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 Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 12:16 pm
 The Duties of the Mictecacihuatl; to ensure the rituals are performed to the satisfaction of the gods; to ensure that every member of the Grave Path is ushered on to their next life; to uphold the traditions of the faith; to perform the ceremonies of the seasons in the sacred city; to perform the duties of a priestess; to mediate between the faithful; to visit the missions and ensure that their needs are fulfilled. It was a busy job, but at least it meant that Calendula met new people. And considering that one of them was her adopted son, what could be better?
Very few Mictecacihuatls actually performed the tours of the missions. There weren't very many of them--less than a dozen all-told--but they were spread out over a wide area, so the visits could last over a season before the priestess could return home. Usually, the high priestess delegated the job to trusted advisers and priests. But Calendula was new to this job. She wanted to do it right, and she wanted time to clear the air. She'd been wearing the bones for still less than a year now. It was a job of solemnity, of poise and grace, and most of those did not come naturally to the once-giddy mare. So yes, a nice tour of the continent. The journey of a single season had stretched into more than two with the accompaniment of a tiny foal. Not that she begrudged her nameless child the slow pace. After all, children should be afforded the best of care, and she was willing to give it. And she'd met many people she would not have otherwise known along the way.
Today, they were nearing the end of a month-long journey from the last mission. According to the notes and map tucked under a cuff (not under the bones, never under the bones--they must always be in contact with her skin), this mission had been started by a trio of young priests, headed by a stallion named Azrael. The area was arid, but their crops looked happy. That was a good sign for the winter to come and the growing season ahead--with any luck, this mission would thrive.
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 11:16 pm
 The foal followed Calendula like a puppy. She was all he had and the only link to his mother. He couldn't remember what happened, one day he was alone, just sitting there without his mother. there was something in front of him but he couldn't recall what it was. His memory was blurred and broken around that time. Calendula found him and took him in. She gave him toys and candy, and covered him in bone armor of a stillborn foal like hers. 'Cept hers was an elder mare that died or something. She said it would make him stronger to carry the weight of the dead or something like that he couldn't quite remember what she'd said.
He didn't understand it all that well. She was a priestess or something of a religion. but she'd said, he could get in contact with his mother through that religion. Maybe too he could remember why he was suddenly so alone. He didn't like that feeling at all. She treated him kindly, like what he thought his own mother must have, he hadn't been afraid of her when he met her, he just kind of dumbly followed her at the time. It was all kinda fuzzy.
Ah! he looked up at his adoptive mother and slowed his pace. They were here to meet a stallion or something named Azrael? Something about his mission in the religion, or something... The nameless foal glanced up to his adoptive mother as she walked, he strode beside her and nuzzled her lovingly. He knew she was supposed to be all official but he couldn't help it. "Sorry" he whispered as they neared the mission. He could see a black stallion with bright bone markings waiting patiently for the priestess with the other priestesses of the other various gods. he could never keep them straight.
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Ice_Dragon_Demon
Ice_Dragon_Demon
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Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 6:48 pm
Against the side of her leg, the nameless child nuzzled her. Calendula smiled and wrapped her wing around him to pull him into a nuzzle of her own. "You have no reason to apologize, my child." And her heart raced a tiny bit to say that. Her own child...true, not of her own flesh, but certainly of her own heart. She hoped he felt the same way abut her, and prayed that the scars from his real mother's passing would heal. She still remembered finding the little dear near his mother's body. Some thing--a star, she suspected with a mixture of sadness, horror, and anger--had ripped the mare's crimson tail off. Why they had done such a thing, she had no idea. But she'd wrapped the child in her wings and vowed never to abandon him. Madame Grave and Madame Sword would watch over him through the bones she'd wrapped him in. Marigold's scent would attract the attention of the gods.
"You have done nothing wrong. We're almost where we can rest for the night. Not longer now." Some might argue that Calendula had to maintain a dignified facade in front of one of her priests. But this was her son, and no amount of ceremony would erase that. So with her wing still wrapped around him, she approached the black stallion that could only be Azrael. "Are you Azrael, servant of the Buried God and the Bleeding God?"
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 11:23 am
Nameless gladly accepted his adoptive mother's nuzzle, it was true, his mother was gone but somehow some god had brought him Calendula to be his new mother. Nameless nodded to his mother, rest would be nice. They had been walking a long time, and these bones were getting rather heavy. he was still just a foal after all. It had been harder the first few nights but all the walking had reminded him of their weight. Settling down would be... nameless paused for a moment as his mother greeted another. He hadn't been paying attention wrapped in Calendula's soft white feathers that smelt of marigolds. He was always surrounded by the smell and it had become very comforting.
