Pursued(123)
As a Kindred, he had been all over the universe and tasted many different alien cuisines but he had to admit that the “nuggets of purity” he’d been eating for the past three hours were the worst, most disgusting things he’d ever put in his mouth. They had a hard, crusty dark blue covering but when he bit into them, they dripped pale blue goo that had a thick, mucousy texture and a metallic meaty flavor he found utterly revolting.
“All right, enough already,” he said, standing up abruptly as the priestess of the Ancient Ones tried to offer him another nugget. Pale blue milk sluiced off his bare body and the priestess gasped and shielded her eyes. “Yeah, I’m fucking naked—get over it,” Merrick snarled. “And I’ve had enough of this whole purification ritual shit. Rinse me off and let me talk to the Elders. Now.”
“You think you’re ready, do you?” Suddenly Mother-Healer appeared in the leafy blue tent where the ritual was being held. Behind her was Elise. She was wrapped in a large yanyan leaf and her long dark hair was wet and hanging down her back. There was a troubled look on her face and Merrick sensed her anxiety through their bond.
“I’m as ready as I’ll ever get,” he told Mother-Healer shortly. Taking the bucket of water the priestess was holding out to him with averted eyes, he rinsed the last of the tsslla milk from his body and climbed out of the tub. He wrapped a yanyan leaf around his waist and came up to Elise. “You okay, baby?” he murmured.
“Fine.” She nodded. “Just worried. And a little sick. Those purity nuggets—”
“I know.” Merrick nodded with feeling. “Fucking disgusting, right? Tasted like they were filled with some kind of ass-custard.”
“They kept on feeding them to me,” Elise said faintly. “I ate as many as I could, but I just…” She made a face. “I just hope I can keep them down.”
“You will be fine,” Mother-Healer said firmly. “Both of you. And the nuggets of purity are necessary to the purification process. Both the body and the mind must be mortified before you are fit to appear before the Elders.”
“We’re mortified, all right,” Merrick growled. “Now can we please have our clothes back so we can get this over with?”
Mother-Healer arched one snowy eyebrow at him. “I am afraid not. You must go naked before the Elders—as naked as the day you were born.”
“Naked?” Elise’s face grew instantly red. “Can’t we even keep our towels…er, leaves?”
Mother-Healer frowned at her. “You came into the Deep Blue wearing scanty undergarments of sacred crimson—profaning our ways with your blasphemous attire. And now you have the nerve to claim modesty?”
“She’s claiming modesty because she is modest,” Merrick snarled. “Crimson isn’t a sacred color where she comes from. Elise didn’t know she was blaspheming.”
Mother-Healer waved one wrinkled hand dismissively. “Save your explanations for the Elders. I care not. Come—it is time to meet them now and learn your fate.” She motioned for them to follow her out of the tent.
* * * * *
Elise followed Mother-Healer and Merrick, clutching her towel-leaf close around her and hoping against hope she’d be allowed to keep it once they got to wherever they were going. She still felt faintly nauseous from the disgusting purity nuggets and it didn’t help that her stomach was already tied in knots with anxiety and dread. Mother-Healer had said they would be arguing for their very lives. Elise had been through high-stakes negotiations many times in the courtroom, but none of them involved putting her life on the line.
But it wasn’t herself she was mainly worried about—it was Merrick. Whatever happened, she was determined he wasn’t going to get hurt again. And she was damned if she’d let him take anymore of her punishments. If someone has to pay, it’s going to be me, she vowed silently to herself. I refuse to hide in the shadows and let the man I care for be hurt any more on my account.
They were barefoot and the bark of the grandfather tree felt rough under her feet. There was a soft breeze blowing and the rich smell of the jungle wafted up to her from the forest floor. It was almost twilight—they’d been at the purification ritual for hours—and although Elise had been more than ready to be done with the ritual, she still didn’t feel ready to meet her fate at the hands of an alien race as old as the universe itself. But I have to be ready, she told herself, lifting her chin. There’s nothing else I can do but go through this as best I can.
They came to the central trunk of the tree and Mother-Healer nodded at the nearly invisible network of vines that criss-crossed its rough bark. “I will go first and you must follow. The seat of the Elders is at the very top.”