Chapter 4: Purification

We all filed into the kitchen where a large table sat already prepared for us. Sister Anya and four acolytes had just finished setting it out. I was a little confused; I didn't remember any of them come in, and then I noticed a second door into the kitchen.

Sister Anya stood at the head of the table and welcomed us all to lunch as the acolytes filed out the other door. We found seats and said our afternoon prayer together. When the prayer was over, Sister Anya stood and said; "The Mother calls you to feast Alison, that you may know the riches of her bounty. Eat hearty and take nourishment for the path which has been laid before you. This shall be your last meal as a child, for after this meal begins the ritual of purification. You shall be taken from here, bathed and dressed in the gown of purity. Then you shall spend an hour of solitary meditation and prayer before you rejoin your aunts. From that time until you are summoned, no drink that is not pure as water may pass your lips. Likewise no food may pass your lips that is not the Mothers fruit."

Lunch was absolutely amazing. I had never been so stuffed in my life. Every time I thought that I couldn't eat any more, another serving of something irresistible would be placed in front of me. We talked animatedly about everything under the sun and then some. Every time someone would bring up sex, I would immediately get embarrassed and blush.

Finally, when we all agreed that we were done; I was led back out into the sitting room and through another door. We entered a long candle lit hallway, which led to a large, circular and dome shaped, candlelit chamber. The room was warm from steam, rising from a huge, stone, sunken bathtub in the center of the room.

There were stairs going down into the circular tub and it looked like it could fit ten or twelve people. I noticed a curious stone bench on the other side and towels and other bathing implements arrayed around the edge. The acolytes had apparently been busy while we were eating, because the tub appeared to have just been filled and they were waiting for us when we arrived.

Sister Anya stopped in front of us and turned. "So begins the ritual of purification Alison. You will be bathed now so that the sins of youth may be washed away, and your body made ready for womanhood."

With that, my aunts turned and walked back up the hall, leaving me with Sister Anya and the acolytes, one of which came around behind me and began unlacing my dress.

"Please take off your shoes dear." Sister Anya told me.

A chill ran up my spine as I stepped out of my shoes and onto the cold flagstone floor. The dress came off almost faster than I could kick off my shoes. I was shocked. I was standing in my underwear in front of five other people. I had never been less than fully dressed in front of anybody but my mother in my entire life. The steam quickly soaked my bra and panties, leaving them clinging to me uncomfortably. When the acolytes removed them from me, I found myself horribly self-conscious about my body. I felt every little flaw magnified because there were other people there to see them.

Sister Anya walked around me slowly, with an appraising look on her face and I withered beneath her stare. I tried to cover myself with my hands but she shook her head slightly and said; "There's no need for that anymore Alison. You must set innocence aside."

She stopped in front of me again and smiled and said, "Your husband is going to be a very lucky man. You have a beautiful mind, a beautiful face and a body that probably isn't going to see a whole lot of sleep for many years to come. You're never going to be able to keep him off of you." I blushed head to toe while she continued, "And by the look of you, you aren't even at the top of your game yet. You still have a little blooming to do. Do not be embarrassed by your body; you won't be able to hide it from your husband, and you won't be able to hide it tonight... or now. So relax, and let us wash you."

The acolytes, who had undressed during Sister Anyas' "inspection", took me by the wrists and led me down the steps into the bath. When my feet sank into the water, I silently thanked the Mother, because it was blessedly hot. As the water slid up my thighs, I let out a sigh of contentment. If I could have use of this tub every night, I would happily join the priestesshood.

They held me still as Sister Anya finished undressing and joined us. As she waded toward me she quoted from the holy writs, "And the Mother sent her womanservants unto her daughter and gave them license over her that she may be bathed and her body prepared. For the Mother had summoned her manservant and given license unto him to go unto the daughter that night and to come into her and open her body that she may become woman."

As she spoke, the acolytes had me kneel down so that the water came up just over my breasts. The hot water made my nipples sting a little and I whimpered slightly in response. When Sister Anya finished her recitation, she waded around behind me and gently took hold of the back of my head.

"In the name of the Mother, we cleanse this girl of the sins of youth that she may be made ready to take her place within the greater world of the Mothers love."

Two of the acolytes slowly leaned me backward until all but my face was underwater. I was nervous that they might accidentally drop me and I kept tensing up. Sister Anya leaned down and kissed my forehead. "Don't be afraid Alison." She said. "Just relax and let us do our work."

They stood me back up and I saw that my skin was bright red. I giggled a little as I looked at myself and said, "Lobster anyone?" They laughed and began soaping me.

For the next twenty minutes or so I was washed more thoroughly than I had believed possible. I thought that I was prepared for the embarrassment of other people washing me and touching my breasts, but to my utter horror, they washed everywhere and everything. By the time they finished washing, I was redder from blushing than from the hot water. I must have looked like a rose.

Just when I thought we were finished, they led me over to the small bench I'd noticed earlier. It was leaned back a ways and shaped very much like a body, but with no support on the bottom. As we approached it I noticed that there were two leg-rests just an inch or two above the water. They went out at really wide angles to the side, sort of like a saddle for a very fat horse; a saddle with no center. I was confused and frightened by the implications.

Two of the acolytes helped lift me into it as the other two climbed out of the tub and held my arms out to my sides. I was mortified. It was the most embarrassing and uncomfortable situation I had ever been in. My legs were spread so wide that my thighs hurt (and I'm a gymnast, so that's saying something), totally exposing my girlhood to them. I whimpered a little in embarrassment and fear as I closed my eyes and chewed my lip.

I trembled slightly as I felt the hands of the two acolytes in the tub soaping up my legs again. When they were done there was a brief pause and then I felt something gently scrape down my thighs and I realized that they were shaving my legs. I tried desperately to stop trembling for fear that they might cut me but I only succeeded in making myself tremble even harder.

As they got down to my calves, I opened my eyes long enough to see Sister Anya step up close between my legs with a small pair of scissors and I closed my eyes again in fear. I felt her run her fingers through my pubic hair and then the slight tug and snip of the scissors as she began to trim me, down there.