AN: Ok, this isn't quite a backstory, so much as a sidestep. I'm not going to do full-out backstories on them, (i think-- i reserve the right to change my mind) so this is what you get for now.

enjoy.

--fili

He looked on in disgust. The Daughters of Morning were all alike, every one of them. Whores to the bone. Strutting around the Sun Temple square inviting men to look upon them and want. Then, at sundown, when they could retire, men were invited into their chambers. Often, the initiates were indiscriminate in their decisions, all an admirer had to do was follow the woman on her duties for the day and persuade her that he was true in his pursuit.

The priest snorted. Those…priestesses had corrupted a ritual that had lasted centuries. For in the past, if a family despaired of finding a husband for their daughter, they initiated her into the Sun Goddess’s Court, in the Sun Temple, and there she would work, training to become a priestess. Since most of these duties took place in the courtyard, men would gaze down from the wall-heights, and watch the women. And often these were the Moon God’s priests, taking a break between ritual and bed. If one priest took a fancy to a priestess from afar, he would then approach her and propose a courtship. If the woman accepted, then the courtship would begin. Sometimes this would involve sharing a bed, sometimes not.

Commonly, the courtship would end in a promise ring- a ring worn on the middle finger of the left hand stating to all who saw it that the wearer was promised in spirit and in heart to the wearer of the same design. The rings could come in any fashion- etched, solid, twining multiple rings, or just carved out of pure stone.

He shook himself out of his reverie, and watched the females strut in the square below.

They adorned themselves in gold, often melted down and remade into their own ornaments. For although the women were forbidden to wear any jewelry given to them by a mortal save the promise ring, which almost none of them wore, they could wear the gold jewelry made by the smiths and imprinted with Her design.

Gabriel sighed, and the young priest descended into the Sun Temple.

Nicolae watched the boy walk quickly though the workyard. Most men waited until afternoon to make their advances, but he wasn’t most men. He wore the cloak of a Moon priest, but the white shirt and dark blue breeches of an initiate. Plus, the priests were almost nonexistent in the square nowadays. They preferred to make their condemnations from afar.

He was handsome, with his blue-black hair hanging in his eyes and clear skin. His face had a look of faint disgust. His at least had color to it, unlike most priests who didn’t even venture out of the Moon Temple, much less into the Sun. His was of average height, and average build, tending more towards slenderness than overweight. He carried his staff naturally. It was smooth sandalwood, about three inches thick, and was a little over his height.

She ducked her head and continued to the well, carefully balancing the buckets on her shoulders. It was the handsome ones you had to watch out for. They thought they deserved the world.

Nicolae hurried back from the well. The children would be getting up soon, and they often needed her help dressing and getting cleaned up. She was met at the door by Honey, the youngest Dedicate at six years of age.

“Muther Priestess wanna see ya.” The tiny child said, mumbling around the grubby hands in her mouth.

“Well, we shall not disappoint her. Come here, Honey.” And Nicolae picked her up, brushing Honey of any dirt on her person. I can’t be her mother, but I can be a good substitute. If the woman would only look at her child, instead of her lover…

She slung the child over one slim hip, her bag over her arm, and started off as quick as she could. “So how is Rose?” she asked innocently.

“Muther’s gone away with Daddy agun.” Honey picked at her own curly dark blonde-hair, twining it with Nicolae’s. “You have purty hair. It’s like Granny’s, only kinda yellow.” Nicolae smiled and shook her white-blonde hair, and said, “No, Honey, your hair is pretty. It is just like the Sunbeam flower that the Goddess blesses us with. She gave you this beautiful hair for a reason. It is up to you to learn of it.”

Honey looked puzzled at this, and quietly thought for the rest of the walk. Down the garden paths, along the terrace, through the Great Hall, and up the Tower to the High Priestesses’ rooms. She was given the suite at the top of the highest Tower so that she could better commune with the Goddess. At least, that was the theory.

