The cloak covered her safely from head to toe. Bardek took her hand again and they started to run. After being able to move so swiftly and so easily in the Temple, the hard ground and the obstacles they now so constantly encountered seemed very irritating and frustrating. Negg and Millon on the other hand, who had known only the marshlands before this, found the sensation of running over firm ground exhilarating.
* * * *
In the Temple of the Blue Star on the hill opposite the Temple of the White Star, at the other side of the city, the priestesses were preparing for the Ceremony of Waking. The High Priestess Maya, Vallida’s mother, was mounting the steps of lapis lazuli and blue marble to take her place on the high sapphire throne.
Still as beautiful as the day she was sent to the Templ
