Read Online Taminy by Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff - Free Book Online

Faer-wald later, “is that we are once more at a Cusp. A
dangerous Cusp.” He shook his shaggy, greying head and watched the first-year
students scurry cross-court toward the Refectory for the afternoon meal. “The
Meri has changed again—in both Aspect and behavior. Such a change is always
accompanied by calamity.”
    “Surely
knowing that, we can do something to ameliorate it,” suggested Eadmund. “Isn’t
that most likely to be our role in this—to discern where the tests lie and to
rise to them? Imagine, brothers, what blessings would be forthcoming if we can
but successfully navigate this treacherous period.”
    “What?”
asked Ealad-hach peevishly. He rubbed his temples and cringed from the glare of
sun in the cobbled yard below. “Blessings? How can you see blessings in this
situation?”
    “I’ve
studied the past Cusps,” Eadmund began.
    “As
we all have,” interjected Faer-wald.
    “Of
course, but I think we must dimly understand their significance. You say that
changes in the Meri’s Aspect have always been accompanied by dire calamities.
Why so? In Cyne Earwyn’s time the reason was obvious. He had engaged in war
against the Deasach. Cyne Liusadhe wrought unjust vengeance on the innocent
kinsman of a traitor.”
    “And,”
said Faer-wald, “lest we forget, the Osraed had so completely lost the spark of
their purpose that the Meri caused nearly everyone of them to be replaced.”
    “Are
you suggesting that’s happened again?” asked the Osraed Kynan.
    Eadmund
shook his head. “No, but we must consider our own responsibility for this
event, if we have one. Have the Osraed displeased the Meri in some way—angered
the God that sent Her? Or is the problem somewhere else—among the people,
within the other arms of government, perhaps? Consider the reports we’ve heard
from Creiddylad. Consider how the Cyne has repeatedly postponed the General
Assembly. Isn’t it possible we are being warned of some calamity arising from
evil elsewhere so that we might take some action? Or that the whole thing is a
test of our spiritual awareness? These things are not mutually exclusive. And
consider this: If the Meri was displeased with us, surely She would simply tell
us through Her new elect. Yet, She has chosen two Osraed this season and has
warned neither of any such displeasure-”
    “Ah,”
interrupted Faer-wald, “but that’s not strictly true. She did express
displeasure with the socio-economic situation in Creiddylad and is sending
Lealbhallain-mac-Mercer there to look into it. And, dare I say it, She is
obviously desirous of having female Prentices at Halig-liath—though why She
should wait all this time-”
    Kynan
waved that aside. “Obviously, women haven’t had the capacity until now,
regardless of what men like Osraed Bevol say. I want to hear Eadmund’s point.”
    “My
point is that these Cusps, these periods of difficulty, must be tests,
otherwise the Meri would simply and forthrightly tell us what was Her will. The
fact that there is any mystery at all supports the idea that we are being
willfully placed in a position wherein we must fall back on our spiritual
resources.”
    He
glanced about at his listeners for approval and Ealad-hach gave it.
    “Osraed
Eadmund is right. This outrageous claim of Wyth’s can only be understood in
that light. Sonship—what is that? A concept without precedent. The Meri is,
Herself, the offspring of God. What can it possibly mean to say that Wyth is
Her son—that he is God’s grandson? Pah!” He gave his temples one last impatient
shove, then lowered his hands almost forcibly, shaking the sleeves of his robe
down over them. “What disturbs me most, Osraed, what troubles my soul day and
night, is that these Cusps always involve women. Always. Every time a female
goes to the Sea, there is calamity. I have dreamed of an entire train of women,
going back to antiquity, who have visited the Shore. Some were convicted of the
Wicke-craft by the highest