“Yes, milady?” Nicolae said quietly, almost dropping Honey in her haste to kowtow to the High Priestess. “How may I serve you?” Then she froze in the act of putting her head to the floor. On her hands and knees, she stiffened, gazing in terror at the young man in front of her.

“Cou-cousin?”

Gabriel sighed impatiently. His poor opinion of women wasn’t changing much. The messenger that had offered to find the High Priestess to receive his message hadn’t come back, and in the meantime, he had been shuffled from one lowly priestess to another. He had begun to suspect that they merely wanted to keep him waiting until he got so fed up he left. However, he knew what the High Priest did with those who displeased him…he shuddered, and renewed his determination. The High Priest was a fair and just man, but if you angered him, you would be lucky if you ever saw the light again- moon or sun.

Raemon walked slowly towards her. “Cousin, I’ve come to fetch you back to Uncle. He’s tired of chasing you, but he is willing to let you come back to the manor. He is being very kind after all you’ve done to him.”

Nicolae quivered furiously. “After all I did to him!” She shouted. “That is it! I never want to see either of you two scum ever again!” She swung a roundhouse right hook, and when he ducked, kicked him in the groin. “I hope you are impotent!” She declared in answer to his groan. As Raemon slowly sank to his knees, clutching his crotch, Nicolae swept out of the room, carrying Honey with her.

Honey watched the door slam shut behind them, eyes wide. “Was that a bad man?” she asked, her child’s whisper loud in Nicolae’s ear.

Nicolae told her firmly. “Yes, he’s a very bad man. Don’t ever go near him, understand? And if there is an older man with him, stay away from him, too. Ok?”

Nicolae felt Honey’s nod as she picked up her skirt flap and swiftly walked down the stairs, carefully balancing Honey on one side and her bag on the other. Round and round down the circular steps, out the door, sharp left, and out into the courtyard. Nicolae sighed in relief as she felt the Sun’s warm rays heat her chilled body. She set Honey down, and tilted her head back. This is why she ran to the Temple- she felt so right just simply meditating in the Sunlight.

But priestesses never did it anymore. There was more maneuvering for titles, befriending and insulting potential allies and enemies, and general politics. Of course, then there were plenty of chores- gardening, laundry, general housekeeping, recording offerings, gifts, and expenses, plus trying to see that everyone did their fair share. True to the old tradition, women who were being courted had less of a workload, but since virtually everyone over the age of 17 summers was being courted, which was all priestesses and some older initiates, that left those younger initiates and Nicolae, who was the only older initiate not being courted, to do most of the work. That left Nicolae as the unofficial Head of the children residing at the Temple, and it alternately alienated her from those who wanted even that unofficial power, and commended itself to those who didn’t want to bother with housekeeping and taking care of children.

“Nicolae! Cristyl got sick all over the floor again!”

Speaking of which…

A girl ran up to her and Honey, hair flying and robe in disarray. The girls who hadn’t started their bleeding got to wear a long tunic, signifying them as a Dedicate, instead of the two piece skirt- and –top that the older Initiates had to wear. Nicolae envied the girl her irresponsibility, and sighed. Holding her hands out to the two children, she sighed and said, “Shall we?” And they walked together into the dormitory building, out of the Sun.

Gabriel stalked down the hall angrily. For the God’s sake, all he wanted was the High Priestess. He just had to hand her the missive, wait for her reply, and be on his way. Instead, he landed in the middle of a power play between priestesses. Fine. I’ll find her myself.

He saw a girl walk down the hall with two small children. “Excuse me, do you know where I could find the High Priestess?” he asked the oldest one.

“Oh, umm. Yes, I do. I just saw her. But I cannot take you right now…” she looked down at the older of her two charges. “Jannae, have you been up to the Tower yet, or do you go with the group next week?”

“Next week. Sorry.” The young girl looked apologetic. “They don’t let us wander, either. If we did, we end up scrubbing the dormitories for a week.”

