Bard's Tale 01 - The Beginning

"The sexual instruction portion is ten days. And there is no official prayer during the instruction time, other than the usual exclamations one hears when they orgasm."

Mindal looked at her two sisters -- Tahna, who looked as she'd been poleaxed from behind, and Tia, who incredibly, seemed to be going along with Reison's outlandish idea to court all three of them.

She hadn't expected that from him, but mulled the idea over. Could she, would she share him? Reison Whisper Wind was proving to be full of surprises. The look Tia had made her re-think things. She shrugged. Maybe it would work.

"That sounds... interesting," he said. "And once I've done this rite of yours, what then?"

Tia smiled. "Well, then Reison Whisper Wind, once you have completed your training and you decide that you still want us, we'll honor your Irish ways. You'll bed us and we become your wives for a year and a day. If we last that long together, we'll decide whether we want to continue or part ways at that time. Oh, another rule, and this is for us as well as for you. That there never be pressure to convert, and there will be no condemnation or blanket criticism of the other's beliefs. If we discuss religion, ours, yours, or someone else's, we do so respectfully."

"A remarkable offer. All right," he agreed. "It's agreed. Respect each other's faith. No sex until I do your rite. When I'm done, if we're still of a mind, we get married, me to each of you." Pulling his hand from Mindal's grip, he folded his arms.

Mindal gave Tia an odd, thoughtful look.

"We've just agreed to your stated desire, yet you don't seem overly enthusiastic, Reison. Why?" Tia asked.

"Trust me, I'm overjoyed at the turn of events," he replied. "But I also see that the decision isn't unanimous, and even Mindal here is perhaps needing some time to think things over. I think it best if I leave now so that you and Lady Tahna can speak in private. Good night." He left, and Mindal hurried after him.

Tahna whirled on Tia. "Tia? Marriage? Have you taken complete leave of your senses? No, rather -- are you fucking crazy? Without asking me first? I mean, how could you? I'm your sister! You want me to be his wife? That means I have to... spread my legs and let him put... Ugh! I don't even know if I like him, let alone want him to touch me! And you want me to let him inside me? You've tested me before, Tia, but this fucking blows everything else to kingdom come!"

"Go ahead. I can cast circle of privacy. Then you can yell and scream at me and no one will hear our conversation. When you are ready to listen, I'll tell you why." Tia quickly cast the spell, then entered the tent, clearing her mind for evening prayers.

Tahna followed right behind her, sitting down across from her. "Tia, I trust you. I haven't always understood why you've done things over the years, but you are a high priestess, an agent of the Lawgiver. My role is to protect you, and to serve as you command. I know that you love me and you love Mindal."

"I'm glad you're ready to talk." Tia looked away. "As you say, I am a high priestess. Thankfully, we've been allowed to remain together. But I always know, too, that the Lawgiver might one day ask us to give our lives, for the greater good as She sees it. I believe She loves us, and has a greater plan than we can see. When we started our journey, all three of us felt an emptiness, a lack within ourselves. The routine of our lives has helped many thousands of people who have crossed our paths over the years. We have done good things. Things to be proud of! But for ourselves, we've set aside nothing but our own company. Our home belongs to our parents, not to us. And year by year, we return like wayward children."

"Are you feeling regret, Tia?"

"No. Maybe. I don't know. But like Mindal says, we can no longer continue as we have been. He is a crossroads for us. You heard the change in Mindal, in her singing."

"So let him sleep with Mindal. She is obviously planning to do so anyway. But why us, too?"

She just looked at Tahna.

"You... actually love him? You've barely had a single conversation together. You've known him only a handful of days."

"I don't know why or how, but when I saw him at Ayerdine's Crossing, something happened. Each time he looks at me, my heart beats fast. I hunger to feel his arms around me, his lips on mine. I want him, Tahna. But I also want to do right by you and Mindal."

"Has that ever happened to you before?"

Tia shook her head. "I've never felt this way before. With anyone."

Tahna sighed. "Okay, so you want to jump him. Mindal obviously feels the same way. But why include me, Tia? I mean, you just gave me to him, like I had no say in the matter. Free choice is integral to our faith. Are you so used to having me do for you that you took my assent for granted? Sex is personal, for fuck's sake! You had no right, not as my sister or as a priestess to commit me to a marriage without my consent."

