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Mirela was puzzled by the man’s words, wondering how he could so simply dismiss the Meij as nothing more then a gypsy myth - especially when the young woman had seen it work in not only her life but in the lives of her gypsy family as well. Talk of equality was all well and good, but how could true equality be achieved if they were so quick to discount a magic, a force, that was tangible and powerful? She would have said more, defended the magic that had blessed her with a son, but the tone of his words, the smile upon his lips, indicated there was little room for further discussion.

Sighing and lowering her eyes, Mirela watched the ground beneath her slowly change; no longer possessing the same excitement and giddiness toward the festivities that she had only moments before. Allowing herself to be freely herded toward the group of other women, Mirela lifted her sapphire eyes as a gentle voice asked - “May I hold your son?”. The smiling face of a priestess greeted the young mother, intricate tattoo’s in vibrant white twisting down the left hand side of her face before disappearing beneath the collar of her linen robes. Golden flecks warmed her bright chestnut eyes, shining with expectancy as she awaited Mirela’s answer. For a moment the gypsy considered refusing but, after spotting several of her caravan sisters allow their little ones to be held, the teenager nodded and watched warily as Tafari was lifted into the priestess’s arms.

Turning her attention away from her son as the priest at her side spoke, a faint smile crept back across Mirela’s lips at the question. “I adore my child, my little Tafari” the fair-haired woman spoke quietly, taking Tafari’s hand once more as he reached toward her. “It was hard at first, knowing what to do and trying to guess what he wanted, but it’s becoming second nature - slowly. In spite of that though I cannot imagine being without him now, and it’s hard to remember a time before he was my entire world”. Speaking of her son, of motherhood, seemed to restore some of Mirela’s vigour; causing the smile upon her face to broaden and her cerulean orbs to lift from their focus point upon the ground.

"Fair enough," says Baptiste. "I confess I too am curious. Right it is." He gives her his arm and together they mill toward the bowls of curiously-colored liquid.

The TellBook is a funny thing. ...Like the Banyas, it is veritably infused with the meij. However, like most fortunetelling objects, there's an element of surprise- and darkness to it. And like anything that has been magically enhanced with some sort of fortunetelling intelligence... the TellBook had a sort of mind of its own. And it felt... abused. Overused, and that its words had not been heeded previously. And so, the next time DeArca would open the book, it would find it soaked through- from cover to cover.. with blood.

There would be no more answers. Perhaps not for a very long time.

((Okay- if you are with an NPC, you can continue to interact with them. But otherwise, this is a period where you should be connecting with each other a bit. The only person I'll react to if you poke at some NPC is XML- who has been earlier instructed to do so. Even if you are with an NPC now, though, I encourage interaction. There will be a little bit of that- and then ... it's mmmy turn again. twisted I'll bring back in the NPC's that have appeared before, and then... you sit back for the actual ceremonies, because by then I will have made my final choices. And you get to see the results. There WILL be plots beyond this, but they won't have to do with the ceremonies. Some peoples plots are happening now, and others are somewhat afterwards.))

The Choosing

The City Gardens
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Ely
Missa
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You can see the city center through the glade, and thus, can watch the other ceremony. This is the celebratory ceremony- and not the actual Choosing. As you see the scepters passed out in the city center... it's your last chance if you do want to express yourself and move over to the Choosing itself. Otherwise, if you stay here, you are treated to a beautiful display: whenever you touch your torch to someone else, it changes colors- the first few times, the spark that comes out in beautiful, remarkable lights and sparkles... is white- and after that, the color changes. People are milling about, talking, laughing, kissing- and back near the water, priests and priestesses are preparing gifts to later send throughout the crowd. If you are here, you will keep your magic- there will be no 'purifying' here. Only in the city center.

The City Center
Maeko
Tamlin
Baptiste
Gwynna
Em

Every woman is being handed a scepter. They are as follows. Leshyae: A silver scepter whose top bears onyx stones, and the inscription is: "Patience". Anezka: Silver scepter with blue stones, "Charisma". Tamlin: Bronze with gold and silver swaths on the top: "Charity". Gwynna is given a golden scepter tipped with white stones: "Virtue". Even little Nusa is given a scepter, though her mother may have to help her hold it, for it is gold, and tipped in tiger eyes: "Purity". Emelyn is passed by a priestess a white gold scepter, tipped in rose quartz: "Serenity".

No one tells you what to do with the scepters, but every woman in the crowd holds one, and they are gathering wide around the siphoner's bowls. The priests and priestesses are preparing something- they won't brook with being disturbed.

All Saviour's Day

Silver
Caroline
DeArca
Irina
Mirela
Keppit
Veshengo

Veshengo and DeArca are moved to the outside, and offered drinks and food. Priests wait on them and smile, though their attention is focused mostly on The Candidates.

Irina and Mirela are directed into the inner circle... which is rather small, circling around a priestess who sits on a stool, holding... a cloth. It is so simple... almost ridiculously so. But she's smiling. Silver is moved into the circle behind them... Caroline is in the one behind that, and Ki is placed in the far back circle- about two behind Caroline. Mostly, though, the circles are so tight- you can lean back and talk to almost anyone.

Caroline doesn't seem to mind that she's put in the third circle back. Her daughter is still with her, along with the two priestesses who'd accompanied her. She makes casual conversation with them. Well, as casual as you can get with such formal women. But they'd seemed to lose interest in her and have focused their attention on the woman in the center of the circles with what appears to be a white handkerchief.

Rojiza's almost glad her mother's all the way back here. The action seemed to be toward the center of the circle. She doesn't want anything to happen to her mother. She patiently waits for something interesting to happen. She notes Silver and Ais in the circle afore them, and she leans forward and slightly left across her mother to tap her on the shoulder.

Lorelei stayed in the city park, finding a spot mostly removed from the crowds and looking around. She looked for any sign of her sisters, trying to spot at least Heather. She hoped a few of her friends had decided to come to this side, but at first she didn't spot anybody whom she knew. So she took down her hood once more, knowing that nobody would recognize Vanna after what had happened.

While her mother looked around, Vanna patted the torch Lorelei still held, wondering what it was for. Lorelei had managed not to touch somebody else's torch.

Lorelei was smiling at Amkia, pleasantly surprised. He had grown! And he was such a dashing little boy, too.

"Well, hello there! Somebody's gotten a little taller than when I last saw him." She laughed a little, setting Vanna down on the ground. The girl ran over and hugged the boy, getting up on her tippy toes to do so.

Lorelei looked up as Heather approached. "I... ah... drew the attention of one of the ceremonial 'Siphoners' - the women with the blue water. They had one of the priests bind out magic. It made Vanna lose her Fortunette traits and her ability to sing or hear music... same with me." She smiled wryly. "Apparently, it will fade once the ceremony is over. But for now... Vanna seems to be dealing well with the absence of magic, but I don't know how long that will last.

"And you? What happened to make Amkia grow?"

Lorelei sat herself down as well. "Sounds like it. I've had quite the hectic time myself, though not nearly as bad... I met a woman named Burs who said that the Honeyblossom Caravan is here, too. Which means..." She blushed a little and ducked her head. "Leax must be here, as well.

"I caught a glimpse of the man Leax told me to meet, Orrel. But he and Gwynna were talking, and I didn't feel like I should interrupt."

Vanna tugged at Amkia's curly hair, trying to get him to sit. "No moosic!" she complained, pouting. "Am-ee! Sit!"