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 Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 11:24 pm
Betha wiped sweat from her brow and sighed. Kishara, as she had learned to call her, was surviving. Not just barely either, though she was terribly weak and exhuasted. Betha was doing all she could to keep her comfortable and provided for. They had had to change the bandages twice over the night and once more today, but the bleeding had eased up dramatically. Any mortal would have long since perished. It was their good fortune she was such a strong diety.
Finally the goddess was sleeping quietly, a healing sleep that was good for her rather than the passed out state they'd found her in. It gave Betha the chance to take a break and clean herself up. She'd crept off and found herself a rather stunning bathroom just down the hall, out of the cramped quarters of Rio's room.
She had simply sat for a time, trying to catch up with herself. So much had happened in the last... what, two days? She couldn't keep track anymore. Perhaps it had been less. Tiredly she rubbed a hand across her eyes. The hand was clean, but the face was not. It was time to put herself to rights again.
She drew herself a hot bath and stripped to the skin, carefully laying out her clothing so that she could wash it when she herself was clean again. Then she clambered into the huge tub that was clearly meant for much bigger bodies than herself. In fact, leaning back against the sloping end of the tub, she had to be careful not to slide down entirely under the water when she relaxed.
For relax she did. The hot water turned her skin bright pink, but it felt wonderous. How many hundreds of years had it been since she'd last soaked in a hot bath? The thought of her family, her parents and siblings, their home, their lands, brought the sting of tears to her eyes. Unashamed, she let them come, dripping salt water to join the healing waters of her soak.
But as she cried quietly for loved ones long gone, a sense of gentle and understanding warmth rippled through her mind. Closing her eyes, Betha attempted to touch those mental ripples of comfort. They stemmed from the source she had suspected, but not quite addressed yet. The shell in her chest throbbed beneath the water, but not painfully. It was the goddess within that was offering her such reassurance.
Was it hard for you? To be so cut off from those you loved?
At first it was, yes. But it wasn't long before I slept too deep for even dreams.
Betha considered this. She had not been so lucky, having been muzzily aware of the world about her in the limited fashion of a tree. However, as long as she had been thus trapped, she had not been there nearly so long, she suspected, as this one within her had.
I'm sorry. That is a lot to endure, so long being bound and asleep. I know some of what it was like.
Strangely, she was reluctant, almost shy, to share her own ordeal with this newcomer to her mind. It seemed somehow irreverant to compare her own trials to that of this diety.
Do not fret, my hostess. I understand, even if I'm still foggy with the sleep of untold years.
Again, Betha felt those ripples of comfort, realizing it was a form of embrace from the being that had no body as yet to offer embrace with. It struck her profoundly at that moment that this was what Betha herself was offering her. Dazed anda bit awed by the choice she'd made to swiftly, the tea troll breathed deep the steamy air and tried to relax herself again. She was finding it easier to talk with the one she hosted when her body and mind were at ease.
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 6:02 pm
My apologies, but talking with you now, I am realizing how very little I know about you. Please... what is your name? Tell me who you are?
Betha didn't find it odd at all to be talking to a disembodied voice from within her mind. Even through her years as a tree, she had always been solid mentally, so she had no worries that she had lost her mind and not known it. Besides that, this sensation of someone else had coincided with the implantation of the shell-stone.
It struck her as amusing that this hadn't yet come up, but she supposed it was natural. Things had happened so quickly and intensely since their joining that they really hadn't had a chance to get to know one another.
Forgive my lapse. All that time sleeping must have dulled my wits. Let us start again. I am Jenga, Flippant Wit and goddess of Play. I thank you for willingly accepting me, though you must know some things, for I will not hide them from you.
First and foremost, you must realize... when I am reborn through your body, you will cease to exist. By welcoming me, you have chosen to give your life completely to me, quite literally.
She paused, gauging her host's reaction. This woman seemed solid and steady, so she doubted there would be hysterics or panic, but even so, facing one's end could be frightening.
Betha felt the odd urge to somehow curtsey to the goddess as she might to official and important Big Folk. Being submerged in hot bath water, however, the notion of doing so seemed hilarious, and she raised a dripping hand to her lips to stifle a rising giggle.
I greet you, Jenga of Play. I am Betha, a school-teacher and daughter of the most wonderful of farmers.
Her inner voice carried the tinge of laughter she hadn't quite let go of, and though her eyes were closed against the harsh bathroom lighting, a smile curved still on her face. Little did she realize that at that moment, with such divine amusement glowing from her face, with straggling strands of cyan hair framing her rounded cheeks, she was a thing of beauty. Not that there was anyone there to appreciate it, but it was a singular moment of perfection that extended beyond what she was aware.
Jenga's warning, however, sobered her. The smiled melted away as the tea troll set teeth into the inside of her lower lip.
I had suspected as much. Great glory borne on the wings of the giving of others requires great sacrifice on someone's part. This time, I am that someone. I accept that.
Her tone did not belie the statement, though it was heavily traught with sadness and heaviness of heart. But there was more the diety needed to know about why Betha was able to do this so calmly.
You see, I have noone in the world any more. Perhaps my people still exist, but they must be far away from here by now. My village was overrun by the Big Folk, my relatives long ago have died. There is naught for me in this world anymore. Thus it makes sense to give that life to you, so that you may thrive and grow strong. My time is past. That knowledge is ever a shadow in my heart.
Such sadness! It drove Jenga to wish to create as much happiness for her hostess as she could. Time enough for that, though.
It is an honor. Thank you, Betha. For now... let us regain our strength. There is much changing and much to be done.
And all Betha could think to add to that was a rather wry, "Isn't that the truth!" aloud before tending to the matter of getting herself clean.
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