The Priestess and Her Boy Ch. 02

Chapter 2 -The Ceremony of Giving

The following morning Hanja woke before Tak and decided to let him sleep while she prepared food and poured goblets of morning-juka.

"Wake up Tak!" she said, caressing his cheek. "Here is refreshment. And I have bread and gailo fruit too."

"I'm sorry Mistress, I should have woken and served you the juka."

"Hush Tak! I am not helpless. And a night-mistress enjoys rewarding a boy who has been so pleasing. Besides, today is both the day of my birth twenty four summers ago and also the anniversary of your arrival at the Temple. So, it is a cause for celebration is it not?"

Tak was still loosely restrained by the wrists in a manner intended to allow comfortable sleep while ensuring his hands could not wander to either his own body or that of his sleeping Mistress. Hanja now removed the straps so that he could sit upright. After they had eaten, she stroked his cheek and stared lovingly into his eyes.

"Would you like me to take a position Mistress?"

"Oh no Tak!," she said laughing. "You misunderstand. I just wanted to look at my adorable boy for a while. And there isn't time. The Garden Priestess will be cross with me if I make you late and, besides, I am chosen to celebrate the Ceremony of Giving this morning. But, Tak, there is something I would like you to do. Go fetch the Book of the Prophet from the shelf...that's it, open to chapter fourteen, verse thirty-one and begin reading it aloud!"

Tak obeyed his night-Mistress and began reading the scripture to her.

"Stop there Tak!" she said, suddenly. "Do you understand? You see, the priestess is the manifestation of the Goddess in our World. Would you lay hands on the Goddess Tak?"

"No Mistress, never." said Tak, startled by the question.

"Then you will never lay hands on a Priestess Tak. Even the thought of it is a sin. You have already been taught this, but do you understand it?"

Tak nodded nervously. His Mistress's expression had become suddenly serious.

"Oh Tak," she sighed. "I worry about you. If you get into trouble they might send you away and you will never see me again! And I do not want that. Do you understand my sweet boy?"

Tak was distraught.

"Oh yes, Mistress, I understand and I'm so sorry for making you angry last night and..."

Hanja held up her hand to stop him.

"That is enough Tak! I have already forgiven you, but you will nevertheless perform the Act of Contrition for me before you leave. I have never needed to ask you for this before have I Tak? This is a sign of the seriousness of the matter."

She stood in the center of the room, hands on hips.

"Here Tak! Crawl to me and begin!"

After he completed the Act, Hanja helped him put on his tunic and guided him to the door with her hands on his rump.

"Go Tak! Don't be late to the Temple Gardens! And give Priestess Ashala my regards when you serve her this evening. And Tak, obey her as enthusiastically as you obey me!"

As Tak left her bed chamber, Hanja could not resist slipping her hand under his tunic and between his thighs, squeezing and causing him to stumble. Tak walked down the hall with the sound of her playful laughter ringing in his ears.

****

Hanja's worries about Tak were not eased by the scene that greeted her in the Temple courtyard later that morning as she made her way to the Ceremony of Giving. A trembling Temple boy was being restrained naked on the frame of repentance at the foot of the statue of the Prophet. A small, curious group of priestesses had gathered. Public punishment was rare in the Temple and discipline, when needed, was usually a more private matter between each priestess and the boy serving her.

Perplexed, Hanja enquired into the nature of the boy's poor conduct and was met with shrugs. "They say disobedience, but I do not know the details." said a Priestess. "His night-mistress did not find him to be compliant." whispered another. "What did she ask of him?"..." Can she not control a boy without this fuss? Look at the poor thing!"

