CHAPTER FIVE

Nasir was intelligent and strong and his eyes roved to take everything in, to learn his new world. Sibyl sat near him and ate to show that he could too, as she had once done with Agron. Nasir did so at her permission, his reaction to authority so different to Agron's.

"I dreamed of you," Sibyl told him. "I dreamed of Agron first and one day, he arrived, stealing our food. I was unsure if I would be blessed by your presence also."

"What would you have me do?"

Nasir seemed curious and Sibyl told him of the sisterhood, of how Saxa and Mira served at Sura's side and how he could find a place beside her and Agron. Nasir looked confused.

"I have never held weapons. I would be little use as a bodyguard."

"You can learn, as Mira did. There is more wielded here; it is a game of manners and words too."

Nasir nodded slowly and took to watching her as she addressed pilgrims and rich traders, those who desired answers and demanded clarity. He saw; better than Agron did, how she and Sura used words so carefully to serve the gods. He was given simple breeches to wear, like Agron he lived bare-chested, and he stood still and poised at Sibyl's side, his eyes taking note of all before him. He did not shrink from this new life, he drank it in.

Agron drank him in too, his eyes followed Nasir everywhere, a fact that Saxa teased him about greatly. At night, Nasir shared Sibyl's pallet, inching closer when the weather grew cold. His touch was simple comfort, Sibyl had gained another brother. She had told Nasir the first night that she expected nothing from him but his company. She had sworn on her service to the gods, on the temple itself, though he hadn't asked her to, so that when he thought about his new life and attempted to puzzle it out, her vows would be part of it.

"You truly dreamt of me?" he asked one morning as Sibyl fastened her pale gold dress at the waist.

She smiled softly. "Sometimes you were serving Pullo, but often you were here, with myself and Agron. You were happy."

Nasir's eyes glimmered at Agron's name, but Sibyl did not push. It was not her place to. Instead she straightened the front of her dress and dropped her shoulders, taking a deep preparing breath. Nasir watched her carefully, as he always did. Sibyl wondered what he saw.

Sura hugged her as they sat together, discussing dreams and whispers. Sibyl still dreamed of Duro, laughing and bloodied, and of Agron and Nasir. Sura still dreamed of a snake and the man facing it.

"They will find their places here," Sura said quietly, nodding to where Nasir was learning weaponry with Mira and Agron. "Mira and Saxa needed time."

Sibyl nodded. Agron was surer of his position and purpose, while Nasir was slowly shedding his former life and what was expected of him there. He could read people as well as any of the sisterhood, a gift indeed. Together, she could see them shining. She was blessed to be who they orbited.

That afternoon, Nasir indicated to her when a merchant's servants were nervous and disbelieving at their master's words, using only the sound of his feet. He was using the language of bodies that Sibyl herself used, he had learned from watching her. The gods were not just speaking to her through visions and dreams anymore; they were speaking through Agron and Nasir.

She gently grasped his hands afterwards, shy and inward. Nasir's hands were starting to gain marks from sparring. He held her gaze expectantly, she told him the truth.

"I'm so glad the gods sent you here."

Nasir smiled. He and Agron had been spending a great deal of time together; they seemed bound to each other. Sura's face was knowing as her fingers played across the writing that adorned her skin. Was it about the warrior who faced the snake?

When the temple grew colder still, Agron pushed his pallet against Sibyl's and lay close, Nasir on her other side. She dreamed a new dream that night, of a long-haired Celt who loved and lost, guilt piercing his heart greater than any lover. She saw wine and women and blood, a feast of enjoyment and a river of colour. So much inside of him howled.

When she awoke, she was wrapped in caring arms, their hands reaching across her for one another, their fingers intertwined. She was surrounded by love, and she knew with startling blessed clarity, what the words on her arm meant.

-the end