Nameless was surprised even more when Azrael warmly greeted him, he didn't even know him. The colt was rather stunned. He pulled back into Calendula's wing. Azrael though did apologize for startling the boy. Nameless looked up at his mother and watched the proceedings.
 Azrael had been waiting eagerly for the Mictecacihuatl to arrive. It was a great honor to have such a visit. Azrael had a feeling he'd gotten on the nerves of both Sbande and his sister Duranta. Ever since he'd heard the high priestess had been coming he'd been checking a lot of little things that he thought might upset her. Though overall their mission had been successful in many ways. He still did his best to spread new of the gave path. Azrael was very close to pacing normally he was quite calm. he enjoyed tending the livestock and the garden.
Azrael took a deep breath calming himself. it was a great responsibility he held as priest and leader of the mission. the Mictecacihuatl would love it. He hoped upon seeing the mare emerge into this vision, curious a child was at her side. Last he'd heard she hadn't had a child. Azrael was confused for a moment but still he would welcome the child as he would the Mictecacihuatl.
"I am, Mictecacihuatl." Azrael bowed formally "I welcome you and your child on behalf of my compatriots to out small settlement." he said before giving the mare and child the traditional grave path blessings of his gods.
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Ice_Dragon_Demon
Ice_Dragon_Demon
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Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 5:33 pm
Calendula let the child retreat into her wing--meeting strangers after such a life as he had led must be difficult--and some children, even given the best of upbringings, were nervous in the presence of strange adults. It had been thus since she had started traveling with him, and she had gotten so used to it as to not notice it anymore. Instead, she concentrated on what Azrael was saying. "Thank you for your kind welcome," she said in return. "We are grateful for this chance to rest our bones after a long journey. May the blessings of all the gods and goddesses be upon you and your mission," she added. Internally, she was nodding with approval. Azrael remembered the proper words for the rituals (at least the ones so far), and his mission, from here at least, looked well-organized and well-maintained. It was small, but all things start small. The joy was in seeing what they became. With that reminder of her son, she led the way into Azrael's mission.It was true that Azrael's nervousness had been a little annoying, but nerves were to be expected when your mission was expecting a visit from the Mictecacihuatl herself. Sbande had also been nervous about the visit, though she liked to think she had been a lot quieter about her nervousness than Azrael had been. Instead, she had done everything she could to calm his nerves and to help him prepare. After all, it was her mission, too. She smiled to herself. She imagined she had gotten on his nerves as well, actually--having someone telling you to calm down when you were upset was hardly conducive to bout of well-deserved nerves. Once the high priestess had passed, Sbande leaned over to Azrael and murmured in a tone she hoped their revered guest could not hear, "How're you holding up, Az?" She was sort of hoping that he'd feel better now that the Mictecacihuatl had arrived. Anticipation, after all, was the greatest part of fear.
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Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 6:56 pm
The stallion graciously stepped aside and allowed the Mictecacihuatl to pass with her child. he hoped he didn't startle the child too much. If he was able after the Priestess was settled he would apologize formally.
Azrael had been very thankful everyone of the mission had supported him despite his nervousness Things had to be perfect and thanks to them it was as perfect as it could be. He was certain he'd been on everyone's nerves he would have to thank them all properly for their hard work in service to the Path. He did feel a bit more relaxed now that the main greeting was over. His mind was mulling over everything that was coming up but now it didn't seem so bad. Everyone had prepared accordingly it couldn't possibly go wrong.
"I am doing well thank you, Sbande." He whispered quietly walking in stride with his friend. he seemed visibly more relaxed. Nameless peeked out from behind her wing and walked as best he could beside his adoptive mother. the colt didn't speak to anyone aside his mom. he stayed right by her side. He still didn't understand really what was going on here. Maybe he would one day when he was older, Maybe...
