Jaelle laughed in apology and said, “Forgive me, Margali; I had never accepted an oath before, I was nervous, afraid 1 should forget some of the words-”
“Drink this, it will stop your shivering.” Gwennis handed her the cup they had given her before, which she had not finished. She heard her teeth chattering against the rim of the cup; she sipped slowly, trying to get control of herself. They all crowded around her, hugging her, comforting her. Rayna murmured, “Don’t feel bad, we all cry, you didn’t cry nearly as much as I did!”
Jaelle said, “Now you must forgive us for being so rough with you before; now we are all your sisters. From tonight, every Amazon is your sister, but those who witnessed your oath are your family, and special, always.” She looked affectionately around the circle, saying, “Are you not? Camilla cut my hair for me, nine years ago.”
Gwennis said, in an undertone like a private joke, “How dare you chide her for crying, Jaelle? You didn’t cry, I remember!”
“But I was fostered among you,” Jaelle said. “Now we will finish this bottle of wine in our sister’s honor, then we must all sleep. Tomorrow we must think how best to send her to the Guild-house, but for tonight we will celebrate.”
They are all so kind to me now. I don’t deserve it. Magda, calm now and exhausted, asked Gwennis, “Where am I to be taken?”
“To Neskaya Guild-house, or perhaps to Thendara, which is our own house,” said Gwennis. “Every new-made Amazon must spend half a year in the Guild-house, learning our ways and unlearning the vicious old ways you have been taught since girlhood-all the things you were taught about seemly behavior for a woman. Your childhood put chains on you; there you will be taught to free yourself, to be what you best can be.”
Oh, God! I took this oath to escape being sent to the Guild-house, to gain time! Am I forsworn for nothing, then?
Each of them had something to say to her. Sherna, who was a plump and pretty girl, came and knelt beside .her. “I came to the Amazons two years ago, when I fully realized that I had no share in my father’s estate; all my brothers shared, but not I; for me there was nothing ahead but marriage to some man who could help my brothers to manage my father’s lands. They refused two men I liked because, they said, they would not dwell under one roof with them; and would have forced me on a friend of theirs. So when I knew I had no right to refuse, but could be made to marry at their wish and not mine, I cut my hair and came to the Guild-house. Do you know what I feared most?” She grinned, such a droll grin that Magda had to smile. “I feared they would tell me I could never lie with a man again! But, I thought, better that than marry to please my brothers….”
Jaelle sat beside her. “It is customary for oath-mother and daughter to exchange gifts. I have no gift for you, Margali; I had not foreseen this. I must think of something.”
They’re so kind to me. So overwhelmingly kind. They act as if I were their long-lost sister. The oath means so much….
Magda said, “My mission-I had told you it was life and death….”
Jaelle said, “We will discuss that in the morning. It may be that you owe no loyalty to any man, even to a kinsman. But for now we must all sleep.”
The women finished their wine and went to their sleeping rolls again. Rayna put out the lantern. It was very quiet, except for the diminishing, faraway howl of the storm. Camilla, who lay next to Magda, reached out her hand in the darkness and patted her gently on the cheek.
“You were not the first to shiver through the oath,” she said. “When my oath was taken, I-you know I am emmasca-I had nothing like to a woman’s form, and so three of the witnesses refused to believe I was not a man and I had to be stripped. Kindra was so distressed by that that she, too, forgot to have me covered afterward. I was so humiliated, I wept for hours; but it was half a lifetime ago, and now I can laugh about it. Someday you will laugh, too, sister. Sleep well.”