Chapter 2 -The Ceremony of Giving
The following morning Hanja woke before Tak and decided to let him sleep while she prepared food and poured goblets of morning-juka.
"Wake up Tak!" she said, caressing his cheek. "Here is refreshment. And I have bread and gailo fruit too."
"I'm sorry Mistress, I should have woken and served you the juka."
"Hush Tak! I am not helpless. And a night-mistress enjoys rewarding a boy who has been so pleasing. Besides, today is both the day of my birth twenty four summers ago and also the anniversary of your arrival at the Temple. So, it is a cause for celebration is it not?"
Tak was still loosely restrained by the wrists in a manner intended to allow comfortable sleep while ensuring his hands could not wander to either his own body or that of his sleeping Mistress. Hanja now removed the straps so that he could sit upright. After they had eaten, she stroked his cheek and stared lovingly into his eyes.
"Would you like me to take a position Mistress?"
"Oh no Tak!," she said laughing. "You misunderstand. I just wanted to look at my adorable boy for a while. And there isn't time. The Garden Priestess will be cross with me if I make you late and, besides, I am chosen to celebrate the Ceremony of Giving this morning. But, Tak, there is something I would like you to do. Go fetch the Book of the Prophet from the shelf...that's it, open to chapter fourteen, verse thirty-one and begin reading it aloud!"
Tak obeyed his night-Mistress and began reading the scripture to her.
"Stop there Tak!" she said, suddenly. "Do you understand? You see, the priestess is the manifestation of the Goddess in our World. Would you lay hands on the Goddess Tak?"
"No Mistress, never." said Tak, startled by the question.
"Then you will never lay hands on a Priestess Tak. Even the thought of it is a sin. You have already been taught this, but do you understand it?"
Tak nodded nervously. His Mistress's expression had become suddenly serious.
"Oh Tak," she sighed. "I worry about you. If you get into trouble they might send you away and you will never see me again! And I do not want that. Do you understand my sweet boy?"
Tak was distraught.
"Oh yes, Mistress, I understand and I'm so sorry for making you angry last night and..."
Hanja held up her hand to stop him.
"That is enough Tak! I have already forgiven you, but you will nevertheless perform the Act of Contrition for me before you leave. I have never needed to ask you for this before have I Tak? This is a sign of the seriousness of the matter."
She stood in the center of the room, hands on hips.
"Here Tak! Crawl to me and begin!"
After he completed the Act, Hanja helped him put on his tunic and guided him to the door with her hands on his rump.
"Go Tak! Don't be late to the Temple Gardens! And give Priestess Ashala my regards when you serve her this evening. And Tak, obey her as enthusiastically as you obey me!"
As Tak left her bed chamber, Hanja could not resist slipping her hand under his tunic and between his thighs, squeezing and causing him to stumble. Tak walked down the hall with the sound of her playful laughter ringing in his ears.
****
Hanja's worries about Tak were not eased by the scene that greeted her in the Temple courtyard later that morning as she made her way to the Ceremony of Giving. A trembling Temple boy was being restrained naked on the frame of repentance at the foot of the statue of the Prophet. A small, curious group of priestesses had gathered. Public punishment was rare in the Temple and discipline, when needed, was usually a more private matter between each priestess and the boy serving her.
Perplexed, Hanja enquired into the nature of the boy's poor conduct and was met with shrugs. "They say disobedience, but I do not know the details." said a Priestess. "His night-mistress did not find him to be compliant." whispered another. "What did she ask of him?"..." Can she not control a boy without this fuss? Look at the poor thing!"
Hanja recognized the boy as one who had served in her bed-chamber some weeks before. A kitchen boy, if she remembered correctly, quiet but likeable and well capable of performing his night duties. She saw the Priestess of the Shrine removing her heavy gown, exposing bare arms and shoulders above her Temple breastplate. A five-foot rattan cane had been sent for and was being brought to her by a novice priestess striding across the courtyard. When the boy on the frame saw it his legs appeared to buckle beneath him but he was held up by the wrist restraints and thick leather straps around his thighs. A wheel was turned and the frame changed shape, lifting him into the air and pushing his buttocks upwards and out, spreading his legs and positioning him perfectly to receive the kiss of the cane. Hanja could hear him sobbing now as the Shrine Priestess took position behind him.
"I'm glad he is not serving in my bed-chamber tonight." said a priestess callously, and there was some laughter. Hanja had no desire to witness what followed. She turned and walked into the Temple.
****
The Ceremony of Giving is perhaps the oldest of rituals performed within the Temple. Indeed, it is described in the Book of the Prophet as a means by which the very first woman, in the Garden at the beginning of time, enabled her males to give thanks to their Goddess. In the era of the Temple, it provides an opportunity for free, unmarried men of the City to humble themselves before the Goddess in Her Temple and gift a part of themselves to Her. Male slaves of female owners, and married males - who will have taken the Oath of Obedience to their wives during the marriage ceremony - are exempt from this obligation. Their service to the Goddess is considered to be fulfilled through devotion to their mistresses and wives. Otherwise, adult males are required to attend a Ceremony of Giving four times a year. A chaste period of two weeks prior to the ceremony is required.
The short ceremony has attendees leave their clothing in the Temple vestibule and kneel naked on the dirt floor before the altar; thighs spread, open and exposed to the Goddess.
That morning, Priestess Hanja, in heavy hooded robe, addressed the gathering of about four hundred males, leading them through prayers in worship of the Goddess and mantras reinforcing submission and obedience to Her. As she approached the climax of the Ceremony - known as the 'Giving' - Hanja noticed increasing signs of arousal in many of the worshipers kneeling before her. She stood before the altar, raised her arms and cried, "Behold the body of the Goddess, manifest in Her Priestess!"
Hanja threw open the robe to expose her body clad only in Temple breastplate and baltea, barely preserving her modesty.
