Page 34 of Circle of Days
“You shouldn’t have been there either. The priestesses have aright to keep things private if they wish. I hope they gave you a thrashing.”
“No.”
“No? What, then?”
“I had a long talk with High Priestess Soo.”
“Is that all?”
“Mamma, I learned so much! She taught me a new way to count, using discs instead of parts of the body. You can keep counting higher and higher and never stop.”
“Oh.”
“She said I was very quick to understand.”
“Oh, yes, you’ve always been quick. It’s ordinary common sense that you lack.” Ani threw a handful of wild grains into the pot.
“No one was hurt, Mamma. Only Han, a little bit, when Ello grabbed his arm. And that was his own fault.”
“Poor child, he pissed all down his leg. I had to wash him.”
Joia wanted to get her mother off the subject of poor Han. “The priestesses’ songs contain everything we know about the sun and the moon. That’s why they’re so important. They’re the only way we can preserve our knowledge from one generation to the next.”
“Is that so?”
Ani was still cross but she was softening, Joia could tell.
Joia took a deep breath. “That’s why I want to be a priestess.”
At first Ani did not take her seriously. “Well, you’ve got several years to think about it before you’re old enough.”
“Soo said I’m the perfect age to start.”
“That’s ridiculous! You’ve only seen thirteen midsummers!”
“Fourteen.”
“Don’t quibble.”
Joia was frustrated. How could she make her mother understand? “I know what I want!”
“Nobody knows what they want at thirteen. Or fourteen. The High Priestess just wants to get you in her clutches before you get pregnant.”
“I’m not going to get pregnant.”
“I said that at your age, and look at me now, cooking for three disobedient children.”
Joia sighed. “You’re very mean this morning.”
“I’m making you breakfast, aren’t I?”
“I hate liver.”
They were silent for a while, then Joia said: “Soo says you’re wise.”
“Too wise to give her my daughter.”
That angered Joia. “You don’t own me, and neither does she!”
