me, was now laced with sweat and
desire.
Faster and faster, our hips bucked until stars
exploded behind my eyes. I stopped, my body rigid with release, but Mara
continued for a few more thrusts until she gave a weak cry and rolled off me,
still breathing as though she’d run to Sparta and back.
“I’ve never done that.” She laughed and wiped
sweat from her brow. “It was like riding the great horses of Athenos!” She
clasped my sweating hand.
I laughed weakly and squeezed her hand. “I wonder
how it will be with a man.”
“Who knows?” Mara giggled. “But let us swear,
whichever of us is the first to lay with a man will tell the other how it is.”
“And if it is not as nice as this?” I unlaced my
hand from hers and climbed to my feet, feeling a little wobbly and as weak as a
newborn kitten.
Mara stood and embraced me. “We shall always be
near-sisters,” was her only reply.
*** ***
I thought often about that night. Later when I was
alone in my room, I would place my hands between my thighs and try to achieve
the same liquid heat. Without Mara, the flame would not spread. Would this be
the glory between a woman and a man, or a special bond between near-sisters?
I dared not ask my mother.
Indeed, I saw her scarce enough to ask, though of
late she could sometimes be found in Merikos’ chamber, where she stole away
precious moments from her labor to sit cross-legged on the floor and escape
with me through the magic of his words. If the priest minded her presence, he
covered it well, though his words faltered a little when her eyes were upon
him.
So another week passed. After my body had expended
the last of its energy in dance, I promised to meet Mara for the meal and quit
Lukra’s chamber. I bathed quickly and ate with such surprising speed that Mara
raised a brow at my haste. For despite my body’s weariness, I was alive with
the desire to crouch at Merikos’ knee and escape to the past, when gods walked
upon the earth like mortal men. Mara gave me a curious glance as I left the
dining hall.
My mother’s voice emanated from Merikos’ chambers,
as I drew nearer. My heart was glad for she had not attended for many days. I
burst into the chamber.
My mother’s hands were laced with his and her eyes
shone with an emotion I could not define. He dropped her hands at my approach
and scooted the stool for me to sit.
“If you please, Doricha, we will delay our
teachings for a little. Your mother must speak to you.” He bowed and departed
the room, leaving me more than a little confused.
“Dori, I’ve just come from the temple healer….” My
mother began.
“Are you ill?” I cried and jumped up to embrace
her.
“Whist, Dori! Will you think the worst when I have
such news to tell?” She smiled and patted my cheeks with her soft hands. “Do
you remember when I despaired of ever feeling your father’s embrace again?”
I nodded. “I do, but what has this to do with the
healer?”
“I will tell you, if you will hold your tongue. I
may not have your father, but fate has brought him to us, just the same. I am
with child, Dori. His child and the healers prophesy it shall be a boy.”
Her face was alight with life and beauty. “What do you think?”
What did I think?
A boy! My brother, with the strength of my father
and my mother’s heart. I thought of the great love Orpheus held for Eurydice
and how my father had planted his seed within my mother’s womb that final day,
to remind her of his love for us.
“We are blessed by the gods!” I threw myself into
her embrace. She laughed, then. I knelt, pressed my face to her center, and
whispered to the babe growing there. And that is how Merikos found us, when he
returned, with my mother laughing and crying at the same time and me trying to
speak to her soul.
My brother, her soul. As her body swelled, so did
our anticipation for him. Merikos spoke to the ktístai , and
offered to sponsor the boy until he was old enough to follow the path
desire.
Faster and faster, our hips bucked until stars
exploded behind my eyes. I stopped, my body rigid with release, but Mara
continued for a few more thrusts until she gave a weak cry and rolled off me,
still breathing as though she’d run to Sparta and back.
“I’ve never done that.” She laughed and wiped
sweat from her brow. “It was like riding the great horses of Athenos!” She
clasped my sweating hand.
I laughed weakly and squeezed her hand. “I wonder
how it will be with a man.”
“Who knows?” Mara giggled. “But let us swear,
whichever of us is the first to lay with a man will tell the other how it is.”
“And if it is not as nice as this?” I unlaced my
hand from hers and climbed to my feet, feeling a little wobbly and as weak as a
newborn kitten.
Mara stood and embraced me. “We shall always be
near-sisters,” was her only reply.
*** ***
I thought often about that night. Later when I was
alone in my room, I would place my hands between my thighs and try to achieve
the same liquid heat. Without Mara, the flame would not spread. Would this be
the glory between a woman and a man, or a special bond between near-sisters?
I dared not ask my mother.
Indeed, I saw her scarce enough to ask, though of
late she could sometimes be found in Merikos’ chamber, where she stole away
precious moments from her labor to sit cross-legged on the floor and escape
with me through the magic of his words. If the priest minded her presence, he
covered it well, though his words faltered a little when her eyes were upon
him.
So another week passed. After my body had expended
the last of its energy in dance, I promised to meet Mara for the meal and quit
Lukra’s chamber. I bathed quickly and ate with such surprising speed that Mara
raised a brow at my haste. For despite my body’s weariness, I was alive with
the desire to crouch at Merikos’ knee and escape to the past, when gods walked
upon the earth like mortal men. Mara gave me a curious glance as I left the
dining hall.
My mother’s voice emanated from Merikos’ chambers,
as I drew nearer. My heart was glad for she had not attended for many days. I
burst into the chamber.
My mother’s hands were laced with his and her eyes
shone with an emotion I could not define. He dropped her hands at my approach
and scooted the stool for me to sit.
“If you please, Doricha, we will delay our
teachings for a little. Your mother must speak to you.” He bowed and departed
the room, leaving me more than a little confused.
“Dori, I’ve just come from the temple healer….” My
mother began.
“Are you ill?” I cried and jumped up to embrace
her.
“Whist, Dori! Will you think the worst when I have
such news to tell?” She smiled and patted my cheeks with her soft hands. “Do
you remember when I despaired of ever feeling your father’s embrace again?”
I nodded. “I do, but what has this to do with the
healer?”
“I will tell you, if you will hold your tongue. I
may not have your father, but fate has brought him to us, just the same. I am
with child, Dori. His child and the healers prophesy it shall be a boy.”
Her face was alight with life and beauty. “What do you think?”
What did I think?
A boy! My brother, with the strength of my father
and my mother’s heart. I thought of the great love Orpheus held for Eurydice
and how my father had planted his seed within my mother’s womb that final day,
to remind her of his love for us.
“We are blessed by the gods!” I threw myself into
her embrace. She laughed, then. I knelt, pressed my face to her center, and
whispered to the babe growing there. And that is how Merikos found us, when he
returned, with my mother laughing and crying at the same time and me trying to
speak to her soul.
My brother, her soul. As her body swelled, so did
our anticipation for him. Merikos spoke to the ktístai , and
offered to sponsor the boy until he was old enough to follow the path
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