The Rite of Cleansing

Her eyes are losing focus. The muscles in their lids are slowly succumbing to the speaker’s basso mosquito drone that’s painting the hall in warm molasses. Her chin begins its steady descent, as her mind curls away, searching for the voice that beckons her.It is the last seminar on the last night of a long three-day academic/museum collections conference hosted by her university. She had expected to be done and home to her cat, but was asked at the last minute by her boss to sit in on the talk. She arrived late and dropped into an aisle seat, nodding a smile at the handsome woman in the next.”Have I missed anything?” she whispers.”Ha!” the woman replies with a smile and they both settle back as the image of a database spreadsheet opens on the large monitor screen above the stage.Her eyes slowly open. She is standing in a high vaulted catacomb, its wet, gray walls glinting orange in the flickering torchlight. Deep, shadowed niches are cut into the stone, rising floor to ceiling between dark passageways moving off in all directions. Before her is a waist-high stone plinth, its square, flat top patterned in polished colored stones. She stands before it unafraid, for she knows this is a time of calling, a summons to her Goddess.She holds her hands out, palms up, hovering them above the objects on the altar which she can not see, but knows are there. Eyes closed, she breathes in air scented by sandalwood and deep time, waiting for guidance.She feels the atmosphere shift and warm currents of air snaking around her naked body. She opens her eyes as they coalesce into a vaporous figure floating above her hands. It reaches down a finger of misty light and feathers it over her cheek, tiny sparks dancing across her skin. She feels each one seep in, pulses of energy rippling through her flesh, down her spine, spreading across her loins…”What!” she blurts out, as her head jerks up and her eyes snap open, seeing a hand drawing back from her face.”Damn, I’m sorry!” she says to the woman beside her, realizing her head has been resting on her shoulder as almanbahis şikayet she slept.”That’s okay, dear, I didn’t mind at all,” the woman murmurs with a little grin, “but you were starting to moan a bit. Truth be told, I nodded off, too.” She turns in her seat, their legs touching. “I suppose we should introduce ourselves, now that we’ve slept together. My name’s Claire, collection curator at the Nat,” holding out her hand.”Kistin, bio science archivist here,” she answers, shaking Claire’s hand. As she does, she sees the small blood-red phoenix tattooed on the inside of Claire’s pale wrist. Holding the grip, she covers it with a fingertip, pressing against the warm flesh.”We are well met, my sister,” she says softly, looking into Claire’s eyes.”We are well met,” Claire echos, raising an eyebrow. She turns Kistin’s hand up, seeing her unmarked skin, “You are not sworn?””No. I am a wanderer. It is the path she has chosen for me.””Then we are indeed well met and by her hand. There is a rite to perform at tomorrow’s eve and you are to be my chosen.” She pulls out a scrap of paper, jots down a line, and hands it to Kistin. “Will you join with me?””Soul to soul, my sister, she has told me of it already. I will be there at midnight.”================The night is dark, with a full moon rising. She is walking a path edged by dense, tangled bushes and trees backlit by the glow of the city lights. The air is damp, but the day’s heat still lingers and she can smell the sweet earthy musk of the garden. She checks her time on her phone, looking at the glowing map showing the meandering route to her appointed place.She starts off at a quickened pace when there is a rustle of branches further down the path to her left. She pauses again, as a coyote steps out onto the dirt track and stops, its head turned to her. She thumbs her phone light on, holding it low, off to one side. She can see it is a female, recently birthed, with fat teats showing through the tawny fur on its belly.The coyote stares, its eyes glowing like sunlit amber. It raises its almanbahis canlı casino snout and snuffs in a breath, then turns and moves to a narrow path angling away to the right. It pauses to look back, then disappears into the shadows with a flick of its tail. The woman moves forward and follows her Goddess’ guide.Kistin comes through a narrow gap in the bushes and stops just as the three quarter bell strikes and echos across the Natural History Museum grounds. Directly across a narrow access road there is a dark opening in the red brick skin of the old main building. She has been inside many times, but always through the main doors, into the elegant rotunda to cast her muttered prayers at the feet of the three Graces, frozen in a perpetual dance at its center. Tonight, however, her route and reason are of a different nature. She crosses the road and stands at the entrance.”You are here, Kistin my sister, and in good time. Welcome.” Claire, her voice soft and warm, comes out to her from the darkness. She embraces Kistin and they share a kiss. Claire leans back and draws her fingers down the long shape under Kistin’s shirt, hanging between her breasts.”You have brought your talisman, I see. Excellent. Shall we go in?”The women enter the tunnel hand in hand.”This is where we meet in the city. I am its current keeper,” Claire explains. “But it is also a public space and on each quarter’s moon must be purified to keep its sanctity. That is our rite tonight, sister, that is why you have been chosen and sent to me.”They come to an elaborately cast bronze door. Claire ignores the blinking card reader on the wall and opens it with a large key. They pass in and go down the wide, blank-walled hall toward a glass-fronted security room lit by twinkling lights and the blue-gray glow of dozens of security monitor screens. As they approach, its side door opens and a woman of amazonian stature fills the opening, smiling broadly.”Welcome my sisters. I was beginning to worry.””All’s well, Dorthea,” Claire answers, kissing her, looking small in almanbahis casino the woman’s embrace.”This is our wandering sister, Kistin. This is Dorthea, our guardian.”Kistin comes forward and is enveloped as well. Dorthea holds their kiss and Kistin returns it warmly.”Very well met, my sister,” Dorthea murmurs when their lips and tongues part.”Indeed,” Kistin answers, giving her ebony cheek a soft caress.”Ladies, the clock ticks!” Claire clucks with a smile, “Is all ready?””One second,” Dorthea says, waving them into the office. She moves to the bank of video monitors and switches half a dozen off, then taps at a laptop with two fingers. “You’re good now, Claire. No eyes, no ears. The Goddess bless you both this night.”They descend in an elevator marked ‘Out of Service’, which grumbles and groans as it goes down. Its cage is small and Kistin can feel the heat of Claire’s body at her side. Like Claire, she has bathed carefully for the rite, leaving her skin free of artificial tinctures and social camouflage. Their mingled scent, with a tiny, delicious counterpoint of sweat, fills her nose. She feels her body warming as the car thumps home and Claire pushes open the door. They are in a small anteroom, its walls lined with floor to ceiling cupboards.”We’ll change here,” Claire says, opening one for Kistin, revealing a thin white linen robe edged in gold hanging on a hook in the back.The women, backs turned, undress and slip into their robes. Kistin turns and takes in a breath as she looks at Claire, her robe hanging open, revealing her ripe body. Her skin is as white as her robe, but sprinkled by a galaxy of burnt sienna freckles. Her breasts are full and slightly pendulous with large, pale pink areolas surrounding fat, prominent nipples, so different from Kistin’s smaller offerings with their tight, dark centers. Her waist is narrow, circled by a thin gold chain from which an old fashioned gold key dangles, swaying above a rich forest of russet red curls between her curving thighs.Claire too pauses, sliding her eyes down Kistin’s long, thin body. Her small breasts sit high, with her amulet hanging between. She is lean, her rib cage showing above well-defined abs. Her hips are narrow, her legs long and muscled. There is a thin, silky dusting of blond hair over her sex, already tinged with color.