PELAIR. The Gems of the Golden Serpent.

16. The Ceremony of Noor

The full moon nearly approached its zenith. Its radiant glow lit like a small white sun, the serene bay that, penetrating from the sea, washed the foot of the mountains of Tricia. A gentle wind from the north favored the lifting of small ripples on the water that trapped flashes of light from the moon, creating the illusion of thousands of restless silverfishes leaping over the calm waters.

The warmer climate announced that winter was already giving way to spring. The port of Tricia was at the intersection where the warm winds of the Abyssinian Sea caressed the northern coasts of Pelair for most of the year, propitiating a climate of eternal spring.

The expectant congregation of devotees waited in agonizing silence for the peak of the zenith. Facing them on a flat promontory of sand that penetrated the sea, several women utterly naked in the process of birth-giving lay on beds of mats specially fitted for this purpose, waiting for their labor to start. Many maidens from the court of Noor ably directed by a group of priestesses attended the births giving women.

Occasionally a woman emitted a howl at breaking waters, starting her exhausting work of bringing a new being into the world. However, everyone knew that that newborn was not the chosen one.

A few clusters of clouds crossed over, at times overshadowing the moon representing the Goddess Noor, spreading playful shadows over the surface and threatening to tarnish the ceremony with their shade. However, the Goddess fought these rebel saboteurs to end prevailing. It was her night, and nothing would interfere.

A girl should be born just at the precise moment the moon reached its zenith, to bring back prosperity and peace to the kingdom. The court of Noor would immediately adopt the girl, who would be trained and have a place ensured among the elite of priestess of the cult of the Goddess. All boys and girls born before or after the peak received a unique charm, which would ensure them a life of fulfillment. That was the reward for choosing to be born on the night of Noor.

"It seems that our hastened efforts to arrive here were in vain," commented Rinna, seeing the dismissed High Priestess from the congregation of Magyar, celebrating the rite of the offering to the Goddess.

Another baby broke into a bawl, showing her pain and frustration at not being the chosen. The crowd waited expectantly with their heads upward facing the moon, and their hands extended. Little else they could do.

Suddenly, the Goddess executed her final move to take her place of honor at the center of the celestial vault. Her bright face wasted light and beauty. However, no weeping came. The familiar sound of a baby crying to announce her long-awaited wail didn't happen this time. Little by little, a murmur of regret and disappointment began to emerge among the large crowd. The seconds became minutes. Even after they had had several years without having the fortune of welcoming a baby within Noor, there had never passed more than a minute in hearing the crying. At least this suggested that not all was wrong.

The last time the Goddess had given them, the joy of welcoming in her womb her beloved representative in the world of the living had happened eighteen years ago, when Princess Enora, Prince Axel's consort, and heir the throne had given birth to the chosen of Noor. There were no known written records in the kingdom that the candidate to be the Supreme Priestess of the cult of Mother Noor was as well the beloved heiress to the throne of Terrara. The abduction of Princess Aelanis at the ceremony of her offering to the Goddess changed everything. As in answer to that dreadful event, the war had installed on the borders of the kingdom.

"Let's go! proposed Rinna to her pupil. "If Elizia is here, there isn't much we can do for now. We still have Queen Miralia as our last hope," she said.