Gidelle or Gid as her friends call her, was born in a small town on the outskirts of New Perth, the capitol of the Theocracy of Moge. She grew up being used to the city and with parents who cared for her. Though not rich by any means her family had a nice house and her father made a decent living as a craftsmen, carpenter and wise man among the town. When Gidelle was born there was abit of an uproar, some said she was demon touched, others were just weary of the child. She had been born with pointed ears like that of an elf. This caused her no end of taunts and teases from her school mates and other children. She cried herself to sleep many nights wondering if she had truly been cursed. Though this made life a little more difficult for her and her family, they persevered though it. The people of the town grew to accept it. Gid was always an exceptional child, helpful, nice and wise beyond her years.
There was an older women who lived just outside of town on an old bald hill top. She had a small tower there and many of the towns folk had always avoided her, except when someone was seriously sick. This peaked Gid's interest for some time as she still felt she was some sort of outcast too. Gid, now in her mid teen years, got the courage up to go meet the lady of the tower one day. She approached the door with caution, she knocked and waited, she heard the banging of some metal and something fall to the ground, this startled her a bit and she almost lost her nerve. But Gid's courage held, the door swung open to reveal a beautiful women in her early forties. The women regarded her with interest for a moment, then spoke "well come in, no sense in standing around out there where the people could see you". Gid stepped inside, it was surprisingly open on the inside, from the outside the tower was three stories tall, there was only the ground floor inside. This design seemed odd to Gid, but later would make sense. There were strange marks and symbols on the floor and walls of the tower, and a simple ladder that lead up to the roof. She introduced her self "Well I do not get many visitors, except when someone is in a lot of trouble or ill, and has no where else to turn, I'm Valventile Priestess of the Winds". Gid responded. "I'm Gidelle... uhm, daughter of Faldon Adorthain". Valventile asked what brought her there and if she was in some sort of trouble. Gid told her of her curiosity about the tower and her, and that she was not in trouble. Valventile sensed something in Gid during their conversation, she was glad Gid came by it was getting increasingly lonely as the big city encroached on their village. This was the beginning of a long relationship, although a secret one, Valventile suggested Gid only come to her when she could do so with out getting caught, or people would begin to talk and think ill of her.
This went on for several months before Gid realized why she had been drawn there, something Valventile knew after their first meeting but was waiting for Gid to figure it out on her own. Gid had always been very wise for her age, this was a gift from her fathers side of the family. One afternoon, Gidelle was sneaking up to the old tower, and it hit her like a cold mountain wind. She was to study and learn the ways of the wind goddess from Valventile, it seemed so obvious now why had she not seen it before. She cautiously approached the subject with Val, who was just waiting for this day. Val said to Gid "Very well if you are to begin learning the way of the winds, you must attend the next ritual of the storm". This excited Gid she felt like something new and special was happening, she would have to wait three weeks though. In the mean time she began spending more and more time at the tower, she was getting careless about it as well. Val began teaching her about Vaiva the Wind Goddess, her teachings and the Wisdom of the Winds.
The weeks passed slowly, but now it was the night of the ritual, Gid would meet two other members of the priesthood this evening. There was a powerful storm brewing that evening, and Gid set out under the cover of darkness after going off to bed early. She crepted quitely out of her window and then made her way to the tower. The wind had picked up quite abit, as she opened the door to the small tower she was greeted by Val and two others, another female with long blond hair named Bethal, and a tall fair haired man named Hathorn. The evening had an ominous feeling for Gid, like she was about to start some grand adventure. The three of them said prayers over Gid for a few moments then Val asked Gid to climb the ladder to the roof. She felt stronger and empowered by the prayers, she began to climb the ladder, only to realize the other three were floating in mid air following her to the top, this startled her a bit she had never seen magic before. The storm was now raging outside, Gid opened the trap door to the roof, the wind caught it and ripped it fomr her grasp with, it slammed intot he roof. Stinging rain pelted her face as she climbed onto the top of the tower. Hathorn said something about the strength of the storm to Val and that this was significant for Gid in some way. Val, Bethal and Hathorn formed a triangle around her, with Gid in the center. They began the ritual right away, there was chanting, lightning, and sharp claps of thunder all about. Gid felt no fear, she was filled with an inner warmth and strength she never knew she had. Val told her to disrobe so that the winds can touch all of her, freely, though a bit shy she did so, the embarrassment of being naked, outside and in front of a man was almost to much. She trembled as she took off her clothes, soaking wet they fell to the roof. Then all at once lightning lit up the sky and surrounded the tower for what seemed an hour. There was a cacophony of sharp thunder claps and roaring wind. The stinging rain struck all over her naked body, it felt painfully strange and wonderful at the same time. Next Val told her to stand in the storm and listen for the Goddess to speak to her, the goddess would share a secret with her that was only for Gid, it is her covenant with the Vaiva and none should ever know it. The three clerics went back inside to wait for Gid to return.
Gid now alone on the roof in the raging storm, listened hard, the wind was to loud how could she her anything. She remembered what Val had told her in the coming weeks, be calm, wait, have and patients. Gid sat on the roof naked and cold, the stinging rain had made her almost numb. She began to shiver and wonder about all this. Then she heard something on the wind it was faint and she struggled to hear it, then again it came, a voice, what was it saying, the wind was speaking to her. She could hear it clearly now, the Wind Goddess Vaiva was speaking to her. Gid listened intently for this was her covenant with Vaiva. Gid shivering, cold, and bewildered, began the long climb down the ladder to the others. When she reached the bottom, Val was waiting with a blanket and some warm tea. She sat and recovered from the storm for a while, they all talked quitely while the stormed died down outside. Then when Gid was warm and her strength had returned, Val gave her a set of priestess robes. Val told her for now it would be best to keep secret your faith and all this that she had been witness to. Though Gid was never one to lie or hide from things, this was good advice. Soon after Gid made her way home, tired and cold from the nights activities. She crawled into bed, Gid woke very late the next day, changed forever by the nights events.
to be continued.....
