The cleansing

Mary had a day to relax before Monday came and she once again was a nervous wreck for Firlea’s sake. Just as on Friday, she walked to the river field. Hinat joined her after a while. Mary still wasn’t used to seeing her friend in the white dress. It made her smile.

They stood waiting for the bells. It seemed to take longer than it had done with Hinat. Mary realised that Hinat actually knew what was going on inside the sanctum. She looked at her friend, that looked just as nervous as Mary felt.

Whatever was happening, Hinat wasn’t certain that Firlea would make it. That didn’t make Mary feel any better about her own future.

Then the bells sounded, and the relief was instant. Mary and Hinat hugged and laughed and promised to see each other the next evening.

Firlea’s party was held at her uncles. It wasn’t as luxurious as the one that Hinat’s parents had thrown. But there were enormous amounts of food, most of which had been grown on Firlea’s parent’s farm.

Firlea greeted them in her white dress with a badge with a citrine in the middle, surrounded by rubies and emeralds. Mary was now the only one of her friends that wore the black dress. But she didn’t care when she saw the happiness of her friends.

They congratulated Firlea and talked to Jontak that was standing beside her, looking proud over what his fiancée had achieved.

“So which department?” Hinat asked Firlea.

“Healing,” she answered.

“That’s a good one,” Mary smiled.

It was another evening of celebration and Mary was ready for bed as she came home in the early morning hours.

The next day was pure torture for her. She was to head over to the sanctum half an hour before the gates were closed. That meant she had a whole day to obsess about what was going to happen. She tried to rehearse every bit of knowledge she had learned over the last three years.

Her mother tried to distract her by asking for help to mix some herbs. But after losing count for the fourth time, having to throw the mixture away, Mary resigned to sit in a sunny spot in the garden, drinking tea and trying to think about nothing.

During dinner, both of her parents urged her to eat. But Mary just shuffled the food around the plate. She remembered the first day of evaluations and she forced herself to eat as she had regretted not having breakfast that day.

When it was finally time to go, Kopa walked with her. They walked in silence. Mary was just happy he was there with her.

“I can’t go with you, little one. I’ll be waiting for you the day after tomorrow,” he said as they reached the docks. He hugged her and helped her into a boat.

Mary slowly rowed towards the sanctum. Regardless of how tomorrow turned out, when she rowed back in two days, nothing would be the same.

Mary walked into her old room. It looked as it had done the first day when Hinat, Firlea and she had walked in. It felt strange seeing it so empty and impersonal. The wall that usually had Firlea’s sketches on it was blank. Her bed didn’t have neither her mother’s handmade blanket nor the wool blanket from the Che’hul.

There was a letter on the desk addressed to her. It stated that she was not allowed to leave the room. There was a chamber pot she could use and a carafe of water. If she needed anything else, she could knock on the door.

Otherwise, she was to wait in her room and expect someone to get her after lunch the following day. She was to remove all personal items and just be dressed in her black dress and her regular shoes.

Mary spent the evening sitting in the bay-window, looking out over the river. Thinking about everything she had experienced in this room. Her friendship with Hinat and Firlea had been something she never had expected. But she saw it as one of the most important things that had happened in her life.

The following morning, she didn’t put on her knife. It felt strange, but she left it on the desk. There was a knock on the door and as she opened it, she saw a tray on the floor. On it was a bowl of plain porridge and another carafe of water.

Mary wasn’t hungry, and the porridge wasn’t that appetizing. But she ate most of it and put the tray and the empty carafe outside her door.

The hours went by so slowly that Mary thought that someone had stopped time. All she had were her thoughts and her fears of what was coming. For the first time in years, she felt isolated and alone. But this time it wasn’t followed by the feeling of hopelessness. There was just a feeling of longing.

Mary knew she wasn’t alone. She had people that cared for her. She would see them tomorrow, she told herself, and that made her smile.

At lunch time there was another knock on the door and another tray stood outside. This time, it had bread and water. Mary ate the bread and put the tray outside again.

She was getting nervous. Whatever would happen, it would happen soon. There was another knock on the door, and Mary felt her hands shake as she went to open it.

Outside stood five white clad people with white masks over their faces. Mary’s breath hitched in her chest.

