Lesser Cleric Ulst Rekaa - Embrace The Ember

[Alieth]

There are people who take MSNPCs to another level and have an amazing ability to bring us into the worlds they inhabit... like @Karrod Niac , who is so disgustingly awesome doing so every time he produces a sim of this kind. Congratulations! You haven't lost your touch.

 

((The Sanctified Emberhearth, Yanthi))

With wiry arms that seemed too skinny to even hold the mallet, Lesser Cleric Ulst Rekaa struck the chamber bell for the eight time, signaling to any potential supplicant that the opportunity for worship had come again.  Thrice a day she had performed this duty gladly for more than ten years, ever since her maturation from novice to lesser cleric. The heat of the physical effort radiating up her arms was yet another of the manyfold expressions of the blessed warmth of the Eternal Ember.  As the stone wrought chamber filled with those innumerable weary and wretched, Ulst smiled beatifically at each in turn.  Their bethel was a small one, as befit their community, so each name was known to her as well as her own.  There she saw Lav Orand, who sought the blessing of ember for his husband, a hunter who spent many frigid nights in the frozen wilds.  There she saw Tel Osta who sought the blessing for her children's children, that they might know a world of warmth as was written about in the ancient histories.  There she saw Ortan Tox, who sought the blessing only because the widow Til Laine did so fervently.  His reverence was convincing to the unaware but false to those truly blessed of the Ember, as Ulst was.  It mattered not...the Ember would burn away all that was not pure and right in this world.  With the chamber full and properly quiet, it was finally time to begin.  

Ulst turned towards the Emberhearth itself, the great reliquary which contained their small piece of the Eternal Ember.  Even with the heavy iron shutters closed she could feel its infinite warmth upon her taut alabaster skin.  

Rekaa:  Blessed be the Eternal Ember...The Warmth that does not falter!  

From behind her a chorus of responses chimed their response.  Some passionately.  Some mechanically.  Ulst's fervor was undiminished, this holy duty was her most cherished.  She even imagined what it must be for the Senior Clerics and those of the Cohort who worshiped in those few remaining great Emberhearts.  The very thought made her shiver with something like delight.  

Rekaa:  As the Eternal Ember endures, so do we endure!  

Again, the chorus of replies from the gathered crowd but with her back turned to them and her focus entirely on the Emberhearth, Ulst barely heard them.  

Rekaa:  We endure the despised deepfrost, warm in the knowledge that if the Ember can persist so too can we persist.  Blessed Be the Ember!  

The sycophantic replies washed over her and she could feel the warmth in her breast rising along with her passion.  They would endure.  They would persist.  If they gave over their faith to the Ember then all was possible!  For the first time in the service, Ulst turned to the crowd and spoke directly to them.  

Rekaa:  Who among you would embrace the Ember and receive the blessing?  

A line formed of those like Til Laine, the fervent, and those like Tel, the desperate.  Ulst withdrew the heavy wrought iron tongs from their place of honor beneath the Emberhearth and reached within, extracting a red hot coal from the lower basin.  Til Laine was the first to step forward with her face to the flame.  

Rekaa:  Embrace now the Eternal Ember and receive its blessing!  

The widow stepped forward and pressed the palms of both hands against the tip of the glowing tongs.  Her transcendent pain and ecstasy was immediate and beautiful to Ulst, as it always was.  As it was on all the faces of those who truly embraced the ember.  After a few moments the widow withdrew her hands, as was proper and respectful, so as not to steal away more heat than one should.  Others stepped forward and on each face, Ulst Rekaa saw shades of the Embers blessed divinity.  Even Ortan Tox stepped forward to receive the blessing, but he disrespected the sacrament and kept his heavy gloves on, trying to disguise his impurity but Ulst saw the falseness of the man and knew one day the Ember would burn him away.  The thought delighted her, as it always did.  

Rekaa:  Go now and share the warmth that has been shared with you!  Blessed be the Eternal Ember!  

Ulst turned back to the Emberheart and delicately replaced the coal before returning the tongs to their proper place.  When all others had left the chamber and the heavy wooden doors had swung closed, she withdrew her boney arms from her heavy cloak and spoke only for herself.  

Rekaa:  Blessed By The Eternal Ember...May I Ever Feel Your Embrace.  

Ulst leaned forward and pressed the palms of both hands directly against the Emberhearth.  The exquisite heat and the pain of the Embrace burning away all that was impure within her.  She smiled as tears of ecstatic delight rolled down her face.  

[End]

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Ulst Rekaa
Lesser Cleric of the Yanthi Emberhearth
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