Mistress of the Sands meets the Prince of the Northern Waters

"No, that wasn't the upholding of peace," she said, "You were weak; you still could have fought back against them, but no. Instead your people chose to go into hiding, and you relied on the help of others to protect you and shelter you. God forbid your people lifted a finger, scattered as you were. If it were my people we would have fought back, even if it would have finished our lineage forever. We would have died knowing that we at least tried to stop these tyrants. I will say this though, when it came time to fend for yourselves and defeat the Fire Nation as they encroached your hiding places, you at least did fight then. Which earned you, if anything, just a little redemption from the Gods. Ilyd must have cared for you that day, and given you the strength to fight."

Enya and the boy soon left the city, and passed through the large stone walls that surrounded it. The large wrought iron gate raised to let them by, as the female guards and soldiers glared at Cassian as he walked by. No one liked outsiders, welcomed or not, but as long as he was with Enya he would be untouched...for now.

"I assume you have religion where you are from, am I right water bender?" asked Enya, "I know the other nations worship the same Gods as us and each other. Do you worship the water patriarch Ilyd as you should? Or have you blasphemed against her and turned your back on tradition? If so, then you will need proper instruction of how to act within our temple, our most holy of places, but if not, then I trust you know what to do."

| Prince Castiel |

Mistress of the Sands meets the Prince of the Northern Waters - Page 2 Kanda-11

Castiel shot the woman a wry smile. "Let's just agree to disagree; our priorities obviously clash. And as for the latter side to your claims, yes, the Gods did seem to have us in good blessing."

The two traveled onward. Castiel had the sense they were heading outside of the city. As they approached a series of guards stationed at the barrier, he felt malicious eyes upon him. His form tensed instinctively, but he very much felt he had nothing to fear. Naturally his slender, lithe stature caused friend and enemy alike to underestimate him. He spent most of his time being protected, so his guise as a formidable warrior remained sheathed under a cloak of frailty and naivete. Cassian had taught him much, much more, however, and it was his brother that instilled in him perseverance and the advantages of discreetness. However, in this Clan he stuck out like a sore thumb regardless. His dark violet hair and blue-lavender eyes marked him tribal more than anything, and in turn exposed him to extreme prejudice and unfair judgments on the sand people's part.

"I assume you have religion where you are from, am I right water bender? I know the other nations worship the same Gods as us and each other. Do you worship the water patriarch Ilyd as you should? Or have you blasphemed against her and turned your back on tradition? If so, then you will need proper instruction of how to act within our temple, our most holy of places, but if not, then I trust you know what to do."

Castiel nodded. "I do .. but forgive me if I blunder. I have not participated in the ritual ever since I was very young." Of course, Castiel knew by now that requesting any form of 'forgiveness' from Enya was just futile. It was like asking a dog not to bark. But his politeness was returning fragment by fragment. Furthermore, the details regarding his loss of faith he kept to himself. The death of his mother crippled any kind of hope Castiel held and thus his depression was a long and oppressive one. He didn't expect the woman to understand let alone allow him to pass it off as an excuse.

"Hmph," scoffed Enya, "Forgiveness is for the weak, a leader is ruthless and does not ask for forgiveness. Pathetic." Enya sighed and kept walking through the large canyon, towards her clans most holy and beautiful of places, the Temple of Takamagahara. "I will walk you through the formalities," she said, "Follow me as best as you can, or you will pay dearly for it. Believe me."

Enya reached the temple, but was almost stopped by the guards because of the outsider that followed her. "Laoqa rek! Ha ek vesr ka! Tuicr rek omd sea!" she shouted, and the guards instantly stood back. Enya commanded much respect from her soldiers and her subjects, she frightened them, but they respected her regardless, the fear helped however.

Enya entered the temple, others removed their shoes, but Enya never wore shoes regardless, and had nothing to worry about, she simply washed the sand from her feet. "You," she hissed at Cassian, "Remove your shoes, or you're feet will be cut off and offered to the Gods as a sacrifice for your disrespect!" Enya hoped the boy wouldn't be foolish enough to not listen to her, he was an idiot, but he had nice feet.

| Prince Castiel |

Spoiler:

"You," Enya hissed at him suddenly. They'd trekked all the way to the temple, and in the midst of their journey, Castiel had gotten lost in his thoughts. "Remove your shoes, or you're feet will be cut off and offered to the Gods as a sacrifice for your disrespect!"

Castiel obediently removed his shoes and scrubbed the soles of his feet. He located a basin of fresh water and washed his hands, as well. He surreptitiously leaned over the edge, he cupped the crystalline liquid in his hands, and rinsed his mouth with it. Now, cleansed to his satisfaction, the tribal boy turned to face Enya again, waiting for her to do the same, perhaps.

