2They named her Saa the bright one for she had red fiery hair and golden eyes.
Saa sighed as she recited her steps over and over in the large meadow. She cried as her ankle twisted in the wrong place.
"Saa! Are you alright!" A woman with blue hair came hurrying through the meadow and kneeled down beside Saa.
"Onna you shouldn't be here, your not meant to be alive! Your not real no real!" Saa repeated shaking her head making her red curls fly around her. The blue hair woman didn't listen and just placed her lips onto Saa's ankle.
"I am real! So how you feel no pain! Now stand up and go back to the temple the prince is over looking all priestess today and they have heard of your beauty ! You shall be dancing in front of them! " The blue haired woman whispered furiously in Saa's face her eyebrows drawn and her lips in a straight line.
" I am but thirteen summers! Nigh fourteen this Dying leaf! I am too young! I have not my entry in front of the king or even the high priest!"
" They do not care! " The blue haired woman left Saa to stare longingly at the patch of air which she once resided.
"Mother Wen said she was unreal so she is unreal, but Mother Wen also said the small were stupid and the big were the merciless , and she wears those stupid pieces of cloth ontop of her head which make her look like a fish! She said they is no colour in the world when I see my red curls clearly! She said that religion is the way forward but the land is dying and they do not care!" Blue tears ran down Saa's face, real blue like Onna's blue hair. But Onna wasn't real and her hair and her eyes and her tears didn't exist. She sadly stood up wiping her blue tears with her hands and made her way to the temple.
As she walked through the village many villagers bowed to her and the children kneeled. She shook her head she didn't want them to do that to her she was just a simple priestess .
"Child rise" She whispered to one child which was caked in mud and as the child raised to its feet a man came along and started kicking the child.
" You worthless piece of shit you never raise to such a high priestess" As the man was about to add another blow to the man, Saa stepped in and took each beating which was meant for the child . As the man stepped back to sneer at this work the whole watched as the once beautiful young priestess gracefully rose to stand but then indeniably collapsed into a pile on the floor.
" GUARDS SEIZE THAT MAN!"
" Your are saying one of the chosen priestess' was beaten by a man for she was protecting a child. She is worthless then don't you think? To not beat a child is illegal here , so she was disrespecting the King. Simply burn her for witchcraft or something stupid and then everything can became normal once again."
The high priest sighed as he looked at the King, Prince and loyal advisors who were all clustered in his tiny room. He didn't see anything out of the odinary many preistess' suddenly grew a concience and they were dealt with quickly and efficiently no questions answered eyes all turned the other way.
"We want her alive, well...atleast my son does" The king's deep voice booms over the plain room.
"Why?" The priest asks his forehead wrinkling in confusion. His mind wandered over and the only possible thing that came up was that she was beautiful, so antoginzingly beautiful it hurt sometimes. There was silence so he looked asked again " Why?"
"I don't know why!" The prince shouted " I don't know why I just do okay! She is to recover then return to her normal priestess duties until I say so okay!"Then the prince stormed out the room the King and royal procession following.
The high priest frowned but sat on his bed and started his nightly prayers to the Gods his mind filling with thoughts of the strange priestess.
The Prince and the King both stood 5 feet apart staring at the 2 rows of girls in front of them. Each one was singing the required hymn which was taught since birth. Both members of royalty were speculating each priestess , each speck of dirt on their face each waver in their voice. Though they couldn't quite help watching Saa as she stood silently on the edge, she looked straight into the sky , her body poised and ready her eyes watching.
She had bruises everywhere that even the white cloth couldn't hide it, she had a white wrap which went under her chin to the top of her head. Her leg was in a splinter and her arms looked lifeless, but her eyes were alive from the words of the hymn , her soul was dancing beside her and her spirit was talking to the Gods.