Hanja recognized the boy as one who had served in her bed-chamber some weeks before. A kitchen boy, if she remembered correctly, quiet but likeable and well capable of performing his night duties. She saw the Priestess of the Shrine removing her heavy gown, exposing bare arms and shoulders above her Temple breastplate. A five-foot rattan cane had been sent for and was being brought to her by a novice priestess striding across the courtyard. When the boy on the frame saw it his legs appeared to buckle beneath him but he was held up by the wrist restraints and thick leather straps around his thighs. A wheel was turned and the frame changed shape, lifting him into the air and pushing his buttocks upwards and out, spreading his legs and positioning him perfectly to receive the kiss of the cane. Hanja could hear him sobbing now as the Shrine Priestess took position behind him.

"I'm glad he is not serving in my bed-chamber tonight." said a priestess callously, and there was some laughter. Hanja had no desire to witness what followed. She turned and walked into the Temple.

****

The Ceremony of Giving is perhaps the oldest of rituals performed within the Temple. Indeed, it is described in the Book of the Prophet as a means by which the very first woman, in the Garden at the beginning of time, enabled her males to give thanks to their Goddess. In the era of the Temple, it provides an opportunity for free, unmarried men of the City to humble themselves before the Goddess in Her Temple and gift a part of themselves to Her. Male slaves of female owners, and married males - who will have taken the Oath of Obedience to their wives during the marriage ceremony - are exempt from this obligation. Their service to the Goddess is considered to be fulfilled through devotion to their mistresses and wives. Otherwise, adult males are required to attend a Ceremony of Giving four times a year. A chaste period of two weeks prior to the ceremony is required.

The short ceremony has attendees leave their clothing in the Temple vestibule and kneel naked on the dirt floor before the altar; thighs spread, open and exposed to the Goddess.

That morning, Priestess Hanja, in heavy hooded robe, addressed the gathering of about four hundred males, leading them through prayers in worship of the Goddess and mantras reinforcing submission and obedience to Her. As she approached the climax of the Ceremony - known as the 'Giving' - Hanja noticed increasing signs of arousal in many of the worshipers kneeling before her. She stood before the altar, raised her arms and cried, "Behold the body of the Goddess, manifest in Her Priestess!"

Hanja threw open the robe to expose her body clad only in Temple breastplate and baltea, barely preserving her modesty.

"Begin the Giving! Praise the Goddess!" she cried, glaring down at the assembled throng, seeking eye contact with as many as possible.

In unison, the males began to stimulate themselves as they gazed upon Hanja's beauty; the beauty of their Goddess made real in the body of the Priestess. The first cry of 'Praise Goddess!' came almost immediately from a younger man in the second row. 'It is always the young ones.' thought Hanja to herself as she scowled at the shamed worshipper. Soon there were more shouts, but the most experienced males controlled their arousal, regulating their response with strength of grip and speed of movement, making the most of their pleasure, extending it and waiting for Hanja to call a conclusion to the Giving.

Hanja found herself thinking again about Tak. Perhaps she should have punished him properly for his obscenity the night before. He claimed to understand his sin, and the Goddess is forgiving to those who repent, but strokes from her cane would have reminded him of the importance of piety when in the presence of Priestesses of the Temple. She wondered how she would feel if it were Tak splayed on the frame of repentance, the Shrine Priestess preparing herself behind him. Would she be able to stand it? No. She knew that she should have severely disciplined Tak there and then, quelling any chance that he would repeat his error before a less-forgiving mistress. 'If anyone is going to hurt dear Tak, let it be me,' she thought to herself 'for at least he will know it is done with love'. She thought again of the poor boy that morning, spread naked like a piece of meat on the frame in front of all those priestesses. She shuddered. And then another, more corrupt, thought entered her mind; what would it be like if Tak did hold her in his arms?

The shock of her sinful thoughts, and another cry of 'Praise Goddess!' brought Hanja back to the present. How long had she been daydreaming? Too long! She saw males in the front row staring frantically at her, desperation in their eyes, and she struck the altar gong quickly. A crescendo of "Praise Goddess!" followed, deafening in the confines of the Temple. Hanja glared at the males in disgust as, twitching and grunting, they spread their seed over the dirt of the Temple floor. Quickly she closed her robe around her, turned, and left the altar.

