Welcome to Gaia! ::

"My... parents?" Heidla sounded troubled. "I do not remember my parents". She almost added that she was not sure if she had them at all, but then it would have been stupid. Still, the priestesses were raised in the temple, and she would not be able to say whether she had been with someone else before being accepted into the order of Death. She smiled, "I told you, we don't have families. And don't need them".

Then again her voice faltered. Did she ever feel lonely - before meeting Calder and listening to his stories about his clan and Amityville and coming to understand that you were not obliged to be alone, after all? That you could have people around and enjoy it? That was an uneasy thought she wanted to push out of her head, so she continued hastily: "And I guess noone taught me to fly on my seal. For us, it is in our nature. It is as simple as walking or breathing. Were you taught walking?" she asked curiously. "Is it...." she paused, not wanting to hurt his feelings, "Different for you? I mean, you're equine, sort of, so it should be easy fir you. Or are you taught different ways of walking in your horse form? Trotting, cantering, galloping? Do you remember your first time going into a gallop?It's different for me.... But I do remember the first time we went for a water-ride.... Do you want to try that as well? After all, you seem to prefer water to earth... ".

Turning to him, she asked anxiously: "Are you feeling better? You don't look comfortable, how can I help?"

"Then show us the way!" Heidla petted the soft fur of her mount as he started gaining speed and moved swiftly and steadily in the direction indicated by the kelpie. "Just be prepared, this guy loves to play in the water, so if we get out all wet, you'll be the one to blame!" she laughed. That was fun, actually. Did she ever had a chance to ride for fun with someone else before? She wasn't so sure whether other priestess ever enjoyed playing with their mounts. It was different for her - her seal was her friend and her playmate.

"You don't need to explain it to me, I know what you mean. We also have to learn to summon our mounts. I had lots of troubles with keeping it visible and solid. It seemed to be quite a playful creature all the time, and tried to escape every time I called him".... she smiled to her memories. "But I can't swim, so one day when he dragged me to the water I almost died... and that's how I finally understood the main thing about mounts and how they are part of us..." she paused unsure as whether to continue her sudden outburst of personal stories. The seal, as if feeling her uneasy, suddenly jumped, almost causing them to fall down.

She looked back to check if Calder was ok, then asked: "So how many forms do you have?"

"Whoaaaa!" Heidla giggled with excitement and delight as he tried to tickle her. Feeling her excitement the seal got unstable, and both Calder and the priestess nearly fell into the water. At the last moment she grasped the silky fur and stabled herself. "What are you doing", she asked laughing. "Weren't you the one who felt uneasy a moment before?... So, you wanna play now?"

She slid backwards and pushed him forward a bit to make him the master of the situation - sort of the steerer for the seal. "Now, you chose where we go. We're right above the water. Shall we dive? or fly around?"

She wondered whether she wasn't getting just too much fun, and whether it was not exactly dignified and worthy of a priestess. But then, Jack's sake! Who cared! It was for the first time since the horsemen came to Amityville that she was actually enjoying herself. So even if it was going out of all the limits, there was no-one to spy and judge.

"As if that would be easy. He is quite capricious when he gets close to the water. It's his natural habitat after all. And I am also an Islander", Heidla grinned. Was she getting too excited at the promise of fun?

She paused for a moment to try to grasp the importance of what was going on. A - Death - Priestess! - was having fun! Not a trance experience, not a torture-fear harvesting moment, but fun for the sheer fun of it. Then she felt the seal getting impatient, his sides trembling as if answering to the urgent call of water. She almost laid down behind Calder, hugging the seal with her both hands, and pressing her head against the boil's back. "And here we go... dooooown!", she stated as the seal plunged down. Exciting!