“That’s okay.” She turned back to him. “I cannot send her with Honey, either. I am sorry, you’re just going to have to wait. Do you want to wait here?”

Gabriel shook his head. “Oh, no. That is okay. I will follow you.”

The young woman grinned ruefully. “I am not sure you want to do that.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“I have to clean up a mess. One of the youngsters- Jannae’s age- got sick in the dormitory.”

Gabriel made a face. “Well, I guess someone has to do it.”

She looked down at the ground. “Yes, I keep telling myself that.” She picked her head up and, throwing long white-blonde strands out of her eyes, quickened her pace. “This way.”

The girl wore a ponytail on the top of her head, and Gabriel watched the tail sway back and forth, back and forth throughout the entire walk up a hall, down another, and up a short stairwell. The older girl, Jannae, walked on one side of the young woman, carrying Honey on her back. The child seemed to be enjoying the ride immensely, occasionally kicking her chubby legs and crying, “Faster!” This led to Jannae running back and forth ahead of the two older teens. The young woman cautioned, “Careful, you do not want to drop her.” Jannae came back with, “Yes, but she is small. She might bounce.” and Honey’s squeal.

Gabriel had to grin at the children’s antics. He looked sideways at the young woman, and said, “So, what is your name? I’m Gabriel.”

“My name is Nicolae.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. Though you may regret it soon-“ and with that, she opened the door to the younger girl’s dormitory.

It looked like the Moon God had unleashed his worst winds on the small room. Two bunkbeds were on each of the four walls, with four small tables in the middle of the room. Clothes, robes, toys, stuffed animals, sheets, hairbrushes and other clutter was strewn across the room. Four small girls giggled and bounced on the top of one, while another two bounced on the bunk across the room.

“Cristyl! I thought you were sick!” Nicolae called, bringing the bouncing to a stop.

“I was!” A darkheaded girl chirped. “But I feel much better now!”

“Where did you get sick?” Nicolae sighed, bending down and picking up some of the clutter off the floor.

“Over in the corner, in the basket. It’s yucky.” The girl made no move to come down.

Nicolae turned to Jannae. “I thought you told me it was all over the floor.”

Jannae looked back at her unabashedly. “I thought it was. But I did not stay to see. She just made a funny face, so I ran and got you. Getting sick is nasty.”

Gabriel stifled a laugh. He had forgotten how fun young children were. The Moon Priests had begun enforcing a rule that stated they wouldn’t accept anyone under 12 summers, and the younger children had nothing to do with the older initiates.

Nicolae called to the other children. “Come down here right now! I cannot see the floor! I want this room picked up right away!”

The girls groaned. “But we do not want to! It’s our room!”

“Yes, but you share it with others. You should keep it clean. Also, if you want to go swimming in the pond later…” Nicolae left the threat unfinished as the girls immediately made a show of picking things up and rushing to put them away in drawers and on the tables.

“Good. Now I am coming back in two candlemarks, and I want to see the floor this time. Okay?”

A chorus of “Okay!” greeted her as she lead Gabriel out of the room and shut the door.

“Honey will be better off with the younger girls for a little bit, and that means we can move quicker. I can’t carry her around all day whenever I want to move fast.” She sounded slightly apologetic in her explanation.

“Do you accept a lot of children that young?” he asked, curious.

“If we have to. Most of these girls have been left here either because the mothers could not take care of them or the family was too poor to have them. Sometimes the mother wanted a son and would rather say she had a stillborn than a female. We are just thankful that the parents do not kill the children instead.”

“Do they really just- not care?” He asked.

“Yes. Here’s the stairwell. Up the steps, at the top, is her door. I’ll wait down here.” Nicolae’s voice was cold.

“Okay.” He felt it was a good idea not to argue. Not in the mood that she was in. Even he could tell that it would take the wrath of the Moon God and Sun Goddess combined to get her up the staircase. Oh Lun.

He slowly trudged up the steps.