The Other Part of Me
Chapter 49

Magdalena

Cassie was sitting on the cot, staring straight ahead towards the white wall across the room, Orphea sat next to her, holding her hand, stroking her hair with the other.

As soon as Magdalena entered, Orphea stood and bowed her head. Magdalena nodded in acknowledgment of the respect. "I'll need to be alone with her," she told Orphea as she gently placed the bag she brought with her on the small table at the head of the cot.

Orphea bowed her head again. "Please let me know if I can bring you anything."

"Teach your son and her mate to make a round honey cake. Guide them with your voice, only they must prepare it, only their hands must be used. Once it's been baked and cooled, have her mate bring it here." She motioned towards Cassie without looking at her. She grabbed a rigid sackcloth satchel from the bag she brought. "I have planted an orchard just outside the Spearhead property. It is protected by warriors. Have your own mate's wolf run to the orchard, carrying the satchel by his mouth. The warriors will see his mouth and recognize I have given him authority to enter my sacred orchard. Once inside, he is to transmute back into his human form. He is tasked to pick six figs and seven walnuts from my blessed trees. He will put them in the satchel, and his wolf will carry the satchel back by the mouth. The products must remain untouched by his teeth."

Orphea nodded and grabbed the sackcloth bag. She instantly bowed her head, "My apologies, Magdalena but this satchel is rough and the Spearhead grounds are far. This will surely cut my mate's mouth."

Magdalena looked at Orphea square in the eyes. "A lot of hurt has gone around at the hands of your mate, and all of it needs mending." She explained sternly. "He held a whole pack responsible for the sins of a few. Moon Goddess did not agree with this."

Orphea remained hesitant.

"I see you need more convincing child," she said. "His heart had not given up on his first mate. Why do you think he never rejected her after all this time? It was your heart that chose to see what it wanted to see. He owes atonement to your loyalty as well."

After a moment, Orphea growled and bowed her head. "It will be done as you say. Anything else?"

Magdalena turned back towards Cassie, motioning for Orphea to leave with a flick of her wrist.

As soon as they were alone, Magdalena leaned over to catatonic female, lifting her eyelids with her fingertips. Cassie's gaze didn't shift. She was barely blinking.

Magdalena grabbed the bag and set it next to Cassie on the cot. She pulled the table before Cassie. She stood between the table and the cot, removing items from the bag and placing them on the makeshift altar.

She lit candles on the altar, on the floor, at the entrance to the small shelter. She removed an extended silver plate and two matching bowls. The plate was set in the middle of the table, each bowl was set aside it. Reaching into her bag once more, she grabbed two velvet drawstring pouches; one was white in color, and the other red. She removed seven moonstones from the white pouch and six from the red, joining them together in one of the silver bowls. Next, she grabbed her marble pestle and mortar, raising the set above her head. She began to chant in Greek. She placed these tools on the table on top of the plate and got to work. The second bowl remained empty for now.

While continuing to chant, she grabbed dried leaves of mugwort, tarragon and wormwood, dropping them in the mortar and grinding them with the pestle. Once they were worn down to a finely powdered consistency, she grabbed a pinch of the substance she had created and dropped it into the flame of the three candles she had burning on the altar. Their burning scent filled the air, purifying it.

Next, she added fresh leaves of her own garden's willow and cedar trees to the powder, combining them with olive oil. She crushed the fresh leaves, letting all respective essences blend together.

When the product was as she knew it needed to be, she held the mortar up to Moon Goddess once more, before anointing her own forehead with the mixed result. She bowed before the altar to make her way to Cassie.

She knelt before the ailing female, anointing her forehead, her throat, her ears and her heart with the substance.

Magdalena carefully placed the concoction back on the altar and rubbed her hands together with the essence that remained.

She chanted, holding her hands hovering, but a safe distance away from Cassie's open eyes.

Magdalena closed her own eyes to commune with Moon Goddess and the Three Moirai on behalf of this lost child.