32. Andi

32

ANDI

A ndi watched anxiously as her tall partner finally sank to his knees in the grass. The priestess stepped forward, her long white robes swishing, and placed her fingertips against his temples. Then her eyes rolled up in her head, showing only the whites—which were light green—and she began to Look into him.

Thrax stiffened visibly and nearly jerked away as the priestess began the procedure.

"Fuck! Feels like you're shuffling though my memories like a deck of cards," he complained hoarsely.

"I must See in order to Know. Now be silent!" the priestess commanded.

Thrax subsided but there was an unhappy look on his face as the priestess continued.

"You had a happy childhood and parents that cared for you," she murmured, her eyes still turned inward as she spoke. "But then I see it—your ship was taken by slavers. And they sold you…sold you to the Mistress."

A low moan broke from Thrax's throat and he trembled under the priestess's fingers. But he didn't try to pull away—maybe he was too deep in the trance, Andi thought. Maybe he was watching what the priestess was seeing as she Looked into him.

"She ‘trained' you," the priestess continued. "Ah, I feel your pain—she broke your barriers, she took what she had no right to take. She made you feel both pleasure and shame—they were connected."

Thrax moaned again, his big body rigid as he knelt there in the grass. Andi felt her heart swelling as she watched. God, what horrible things had that bitch done to him?

"She hurt you too—she put her brand on your body and your soul—though she is dead, still she lives in you. She forced you to do things…and then forget them. But now the memories have come to life like unquiet ghosts. Ah, Goddess…the pain!"

The priestess pulled her hands away abruptly, as though she'd been burned and her eyes went back to normal—well, as normal as green-within-green eyes can look, anyway, Andi thought.

"What happened?" she asked anxiously, looking at Thrax, who was still on his knees. His head was hanging low and his broad shoulders were slumped.

"His trauma runs deep." The priestess took a deep breath. "It had been forgotten—scabbed over—like a wound that festers deep inside. But the last mission the two of you went on together ripped the scab off. And seeing the Mistress who hurt him so badly brought everything back for him."

"It triggered him, you mean," Andi said, understanding.

"Yes." The priestess nodded. "And now the wound is as fresh as when it was first made. The warrior's pain increases daily—I see why he tried to end it."

"Yes, but can you help him? Andi demanded.

"I can try, but I am not one that he knows and trusts." The priestess shook her head. "The Goddess can cleanse his sins— many of which he was forced to commit—but he will still need a Deep Healing to be cured."

"A Deep Healing—what's that?"

"It is a technique we of the priestesshood have developed to help warriors with deep trauma," she explained. "But it requires that someone else—one who the warrior loves and trusts—enters his memories to help mitigate the damage that was done." She raised her eyebrows at Andi. "Are you willing to try?"

"I'll do anything I can to help Thrax," Andi said, nodding. "But…how does it work? I mean, how do I enter his memories?"

"I will guide you," the priestess promised. "I will put you inside his mind. We will start with the earliest memory of the pain and trauma and you will comfort, protect, and heal your partner's younger self."

"Heal him? How?" Andi asked, frowning. "And for that matter, how do I protect him from a memory? Or comfort him?"

"You will know how when the moment presents itself," the priestess promised. "Listen to your intuition. The healing he needs, for instance, may be more than physical."

"Oh, you mean he'll need emotional healing too?" Andi asked.

The priestess nodded.

"And possibly more."

"More? What does that mean?" Andi frowned but the priestess didn't answer her question.

"You must go through your partner's memories—you won't be able to stop what is happening to him, but if you can manage to make contact with him, you can comfort and heal him afterwards. If you establish a strong enough connection, you may even be able to banish some of the worst memories completely."

"Really? Just get rid of them?" Andi asked. "But how?"

"Again, you must listen to your intuition," the priestess said. "The most painful memories can be purged if you are forceful enough and if the warrior is willing to let go of them."

"Okay, I'll try," Andi said doubtfully. But she couldn't help thinking that the priestess wasn't giving her much to go on. How could she know how to comfort and heal and protect her partner from his memories when she had never done anything like this before?

"I can see that you doubt yourself—do not," the priestess said sternly. "You are the one who loves your partner most in the world. You will know how to help him or the Goddess would not have put you into his life. You will heal his inner self and help to ease the pain that torments him."

"So…I'll be trying to heal Thrax's inner child?" Andi asked. She'd heard of different therapies that talked about this kind of thing, but she'd never heard of one where the therapist—or a friend or partner—actually went inside the patient's mind.

"Yes, essentially." The priestess nodded. "Now let me warn you—some of your partner's memories are intensely painful and you will feel the pain you are trying to ease along with him. Some memories will be compressed, so though it seems like you are only mitigating one of them, you are actually healing many at once."

"That sounds intense," Andi admitted. "Er…how long will it take? Will we be here just for the night, or longer? I'm just wondering how we're going to eat and drink if we're locked in a kind of mental trance for days or weeks," she added.

"You don't need to worry about that." The priestess shook her head. "It may seem like weeks or months are passing, but the whole experience will take place in just a few minutes of real time."

"All right." Andi lifted her chin. "I'm in. I'll do anything I can."

"Good." The priestess nodded her approval. "Only after the Deep Healing can we perform the Cleansing Ceremony. Come here." She beckoned for Andi, who came to stand beside her, in front of Thrax.

"Okay, what do I do?" she asked. Her partner was still kneeling there before her, looking down at the grassy ground beside the fountain.

"I will place the fingertips of my right hand against the warrior's left temple," the priestess told Andi. "You will hold my left hand with your right. Then you will place the fingertips of your left hand against his right temple. In this way, with both of us touching each other and him, we will form a mental connection and I can help you to enter his memories."

"All right." Andi nodded. She took the priestess's offered hand and then placed her fingertips against her partner's right temple, just below where his right horn sprouted from his forehead. "I'm ready," she said.

"Then let us begin. And may the Goddess give you strength to heal and protect," the priestess said. Then she placed her fingertips against Thrax's other temple and Andi was plunged into a whole different world—the world inside her partner's mind.