Week One

“I’m bored!” Celestine announced as she flounced into the large sitting room, her long flowing gown flaring out behind her slender form. “There is just nothing to do.”

“There’s plenty to do if you just look around you,” Emily replied as she carefully tied off the thread on the skirt she was repairing.

“There is nothing of interest to do,” Celestine corrected. “Admit it, the evenings have been such non-events since Theodoris banned most of the warriors from visiting. I don’t know what he was thinking when he made that decision.” She picked up a magazine from one of the marble coffee tables and flicked through it before tossing it back with a heavy sigh.

“Your evenings would be full if you did what you were supposed to do,” Sienna pointed out from the doorway to the kitchen. Her white apron was stained from the cooking and cleaning she had been doing that evening.

“Chores are for those who have no ambition in life. I have plenty of desire to improve my life and better my role in our society.” Blue eyes flicked dismissively over Sienna’s dishevelled appearance before turning to inspect the immaculate finish on her pink nails. “If you haven’t got the desire then that’s not my problem.”

Sienna bit back the sharp retort that sprang to her lips. Instead, she took a deep breath and untied the strings of the apron and removing the soiled coverall. “I have plenty of ambition, Celestine. I also have plenty of desire to do the right thing which includes doing the chores that are assigned to me whilst I live in this house. If I didn’t, you would have nothing to eat and nothing to wear.”

“And I’m so grateful to you for doing those things for me. After all, how else would I find myself a suitable partner if I had to wear the same clothes that I had cooked and cleaned it. Men find such odours very off putting on a woman.” She smiled the smugly feminine smile of a woman who had proved that statement many times. “Perhaps if you’d tried it a couple of times you’d know what I meant.”

“Celestine…” Emily warned, knowing the younger woman could be quite bitchy when she wanted to be. It was no secret to the women seated in the lounge that Celestine disliked Sienna although they could not figure out what the reason was. “That was uncalled for.”

“What? I was only stating the truth. Sienna so rarely joined us when the warriors came for a visit. She was always off doing some cooking or cleaning rather than doing what she, as a member of the Order, was supposed to do for the warriors.”

“Yes, well, perhaps if some of us did our share of the work around here then Sienna could have mixed more with the warriors. As it is, the warrior visits are now few and far between and I think we should all do more around the house.”

“Perhaps, but I refuse to do anything that will ruin my clothes or my manicure. After all, we don’t know when the warriors will visit and I for one do not want to be seen looking anything less than my best for them. They deserve to receive the best we can offer for what they do for us.” She shifted on the chair she occupied, raising one leg to cross it over the other one, allowing the silky gown to rise up to reveal one slender leg.

“I wish the other warriors were allowed to visit, though,” Claire, a young blond lady with a peaches and cream complexion piped up. “The ones who call now are a bit rough and don’t care for our feelings.”

“Our feelings are not important, Claire. We are here to provide the warriors with what they need. What they deserve. That is our role here.” Celestine sank back in the chair, a contented look upon her immaculately made up features. “For those of us who are lucky, we become their chosen partners, dedicated to their needs.”

“Well, I think there is more to my life than being subservient to some rough, ignorant warrior that cares for nothing other than his pleasure.” Sienna looked pointedly at Celestine before crossing the room towards the door to the hallway. “There is more to anyone’s life than that,” she finished as she left the room and escaped Celestine’s condescending attitude.

Outside the room, Sienna breathed deeply before walking down the deep carpeted corridor towards the one room that could ease her troubled soul. The heavy silver handle turned effortlessly beneath her hand before the dark panelled door glided open to reveal a large, library filled from floor to ceiling with dark, leather bound volumes dating back to before time was recorded.

Inside the room Sienna inhaled deeply the scent of old leather and paper as she crossed over to the large fireplace. Within moments, tiny flames licked at the pieces of kindling placed upon the hearth, growing in size as they fed upon the wood before moving onto the larger logs. With the room’s chill slowly being melted way by the heat of the fire, Sienna moved to the large coffee machine seated by the fireplace and prepared her favourite milky coffee.

There was nothing that could relax and soothe her battered soul than a milky coffee, good book and the peaceful solitude of the old library. Since Tanaka’s death, only Sienna had used the library. Neither of the other maidens or Theodoris sought out its ancient tomes or used the wide, full length windows to paint an image of the visions that came to them. They all preferred the more modern, starkly furnished library with its glossy magazines, computers and trashy novels that Theodoris preferred them to read so that they understood the world the warriors inhabited. Sienna didn’t need those aids to understand the warriors who visited the Sanctuary.

The beep of the machine cut into her thoughts and she gathered up the steaming cup of coffee and carried it over the large, well cushioned window seat that was her favourite reading place. A book lay on the windowsill from where she had left it the night before but she didn’t pick it up straightaway. Instead, she pressed a corner of a panel that lined the deepset windows and watched as it slid open to reveal a slender book nestled into the recess.

