New story - Serena (unfinished)

[NewName428]

Author's note:
This story is incomplete. Actually, I trashed the second half because I
didn’t like it. Let me know if you have ideas of where it could go. Send
your comments to me at NewNa...@aol.com. I need a reason to keep writing.

My name is Serena. Tressa and I have been chosen by the Lottery.

Every four years our village has the Lottery to select maidens who will live
and bear a child at the Temple. This is to please the Goddess of the Earth,
who makes our fields grow strong, and who nourishes our animals. This year it
was decided that two maidens would be selected. I am told it is an honor to
be chosen, but Tressa and I are both frightened. Also, I am worried that a boy
I favor will now not want my hand after I bear another’s child.

Three moons ago, as the winter was waning, Ayna, the Temple Priestess called
upon our village elders to organize a new Lottery. My father told me about
this new Lottery one evening after supper. He said it was important that
everyone participate, and that if we did not please the Goddess our whole
village would suffer. My mother said nothing, but seemed worried. Father said
my sister would not participate, since she was a mere girl, but that I was a
woman and so of age. The following night, my mother bathed me and braided my
hair, then told me she would take me to the Temple. She said I was to wear no
underthings, and that I should wear a white smock she had made for me. It was
a cold and misty night, and a long walk into the forest to the Temple. Mother
had brought a torch, which lighted our way. Along the route, we met up with
many other maidens and their mothers, and some older unmarried women. Some of
the maidens seemed too young, and I was amused by some of the older maidens,
who nonetheless kept a very serious countenance about them. None of us talked
as we walked, though I smiled and nodded at some of my friends, including
Tressa. Although it was cold, walking warmed me, as did my mother’s strong
grip on my hand. As we followed the trail at the top of the cliffs above the
ocean, our trail of flickering torches looked beautiful. The sound of the surf
serenaded me, and the cold sea breeze caressed my face, hair and arms. At the
highest point, the trail turned inland away from the sea, and lead into the
dark forest. Together, we walked into the yawning darkness of the forest
trail. Our torches no longer looked like a string of flickering beads,
lighting all the land around us. Now the light became swallowed up by the
darkness, or cast strange and scary shadows, and it became hard to see to where
we traveled.

After a long journey, our by now large group emerged from the forest to the
edge of a large glade. In the moonlight we could see the large stone Temple
situated in the middle of the clearing, atop a gentle rise. Although it was as
large as a barn, it looked small from where we stood because it was still far
off. We could see a dim light coming from within the chambers, and a shadow of
a figure silouetted in the doorway. My mother squeezed my hand hard, then
motioned for me to remove my wool frock. The other mothers did likewise. I
took off my coat and gave it to my mother. She kissed me and gave me a worried
look. Then she stepped back with the other mothers, and I suddenly felt very
cold. I became very sad and frightened when I saw my mother turn and head back
along the trail from whence we had come, taking the torch with her. Several
other girls and I tried to follow our mothers, but they turned us back sternly.
Many of us, especially the younger girls, began to cry, but one of the older
maidens spoke soothing words to us and encouraged us to clasp hands together in
the darkness. Once we were all together, and after our mothers’ torches
disappeared from view, we continued through the mist along the dark trail to
the moonlit Temple. I held Tressa’s hand, and that of a younger girl who
continued to snuffle.

Eventually, we reached the Temple. Ayna stood silent at the top of the short
rise of stairs as we all collected at the bottom. Another woman stood with
her. When the murmer of our motions quieted, Arena spoke:

"Welcome maidens! Maidens are allowed at these steps only every four years.
Be honored to be at the Temple of Terra, Goddess of the Earth! It is She who
looks after our fields and flocks. It is She who makes babes grow in the
swelling wombs of women. It is She for whom your body bleeds.

"Our Goddess does so much for us that she grows tired and old, and requires
reinspiration. Every four years we specially celebrate her fertile works by
offering her the virgin wombs of maidens, to reexcite her efforts on our
behalf. She is pleased to watch the beauty of her work at close hand, the
receiving of the seed, the swelling of the belly, the bearing of the babe, and
the nourishing from the breast

"To be a chosen maiden is a high honor and important duty."

She then instructed us to climb the stairs in single file, and enter the
central chamber of the Temple. Inside, a small fire atop an alter cast a
flickering orange glow upon the tall columns flanking the circular room. The
ceiling was pierced by a large opening through which I could see the moon.

Ayna had us spread out in a single file, facing away from the fire. There were
many of us maidens in the Temple, so that the line spanned nearly all the way
around the large room. After we were lined up, Arena and her helper moved to
the opposite ends of the line. The light was too dim for me to make out
clearly, but I could hear startled sounds and murmered voices. Although I
tried not to look behind me, it seemed that some maidens were being taken out
of the line. As Arena approached from my left, I could see that she was coming
up behind each girl, raising her smock, and moving her arms beneath it. I saw
her do this to the little girl who had been snuffling and then take her out
the line. Then she came up behind Tressa. I no longer peeked, but instead
kept my eyes pointed straight ahead of me, wide but unseeing. I heard the
rustling of the smock, the sound of hands caressing skin, muffled grunts from
Tressa, and then the sound of her smock falling. Tressa stayed in the line.
Then Arena came up behind me. From beind, I felt my smock lifted up with the
warm hands of an old woman. The cold misty air chilled my body, but her warm
hands then cupped and gently squeezed my breasts. She felt my nipples, and
then her hands traced down my belly to my fertile parts. She tugged lightly at
my hair, and then ran the edge of her hand to the hollow between my legs. She
withdrew her hand, then lowered the smock and kissed my cheek, saying, "You are
ripe and worthy of the Goddess."

