 |
Journey to the Land of Erc - Part 2 The Question |
|
|
Journey to the Land of Erc - Part 2 The Question |
Part 2
February 2, 2002
After a little more than a week I felt I was closer to understanding what had bothered me, so I chose to return to continue the conversation. Once you're familiar with the otherworld travel can be quite rapid from place to place. One need only go from an anchor point (one's tree) to the place you wish to be.
"Master Earraigh". I asked knocking on his office door, "Might we continue our conversation?" I poked my head around and saw him sitting at his desk. He stood, held out his hand in greeting, motioned me to a chair and then gestured to the carafe sitting on his credenza
"Come in, I've got Chai today, rather than coffee. Would you like some?
"Maybe we'd better hold off on the hospitality until I tell you I've come to challenge what you said to me last week. You implied I was lost in the manner that one can become lost in Liath (the land of the north-northwest wind). It's simply not true. You and Camilla may be masters here but you lead only those who aren't aligned elsewhere. I am only lost in the Land of Erc, in the sense that I might have been a better student, that I might have listened harder, or performed better, but I was always good enough to serve my Lady's needs, and to allow you to imply anything less is an insult to Her, which I cannot allow."
Nothing quite like challenging the head of a warrior cult in his own "den", to qualify me as a fool but Her honor in this case needed to come before my own. I actually had no fear of him. True warriors deal very comfortably with the truth, both theirs and others and it was clear that I had come to tell my truth.
"Sit down and have some chai." he handed me a cup. "Cardea told me that the quickest way to reach you was to challenge you, so I did that. Took you over a week though to come back and tell me I was full of it, so I will judge you as being slow."
"So you didn't mean what you said?" I looked at him questioningly.
"Actually I did in the literal sense. You chose to serve Athena, and in the role in which you were destined to serve you did extremely well. It didn't matter in her scheme of things how well you did in Erc, just as long as you survived what you might think of as our boot camp and came back to her in one piece. What you never understood was that we would have liked you to stay. To really learn from us. You have the ability. You had the underlying talent, but your fear made you run and it prevented you from understanding all of what we were teaching you."
"It maybe as you say." Again the conversation was veering of in a direction I hadn't anticipated. "So we return once again to my original question. I believe I have unfinished business here that I'm trying to understand and put to rest."
"Besides answering the Question?" He looked at me strangely. "Cardea, told me you were undertaking your journey of Questions and I thought that was why you'd come. You did tell her you wished to get your Key didn't you."
"Yes, I did. But that means I have work to do in Dubh, not here." There's an unspoken question mark attached to the end of my statement. Quite often on journeys I find out lots of things I should have known if I'd simply thought about things a little harder.
"But you know the rules. Dubh can offer to raise you but all 12 lands must approve and you can only get approval by answering the Question in each land and having them accept your answer. After all you have to be a Bean Feasa in order to even be eligible for a key."
I hate being stupid, but it seems to be my lot in life to charge ahead and only start to figure out what the journey will entail after I've set out. Oh well. "So I need to visit all 12 lands and make sure that when they convene their council to ask me the Question that they will believe my answer shows sufficient judgment and maturity, that they will vote yea, when it comes before Cardea and the full court. So I not only need to figure out how to earn my key, I have to clean up any lose ends I've left elsewhere."
He smiled. "Isn't it actually more simple than you think? Before each of the 12 lands you answer the Question "Who are you" and then before the entire council you answer it a 13th time and answer the final Question "Who do you serve?" Of course in the final council meeting the sword of truth is present."
And I decided I wanted to do this why?? I ask myself. Of course now Earraigh's statements made perfect sense. How could I have answered the "who am I question" for the land of Erc if I was unclear as to it's role in my life. Who am I as a warrior of air? What wrongs have I righted? who have I protected? What battles have I fought? All questions I must answer for myself before they are asked of me by others.
"Freya, if you wish to spend time with us, we'll accord you journeyman status. You needn't feel that you'd be starting over from the bottom if that troubles you. Despite what you might have thought there is much you can teach here even while you're learning." Earraigh walked over to me and reached out to take my now cold cup of chai.
"Thank you. I might need to take you up on your offer. 12 questions and then being sure enough to stand for the 13th all while doing something tangible to earn my key." I muttered in a distracted manner as I handed him my cup."
"Have you spoken with Lionnear or Ròs of Nglas? It would surprise me if they won't take your work to date as adequate to earn you your key. I think that answering the Question is more important than chasing the wrong thing."
"You might be right, but with your permission I will take my leave to once again go think about what you've said." I was tempted to ask how he pulled short straw of shepherding me through this process, but there are things about the other world I'm not sure I want to know.