To be the Mictecacihuatl was to be the highest priestess of all the Grave Path. Technically it meant to be mostly a priestess of Madam Grave and the Buried God, but it meant all of the other gods as well. It was a duty, and it required a lot of work. It required her to visit the various temples and shrines of their faith, lead the ceremonies in the capital, and to visit the missions to give advice and encouragement to the missionaries there.But she was a common priestess as well as a high one, and she had the same duties as any common priestess had: she had to spread her faith, and bring others to the courage and contentment that came with following the Grave Path, to help others understand the cycle of life and death, and to understand that they were both natural, and neither one was to be feared.
Calendula filled out her duty as a common priestess by talking to anyone she met, and she fulfilled her duty as the Mictecacihuatl in part by paying attention to all the gods in their turn. She had a carefully planned schedule, and tried to set out some time every day to meditate on the nature of one of the pairs of gods.
Take, for example, Madam Wave and the Drowning God (not to be confused with an imposter Nova warlord who fancied himself the Drowned God). They were the gods of the water, and of the moon as well. Wells were blessed in their name, and prayers made when crossing rivers, but for the most part, as far inland as Calendula was, most people did not think much about Madam Wave and the Drowning God as gods of the water so much as gods of the moon and of night-time. Madam Wave took the souls of those who drowned, but few enough ventured into deep waters for that to be an issue.
Today Calendula stood on the edge of a vast pond--too small to be a lake, but definitely very large--and looked out into its dark green depths, and she thought about the gods of water and the moon. Not just gods of what glowed above her, but gods, also, of what swept below them. Gods of darkness.
Something flickered in the water, reflecting the moonlight. She took a step forward, wondering what it could possibly be.