"You're right, Tahna. But I did it because of our faith in Her." Tia took a breath. "When we set out, I prayed for a solution to our heartache, for such I believe it to be. I heard nothing back, so I placed us into Her loving hands, trusting in Her divine will. Yes, Mindal and I are both taken with him. And his honesty provides us the solution."

"What about me, Tia? A little thing called consent?"

"I have until he completes the rite to convince you."

"Fuck this, Tia! I don't want to be convinced. You know I'm still in love with Lysandra."

"I've suspected. You don't talk about your heart very much, my sweet sister. She's been gone more than twenty years--"

"Twenty-one," Tahna snapped. "Seven months, and sixteen days."

"All right. Twenty one years. And how long were you living with her? Seven months?"

"Why does Silmodan get to grieve for years, but I can't?" Tears began to spill from her eyes. "How does that work? Who gets to decide how much I love? Do we respect him because he's a man? Or is it because I fell in love with a woman?"

"No, dear heart. But you know what I can do. And you were there when I asked the angels of the Lawgiver about Lysandra. The answer was the same for each of the four years we asked. 'That path is closed.' And the fourth time I was directly told to stop asking."

"It doesn't mean she's dead! It doesn't!" Tahna's face puffed up, and her eyes reddened. "She was a good woman, Tia! She helped me track and kill a drow knight who was kidnapping human children and carrying them off to wretched slavery or foul death in the underdark. Once Lysandra heard why I was after him, she did everything to help. I loved her, Tia, and I... I was happy with her. I miss her so much."

Reaching over, Tia drew her in, and Tahna sobbed out her grief anew.

Perhaps it was the silence, for they'd paid good gold to the temple of Hecate, Lysandra's goddess, in an attempt to determine what had happened. That response had been even more dire, that Lysandra was now cursed by her own goddess.

Rocking slowly, Tia ran her hands over her sister's back, doing her best to offer comfort. As Tahna cried herself to sleep, every so often Tia murmured, "I love you, Tahna. I always will." Touching her pendant, she cast restful sleep on her sister.

* * * * *

The next day, Tahna insisted that Robert and John not ride inside the carriage, and Tia nodded her agreement.

For the two days of travel remaining, the three sisters and Reison rode inside the carriage. Most of the first day, it was Mindal and Reison doing the talking.

They talked about things they liked, some of the things they'd seen or done together, and inevitably, the sisters talked about their huge family.

"What about your family, Reison?" Tia asked.

"It's just my parents and I now. They plan to stay in Wood Haven for awhile, in case I want to visit. I do I know that eventually they want to return to Harlindon, and my father wants to command a ship again."

Tia was content to let Mindal be the center with him, but she noticed the phrasing of his answer. That there had been more than three. Later, she promised herself.

"Have you ever sailed yourself?" Mindal asked.

"No. I'm curious about it, of course. When I was growing up, some of his crew visited us. I think they were trying to persuade him to return to sea. That was when I was ten? No, eleven. Not important."

"But it is, Reison. To get along, we need to know each other. Become friends as well as lovers."

"That makes sense," he agreed. "I don't know if my parents are friends so much as my father is so much older. Mother used to lose her temper a lot more when we were younger. But he just let her vent, being patient with her until she came around. He often lets her have her way. He told me several times that the secret of marriage is to keep the woman happy."

Tia and Mindal both burst our laughing at that. "A wise man!" Mindal exclaimed. Even Tahna smiled at that.

The rest of their trip was much the same. An hour after the usual lunch time, they finally arrived in the village of Athenia.

Aside from the small monastery, dedicated to Athena, the rest of the residents lived by fishing the Seine and Crescent rivers, and by whatever their gardens could grow. A handful worked the docks for the ferry between the cities and the small bit of trade traffic that passed through.

While the caravan halted in the town, Tia and Tahna went off.

"Where are they going?" Reison asked Mindal.

"Whenever she comes through, Tia visits the tavern. Anyone who's sick or injured will come there for healing. Tonight, the monks at the monastery will set aside a place for us at their table and give us a place to sleep. While some of the caravan crosses over by ferry tonight, we'll cross over tomorrow morning."

"She has a good heart, Tia. Kind and generous." Then he saw Mindal looking at him. "What?"

"Since we're going to be married, and I already like you... Tia's forbidden us from having sex, but I'd like to know what it's like to kiss you. May I?"

He brightened. "That's sounds like a great idea."

