The Great Goddess

The First Virgin

By noon, eight days later, a messenger from Javariya, met Avinya and delivered a message. It was from her father, king Rashor.

The message read as follows, "I heard about the new laws that you and king Valeth, has passed in your domain. I am very much disappointed by your actions. I wish you change your interest towards the lower classes and concentrate more on the royals and nobles. If not, sorry to say this my dear, I and my domain will have to support the proposal made by Srila, which I received, this morning, from Tanor, our city administrator."

There is nothing surprising in this message, Avinya knew something like this would happen. Javariyan royal house and the provinces under it are the most traditional of all the Nihariyan capitals. They believe in the superiority of the royals and nobles, they also believe in the myth that the codes give upper classes the right to dominate the lower classes and prohibits the labours and peasants from interpreting and questioning the codes.

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Early morning the very next day, Sandhya left Panishcham, the city of Valeth and Avinya and flew towards Marahim, in her swan form with the platinum ring held in her right claws.
Marahim lies around two hundred and fifty miles east of Panishcham.

Of all the royal cities in the kingdom, Marahim royal house and its provinces are the least traditional and most liberal. The exact opposite to Javariya.

Vihani was alone in her room, standing and looking out of her window, both her hands rested on the window frame. As Sandhya neared the palace, Vihani got extremely exited. She didn't know the cause of it, she didn't even know what was happening within her. It was the same feeling she had two weeks back, but more extreme. She moved back from the window. She walked backwards till she reached the centre of the room, where she stoped moving. She stood there motionless and thoughtless. Then suddenly her body started to shiver, she couldn't stand any more. She sat on the floor. She felt extreme happiness. She wanted to scream, but her jaw bone was motionless. She didn't have the strength to move her mouth. Her shivering increased with time.

Just then, a swan flew straight into her room, through the open window. It flew up towards the roof and circled the room thrice. Then before descending it dropped the ring, and flew downwards faster than the falling ring. Right before its legs touched the floor, it turned into a woman. She caught the falling ring with her right hand. Sandhya stood a yard before Vihani.
It was night by that time, around two hours past sunset.

When Sandhya fully morphed into a woman, Vihani's shivering stopped, she regained her strength. At once she jumped up and hugged Sandhya. She kissed Sandhya's forehead, cheeks and every inch of her face.

At the same time in Panishcham, Valeth and Avinya were in a tight embrace. They were standing on the balcony of Avinya's room, under the moon lit night. Their eyes looked right into the other's. Their lips were only a tiny fraction of an inch apart.

Then Valeth spoke. "Oh My beloved! Oh sweet one! Oh wonderful one! All these days I didn't know that you are a goddess. Will you leave me, when you fully discover yourself?"

He wanted speak more, ask more, but Avinya stopped him. "Shhh, I will always be with you, my dear." Saying this she kissed his lips, a deep kiss.

Lovers use all their senses to communicate with their beloved, they see, they speak, they smell, they touch, they hold, they kiss, at extreme they even taste. So did Avinya and Valeth. And so did Vihani.

Once Vihani relaxed a bit, Sandhya took Vihani's right hand and put on the ring, on her middle finger. Then Sandhya kissed Vihani's forehead and moved her right hand fingers through Vihani's untied hair, from head to waist.

Sandhya spent the next two hours with Vihani. "Where is Javanthi?" asked Sandhya at last.

"Next room, to the left." replied Vihani. Javanthi is Vihani's sister-in-law, her elder brother, prince Norim's wife. She is the daughter of the king of  Varkariya, King Aranth. Marahim royal house is the only one in Nihariya that marries into the royal families of the neighbouring kingdoms. Others marry only within the Nihariyan royality.

Sandhya wanted to meet Javanthi because she is one of the three expert magicians in the kingdom. The other two being Srila and Prince Goridh, son of king Ivanon, of Nihabath. That makes her the ideal person to oppose and compete with Srila both directly and politically.

Javanthi is a master in two branches of magic, namely, ether magic and blood alchemy. Ether magic deals with space and time, in all its forms and all the interactions among them. Srila has mastered wave magic. This branch deals with electromagnetic phenomena and sound. Gorith's mastery is in material magic, which deals with fire, water, air, minerals and organic materials like sugar and alcohol.

Sandhya walked out of Vihani's room, to the central corridor, the place was more familiar to her, because the corridor had an arched roof which resembled the curved features of the cave, and was feminine compared to the masculine rectangular architecture of Panishcham.

A palace guard saw Sandhya entering Javanthi's room, he knew she is neither royal nor noble, because as a guard of the personal chambers of the royal family, he knew all royals and nobles by name and have seen all of them, at least in portraits. It was part of his training.

He also knew that she isn't a maid, as he knew them all too. Even if she is a new maid or someone else authorised to enter the royal chamber, he would have already been informed by the captain of palace guards. So he assumed that she is an intruder and must be stopped from entering the princess' room.

He ran towards the door and pulled Sandhya out and pointed his sword at her neck. Such an incident had never happened before, no one has entered this part of the castle without his knowledge. Out of nervousness he brought the sword too close and injured her. A drop of blood flowed along the blade.

Vihani felt something was bad, she came out of her room and looked around. She saw the guard pointing his sword at Sandhya, then she saw blood, both on the sword and Sandhya's neck. She ran towards the guard and screamed at him. "How dare you injure the goddess!"

Sandhya calmed her. Hearing Vihani's voice, Javanthi came out of her room. As a magician, on seeing Sandhya she knew there's something special about her. "Come in" she invited them into her room and walked into her room. Vihani followed her. Sandhya looked at the guard, he was clueless. She got hold of his right hand and pulled him in with her, once in, she closed the door.

Vihani and Sandhya explained everything to Javanthi. Then Sandhya turned her focus to the guard and said. "My blood on your sword is permanent, use another sword instead of this one, you will need this in future."

Then Sandhya spoke to the ladies. "I should leave now, I must give the rings to the other girls before the union of sun and moon."

"Union of sun and moon?" Vihani asked with confusion.

"Javanthi, why don't you explain her." Sandhya told Javanthi, then took her swan form and flew out of her room.