We were both children when we first met. His father had traveled far from their homeland to find a place where his son could escape the oppression he was facing at the temples. No one wanted to hear a young boy giving them teachings that contradicted their doctrine. His father asked for shelter for the night and then told my High Priestess that they would be gone early. I had been ordered to set up their room so I did. It was customary in the temple that when you went for celebration you anoint your feet, it was a symbol of walking the path of transcendence. I set up a basin of hot water and dropped some of our oil and rose petals in it, just in case they were to join us. It was the spring equinox and all of the empire would be in celebration. The room was of stone and clay with white limestone covering the walls. A big floor mat lay on the ground with pillows and long rectangular windows with light cotton coverings swayed with the spring breeze.
The ceremony and celebration of the spring equinox was something to behold. The river swelled over the land. It was considered a holy day. I was in charge of cleaning rooms for guests. Finally, after I finished the last room I ran to my small room next to the temple I served. I grabbed the eggs I had boiled early that morning, gathered my paint, salted fish, and put them in my carry sack. I ran to my favorite fig tree and climbed as high as I could. Once I was in a good spot I unfurled my pack and began painting my eggs. One I wrote a message on. It was to my Mother who had died having me. She was a Priestess of . The Priestess was not to become pregnant after a healing union, my Mother, however, did. She was dismissed from her duties. I was told she had never told the Greek man, who was my father. I was not his. I was hers. Her gift for her service. I was raised by the High Priestess of Aset’s Temple. She was training me to become a priestess like my Mother. My main tasks during the day was cleaning and memorization and then once I became of age I would learn the Sacred Consummation Alchemy of Aset.
As I finished the love letter to my Mother I wrapped cord around the egg and tied it to the branch above me, praying to the Gods to deliver my message to my Mother. I brought out my second egg. It was my last and I began writing on it. I always had two eggs for this day and my second was my wish egg. I closed my eyes and listened to the wind in the trees. I wished to experience great alchemy in my life and to help many people. I wrote my wish on my egg and wrapped it to the branch above me alongside my other message to the gods. I was leaning to put my belongings in my bag when I heard something fall and found that my second wish egg had fallen and now lay cracked on the ground. I cursed a bit and as I leaned back to see if they had both fallen I fell bag and all. I landed hard on my back and after the ringing in my head subsided I noticed a big gash on my left foot that had hit a rock upon landing. I sat up slowly and that’s when I saw him. He was sitting not too far from me in the tall reads by the water. And he was staring at me. I sat up rather quickly and grimaced as I tried to come to my feet. The gash was bleeding pretty good. I looked back to him and there he was standing next to me. “Are you ok?” he asked. The question caught me off guard. Boys his age would usually be laughing right about now, taking my bag from me and mocking my injury. He wasn’t even smiling. “I’m hurt.” I said, trying not to let a strange boy see me cry. He grabbed his water skin and took it from around his shoulders and sat at my feet. “Can I see?” he asked. I looked at him incredulously. “I only want to help.” It was not customary for men to touch the feet of a Priestess of Aset but since I was in training, there was no one else around to help, and he was a boy an older boy but a boy nonetheless, so I nodded my head and let him touch my feet. He took my left foot and placed it into his lap. Then held his finger up signifying he had an idea. He then grabbed his watering skin and poured water onto the ground taking his fingers and swirling it around in the mixture until it was paste. Then he carefully covered my wound in the paste, mixing my blood with the wet earth. I looked at him like he was crazy. Surely this would infect it. He just smiled and put his supplies away, and said “Good.” He stood and held out his hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me up. Just like that I could stand. There wasn’t any pain. He chuckled a bit. “You know Alchemy?” I asked. He motioned for me to follow him and I grabbed my bag. We walked over to the water. And sat. He took his little bag from the bank and pulled out some fish for us. I ate and when he ran out I offered him mine. When we were done we sat in silence. Watching the water until he said, “Ok, for my next gift.” He grinned. He took a handful of water from the swollen river, made more mud and went to work sculpting what looked like small birds. I sat smiling and watching intently. Once he was finished he looked to me, “Are you ready?” I nodded enthusiastically. He clapped his hand three times slowly and raised his hands to the sky, and just like that the clay dried and then cracked revealing little sparrows chirping, spreading their wings for the first time and taking flight. They flew until they were out of our sight. I laughed and clapped, it was not an Alchemy I had seen but a legendary Alchemy I had heard of our Ancestors using. I nudged him in the arm, gently. “You do know alchemy!” I said grinning to let him know I wasn’t really angry.
“Son!” We both stood quickly. His father was approaching and looked shocked. He continued in his language. My new friend looked to the ground. He was in trouble. “I’m sorry but he’s out of tricks for today.” His father said, looking at me suspiciously. I nodded. His father must not have wanted him using Alchemy. He motioned for his son to walk away so he could chat with me and instead his son risked disobeying his father one more time.
He took out a red rolled up scarf from his bag. It looked much too big for him and he handed it to me. “It was my Mother’s. She gave me her old one for traveling. I want you to have it.” I smiled and took it carefully from him. It smelled of Roses and other oils. He placed it on my head and wrapped it around my shoulders.” He stood back and smiled, "Good," and ran ahead of his father.
Before his father could say a word to me, he was running after his son to keep up. I laughed and shook my head. I picked up my belongings quickly and ran back to my room. The sun was beginning to set and the High Priestess always checked on me before bed.
I ran through the market streets where people were singing and preparing for the sunset ceremony only a select few were invited to, but people needed their supplies and the markets provided them. I was not of age to attend yet.
As I made my way up the stairs to my little room I could smell the incense being prepared. I quickly went into my room and closed the little wooden door behind me. I carefully took off the scarlet red scarf and breathed in the roses and other oils that lingered on it. I wanted to remember everything about this day, the boy, the alchemy, our little feast, and the little clay sparrows.
I folded the scarf and put it under my pillow. I sat on my mat and noticed a small foot basin with steaming water in it. The High Priestess must’ve prepared it for me while I was out. Little scarlet rose petals sat still on the surface and a beautiful aroma came floating to me. I pulled the basin over carefully so I didn’t spill it and put my feet in. I washed my right foot and then moved to my left foot. I smiled remembering my little adventure. I wiped the remnants of dried earth off of my foot but was confused. It should be the least bit sore. I kept rubbing the earth off my foot until I found skin, whole intact, flesh with no sign of trauma. I laughed so hard it brought tears to my eyes. I vowed that night to learn this type of Alchemy and thanked the Mother Goddess for bringing me the strange boy who loved mud.
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