Mara - The Lady Grief (Completed)

27 The Children

2651 B.C.E., City of Tmari-on-the-Euphrates

Late Fall, Month of Arahsamnu, One Year and Eight Months after Mara's Rebirth

Mara

Somehow, I am unsurprised to see the blue-eyed beauty before me. No one really comes visiting at the death temple. I can't blame them, the burials and mausoleums must be off-putting. My gargoyles don't help. Lately they've been standing at their posts, glaring down at all who pass into the halls of the temple.

Even Tafia and Sera prefer that I visit them in their new home. And, all the the Mother priestesses I am friends with are hesitant to visit me. Instead they invite death into their temple.

I thought that I needed, we needed, a relaxing day, so I accepting Priestess Deanna's standing invitation to picnic along the bonfires they have lit at the riverbanks. Soon winter will end this sport, so I came.

And she has come as well.

"Hello, Lady Anthea," I greet her smoothly. Tafia is staring at the lady with narrowed eyes, but Sera looks distinctly uncomfortable. So, some of her loyalty rests with her cousin, still. Even after everything the Fourth House tried to do to her.

Her eyes study me. I went without my veil today. My hair is braided tight against my head then flowing down my back. Poppy likes it, calling me a 'princess,' so Postite Farso did her hair the same way.

I wonder if Anthea recognizes me as Parijan?

What am I saying? Of course she doesn't. I look very different from the gangly child I was over a year ago and that child died, supposedly.

"Hello, Priestess," she greets me in return. Only the stiffness of her posture gives away her nerves.

I already know what she is here for. She will plead with me to let Thelios go. Female to female, she will tell me that I am the thief, the adulteress stealing away a bonded husband and father from his family. Sera may be sympathetic to Anthea, especially seeing as how she is a single mother of two small children.

But, I see no signs of grief in her soul... Because she thinks that Thelios is Thane? Or because she doesn't mourn her bonded, even when so little time has passed since he disappeared?

I decide to take away her power quickly, just as she once took mine. "You are here about Thelios," I say, taking a sip of the tea in front of me.

She hesitates. I can sense the readiness in Tafia, even without her cat. She is not fond of Lady Anthea. Mishu and Mushu have stopped stealing treats from the buffet table and are baring their sharp, pointed teeth, coming closer to the lady.

Momo sniffs her and falls over. My lips twitch. Lady Anthea probably does smell bad.

"Shall we walk?" I ask her. She nods, and I take us away from our audience with my gargoyles trailing after us. I walk in the opposite direction of where I know Thelios and Poppy are. I hate the idea of Anthea's eyes on my male.

The visit from the First House ladies has poisoned both of us. I forget, sometimes, how terribly Thelios feels with no memories. He is usually so confident that I forget that he doesn't remember his own past.

"He is my bonded," she says finally.

He is yours

I regard her carefully, looking for the lie, for the nerves. Thelios has no Bond-mark. His tattoos are all of the Recondite and me, none exist to show that he was ever claimed. His skin was wiped clean by the death god.