May 2015
Shrine to the Mother; North of RhyDin City
RhyDin
"Do you think there'll be cakes there, Momma" Tiny, itty-bitty cakes" ooh with flowers on them like the real ones in the Garden! And sparkles" And we can eat them with tea like real proper ladies?" Thia had been chatting Koy's pointed ears off on their entire walk out to the Shrine about what awaited the pair at the Mother / Daughter picnic that afternoon. Koy let the sweet high voice with its excited words wash over her, nodding along with the running commentary until she realized Thia was looking up expectantly at her now awaiting an answer.
"Aye, Bee, I'm sure there will be plenty of tasty treats ta eat at the Picnic, even iffn they're not 'xactly wha ye're picturin'."
"But will they be pretty?"
"Iffn they're not then we'll jest have ta eat 'em with our eyes closed, won't we?"
Thia grinned back up at her mother with a mouth currently missing one front tooth and two on the bottom. She gave an impatient glance around at the spot where Koy had stopped them. "Are we ever gonna get there?"
"Don't whine now, Bee, we talked 'bout whinin'. We have ta pay our respects first 'fore we indulge ourselves."
The girl took a closer look at the simple carving in the tree. She appeared unimpressed. "It's not an Immortal, Momma." Thia still could not remember the names of all the Thirteen Immortals of Elanthia, especially given how many aspects each deity claimed, but she knew a face in the tree had never been part of her mother's religious stories.
"Ye're right, this isn't one of ours. This is a Shrine ta the Mother. And all cultures I can think of pay respects ta a Mother figure, whether it's the one who cares fer the earth or the one who sees ta each home. So we will be thankin' both this Mother and the goddesses we know more, aye?"
Thia nodded but studied the face carved into the tree once more. Koy lightly placed her hand against her daughter's back. "Let's leave the offerin' we made."
"Will the Mother in the Tree like them?" Thia opened the black satchel decorated with woven golden roses she wore across her chest to pull out three small wood figurines. Koy had carved them and given each one to Thia to paint as part of the girl's ongoing religious studies.
"Aye, I think so 'cause we're bringin' 'em with gratitude in our hearts."
"Grat-itude?"
"It means we are very full of thanks, in this case fer all the life these Mothers bring us."
It did not escape Koy that she most of all owed much to the Mothers. It had been more than a decade since the death of her first child, Lirisa, and even in the face of such gifts as Thia and her son, Malachite, she had not always behaved with the gratitude she described now. Too often she acted out of fear of bringing these children into the world only to love and lose them all over again. Koy knew she ran the risk of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy and strove every day to do better at embracing her life instead of worrying about what may come. Some days this plan played out better than others.
"The tabby cat for Tamsine," Thia recited as she placed one small wooden figurine at the base of the carved tree. She had painted the cat orange with white stripes.
"Who is Tamsine, Bee?"
"Goddess of Hearth and Home." Thia stood up straight with her chest puffed out in pride because she felt confident in her answer.
"Tha's 'xcellent, Bee. Who else do we say 'thankee' ta now?"
Thia reached into her satchel again and turned the wooden dove over in her hand. She had painted the bird white with specks of blue. Koy had not objected to her young daughter straying from artistic realism in her color choices.
"This is for Albreda." Thia placed the dove next to the tabby cat and turned to give her mother an answer before she could ask the question. "The Mother who brings peace and weddings?"
Koy gave an approving nod. There were other smaller subsets of people in a multitude of conditions who called on the gods for different reasons but Koy did not expect Thia to retain those intricacies at this stage of her education. But she did make sure to reference one more group to bring a stronger connection between this particular goddess and the offerings of the day. "Tha's right. And Albreda looks out fer the mommas and the daddies when they're gettin' ready fer their babies ta be born."
"Like she did for you and Dad when Chi came?" Thia remembered the doves shaped from glass surrounding one of the shrines Koy and her sister-in-law, Isa, had taken Thia to during the Simon family's trip to Langenfirth shortly before Malachite's birth.
The birth of her son and his earliest months in the world had not been easy but Koy expected as much for a child destined to struggle with chaotic forces greater than himself. Koy chalked it up to coincidence that Thia would make the connection between the goddess and her own family's dramatic dalliances when Malachite was born. Koy never explained to her daughter what the priests meant when they spoke about Albreda's protection for parents. They believed the goddess kept watch over women having trouble during childbirth and the fathers left behind if those mothers died during the process.
"Aye, Thia, she was with us then." Koy gave the simpler answer.
"And then there's Beren....Beren..." Thia held the wooden cow painted white with wide swatches of brown up to the tree, trying to recall the last Mother's name.
"Berengeria."
"Right! The Mother who finds the lost children."
Aye, Koy thought to herself, the Mother who could not find my Risa. Wavering on her earlier commitment to gratitude, Koy repeated the logic she had used when she first turned her back on the Immortals, blaming them for failing to protect her daughter. Over the years she sought their mercy more and more but it was hard not to still occasionally question how they could take such a precious life.
Thia stared up at her mother, reading her expression. "You're missing Rissy?" Koy and Matt had explained as much as they could about Thia's older sister once their daughter found a locket with the infant's portrait inside and started asking questions. They kept the description of her death minimal, simply acknowledging Thia once had a sister who was called to the Starry Road (as Koy's religion referred to the path to the afterlife) when she was a baby. Thia did not yet understand that Lirisa had died long before Koy and Matt would ever meet. Again, those complicated details could wait until the girl was older.
Koy tried to reign in her surprise at how easily her daughter recognized what Koy felt. She ignored that eerie feeling that it was almost as if Thia could read her thoughts as well. "Aye, I was thinkin' of yer sister."
"Do you love Rissy more?" Thia asked the question quietly without any jealousy in her voice. She would have believed her mother if Koy had answered in the affirmative.
Koy shook her head and crouched down to hold both of Thia's hands in her own. "It's not a question of more, Bee. When Risa was born, tha's when I learned how ta love jest like all the mothers 'fore me. When she left, I didn't know iffn I'd ever feel tha 'gain. But then ye came and showed me how silly I was ta think tha when ye brought my heart back ta me. And then Chi came and brought our whole family even more love fer us ta grow." Koy let go of the girls' hands and opened her arms up. Thia pushed in for a tight hug as Koy kissed the top of her head. "Ye never need worry tha I'll run out of havin' 'nough love fer all my children. A mother's love knows no limits, Bee, 'member tha."
Thia nodded into her mother's neck, inhaling the familiar scents of her perfume mixed with the cool spring air. She finally pulled back to smile at her. "So now can we go see what pretty things there are to eat at the Picnic?"
Koy laughed at the return to food and scooped the girl up. She would only carry her a few steps before setting her down. "Ye're truly yer father's daughter."
((Sorry for being a day late and a dollar short! Elements taken from the DragonRealms series.))