Mindal smiled as he moved a bit awkwardly, unsure how to proceed. Leaning forward shyly, he touched his lips to hers. At her gentle instruction, he became a bit bolder, and soon their kisses grew ardent. He nearly jumped when her tongue slipped out, trying to reach into his mouth. From then, she was content to let him explore her mouth while she did the same to him. Once they took a breath, she talked to him about nibbling the lower lip, how a little teeth could be used to tease and incite.

Arms held and squeezed, bodies pressed together while they stood in the center of town, kissing.

After long minutes of this, both of them were breathing hard. Staring hard at each other, Mindal suddenly broke away, grabbed his hand, pulling him along.

"Where are we going?"

"To get a little privacy. Come on!"

He dug his feet in, resisting. "No."

"Reison, come on. Don't you want me?"

"Yes, I do. Didn't you feel how hard I am? But I gave my word not have sex with any of you until after this rite of yours. It's all I can do to say no. Mindal, please stop pulling. Believe me, I want you. I do. Look. We're both worked up, and that's a good thing. But if we do this, it'll show I can't keep my word."

"Don't you want to see my breasts? Feel them? Squeeze and lick them?"

Closing his eyes, he took a long breath. "I want to, Mindal. Saying no is real agony." He opened his eyes. "I want us to be together. I won't keep secrets and I don't want to come between you and your relationship with your sisters. Tia made the restriction, and I agreed to it. You did too! Kissing, but no more. Not until I've done your rite."

She looked down, ashamed. "You're right. I know better, too. But I just want you so much."

He pulled her in and hugged her. "Tia has set me a task to win all three of you. I think you are worth the effort." Reison began to hum as he held her close.

Her bard's ear listened, and found nothing that matched from her memory. "What's that tune?"

"I think it's your song. I hear it when I look at you."

Still in his embrace, she pulled back far enough to look into his blue eyes. His lust was fading, but there were other emotions there.

"I have a song?" she asked, her green eyes suddenly filling.

Leaning up, she moved to kiss him, and he did. Soft and gentle. When they were done, they touched their heads together.

"Let me hear it, please," she whispered.

Reison hummed the long musical phrase again. When he stopped, she looked at him. "That's all I have right now," he explained. "It's more than there was yesterday."

"It's beautiful," she whispered, her lower lip trembling. Then she asked, "Do you hear music for Tia and Tahna, too?"

"Snatches, but yes. I know you best because we've spent more time together. The better I get to know you, the stronger the song becomes."

Mindal nodded, tears spilling from her eyes. Frustrated, yet filled with joy at the same time. "Okay, Reison, we'll wait. You've given me the bestest gift in a long time."

"Bestest? Is that even a word, Mindal?" he asked, grinning.

She nodded, her face serious. "You heard me say it, didn't you? That makes it real."

He raised his eyebrows, and they both burst out laughing.

Hearing approaching feet, they broke apart, but Mindal gripped his hand, refusing to let go. So he gave her a squeeze to show he was in accord with her.

It was Tia, followed closely by Tahna.

"Done already?" Mindal asked.

"Not yet," Tia answered. "There are a few with a winter cough. Elaine Argonos, from the monastery, will show us where they live. Petros Kyrkos was already in The Lonely Titan. He'd taken a fall a month ago and broken his leg. It had been set, but it wasn't healing right. Tahna knocked him out and then had to re-break it. Once it was set correctly, I cast the magic to heal it. He's happy to be up and about with no limp and no pain."

Tia leaned closer and brushed away a tear from Mindal's cheek. "Is everything all right?"

Mindal nodded, smiling. "Just happy."

"Glad to hear it," Tia said, her eyes briefly searching over them both.

"I mean, really happy."

Both sisters raised their eyebrows as they looked at Mindal.

"Good to know," Tia replied. "There's Elaine. Why don't you two retrieve our packs from the carriage? The rest of our things can go on ahead to The Pixie Palace with Robert and John."

"Who is Elaine?" Reison asked.

Mindal looked at Tia, who nodded at her.

Mindal answered, "She's the daughter of Alan and Helen Argonos, the monks who founded the monastery, and they are its head masters. The monastery is dedicated to Pallas Athena, the Hellene goddess of wisdom, crafts, and combat. The village of Athenia grew up around the monastery. About forty people live inside the monastery itself. The children of Alan and Helen, some other masters, and around twenty students or so."

"Are the monks like you, Tahna?" Reison asked.