The leather binding was soft under her fingers, its surface scuffed and scarred from years of handling. The front had a swirling pattern scored into the letter, its lines and curves reminding her of a dragon soaring high in the sky. The journal had belonged to Tanaka and had been abandoned by all but her after his death. She ran her fingers over the ridged surface, her nerves tingling with the magic that still flowed within the book. When Tanaka had died, the magic should have died with him but it had remained to allow his only descendant, Sienna, to read the journal.

She opened the book with care to reveal blank pages of parchment so fine they were almost translucent. For a moment she wished they would remain so, that the horror they would reveal would remain hidden but she knew that would defeat the purpose of the journal. It’s magic was there for a reason and whilst Theodoris no longer seemed inclined to follow its path, Sienna was determined to carry on her father’s legacy, somehow.

“Ti lamas ritali,” she whispered and watched as the pages soon filled with ancient script as though an invisible hand scribed the entries revealed before her.

Reading the entries was a painful exercise. Each carefully written paragraph detailed an assault due to happen in the next twenty four hours against those known as ‘the Innocents’. Those women, descended from the original maidens of Sephora, who had lived outside the spiritual realm of a Sanctuary. Raised without knowledge of their birthright, they lived a life as a normal woman, got married, had children before ascending to the Inner Sanctuary upon death where their souls would be reborn as a spiritual guide for the maidens living in the Sanctuaries.

Originally, the Innocents would have been raised within a Sanctuary and taught the ways of the maidens before taking up the role upon reaching the age of maturity. Some were raised outside the boundaries if their maiden mother wished to live with her warrior mate. They would remain outside until it was time for them to return and take up the duties their mother had left. As the number of warriors had increased, more Innocents had been born until they were in excess of the number of vacant maiden roles. Those innocents were left to live on the outside and find their own way in life.

Sienna had often envied them for the freedom they were allowed to have in their own lives. Her life had been one of cloistered seclusion within the boundaries of the Sanctuary, especially after the war between the warriors and those who had gone rogue. The restrictions upon her life were chains around her soul, limiting her in every aspect of her life.

The flowing script ceased filling the page and Sienna quickly skimmed over the entries as frustration welled within her. When Tanaka had been alive, he had summoned the warriors and shown them the entries so they would have time to save the lives of the Innocents but since his death, Theodoris had not been interested in continuing that tradition. Sienna had believed that it was the wrong decision to make and had often told him of this to no avail. If only there was a way to help.

She was about to close the journal when one entry caught her eye. A young woman was going to be raped and murdered in less than two hours. The entry was no different to any of the other entries yet this one drew her more. She didn’t know why, for the woman’s name was unfamiliar to her yet there was something telling her to take action to prevent the propjesised tragedy.

‘If only I knew how to contact the warriors,” she wondered as she sat back on the window seat. Tanaka had known how to do it but it was something he had never shared with her.

“Remember your teaching and you will find away,” the raspy voice in her ear startled her and she glanced rapidly around the room, seeking out the wrinkled features of the wizened old wizard who had ruled over Sanctuary. There was no sign of him yet he had sounded so close to her. What had he meant by remembering her teaching and finding a way? A frown creased her normally smooth forehead as she tried to decipher what his words meant.

She had almost given up when she remembered a short discussion she had had with Tanaka when she had been a small child. He had been explaining how he could teleport to different locations, sometimes just sending an image of himself rather than his entire body. What had he said to her? She closed her eyes in an effort to bring the memory forwards.

‘Imagine where you want to go and choose your medium to focus upon. Once you have secured the focus you can go anywhere you want to go.

Could she imagine where she wanted to go? Yes, there was no hesitation with that. She knew exactly where she wanted to be. However, it probably wasn’t wise for her to go  directly to that one place, who knew what she could walk into. There were nearby locations she could focus safely upon. All she needed was to remember her goal.

She glanced around the room, looking for something she could use as her medium. Whatever she chose would be her anchor to enable her to travel to wherever she needed to go to. Her eyes fell upon the cup of coffee. Could she use that? She didn’t know but she was willing to try.

She stared at the light brown liquid in the large white mug, focused upon it before allowing the mental image of her location to form within the liquid centre. At first nothing happened but then faint ripples moved across the surface of the coffee, concentric circles spreading out from its centre. The churning liquid disturbed the light wisps of steam rising from its surface, turning them into clouds which floated around the cup. A silver moon peeped from between the clouds whilst at its heart a golden sun beamed out bathing her in its soft light.

The more she stared, the more the vision of her destination took shape. Sand coloured paving stones formed a large patio framed by a rich lush garden. Before her open French windows allowed an old wooden desk with ornate scrollwork carved onto its edges. Her eyes widened as she felt the heat retained by the stones seep through her thin soled slippers to warm her feet. She was no longer seated in the library at the Sanctuary but was now stood upon the patio of the home where she would rather live about to greet the one man who held her heart.

She had found her way. Now she just had to convince these warriors of what she wanted them to do.