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.My face burnedwith embarrassment.The secret places on my body heated with longing.Mostly The Morrigan and her Ladies taught me to be at peace with myselfwhether alone or in company.I sat for hours contemplating nothing, while Iopened myself to the will of the gods.The Morrigan welcomed people from villages near and far with grace anddignity.She always wore yellow, the same color as her hair.She appeared aray of sunshine to those in need.We treated their ailments, accepted theirofferings, and heard the latest gossip from the outside world.More and morethe chores of healing fell to me, directed by TheMorrigan with elegant gestures and gentle words.Of the six Ladies who taughtme, four had lived on the Isle ofAvalon for fifty years and more.Their eyesight failed, and their handstrembled.So I sewed up wounds, mixed tonics, and applied poultices.For thetruly serious ailments, The Morrigan performed great healing rituals.Shetook me into her hut along with one other, an ancient Lady who could barelysee but had a gentle touch with minor magic.Then I forgot everything that transpired.The Morrigan must have enchanted me.When I awoke from the trance, I ground my teeth and sought information.TheMorrigan s hut was almost empty of furniture and adornment.Any tools shemight have used during her ritual had been cleared away before I opened myeyes and my mind.I found The Morrigan collapsed upon the dirt floor, her patient restingcomfortably on her cot. What ails you, Lady? I knelt beside her, feeling for her pulse.I couldn tfind the life beat on the inside of her wrist.When I found the great vein in her neck, the shallow and uneven rhythmfrightened me. A headache only, she whispered.Her voice sounded scratchyand strained. She will need sleep, the ancient assistant said.She stumbledPage 40 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlup the one step to crawl out the doorway.I lit a small oil lamp so I could see better.The Morrigan screamed as the light hit her eyes.Quickly I doused the lampand ran to my own hut for my stash of herbs.I prepared a soothing mixture ofcleansing herbs to throw on the fire and fed her small sips of an infusion ofwillow bark until she slept.Three times that first summer on Avalon I nursedher through the aftermath of a healing spell. Teach me this magic, I beggedher when she recovered the third time. You are killing yourself by giving toomuch to others.Please share this burden. You will not thank me, Wren.This is something I must do.I am The Morrigan. Her face had lost most of its natural color, and her hair hung limply abouther shoulders, pale and lifeless.I knew from experience that a week or morewould pass before she regained vitality.Each time she worked a healing, lessof her strength returned and she lost weight that she never regained. I willbe The Morrigan after you.There is no one else to take your place.Please donot do this to yourself anymore.Teach me. Tears sprang to my eyes, and Irealized I had come to love this woman.Ihad come to love Avalon and the Ladies.I still missed Da and Curyll and the others, but this place had become home,an anchor in my life; something I had never had before.The Morrigan met mydemand for learning with silence.Then the day came the next winter when twoof our Ladies burned with fever and coughed incessantly.I burned specialherbs on their hearths.I fed them special tonics and potions.I prayed.Still the illness persisted, and the women grew weaker by the hour.I calledThe Morrigan.She examined each Lady minutely, listening to their breathingthrough a long tube of seaweed.She felt their pulses at neck and wrist andstudied the phlegm they coughed up. I can do nothing more for them, she said quietly and left the smoky hut. Then teach me how to help them, Idemanded, following her to the door of her own shelter. I have no more strength, Wren.I have not had that kind of strength sincebefore you came to us.Even the teaching would leave me vulnerable to thesickness that takes our sisters.I would willingly sacrifice myself to showyou the secrets.But you are not ready to take my place.When I have passedfrom this life, Avalon will cease to be.WithoutAvalon, you cannot do this magic. What do you mean? Avalon is merely aplace. Avalon is a special place.You have experienced the peace and stillnesswithin that follows a ritual at the red spring. But Avalon does not work magic.People do.I can do it. Not alone. I raised one eyebrow in question.She looked at me strangely and sighed. Thegreat healing magic belongs to women.It must be worked in community.A maiden, a matron, and a crone must work inconcert.When I am gone there will be only you and several crones.No moremaidens come to us
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