Enya nodded approvingly as Castiel observed the rituals properly, it was nice to see that the water children had not forsaken religion. Enya waited for Castiel to finish before cupping water in her hands, she held it there for a second, and then dropped it back in the water, and cleaned her hands in the cool liquid. She then proceeded to cup another drink of water in her two hands, now made clean and purified by the mystical water that ran from the springs below the temple, and drank from her hands.

As she drank, she swirled the water around her mouth, and then spit the water out into a spittoon off to the side of the temple wall. She had purified her words, and her hands, and was now permitted into the inner workings of the temple. As she entered, the minimized light became apparent, and the only light was a faint orange glow from the candles, as the hole in the ceiling was closed. There was a large circular hole in the ceiling that, when the sun was in the centre of the sky at midday, would be uncovered and would allow light to pour straight down at large ruby at the centre of the statue of Takamagahara's forehead.

At the far end of the room, carved into the wall, was as large statue of the goddess Takamagahara, with a large snake wrapped around her neck and curled around her arms and waist. Her face was calm, and kind, and seemed to exude happiness and blessings. For Takamagahara was a peaceful and forgiving god, who loved all children of the world. Enya, however, lacked her ancestors perpetual love, and was one who would prefer to barrage people with insults in order to make them stronger and harder, unlike Takamagahara who would attribute strength to love.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" asked Enya as she marvelled at the plain, stone insides of the temple, "Remember, walk down the centre of the temple, between the rows of mats, but stay away from the centermost line, only the gods and spirits may walk down it as they visit the temples. Once you reach that bell rope there, I'll tell you what to do. Oh, and here--" Enya passed a small, smooth, flat stone to Castiel so that no one could see "--hold on to that."

| Prince Castiel |

Spoiler:

Castiel watched Enya purify her mouth and hands. Afterward, the boy followed the woman into the temple, his lavender-blue eyes bright and curious at the smooth stones that greeted them. The statue of the goddess Takamagahara at the far end of the chamber exuded peace and comfort, despite the snake coiling around her shoulders and upper body. Her eyes seemed to beam down on him in particular, and Castiel remembered quite strongly that the goddess favored children. He hadn't thought he was that young, nor did he expect the statue to truly contain some embodiment of the spirit herself. Granted, he'd always felt safe and serene in the presence of the ocean and moon spirits, but they were living, physical beings and so he found truth in their graceful, languid movements.

Enya was talking. Her voice pitched somewhat, full of pride and love, and for a moment Castiel wanted to abandon his cautiousness with her. Then, however, her snappish tone resurfaced. Her pleasant air had last milliseconds, at best, but Castiel always had a knack for noticing things. "Remember," Enya snapped. Well, as much as one could snap inside a holy area. He was unsure; most of the things Enya did to him seemed a bit on the rough side.

"Walk down the centre of the temple," Enya went on. "Between the rows of mats, but stay away from the centermost line, only the gods and spirits may walk down it as they visit the temples. Once you reach that bell rope there, I'll tell you what to do. Oh, and here--" She passed him a smooth stone, undoubtedly metamorphic. "--hold on to that."

Castiel graciously accepted the stone, feeling a bit awkward on his bare feet. The prince's feet were fully unmarred, stark white compared to his somewhat tanned skin. In the tribes, he was never once permitted to go about without shoes, lest he wished to catch his death. But he calmly walked forward, delicately balancing his footsteps despite his discomfort, so that he strayed away from the center line but so he remained within the confines of Enya's instruction. Finally, he reached a bell with a single rope hanging from it. He trailed the rope with his eyes, finding the bell and being unsure what material it was made from. It was obvious the bell was not a typical one, and he gazed at it in wonderment.

Enya gave a glance at Castiel, and whispered quietly, "Follow my lead," said Enya. The Mistress of the Sands walked towards the statue of the diety, right in front of the bell's rope and spun the smooth stone around in her hand several times. Enya could feel the smooth surface of the stone against her hand, the feel was soothing and it had not a single fault in the smooth, perfect surface.

Enya finished spinning the stone and placed it in the multi-slotted box; satisfied when she heard it hit the other stones that were in the box already. Prayer stones, her people called them, in the nations they would replace the stones with a monetary offering, but here the royalty paid for the temple's expenses, therefore money was not and issue. So instead, her people used prayer stones, stones in which people imbued with a prayer before offering it to the gods.

Enya then stood up, and turned back to the bell and, facing the statue, swung the rope back and forth allowing it to ring. Then, she clapped her hands twice, and bowed towards the statue, and made her prayer again. She stepped back from the statue of the goddess, still facing it, and waited for Castiel to do the same.

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