Chapter Two

 

Squaring her shoulders as she approached the community meeting house; Starria took a deep cleansing breath, as she reached out to take a hold of the door, once her eyes and focusing on her aura, cleansing and strengthening it she allowed her consciousness to slip out around her sensing everything. Taking another deep breath she drank in the natural energy surrounding her. She used the peaceful energy to ground and center herself reaffirming her connection with Mother Earth so that she could efficiently carry out the work at hand.

            On another deep breath she pushed open the door and stepped in. The dim interior of the meeting house was warmed by candles lining the walls, and a fire crackled in the center of the room, the flames barely reaching the top of the six foot deep pit. Overall

 The area was warm and inviting a light scent of herbs and incense wafted on the breeze she had created. The four other Council Elders greeted her as she entered their gently murmured “Merry Meet”s instantly relaxed Starria and relieved her tension and anxiety.

            The New comers sat near the fire their store bought clothes tattered and smudged with dirt. Starria looked them over consciously blocking out their emotions, in order to assess their physical well being before addressing the emotional and spiritual issues.

            Before her sat three people all in states of dishabille, looking tired and disheveled, she looked them over carefully. The one male looked to be in his thirties and wore the tattered remnants of an expensive business suit, the tie no longer in existence, the collar dingy and torn; his hair was grown out as was his beard. He looked as if he had went straight from the corporate office into a jungle and been thrown into a jungle and after fighting survival he had ended up here.

            There were scratches on his arms and face but no other apparent injuries and so after a quick mental list of things he would need: a shirt and pants and some shoes, a few good meals and some ointment for the scratches and a good night’s sleep should help with his state, she thought that was all, so she could move on.

            Starria’s gaze moved onto the next new comer; a young woman about twenty years old, her hair was pulled back but strands had come loose, and stuck out wildly around her head. Her blouse and slacks were extremely torn, the blouse being tied together, there were no shoes visible, and her slacks were ripped up the sides to the hip, hanging in loose ineffective tatters over her legs. Bruises covered her arms and legs and face, included a black eye and a very long scratch down her cheek and one arm looked as if it had been burned, the scarring a rippled mass stretching from wrist to elbow on the left. The young woman looked very malnourished. Starria made a checklist; clothes, food, poultice, salves a bath and a bed.

            Starria’s gaze drifted to the last new comer; an older female, she looked to be in her late fifties to early sixties, her hair which had gone grey was worn out to chin length, cracked glasses perched on her nose. Her skin hung loosely on her thin frame, her eyes surrounded by dark circles. Her complexion was pale and papery having a slightly yellowish tinge; it bespake of internal illness that seemed only to have this tinting as it’s only outwardly symptom. Despite her fragile appearance there was a steely glint of determination in her soft grey eyes. Though her clothes were tattered and dirt spattered; she showed the signs of care that the other two had taken in her; which also seemed to explain some of the injuries the other two sustained. Starria made another mental list: clothes food, bath, and energy healers consult and treatment, and a place where someone could care for her.

            All three new comers fidgeted nervously and clutched their bags to them, after all they were the only possessions they had in the world so for a little while no matter how ridiculous the item it was it would be precious. They were unsure of their position and not relaxed yet at all. Starria felt for them it was a tough place to be; unsure if this village was friendly or not. As well as being unsure of where they stood in the grand scheme of things and questioning what was to come next.

            She nodded to the other four Council Elders to join her in the corner to conference. There was a council member for each element and each was very closely associated with their element. Leben was the priest of Fire, Ortzi the priest of Air, Kumari who was the beautiful ebony priestess of Water, and Malini an exotic priestess of Earth, not counting Starria herself who was the priestess of Spirit or as they termed it Akasha. They had all studied under the founders of this particular village and had taken on the responsibility of the well being of its inhabitants and of keeping up the traditions and teachings of the Peacemaker Founders.

            “Well what do you think?” Ortzi asked, his deep baritone slightly accented his clipped direct words.

            “I only looked at physical needs right now. Just taking care of that will be some work. It’s been thirty nine moon cycles since the last newcomers; we’re a little out of practice. Let’s Welcome them and see to physical needs then reconvene before beginning adjustment. Let’s put them at ease first.” Starria replied trying to impress upon the other council members her concern and anxiety about going through the adjustment process with these three people.

            Kumari with her dark eyes, curly chocolate hair and deep brown complexion that bespoke her long ago African Heritage leaned forward. “You’re right we do need to prepare and we all need to remember how difficult it is on the person we are guiding as well as ourselves. I think this is the best course we can take; I agree with Starria.” Her voice flowed on the air; its lilting tone carried the distinctive sound of the islands where she had come from.

            “But Adjustment must be done quickly before they get a chance to interact with anyone else! They could contaminate others, we must remember they are a threat until they are adjusted and we have a responsibility to everyone in this community.” Leben said forcefully, being priest of Fire he was always overly passionate about his responsibilities and the folks that he cared for.

            “That’s true, Leben, but we can’t stress the new comers too much without taking care of their physical health first. If they are ill that would never do; after all you know that it can transfer during adjustment. If they need medical attention they will never make it through adjustment either and we now have a responsibility to them as well.” Weighed in Ortzi, his airy logic breezing through to dampen the passion and vehemence with which Leben stood his ground.

            “I agree with Starria,”murmured Malini her soft gentle tone bringing the image of green grass growing on a hillside undisturbed and peaceful.” Medical needs are the immediate concern; we have to think of the health of the community as well as their spiritual needs and we all know that disease can be fatal and spread through a village and decimate it. I don’t think any of us want to see this village destroyed whether be through disease or spiritual contamination. We must think of all the concerns that we have in front of us and take the safest course.” Malini spoke gently and confidently in her knowledge and as she finished all council members were nodding at the logic of her statement, and it was agreed that health concerns would be taken care of first.

            “Okay, it’s agreed then, we will have to designate healers; the older female definitely needs an energy healer and one of the doctors here to look her over since she has the major health concern. So shall we welcome them and begin the process?” Starria said looking around for the nods of agreement which she saw readily given to her.

 

Reviews

[Christopher 'Windstorm'..]

ok, being a druid i must confess that it sounds like we are going down the same path here in the story that we have been going down since the age of religion, religious fear... we must make you like us... well i don't believe a person should be forced, it is a personal chioce and it should reflect that thru all of the pagan comunity. it is an awsome story and i look forward to reading more but it needs to be a little more open minded or we end up sounding like the christians the burnt many of us at the stake, including the false ones, even tho' i understand this is fiction, you bias should be left out so someone reading this doesn't get the wrong idea. its peace we seek, not more harassment.

awsome story tho'
bb
windstorm