honoring those who wear the red sash - past, now and forever |
honoring those who wear the red sash - past, now and forever |
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The Dance 01/13/2005 Tuesday night, I awoke in the middle of the night around 3 or 4 am. I heard music. At first, I thought it was some car at the stop light with woofers in the trunk playing some kind of rap music, but as I awakened further, I realized it wasn't because no one else sleeping in the house was bothered by it. My eyes got really big as I thought, "I KNOW THOSE DRUMS!" The rhythm was unmistakable, and LOUD. I looked up and there above me, superimposed on the wall behind my bed, was the window that's over Torlinque's bed, the strings of rain beads tinkling in the breeze. I thought,"WTH?" Then I looked down and his brown fur coverlet was superimposed over my white comforter printed with violets. It was then I realized I was bi-locating. Go me!No one else was in Torlinque's room but me. I left my physical body on this plane where it was in my bed, but got up out of his bed there. As I did, that plane became more and more solid until I was all the way there rather than bi-locating. I followed the sound of the drums, walking out of the room, down the hallway, through the Great Hall and out into the yard. I saw what I expected to. They had lit the fires. Whoohoo! PAR-TAY! People were already dancing, but the drummers were still playing the "Y'all come on, the fire is lit!" opening rhythm. Good! They were just getting started! I started to look for Torlinque. I found him quickly, but didn't see Tolirion. Torlinque was standing still at the edge of the group in full uniform, arms folded, watching everyone. His back was to me, and he didn't see me. I realized he had unwittingly pulled me into that plane partially by thinking about me, but hadn't realized what he'd done. Quickly, I shifted/Glamoured myself into one of my old Priestess dancing costumes. Then, I pulled as much energy into myself as I could, and dropped my Seeming which usually enables people there besides my Lifemates to see me (shimmering and ghostlike, but still). Heh. Then, I slowly and nonchalantly walked past Torlinque and headed toward the dance platform (stage?) in the middle of the fires. Some of the Maidens were already performing a ring dance up there. Torlinque freaked because he saw what I was wearing and figured out what I intended to do. He immediately ran after me. He had trouble though because several people had gotten in between him and me. "[Soul name]! Stop!" he yelled in my head without saying anything out loud. I did, and turned to look at him, waiting. That's when other people started to notice me. I heard lots of gasps and saw hands go up to cover several mouths. Torlinque was shoving people out of his way. When he reached me, he encircled my waist with both his arms, looked down at me and asked, "What are you doing? I didn't know you were here.", but he was smiling. "You pulled me here. So, I thought I'd come and dance... I haven't in ages. Please?" I said. "I was thinking how much I missed watching your dancing," he said, "but you must let me take you there properly." "All right." I said. So he picked me up and set me on his shoulder. The 'Lesia gets carried a lot, especially for official duties, one of which is dancing at the fires. I held my head high, put my hands in my lap, and crossed my ankles, just like I used to do. When he raised me up like that, the drummers stopped drumming because now they could see me, and everyone stopped dancing. To their minds, they were seeing my ghost, and I could hear them murmuring to each other. Torlinque has told people over and over that he is visited by me, but most people have thought that he's only imagining it as a way to stave off fading from heartbreak and grief over my death. There's been talk. So, HAH! There were a few people who could see me the other day in the Great Hall, but this was a much larger "sighting" of my "ghost". I'm hoping it'll put the rumors to rest already. Torlinque does not lie. Torlinque carried me the last few feet to the stairs and set me down on the bottom one. I climbed them slowly and the Maidens shrank back from me. I Sent to them not to fear me, that I wouldn't harm them, that I'd only come to dance with them as we used to. I didn't recognize some of them, but that's OK. At the top of the stairs, I turned around. I looked at Torlinque, and then he broke my heart. He gave me the regular Adrastai salute and then dropped to one knee, head bowed, hands outstretched and palms turned toward the ground - the Salute of the 'Lesia. It is given by the Adrastai only to the Priestess in recognition of her role in their lives as the one who cleanses them of Death. I could've cried. I think some in the crowd did cry, because as far as I know, there is currently no 'Lesia as I had no children there and therefore no heiress. The Maidens do the best they can now without the position being filled. Maidens do have the power to cleanse, but only under the authority of the 'Lesia. Torlinque tells me that most of the Adrastai will give the Salute of the Priestess to them after a cleansing, but that he has always refused to do so. The people in the village know this. To see him give it to me then at the base of those stairs made a big impression in their minds I think. When he stood up, I nodded my head slowly at him and made the gesture of blessing, which is the traditional answer. He had tears in his eyes and I'm pretty sure I did too. It was both sad and joyful at the same time. Then he raised his hand above his head to signal the drummers and they began again, turning away as he did so, hair hiding his face. I turned back around and the Maidens let me into their ring. We held hands and danced. The next dance was mine alone however, and it felt really good to be up there again. When I stepped down off the platform, Tolirion was waiting for me. "That was amazing!" he said. "Everyone is talking about you. Someone ran and came and found me." "Where is Torlinque?" I asked him. "I'm here." he said, stepping out of the shadows. He had gone in and changed clothes and was now shirtless, wearing only his indigo bead encrusted dance pants, boots, a dancing chain/belt with beads and little bells on it, and of course his fakhai'n. He had repainted his eyes too. I sucked in my breath when I saw him because he looked gorgeous. Tolirion said, "Here..." and took off his own hair clips and put them on Torlinque, saying "That's better. Now your hair won't hang in your face when you're up there." I hadn't realized that the Adrastai had planned a dance for that night. I thought Torlinque was on duty, but in fact he'd just come off duty and hadn't had a chance to change yet. We three hung out near the wall of the house at the edge of the crowd for the next 3 dances. I had my back to Tolirion and was leaning on him. He had his arms around me, and Torlinque was standing next to us. Then it was Torlinque's turn and 5 or 6 other similarly dressed Adrastai came for him. They would all dance together, very dangerous with 10 or 12 fakhai'n flying around at once. "Dance well, Love." I said. He gave me a quick kiss and then went to join his mates. It was spectacular. There was lots of spinning and even some juggling of the fakhai'n. They were doing kicks and back flips, really showing off. It's good for the people to see them. Most people don't ever come down to the practice field and have no idea what goes into what they do. They see them walking around or riding off on patrols, but really don't get to see much of their skills during their daily routines. My boys rock, and the world should know it. It was about then that I was jolted rather sharply back to the physical plane by a noise there. After that, I only got flashes of them finishing their dance and a couple other dances. Then this body fell asleep again. That was the first time I've been to Sarna when the fires were lit since I was actually incarnate there.
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