“Mary Teeran, we are here to take you to the last and final test. Will you come with us? Will you leave your old life behind you and face your new life?” one of the persons asked.

It took Mary a moment to find her voice.

“Yes,” she nodded.

“You need to wear this,” another one of them said. Showing Mary a black piece of fabric.

“Okay,” Mary said.

“Over your eyes,” they clarified, and Mary nodded and tied the cloth over her eyes. The world became black.

The people surrounding her checked that the blindfold was in place. Then someone took Mary’s hand and put it on a firm shoulder.

“Follow us,” someone said.

Mary felt the shoulder move forward, and she gripped it tighter not to lose it. She stumbled forward, worried about tripping or bump into something. The person whose shoulder she was holding walked slowly forward and turned left. Mary could hear her door closing behind them.

At first, the surrounding persons moved slowly. She was grateful for that as she found the experience of being led around with a blindfold terrifying.

Mary had no control. She had to rely on the five people surrounding her to make sure she didn’t get hurt. As she slowly got used to the idea and trusted the person whose shoulder she held. She walked more at ease. She didn’t slide her feet along the floor to look for obstacles.

They moved a little faster as the people leading her felt her relax. In the beginning, Mary had a good idea of what route they were taking. But as they were in the middle of a corridor that Mary knew had no doors, they stopped. There was a grinding sound, and then they guided her to the right. Mary expected to hit a solid wall, but it didn’t happen.

“Steps going down,” a voice told her.

Mary felt around with her foot and found a step. They slowly started going down the stairs, that Mary had no idea existed. It was scary walking down steps blindfolded. But the steps were smooth and wide. The person she was holding on to was considerate enough to take it slowly.

Soon Mary got the hang of walking on stairs as well. She could judge the distance to the next step by how the shoulder she held dipped as they took a step down.

After a while, they stopped, and there was a dragging sound.

“Flat ground,” someone said.

Mary felt as they walked over the regular floor again. This time it felt like it was covered in a rug. Mary tried to think of a place in the rough area of where they could be that had rug covered floors. But there were too many possibilities. She had to concede to the fact that she was lost.

There was a metallic sound.

“Steps going down,” she heard.

The stairs that they walked in to was nothing like the first one. These steps were uneven, worn out in the middle, and slanted in all directions. Mary took a firm grip on the shoulder in front of her to keep her balance.

The steps seemed to go on forever. Mary wondered if they weren’t below the river by now. As they descended the stairs, the air slowly changed. From the usual, slightly dry, air. They now were breathing in damp air with the smell of the riverbank and moss. They kept going down.

“Flat but uneven ground,” a voice told Mary.

Mary tentatively walked forward and felt the uneven ground under her feet. It felt like walking on a natural stone rather than on a floor. They walked onward.

“Watch your head,” someone told Mary and gently placed a hand on her head to make her lower herself.

They walked on for a while longer until there was a squeaking sound and then the sound changed as they walked. There was an echo from their steps that hadn’t been there before. They stopped and someone removed Mary’s hand from the shoulder.

For a second Mary felt a lite wave of panic as she was alone in the dark in an unfamiliar place.

“We will soon leave you. When you hear the door close, you can remove the blindfold. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Mary said.

“You will remove your clothes and take a bath. There are towels and soap provided. When you are done, you will dress in the new clothes that have been provided for you. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“You will have four hours. I suggest you take them to reflect on what you leave behind. There is food and water. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“When we come back, we will knock once, then wait a minute, we will knock two times and wait a minute, we will knock three times and wait a minute, we will knock four times and wait a minute, then we will knock five times and enter. You will be dressed and wear a blindfold when we enter. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“You are safe here. Someone will be outside. If you need to stop at any point, you knock on the door. Knocking on the door will end the test. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good, then we will leave you now,” they told Mary.

There was silence, and Mary listened for the door. She heard it whine as they shut it and she waited a moment more and then removed her blindfold. She blinked to get her eyes working again.

She was standing in a large cave, there were lanterns all along the walls. She was standing on a rough stone surface that took up the first third of the cave. But beyond that, there was a large pool, a natural spring. It looked deep and was jet black and calm, like a mirror.