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Ice_Dragon_Demon
Ice_Dragon_Demon
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Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 11:44 pm
Duranta had stayed back from the official meet-and-greet. Protocol did not require that everyone be there to greet the Mictecacihuatl, and Duranta had stayed back. She wasn't really sure she was up to things, and she felt...she wasn't sure how to describe it, but she didn't feel right greeting the priestess with the others. It felt like they were children looking for approval from their teacher rather than what they were--independent adults working as independent adults did. Besides, she wanted to stay back where she could keep an eye on Cyabal. As a new convert to their religion--and someone with an abrasive tongue even at the best of times--she hadn't been sure it would be a good idea to let Cyabal anywhere near their leader until they'd had a word with the mare. It hadn't been so long ago that their new acolyte had believed that they were witches and sorcerers that were out to steal her soul. Best not to introduce her to their most holy priestess right away.
"She's the Mictecacihuatl. Tradition is that she visits all of the missions to check on us, see how we're doing, make sure we're keeping the faith properly. You can just address her as 'Mictecacihuatl,' there are no more formal forms of address. She'll probably want to talk to you at some point," she added. "Don't worry about it. I think this one's a nice one."
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Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 11:50 pm
Cyabal flicked her hair over her shoulder. Her mane was growing out of the short military cut she'd worn since she was a yearling. It was still taking some getting used to, but Sbande and Duranta assured her that it was much prettier longer, and screw it, it made her harder to recognize. It was, however, taking some getting used to.
She blew her forelock out of her face and squinted at the figures talking to Azrael. She was familiar enough with the tenets of their faith to know what the Mictecacihuatl was. "Highest priestess of all the gods, but officially priestess of Madame Grave and the Buried God," she muttered under her breath. "Wears the bones of her teacher so she may absorb the judgments and wisdom of her mentor." Cyabal shook her head. She was still getting used to all of these rituals. It was...strange to deal with all of them. Very strange to live in a world with all this...symbolism everywhere. But it was a new life, one that promised to give her more meaning than just "this is what you were meant to be, get on with it." This faith...meant something. And she wanted to make a good impression on them all.
Then something Duranta said stood out in her mind. "What do you mean, she's a nice one?!" For a religion like the Grave Path, with so many opportunities to be crazy and weird--!
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Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 11:56 pm
Sbande smiled at Azrael and bumped his shoulder with her own. Poor Azrael--this sort of stress was one of the reasons she'd never wanted to lead a mission herself. Join one with her friends, sure, take on responsibilities of a priestess far from home, yes, but the leader of a mission? Haha, no thanks. She had other things to do. Music, farming, keeping her friends cheerful, shouldering the burden of generations of Corne-Bleues before her...stressing out about a visiting dignitary was definitely not for her. But that didn't mean she couldn't be there for the ones who were. She could still support Azrael and do everything she could to make things easier for him.
Thank goodness that Azrael had finally started to relax. "You can do this, see? You've got this in the bag, Az." She glanced at the foal that followed the priestess and smiled. There had been a rumor going around that the Mictecacihuatl traveled with her son, and that her son also wore bones. That was an old tradition, very old. Even her grandparents would think that was old-fashioned--it was supposed to guard against trauma. It called upon the spirit of the fallen child who had grown those bones to protect and nurture the child that now wore them. Old magic. Deep magic. She was impressed. These days, it was only used on special occasions. Then again, what more special occasion than the son of a Mictecacihuatl?
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Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2019 12:02 am
Calendula followed along, keeping slow so that the Nameless One could keep up. So far the mission looked very well indeed. It was still new, but they had shelters up, there were crops planted and she could see the shapes of stills beyond their shelter. New missions could sometimes look slapdash and hardscrabble, but Azrael's mission looked more...practical. Someone (probably three someones) had done a lot of work to make sure that everything worked and that it worked well enough that it would not have to be repaired all the time or completely rebuilt every season. Then they had gotten to the much more important work of the everyday. Farming was not a job for the lazy, and the gods each had their own rituals that had to be performed as well.
Calendula looked across the fields and saw two more figures. The black and orange Algiedi mare was almost certainly Duranta, their priestess of Madame Web (not a common avocation, there wasn't usually much call for the gods of hope and lost causes). Who the brightly-colored arctyra mare was she wasn't sure. She looked at Azrael. "I see you have added to your number since last I heard," she said with a smile. "Is she an acolyte or a follower?" Either way reflected well on Azrael and his friends. The purpose of a mission wasn't just to serve the gods, it was to serve the people as well, and attract more people to the Grave Path. From the looks of it, they'd already attracted one person. That was a very good sign indeed, and would be even better if she was an acolyte and not just a farmer.Ice_Dragon_Demon Sorry for splitting them all into their own posts--it seemed like a good idea at the time. Cyabal is an acolyte of the gods of healing xD Newcomer to their fold.
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