just a coincidence, Caelym’s near-fatal encounter with Rhedwyn’s riders marked a change from the carefree exuberance of his middle boyhood into the self-conscious intensity of early youth. Tall for his age and advanced in his studies, it was easy to think of him as twelve when he was nine and thirteen when he was ten.

Those were years in Herrwn’s own life he recalled as being fraught with turmoil, when all his thoughts were confused, all his movements were clumsy, and all his mistakes were calamitous—but also the time when Lothwen suddenly turned from a gawky, gangly, and somewhat irritating cousin into a being so beautiful, so marvelous, so absolutely enchanting that his voice squeaked if he tried to speak to her and he blushed bright red when she smiled in his direction.

“Which of the young priestesses-to-be will someday have that effect on Caelym?” was a question that rose up in Herrwn’s mind one day as he was passing through the shrine’s central courtyard on his way to the midday meal.

It was a bright day in early summer, and the nursery servant had brought the little girls in her charge out to play while she sat spinning on a nearby bench. Gwennefor’s dark-haired daughter, Gwenydd, was dancing her dolls in a line and singing made-up chants in imitation of a sacred ritual. Caldera’s twins, their chestnut-brown hair in long braids, were darting among the stone pillars in a giddy, giggling game of tag while Cyri, Annwr’s winsome red-headed toddler, was standing barefoot in a puddle of mud, pouring water from a child-size pitcher over a flooded clump of toadflax.

As Herrwn paused for a moment to watch, warmed by the summer sun and charmed by their sweet, innocent games, he realized how quickly they—and Caelym—were growing up.

He’d not thought about it before this, but of course there were four lovely little girls destined to become high-ranked priestesses (five when you counted Feywn’s daughter, about whom there’d been no word at all in the two years she’d been gone but who, if Ossiam’s prophesy was to be believed, would be the most beautiful of all), and as of now there was only one boy in training to be a priest. When one of the girls took Caelym for her consort, what would the other four do?

They needed more children—at least some of them boys—and the sooner the better. Resolving to speak to Olyrrwd, who in turn could bring the matter to Rhonnon’s attention, who as chief midwife would presumably take the issue to the priestesses who were young enough to have babies, Herrwn took a firm hold on his staff and started back on his way just as the horn sounded the call to the midday meal.

While breakfast in the shrine was usually a simple, informal meal carried by servants to the priests’ and priestesses’ private quarters, both the midday and the nighttime meals were ceremonial events held in the shrine’s main hall.

Seating at the high table (which, in keeping with its name, was set on a platform a step above floor level) was strictly ordered by rank, with the chief priestess in the center, the priests to her left, and priestesses to her right.

Like the seating arrangements, the discourse at the communal meals was tightly regulated, although an outsider might have assumed their conversations were simply congenial pleasantries being freely exchanged as the chalice of wine, the soup bowls, and the platters of food were passed up and down the length of the table.

As chief priestess, Feywn would call on Ossiam to give the day’s omen, after which each of the elders would speak in turn—either offering some insight related to what had just been said or, if they chose, introducing a new topic with the proviso that all contentious issues were to be left to the formal council debates.

While it was true that Olyrrwd and Ossiam were sometimes guilty of sneaking in subtle digs at each other, the talk at the midday meal was, for the most part, congenial and pleasant. What an outside observer would have thought about the exchange that took place the day that Herrwn stopped to watch the four little girls at play in the main courtyard was something Herrwn was just as happy not to know.