The Cultivated Girl

Chapter 8b - Mecca

"They're amazing. They've survived training to the highest level of the school, specialised in a range of arts and outmanoeuvred all others to get to this position. Above all, they are the chosen of the Goddess herself, having ventured forth in between the worlds and returned alive, sane and filled with arcane knowledge."

"Gosh Alexia. Talk about hero worship."

"It's not worship. It's respect," said Alexia. "Something you should show a little more of."

Simone didn't want to be like them at all. She hunched down and tried to use one of the carved poles to block herself from the Principal's view. She still had no idea how she'd ended up back in the holding cave. They must have found her which meant they knew she'd been listening. Staring at the vegetables and salad on her plate, Simone tried to remember the details of the spooky prophecy.

"They are good candidates this cycle. We have the Diplomat's Daughter, the Warrior Princess, Desert Flower..." and there was something about omens and sacrifice and what was that weird phrase? "We can raise BastBula within seven cycles," whatever that meant.

Nada could be the Desert Flower, she thought, looking at her eyes. They were the colour of crushed violets, framed by long lashes, but then who's the Princess? It was no good. She didn't know her clutch well enough to match them up.

"Simone, pay attention. They're starting." Alexia nudged her. She was so tiny her shoulder barely reached Simone's but felt like steel running through her little frame.

"Greetings acolytes," a clear, rich multi-layered voice rang out. "By now we would hope that most of you newcomers have taken the initiative to discover where you are."

"That's a bit unfair, isn't it?" said Simone.

"Well, you do know, don't you?" fired Alexia back.

By some strange trick of sound, the Triumvirate were speaking as if with one voice, made up of three. The effect was chilling.

"If not, we are disappointed but for some Earth Years, knowledge takes time. Make sure you find out."

Nada asked: "What's an Earth Year?"

"The first year of your training you're classified as an Earth Year, second years are called Fire Year and so on through the five elements," said Alexia.

Simone shivered. This is like an honest-to-goodness cult, she thought. Waco Texas eat your heart out.

"What are the rest?" said Nada but her question was drowned out by the eerie Principal.

"Your training will cover the basics of what is needed to serve the Goddess: prayer, fitness, healing, warfare, history and minor spell work. This year, the Goddess has spoken and the Principal will be taking a more active role in your education."

"That's weird. They're talking about themselves in the third person," said Simone to Nada, who had taken on the ashen hue she developed when terrified, quite a common occurence.

"Who are the others sitting just underneath them and what do they mean, spell work?" she mumbled out the side of her mouth to Alexia, who was trying to ignore her.

Nine stern looking women formed a line around the base of the pagoda. Their dark grey hooded robes shielded their features.

"Those are the coven members," she whispered back with a glare.

"So they're witches. I was right."

"Of course they're witches," said Alexia, "although that is such a laden term. It went out of fashion quite some time ago, you know."

After a further brief introduction to their tutors, the Earth Years were split into four classes made up of five clutches each. In addition to reporting to the Hearth Mother, Lady Alva, each class also had a major and minor Priestess assigned to them. Simone could finally put names to Gruff, Silky and Peep. Ominously, Silky, aka Lady Hazel was their major. The absence of her black hood revealed the Lady Hazel as a fraction taller than Alexia, with the tiny bone structure Simone associated with sparrows, yoga instructors and vegans. She held herself so erect that she appeared taller, an illusion accentuated by a high, cinnamon-coloured ponytail wrapped in jewels.

The last step before they were finally dismissed was to queue up and select two small flat crystals connected by a thin silver cord, out of a barrel. Simone followed her clutch to a line of seated blind priestesses.

"Alexia, Earth Year," said the petite girl to a milky-eyed old woman. The rest copied her.

The priestess placed all ten crystals in a sparkling bowl of clear water, held her palms over it and prayed. The same process was happening all down the line.

Simone nudged Alexia. "What are they doing?"

"Blessing our data crystals and programming our lessons into them."

"They look like dog tags. Why do we all have different coloured ones?"

The blind priestess passed the bowl back to them to fish their set of crystals out. She smiled. "Your body and spirit sensed the perfect crystal for you."

Simone grabbed the dual set of crystals. Before she could hang them around her neck the crone folded both her papery hands over Simone's. She was surprisingly strong. "You should not be here, yet here you are. The first blossom's scent is sweetest but can soon turn sickly. Do not squander what you have. Do not abandon your teachings."

Her sightless white eyes stared through Simone. It was creepy.

"Um, thanks. Will do," said Simone, stashing her crystals deep in a pocket and legging it for the nearest exit.

"Do we all have the same lessons?" asked Nada, trying to peer at the others' as they walked.

"If we all have the same lessons there's no point in me hanging on to this. It'll be all the same rubbish I've had before." Simone recited: "History, geography, biology, maths..."

"You mean magic, Simone, not maths," said Alexia. "And they're worth hanging onto for many reasons."

"How do they work?" said Nada.

"Focus intent onto the crystal and it'll show you what you want to know. But there's a catch, you have to know the information initially and load the crystal yourself or it doesn't work. Think of it as a memory enhancer rather than a repository of information," said Alexia.

"Same thing for all the difference it makes to my ability," snorted Simone.

"It says here we also have healing, communication, prayer and art," said Nada, looking so closely at the crystal her lashes almost flicked its shiny surface. The stone was a translucent lavender colour like her eyes. Nada stumbled slightly on the uneven surface and her lessons disappeared.

"I broke it," she said, eyes dewy.

"No you didn't," said Alexia. "It just clears when you shake it, look." She took Nada's crystal, shook it, focused briefly on the shiny surface and Nada's lessons re-appeared.

Simone looked at the crystal over Alexia's shoulder. "Physical education, biology, prayer, yawn, followed by more prayer. Guess we'll be doing a lot of praying. Hope I don't fall asleep," she snorted rudely.

"You'll soon find out," said Alexia. "That's our first lesson."

A/N

Ahh Simone, you will indeed! 

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