Day 2 | Evening | Sacred Lore

[Kannon]

The Old Mother had gestured for Kiran to remain when the others were leaving, Efren with the Young Mother, Hadrian and Laila with their 'birds of a feather' chaperones.

"Aylonit. We had them once. Only Mothers now."

[Kiran Alsahar]

Kiran remains as they were, knelt in front of her with their loose garment over the tighter swimming-friendly one pooling around them. They dipped their head. "What changed?"

[Kannon]

"The spirits stopped sending them to us. That was the will of God."

The Old Mother reached for a small bundle of dried barra.

"Will you commune with me, aylonit of the sea?"

[Kiran Alsahar]

"I see..." They dipped their head. "It would be my honor to commune with you, Old Mother." They closed their eyes. "Let us open ourselves to the song of the spirits."

[Kannon]

A trill. A brazier was lit and the ferns were cast into it. The smoke started to fill in the room ever so slowly. It started with a familiar tinge, but what followed tended toward non-familiar each time, as the minds one communed with were never the same.

[...]

Qi Ran found themselves on a moderately forested mountain slope from which a panorama on the jungle extended as far as eyes could see. Next to them, there sat a young, smiling woman in a headpiece just like the ones the other people in the village were wearing.

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"In ancient times, the whole world was God's. We were in their garden and we were the garden, to be seeded and harvested by God. But we understood little and when offworlders came, we were lost. We succumbed, we retreated, we forgot. Until the Wise Mothers came."

[Kiran Alsahar]

Qi Ran breathed slowly, evenly, deeply as the smoke spread, as they had learned from early on. They allowed themselves to just be, open to their communion.

As she spoke, they nodded, simply listening for now.

[Kannon]

"The Wise Mothers came to live among us. They taught us how to live in peace with God and in harmony with their garden. They taught us about the spirits and the mystical ways. They taught us how to hear the voices from the outer world but to keep our ways. And they left, as every outer voice must. But since they left we have had our Mothers. The Old, and the Young to succeed her."

[Kiran Alsahar]

"I see..." Kiran said softly, looking out over the panorama of the jungle and then back to the Old Mother. "I found myself thinking of that very word when we were traveling. That it feels like a garden here."

[Kannon]

"It is. Our doings are subtle but they make a difference. We cherish all life, but we most cherish the whole life, which is God's."

She touched their arm.

"Every Mother is a gardener. You are a seeker, aylonit of the sea. What do you seek in a garden?"

[Kiran Alsahar]

Kiran considered the question. "I want to end what they're doing to us. And... I think I also hoped to find myself. I feel... restless."

[Kannon]

"God will end it. Open up to do their will."

The Old Mother reassured them.

"Do you know why you are restless?"