****

In the afternoon after the Ceremony of Giving, Garden Boys Tak and his best friend Nikah were tasked with moving the seeded dirt from the Temple floor to the Gardens for use in the suf-herb beds. Having moved the soil across the Temple courtyard in barrows, replacing it with fresh dirt, the two boys stood side by side, naked in the late summer sun, shoveling the dirt onto the beds.

"Do you think this makes any difference to the suf-herb?" Tak asked Nikah.

Nikah shrugged, "Ask a priestess!"

"I am not asking," Tak replied, jokingly. "The answer is probably in some text or scripture we are supposed to have read."

Nikah tried to throw a shovel of the seeded dirt over his friend, but Tak was too quick.

"Hey, be careful with that!" Tak shouted. "You animal! How do you not get beaten half to death by a priestess every night? It is beyond me!"

"I must be lucky." replied Nikah.

'Who do you go to this evening Nikah?" asked Tak.

"Priestess Hanja."

The unexpected answer caused a shock of jealousy in Tak. But he quelled it and replied, "She is a wonderful Mistress."

"Indeed Tak," said Nikah nodding enthusiastically. "Devout but fair, and beautiful of course. And loving. Who do you go to Tak?"

"Priestess Ashala," Tak replied, a little glumly.

"I like her," Nikah responded. "She was my night Mistress two weeks ago. She shared her wine with me and gave me exotic sweetmeats. And then we talked into the night, and she never even moved me to her couch. Mind you Tak, with your fine rump I doubt you will be so lucky!"

Nikah slapped Tak's buttocks hard with the flat of his shovel just as the Garden Priestess Ruta emerged from the glass house, closely followed by a novice - a younger girl the boys had not seen before.

"Stop that right now," Ruta shouted. "Or you shall be spreading the rest of that seeded dirt with your tongues!"

The novice, having been allowed to witness the morning's Ceremony of Giving through a curtain behind the Temple altar, shuddered in revulsion.

Ruta leaned toward her and whispered, "I am jesting my dear girl, although if I ordered them to use their tongues and they saw that I was serious, they would certainly obey. But this is your most important lesson for today; when you are a priestess have fun with the Temple boys who serve you and allow them to have fun too. Charm them and let them love you. Tease them and be slow to take offence. Use the cane if you must, but never rely on fear. These two are good boys. Both have served in my bedchamber on many occasions and I have been their day-Mistress for several summers"

She again turned to the boys and shouted, "And if you enjoy playing with each other so much, perhaps I shall have you both together in my bed chamber soon! I will teach you the Sunerian Badger!"

The boys stared at each other blankly.

The novice turned to her superior, eyes wide, and asked, "Is such a thing possible? To enjoy two boys together?"

"In the days of the Old Queen it was the norm," Ruta replied. "Today it may still be arranged upon request to the High Priestess. Clearly my boys do not believe I am serious on this occasion. Perhaps they are right; I do not have the energy I used to."

The novice whispered, a little too loudly, "But Priestess...these boys... these boys are lovely!"

"Oh no!... hush child! Look, they heard you! And they are already intolerable. Silly girl!"

"Tak, put more effort into your work!" Ruta shouted. "You are always useless to me when Priestess Hanja has been enjoying you. And Nikah, I hear you are going to her tonight? By the Goddess! How is a poor day-Mistress to get anything done?"

She whispered again to the novice, earnestly, "But make no mistake novice, boys like this are not for you! Not yet! If you are lucky and stay out of trouble, a smelly runt from the City will be thrown to you once each month, and that is all! Now, I wish you were as interested in the cultivation of suf-herb as you appear to be in Temple Boys. Come with me and see how we keep the garden soil moist..."

As the novice was led away, looking back at the two boys, Nikah stuck his tongue out at her.

"You insolent fool," laughed Tak. "In two years she will be a Temple Priestess standing over you in her bedchamber with a cane in her hand. And she will remember that!"

"That girl? Cane me?" scoffed Nikah "No, that girl will be too busy moving me to her couch!"