Recovering, Eilan hurried after the other girl, blushing furiously. But already she could hear the gentle murmur of the spring. In another moment the path dropped downward, and she followed Dieda to the cleft where the waters trickled out from between two rocks and fell into the pool. In some time long past men had set stones around it; over the years the water had worn their spiraled carvings smooth. But the hazel to whose branches folk tied their wishing ribbons was young, the descendant of many trees that had grown there.
They settled themselves beside the pool and spread a cloth for the offerings, exquisitely prepared cakes, a flask of mead, and some silver coins. It was only a small pool, after all, where the minor goddess of this forest had her dwelling, not one of the holy lakes where whole armies sacrificed the treasures they had won, but for many years the women of her line had brought her their offerings every month after their moon-times, that their link to the Goddess might be renewed.
Shivering a little in the cool air, they pulled off their gowns and bent over the pool.
“Sacred spring, you are the womb of the Goddess. As your waters cradle all life, may I bear new life into the world . . .” Eilan scooped up water and let it trickle over her belly and between her thighs.
“Sacred spring, your waters are the milk of the Goddess. As you feed the world, let me nourish those I love . . .” Her nipples tingled as the cool water touched them.
“Sacred spring, you are the spirit of the Goddess. As your waters well for ever from the depths, give me the power to renew the world . ..” She trembled as the water bathed her brow.
Eilan stared into the shadowed surface, seeing the pale glimmer of her reflection take shape as the waters stilled once more. But as she stared into the water, the face that stared back at her changed. She saw an older woman with even paler skin, and dusky curls in which red highlights glinted like sparks of flame, though the eyes were the same.
“Eilan!”
As Dieda spoke, Eilan blinked, and the face looking back at her from the water was her own once more. Her kinswoman was
shivering, and suddenly Eilan felt cold as well. Hastily, they pulled on their clothes. Then Dieda reached for the basket of cakes, and her voice soared, rich and true, in the song.
“Lady of the sacred spring,
To thee these offerings I bring;
For life and luck and love I pray,
Goddess, accept these gifts today.”
In the Forest House, thought Eilan, there would be a chorus &f priestesses to sing the song. Her own voice, thin and a little wavering, blended with Dieda’s in an oddly pleasing harmony.
“Bless now the forest and the field,
That they their bounty to us yield;
May kin and kine be hale and whole,
Safeguard the body and the soul!”
Eilan poured mead from the flask into the water while Dieda crumbled the cakes and cast them into the pool. The current swirled them away, and for a moment it seemed to Eilan that its sound had grown louder. The two girls leaned over the water, letting drop the coins they had brought.
As the ripples stilled, Eilan saw their two faces, so alike, mirrored together. She stiffened, fearing to see the stranger there once more, but as her sight darkened, this time there was only one face, with eyes that shone in the water like stars in the dark sea of heaven.
“Lady, are you the spirit of the pool? What do you want from me?” her heart asked. And it seemed to her that words came in reply:
“My life flows through all waters, as it flows through your veins. I am the River of Time and the Sea of Space. Through many lives you have been mine. Adsartha, my daughter, when will you fulfill your vows to Me?”
It seemed to her then that from the Lady’s eyes flashed brightness that illuminated her soul, or perhaps it was sunlight, for when she came to herself she was blinking into the radiance that flared through the trees.