FULL NOVELXO Wandering (Chapter 8)
Rachel:
Hugging a pregnant woman is like hugging a woman carrying a large beach ball- difficult and kind of funny.
Ava’s small apartment is wild. Four boys running around, making a mess, destroying everything. Yet, I don’t think Ava would have it any other way. It must be hard being a single mother in a foreign land, but somehow she does it all. I can’t help but admire her.
I got permission to leave the temple on my own without an escort after…. after my attack. After crying on the Master Priest, I woke up to knocking on the door to my room alone, only vaguely remembering how I got there. When I finally got my stiff limbs out of bed and answered the door, I was face to face with Priest Fedlam who sternly told me that I had two weeks off and permission to leave the temple.
Usually, permission is only granted after the birth of a priestess’s first child. Then you are allowed to move out of the temple and are afforded various other privileges. I suppose their rationale is that once you have a child your less likely to run or do anything stupid, the well-being of that child now depends on the mother’s cooperation, and they make sure she knows it.
Ava is an excellent mother, I don’t know how she manages four boys by herself but I guess she also doesn’t have much of a choice. We spent the afternoon drinking tea and chatting, I told her about the latest gossip from the temple and my incident, while she told me about her latest visit with her doctor. Her boys ran around the house creating havoc, but it was calming to be in such a normal domestic setting.
“I want you to be there,” Ava says standing in the doorway, patting her enlarged belly. She has decided to wait until I am leaving to ask me to attend the birth of her child and I am sort of excited. This is Ava’s fifth child so I suspect it will go smoothly.
“Of course, I would be happy to help, although don’t you want someone with more experience around births?”
Ava just shakes her head, “the doctors will handle all the hard stuff, I just need someone around to talk to between contractions, maybe give me a sip of water. I’ll send Logan to get you once my contractions start”
“Okay,” I smile. Birth has always fascinated me and it doesn’t seem like I will have children. I remain very much not pregnant after months of working at the temple.
“Alright, I better let you go. Say hi to the girls for me”
“Will do, Bye Ava!”
I head down the street in the direction of the temple. It’s a cold winter walk and my shawl isn’t quite thick enough to keep the wind. I’m lucky that the walk from Ava’s place is only around 20 minutes; I suppose she chose something close to the temple on purpose, and today I am grateful for that.
Maybe I should get myself a warm drink? A shiver of pleasure runs up my spine. On earth I use to grab a latte at the little coffee shop on the corner every morning- sure it added up spending 4 dollars every day of my little income, but it was my little guilty pleasure. And sure I’ve gone out with other priestesses but that was always in a group with an escort. This would be my first time grabbing a drink by myself since I left earth.
As I approach the inner district I pass a few cafes and restaurants. None seem to have takeaway so I press on, I know they have them here, I’ve seen them.
I pass a large white building set back from the street and stop. I can’t help but stare at it for a moment. Two women dressed in thick coats dressed in fine jewelry stand chatting in the dying garden. They hold themselves like noble ladies in a tale of medieval chivalry.
They spot me looking at them. One makes a disgusted face and she says something to her conversation partner who looks at me more with pity. Women like these were on the ship with me. Women like these on earth would’ve come into my little hair salon and we would’ve chatted about their children while I dyed their hair the perfect shade of blond to make it almost believable. But this isn’t earth. They turn away from me and go through the door into the famous Female Center.
That it’s called the female center is misleading, only certain females are welcome there. I imagine the inside is like a large tea room with stuffy red carpets and women sitting around tablecloth-covered tables gossiping about who is wearing last year’s fashion. No, thank you- I don’t need that shit.
I pull my shawl a little tighter around my shoulders. Maybe I’ll just head back to the temple and have something warm there.
As I approach one of the many squares, I see a familiar figure on the far side. It’s the Master Priest standing by himself.
I think I will pretend that I didn’t see him and just make my way back to the temple and I take a few steps in the direction. Ugh, no the mature thing to do would be to thank him for… well for dealing with the incident. He’s probably the one who gave me permission to leave the temple too.
I change direction and head towards the Master Priest.
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Heather