"Jane Yolen - The White Babe" - читать интересную книгу автора (Yolen Jane)

Selna could not keep from smiling. тАЬJo-an-enna,тАЭ she said. The priestess spelled out the name and
then, in the old tongue, gave the child her secret name that only the four of themтАФand Jenna in her
timeтАФwould know. тАЬAnnuanna,тАЭ she said. тАЬThe white birch, the Goddess tree, the tree of everlasting
light.тАЭ тАЬAnnuanna,тАЭ they whispered to one another and the child. Then the priestess and her sister
unwrapped their hair and stood. Holding their hands over the two kneelers and the babe, both priestess
and sister spoke the final prayer.
She who holds us
in her hand,
She who molds us
in this land,
She who drives
away the night,
She who wrote
the Book of Light,
In her name, Blessed be.

The assembled women all came in perfectly on the responses. When they were done, Selna and
Marjo stood together, Selna holding out the infant so that all could see. At the great cheer that arose
below them, Jenna woke up, startled, and began to cry. Selna did not comfort her, though the priestess
looked sharply at her. A warrior had to learn young that crying brought no comfort.


Back inside, after the magnificent feast that followed the baby was handed around the table for all to
see. She began in the priestessтАЩ arms and was handed over to the plump arms of Donya who dandled her
expertly but тАЬas routinely as a bit of mutton just off the spit,тАЭ Selna commented testily to Marjo. Donya
handed the child to the leaner arms of the warriors. They chuckled and clucked at JennaтАЩs chin, and one
dark sister threw her up into the air. She screamed with delight, but Selna pushed aside the circle of
companions angrily to catch the child on her downward flight.
тАЬWhat kind of a misbegotten son-of-a-son are you?тАЭ she cried out. тАЬWhat if the light had failed?
Whose arms would have caught her then?тАЭ
The dark sister Sammor shrugged her shoulders and laughed. тАЬThis late mothering has made mush of
your brains, Selna. We are inside. There are no clouds to hide the moon. The lights of AltaтАЩs-hame never
fail.тАЭ
 Selna tucked Jenna under one arm and raised the other to strike Sammor but her hand was caught
from behind.
тАЬSelna, she is right and you are wrong in this. The babe is safe,тАЭ Marjo said. тАЬCome. Drink a toast
with us all to forget and forgive, and then we will play at the wands.тАЭ They brought their arms down
together.
But SelnaтАЩs anger did not abate, which was unusual, and she sat outside the circle of sisters when they
threw the wands around the ring in the complicated patterns that trained them for sword-handling.
With Selna out, Marjo could not play either, and she sat across from her sister and sulked as the
game went on. It became more and more complex as a second, then a third, and finally a fourth set of
wands were introduced into the circle. The flexible willows flipped end over end in the air, passing from
woman to woman, from hand to hand, and soon the dining hall was quiet except for the slip-slap of the
wands as they hit palm after palm after palm.
тАЬThe lights!тАЭ someone shouted, and a cheer went up from the watchers around the ring. SammorтАЩs
sister Amalda nodded and two of the kitcheners, new enough to the sisterhood that they stuck together
as close as shadows, rose to stand by the torches that illuminated the circle.
The game went on without stopping, the wands slipping even more quickly through the air. Not a
hand had missed since the throws began. The whizzing of the wands as they passed one another was