Pure
Chapter 5: The Stone

Maigred wiped her hands hands on her apron and glanced around the dining room. It was late and most people had gone home. She went back into the kitchen. Eoghan was finishing up washing the dishes and Aoibh was kneading bread for tomorrow.

“I’m going to slip out for an hour or so, can you keep an eye on the customers, Aoibh? There’s only a few people left and they should be leaving soon.”

Aoibh nodded. “I’ll keep an eye on them. Does anyone look like they might be trouble?”

Maigred shook her head. “No. Cullen is out there, drunk as anything, but you know, he’s a gentle soul. He’ll just totter off home as soon as you tell him to go.”

Aoibh nodded again. “Nothing we can’t handle.”

Maigred pulled her apron off and hung it on a hook near the door then slipped upstairs. She peeked in at Cara’s and then at Sinead’s door, they were both sleeping peacefully. Then Maigred went down the hall to the door at the end. She wrapped her arms around herself and just stood there for a long moment wondering whether or not she should disturb him. Finally she released herself and let out a gentle breath. She knocked on the door softly. “Are you hungry? Would you like me to bring something up for you?”

There was no response or sound from inside.

“Are you alright?”

Again there was no response.

Maigred pushed her hand into her pocket and touched the key there. She stood there for another long moment before turning away, going downstairs and leaving the inn.

She took a deep breath of the cool air and tried to forget all the worries pressing down on her. She glanced up. It was a clear night and she could see the stars scattered across the velvet black of the sky. The moon was full and bright. It was a good night to go out and speak to the earth sister.

She walked along the nearly deserted streets. A few people passed her, hurrying on their way, their eyes fixed on the ground. She arrived at the city gate, showed the guard on duty the scar on her neck and was allowed to leave.

Once she stepped outside the walls she exhaled with relief. She was free; for a little bit anyway. She followed the well worn pathway to the sacred grove, picking up a few stones along the way and slipping them into her pocket.

The sacred grove was deserted, as it usually was at that time of the night. Most of the women who still visited were much older than Maigred and didn’t like to come after dark.

The trees were planted in a pattern of concentric circles and at the very center was a natural spring, were steaming water bubbled up from inside the earth. Maigred made her way to the spring and knelt at the edge in the thick grass that grew naturally there.

Maigred slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out the scant handful of stones she had picked up on her way. She looked down at them. There were a few stones that showed dark against her palm and a few white ones that gleamed a bit in the moonlight. There was one, that must have been grey, it didn’t really have a color. She picked it out of her palm with her other hand and held it to her forehead.

Finten immediately came to her mind, and with it all her anger towards him and his cowardice. She took the stone away from her forehead and shut her eyes. She took deep, slow breaths, trying to clear her mind of anger. But the anger wouldn’t fade.

She dropped the stone back into her palm and selected another one. A white one this time. She stared into the gentle bubbling water for a moment, allowing the scent of the grass and earth fill her nose, the gentle bubbling of the water and the singing crickets to fill her ears, then she lifted the stone to her forehead.

Her daughter Sinead came to mind. Maigred smiled, she felt her heart relax. A living, moving picture filled her mind, blocking out what her senses were taking in. She was standing in her daughter’s room, watching her sleep. All was peaceful. The picture faded and Maigred could once again see and hear what was happening around her.

Maigred’s forehead creased in confusion. She placed the stone on the ground beside her, then looked into her palm again. She selected a black stone this time.

Once again she allowed nature to fill her senses, then she lifted the stone to her forehead. Another living picture took over her awareness. She was standing in a completely dark room. She could hear calm, measured breaths. She stood there for a few seconds, the rhythm of the breathing didn’t change, then the picture faded.

Maigred placed that stone beside her on the ground as well.

She looked into her palm again. She frowned at the grey stone and picked it up. She lifted it to her forehead. Immediately she was standing the dinning room of the Inn. Finten was there, sitting at a table with his back to her. Maigred looked down, she was holding a pile of neatly folded, practical clothing, the kind she kept handy for people who were in need. On top was the one of the little bundles of food she regularly made up in the mornings to hand out to anyone who came to the inn hungry, but unable to pay for food. Her mouth moved. “I offer you the gifts of courtship.”

Maigred jerked the stone away from her forehead, her breathing ragged. She tossed the stone into the spring before she could think better of it.

She sat there clutching the rest of the stones in her hand, trying to calm herself. Why would she offer Finten the gifts of courtship? Besides the fact that she hated him, he had already sworn himself to Caevah.

As she stared into the spring water another vision overtook her mind. She was in Caevah’s classroom sitting on her bench. She was wearing her beautiful blue and grey robes, her hands were folded on her lap, and she was waiting. Everything was completely still and silent. She looked around the room. No one else was there.

“Maigred.”

Maigred’s head jerked back to the front of the room. Caevah was sitting on her bench, as beautiful and composed as she always had been in real life. She smiled at Maigred as if Maigred had just told her an amusing story.

“Did you hear what I said?”

Maigred blinked at her. “I…no, I’m sorry my lady. I was distracted.”

Caevah’s smile widened. “I know. You’re more concerned with your anger than the welfare of your people.”

Maigred blinked at the unfairness of that accusation. “My lady, I-I don’t…”

“If you want Finten to do something, give him the ability to do it. Reconnect him to the land, give his powers back to him.”

“But-” The vision faded away and Maigred found herself kneeling at the edge of the spring in the center of the sacred grove again. “But I’m not a pure maiden anymore,” she whispered.

The only response was the sound of crickets and the gently bubbling spring in front of her. Maigred’s hand hurt from clenching the stones in her hand. She looked down and opened her hand only to replace a single stone in the center of her palm.

It was the grey one.