After Ayna and the other woman finished this task, more than half of the
maidens had been removed form our line. Not just the girls were removed, but
many of the older maidens, some who were crying. The assisten gathered these
maidens together, and led them from the Temple. I heard the assistant instruct
one of the older maidens to escort the others back to the village, where they
could be met by their mothers. Ayna and Arena stood by the door as the group
departed. We had turned around by now, and stood silent as we listened to them
start back along the trail to the forest edge.

During this time, I was able to look around and satisfy my curiosity. Twelve
maidens remained with me in the Temple. Besides Tressa, I recognized several
other girls, and some returned my anxious glances. While waiting for our next
instructions, I looked around the room. Althought the Temple was quite dark,
by the light from the alter flame I could tell that the walls all around us
were covered with paintings. I noticed the paintings nearest the entrance
first, since that was where Ayna and Arena were still standing. It looked as if
the painting had boy animals with girl animals, as I’ve sometimes seen in the
fields. It is embarrassing to tell, but the painting also had a naked man with
a naked maiden, joined together like the animals. Next to that were paintings
of ripe animals and naked women with swollen bellies. I couldn’t make out
the next painting, because of a shadow cast by a column, but the one after that
showed mothers with suckling litters, and women feeding babes.

Arena then spoke to us, and bade us to the center of the room, which I was glad
to hear, since I would be nearer to the fire, and I was cold. Arena told us to
form a circle around the central alter, and then Ayna joined us holding two
bouquets of flowers. The flowers were beautiful, with many thin petals. Their
fragrance came to me and reminded me of the fields near home.

Anya spoke: "You maidens are like these flowers. You have blossomed and await
your opportunity to bear fruit. Certainly all of you will soon marry and bear
your husbands children, but two of you will be selected tonight to become wives
to our land, to bear your children for Terra, the Goddess, and refresh this
Temple and this glade with the cries of childbirth and the sounds of children."

"Two of these flowers will settle our Lottery, and decide which of you will
stay."

Anya then chose one maiden, a girl I know, to pick a flower. After the girl
had picked one, Arena took the second bouquet, and went to the other side of
the alter, chose a different maiden, who similarly pulled a flower from
Arena’s bouquet.

The first girl was told to pluck a petal and then pass the flower on. We were
to continue this until all the last petal, and we were instructed to keep the
petals we plucked. The flower went around nearly three times, until Tressa
finally pulled that last petal. I watched as her eyes widened. She smiled
broadly at first, but then her face became serious and she looked up suddenly
to the priestess, who only smiled back. The girl with the second flower was
then instructed to begin the same process with her flower. I kept my three
petals from the first flower in my left hand as I plucked the new flower with
my right hand. Like the first flower, this one was also bushy with petals, and
went past me three times. My heart began to race as it came around the circle
the fourth time. I saw it had few petals, and worried I might be the last.
When it was two girls away, I saw I would be selected with Tressa, and my heart
thumped strongly in my heart, with fear or excitement, I do not know. As I
plucked the last petal, I looked at Tressa, then at the priestess, who nodded.
The priestess Ayna and Arena went to Tressa first, hugging her and kissing her
cheeks, and then counting the petals she had collected from the two flowers.
They then came to me, hugged and kissed me, and counted my petals.

Arena spoke again: "Terra has chosen which of her maidens she wishes to bear
her fruit. The flowers have lost their petals, and these two maidens have
collected seven each. The petals are worn by the flower to attract those who
start the fruit to form. In the same way, these two maidens have developed
womenly bodies to attract and excite men. We will honor the secrets of these
flower petals by bringing seven men for each maiden, and these men will start
the swelling of their bellies."

Tressa and I were by now shaking, and Arena brought us together. We hugged and
kissed and shook together. Ayna instructed us to remove our clothes, and
instructed the other girls to weave ropes from the remaining flowers. Ayna had
Tressa and I embrace again, which now embarrassed me, as I was now naked, but
she was warm and soft. Once the flower ropes were made, Ayna had the girls
spiral the ropes around Tressa and me. The flowers felt soft and feathery, and
they smelled beautiful around me. As they wrapped the flowers about us, the
girls clustered around us closely, and I felt full with love and blessing.
Ayna then told the girls to caress us, respectfully, and stroke the bellies
that will swell with the special babies, and feel the warm breasts that will
fill with milk to feed the newborns. Tressa and I pulled ourselves apart
slightly as the girls crowded in more closely. I then felt many warm hands
softly and slowly move over my skin. I felt several hands circle over my belly
and along my sides and hips. Several warm hands also caressed and cupped my
breasts. My nipples felt tingly and I could feel Tressas hardened nipples
brush against me as her breasts were massaged. Some girls began to cry a
little, and one of them kissed my cheek and shoulder, dripping tears on me.
Other girls then started to cry, and they we began to hug us and kiss us.
Soon, Tressa and I were also crying, even though I was not sad. It felt good
to cry, and the tears and bodies of the other girls felt warm and comforting
against me.

Soon, however, Ayna said that it was time for the other girls to go. Since
Tressa and I were still entwined together by the flower ropes, each girl took a
turn hugging us together and kissing each of us on the cheek. I felt sad that
the other girls were leaving, but glad that I had Tressa to hold. Arena
gathered the other girls together at the Temple entrance. Arena then came to
us, gave us her hug and kiss, and then after lighting a torch from the alter
flame, she departed with the girls. We listened as she escorted then back
along the trail.