The Holy Kamagishi, High Priestess of Galt, Healing Shrine of Mugash

Thank Galt that Aylem arrived to cast stasis on my mother before Twipdray wore out. Twipdray had been making my mother’s lungs breathe and her heart pump for more than a half bell. I was giving her my magic power toward the end as she became more and more fatigued.

Carried by Priestess Kibbilpos, Priestess Kayseo arrived with help. She organized some healers to take Twipdray to her quarters and to put her to bed. She said the Revered Twipdray would likely sleep for most of tomorrow, which means she pushed herself almost too far to save my mother. I owe that healer more than she can know.

Young Kayseo assured me that my mother would be fine, especially since I was one of the donors of blood for her. I wanted to donate it all but Kayseo lectured me on how much blood was in a body and how it would hurt my health to remove more than a fifth of it. I’m still amazed at how authoritative and persuasive Kayseo is at just sixteen. I wonder what she’ll be like when she grows up. I can see why Lisaykos thinks so highly of the girl.

Thuorfosi brought me some dinner because I did not want to leave my mother’s side. I stayed with my mother because I didn’t want her to wake up alone after being wounded like that. To kill time, I started making notes for my journal as a high priestess, a duty expected of every member of the convocation, but I fell asleep in my chair.

I woke up to someone tapping me on the knee. When I opened my eyes to the dim light of the night-light charm gem, I saw that it was my mother. When she saw my eyes open, she pointed at the foot of the bed with an expression of fear. I turned my head and nearly jumped out of my skin at the sight of Galt curled up on my mother’s lower legs, looking like a fat fluffy contented tom cat, with his paws tucked in against his chest so they disappeared into his fur and his tail wrapped around. He was semi-transparent but the sight of him still made my hands shake in fear.

* Oh, come now, kitten, * he looked at me with an approving smile, * This is a friendly visit to my favorite high priestess. I just wanted to impart a foretelling. You even have some paper and a pencil to write it down. Aren’t pencils wonderful? Now let’s see, should this be blank verse or rhyming couplets? Yes, let’s do blank verse. *

The god of knowledge and prophecy cleared his mental throat: * Ahem.

Into the night

foes took the prophet.

Among blasphemers

two friends she’ll find:

an orphan with a living mother

exiled wrongly in her own country

and blinded captive mage of water

inside the shrine of Mugash he will see

and then the blessed of Vassu

he will be the fifth.

He will lead the prophet and the healer

through stone and buried brook.

The ire of the gods will sink their captors’ walls

and flood the work of years.

Parted by pursuit

the little one will fall and lost will be.

Her friends will find her friends

while the prophet will walk home.

Yes, yes, I believe that will do nicely. It’s a nice mix of the specific and the cryptic, as these things are supposed to be. Prophecies and foretellings are just riddles, after all, for the edification of one’s worshipers. I’m happy, by the by, that you are on your way to recovery, Mother Lyappis. Your daughter was quite upset that you were in harm’s way.*

Galt nodded to himself, looking content with how things were going, I presumed. Then he looked at the door a breath before it opened and a frowning Aylem, in a nightshirt and housecoat looked in with concern.

* I'm sorry, Jane. I didn't mean to awaken anyone besides Kamagishi. Don’t nag poor Emily about her feet too badly when she gets back. Oh dear, that’s Mugash. Gotta go. See ‘ya. * With that, the cat god vanished.

Aylem stared at the spot where Galt had been sitting on my mother’s legs and then looked at me with a raised eyebrow. She closed the door behind her and touched the light gem to brighten the room.

“Galt called you Jane?” I asked.

"Jane Paxton, that was my name on Earth," Aylem explained. "Emily uses it every now and then, especially when she wants to make a point, get my attention, or remind me that I'm only 52 to her 86 or 87."

“But,” my mother was gaping, “she can’t be more than...” She frowned, brows colliding over her nose, “oh, I should have realized she was much older than she looked, but 87? How old was she when she died on, what was it again? Earth?”

“Emily was 71 when she died on Earth, in a place of care for older people,” Aylem explained. “She had been in a bad car accident and broke her back. She lost the use of her legs. She died four years after that. There was no healing magic on Earth. Deep knowledge and study and incredible potions achieved much, but unlike life here on Erdos, there were no healers to undo damage to nerves. She died at 71, in an epidemic. Her death was terrible,” Aylem shuddered.

“Lisaykos said that Mugash had you experience Emily’s death,” I prompted. Aylem closed her eyes and looked grim, “the infection affected her lungs which failed slowly over time. It took Emily six days to die, drowning in her own congestion that her weakened and failing body could no longer expel.”

I had heard the story before from Lisaykos but I was still horrified. So was my mother.

“That goes a long way to explain that little one’s resilience,” my mother said after a long moment of quiet. I decided it was time to redirect the conversation.

“Aylem, what is a car accident?”

“A car was an earth thing. They were self-propelled metal carts, but they were made so a person sat inside them. They were enclosed like a top on a wagon but sturdier and also made of metal," she frowned. "I'm making a muddle this, aren't I? So, people used cars to travel and to carry goods. They were common, and many people owned them and traveled in them. And when there were a lot of them, like in a city, sometimes they ran into each other. That's what a car accident was. It was like a wagon crash here, except cars were made of metal, so they were much less forgiving. They could go as fast as eagles, so accidents could cause a lot of damage and kill people.”

“That sounds dangerous,” I said without thinking.

“It could be, but most of the time it was helpful and made life easier.

“You may want to read this,” I handed my sewn-paper notebook to Aylem. “It’s the foretelling that Galt just imparted to me. It seems to imply that Emily will be fine and that we should expect two friends of hers to come our way from wherever the Impotuans are holding her captive. It sounds like one of them will be a Chem who is or will become a revelator of Vassu.”

“Gods," Aylem took the notebook from me and read it. "Just like a god," her smile was an exasperated grimace at the same time, "it's confusing, specific, and vague all at the same time. So at least Emily has come to no harm. I'll sleep better knowing that. I swear, I often think the gods do this sort of thing for their own amusement as we try to make sense of such a muddle of confusing mutterings. Don't tell anyone, but I know for certain that some of Tiki's revelations are deliberately designed that way. Emily's revelation from Tiki is a good example of that."

“Then what is the purpose of the revelation itself?” my mother asked, aghast.

"Protection. Tiki recognized the prophet's arrival and took a logical step to protect her from how Cosm society treats the Coyn in Foskos by giving Emily the status of a revelator. I believe the content of the revelation, which was the recipe for constipation medicine was Tiki having fun. The recipe had ingredients which can't be made given our current state of potion making. By using those, he was teasing Emily with her advanced knowledge of making potions and medicines. She got protection and he got amusement. It also kept Emily busy and out of trouble for a time, which considering Emily’s personality, counts as a blessing for us.”

“Well,” I sat back and relaxed a little now that my mother had awakened. I was reassured by the news that Emily would return, “at least we’ll be getting Emily back in one piece. It sounds like her abductors will pay a price for having taken her."

“Yes, indeed,” Aylem smiled humorlessly and handed me back my notebook, “though we must still find her and take her back. So now, I believe I will go back to bed.” She yawned, “I had just fallen asleep when I sensed the disturbance coming from your bedroom, Lyappis. I finished a difficult and drawn-out healing just a little while ago. It took up my entire evening, but it was important because it was Wolkayrs' sister. His family has done so much for this shrine that I had to try to save her. But she will wake up tomorrow, so all is well. I will see you both in the morning.”