I must tell you my story.

A very long time ago there was an order. The women there, Priestesses in training, we kept separate from the men, the Priests, and man and woman rarely saw one another.

Having been born of a fiery dragon spirit I found the years there rather dull amongst the pale blue women, their serenity and the quiet. I found them small, though I both adored and revered my teachers, longing for their guidance to aid in employing my power, and teaching me the way to live a spiritual life. I still do not understand what it means to be human. Perhaps I never shall.

My best and closest friend was heavy woollen robe and it's hood which protected me from both the cold an the dreary tranquility that pervaded the place. I often kept to my cell which was pleasant and sunny in comparison to the grey halls and 'common' room. And on the bound straw, mattress, (I've forgotten the right word, perhaps you can remind me), I lay many hours in meditation, finding the classes the other attended too simple mundane and tedious.

I used to dream in waking vision of falling, dreamed of falling from the cliff, and on occasion of the dark man, a teacher who lived at the bottom of the castle. Perhaps it was because I loved him. Perhaps because he was the only man I knew. Although I felt him there, after all I was a virgin and not an unchaste thought did ever enter my head.

Time went by and my frustration grew. Outside the order, beyond the stone caste and the cliff, towns burned, and men killed one an other each other. I appealed to my teacher that the order was of importance and that we ought to do something, a spell or magic of some kind be bring peace and harmony back to the people. I was told that we do not involve ourselves in mundane matters. There was a sense that we were our own world, and not responsible for anything beyond the cold grey stone. Things became worse. It seemed as if the entire country would soon be destroyed in pretty wars. And the sky glowed amber from the cliff, whilst I feared for our future.

One day, when our community was more cheery than usual, a huge table was filling with traditional dishes of all types in the common room, and friend informed me that it was one of the seasonal celebrations. I was pulled away and informed that was to perform a ritual with a Priest (You would likely know this as the great rite ). What a turn of fortune! I went to my cell and dreamed in happiness and anticipation. I would meet a man, A priest! like the dark teacher, and we would love one another.

A was directed down a hall where a saw a young priest coming out of the door. He had long fair hair, it's wavy curls shone in the torch light. He was tall, simply and elegantly dressed. We went into an ornate room wherein there was a large and comfortable bed, an as I lowed myself on top of him, I gazed into the young priests eyes. His skin was fair and his body lithe. In those eyes I saw no love, no depth of emotion no strength of passion. This boy could not love me and I resolved to take the power from this write and perform great magic despite the wishes of my teachers. And in this moment the line between nun and harlot was blurred and innocence lost in the heroism of an eagle grown too big for it's mother's nest, with no choice but to fly unbounded.

It was soon after than I was expelled from the order. Was it because I stole the amber orb and channelled the rage and fire of the people to the sky for purification? Or was it because I knocked the fair priest with a large block of wood whilst he sat in his shame by the cliff. My memories of this phase are muddled and unclear.

I do know that peace came to the land and the gardens and fields grew green and fertile. I went to live peacefully in the forest, alone in a thatched hut, but I kept my cloak and lived a simple and spiritual life in the humble satisfaction of having sacrificed all that I knew for the prosperity of the people, the harmony of the land. I was not alone, for others left the order also. One of my neighbours had seven children with a bearded man.

Yes, I remember. I live in the rainforest. And I smoke, and try to mourn the love that never was, and the hope that never died.

Favorite Froud Book? The runes of Elfland

This is beautiful!