Tahna snorted. "Not hardly."

Tia added, "Warrior monks vary by religion, Reison. The Christian monks of St. Peterburg generally eschew violence, live apart, transcribe books, and live by donations or selling what they make or raise. The monks of Athena also live by what they raise or sell and by donations, but they also practice exercise and physical combat skills. Ba'lorian monks, like Tahna don't usually reside within a separate monastery. Rather, they are generally assigned to temples or to protect someone. And, they might be assigned to solve crimes, bring criminals to justice, or carry out a sentence to someone who's been convicted and subsequently escaped. While the work is hard on her, Tahna is a first-rate homicide cop."

"Hard?" he asked.

Tia nodded grimly. "They usually call on her when the crime is particularly puzzling or violent. Child crimes are the hardest. And sometimes I may be called in, too."

He looked at Tahna with sadness. "I have no experience with that sort of thing, but if Tia says you are first-rate, I am positive that's true. If the work troubles you so, why do you do it?"

Tahna scowled, then looked away, unable to speak. Tia put her hand on her shoulder and answered instead. "Children are highly valued by our faith. The Lawgiver tells us that to kill a child is one the worst sins anyone can commit. The only one its equal is to kill someone by torture, though even inflicting torture without killing is a close second. One of the aspects of our goddess is the Dark Warrior, and She commands us to defend our families, friends, and ourselves and to protect the weak and the helpless, for each of us is weak and helpless in our turn. Children are often the most helpless of all. Dear Tahna has brought a lot of child murderers to justice. But such experiences are costly to her heart. I am often in awe of Tahna's strength."

Tahna glanced at her older sister in surprise. Tia nodded to her.

Reison smiled. "Good works. I knew it. Lady Tahna appears gruff and distant, but inside beats a heart that's pure and full of love." Then his stomach rumbled.

Mindal tugged his arm. "Come on, let's go gets some food. We'll wait for you two at the tavern. See you soon."

As Mindal and Reison walked away, Tia turned to her sister. "Did you hear that, Tahna?"

Tahna frowned. "Mindal must have been talking to him."

"No, that was his honest reaction. And, Sweet Lady bless me, if he didn't see right through to your inner heart."

"What? No, I--"

"Oh, Tahna! One of the reasons I love you so much is your modesty. But he's right. You chase criminals because you hunger for justice for others. You protect people because you truly do have a heart of pure love. I truly believe the goddess put him in our path..." Then Tia suddenly laughed. "Who am I kidding? He had to have set out for his adventures days before we even left New Brittany." Looking skyward, she gave a heartfelt declaration, "Thank you, blessed goddess, for looking into our hearts and answering our prayers, even before we voiced them! Blessed is Your Name."

"Is that what you really think, Tia?" she asked quietly. "That She wants me to wed him?"

"I can't say for certain, of course. And I want it to be true, I admit that. But She knows what is in our hearts, that's a certainty. Open yourself to the possibility, Tahna, that She has answered us even as we asked it of Her."

"You're a priestess. You are supposed to believe."

"And you are a warrior monk, sworn to Her service. Do you doubt that She loves us?"

Tahna shook her head. "No, Tia, I know She loves us."

"Do you believe She wants us to be happy?"

"In general, yes. But I always thought it was our task to help others to find their happiness, and not depend upon Her to give it to us."

"That's true. Marriage will change all of us, Tahna. It will require all of to us to face ourselves and perhaps even re-define ourselves. And because you and I live so integrally with our faith, we will have to find new ways to serve Her, too."

Tahna just nodded.

Tia looked around and saw Elaine Argonos waiting patiently a short distance away. "Hello, Elaine! It's good to see you. And you could have approached us."

Elaine smiled. "You two looked deep in conversation. And I didn't mind waiting. Moments of silence are rare enough, and the challenge is to recognize such opportunities when those moments present themselves and seize them."

"Too true," Tahna murmured. When Elaine opened her arms, Tahna gave her a warm embrace.

"Indeed," Tia echoed, giving her a hug as well. "You will show us where the sick need healing?"

"This way, if you please."

* * * * *

The meal at the monastery was simple, but there was plenty of it and it was filling. Drink was honey mead and watered-down wine. After the dinner, there was some catching up to do, and Mindal pulled Rose from her case. While Helen Argonos protested that their gifts of healing for the village had been enough, Reison could see that Elaine, Helen, and many others were eager to hear her music.