For several days, the sisters continued in this way: travelling the city, together and apart, sharing services with Ayami and her daughter, engaging in various contests at the Dome to earn money. Then the great day came. The day they had longed for.

Ayami came with the Daughters and her own child to the neighbourhood they called home. Still run-down, still poor, but becoming less decorated. The girls did not like gang signs. Inside the basement apartment, Ayami looked about, noting the cupboards without doors in the kitchen area, the small bathroom, the Blessed Children's bedding, and most importantly, the altar, with small incense burners to either side.

As Adi prepared for the ceremony, a knock came at the door. She continued with the preparations, and Aki went to answer the door. A soft gasp, and she turned to see a familiar figure. "Mother!"

Ami recovered first, and ran to her, taking her hand. "Please, come in!"

At the invitation, she entered, and the gigantic Rika, and another of the Daughters. Then their gaze fell upon Ayami, and the High Priestess charged at her as she drew her knife. Then she found herself jerked to a halt by a chain around her middle, and spun to face, "Ashi! How dare you interfere with Temple justice!"

Ashi's expression did not waver. "Death is the penalty for the apostate. But Ayami is not apostate! I know, for we have shared services with her! Her faith is weak, she admits as much, but she has not turned away from our Lord Father!"

"Please," Adi added. "We were about to consecrate this apartment as a temple, don't stain it with the blood of the guiltless."

"I have a lot of questions," Ashi said, "but they can wait. Please, Mother, we ask you to spare her. At least for now."

She struggled against the chain that encircled her, but the determination she herself had fostered was clear. "Very well," she agreed. "I will delay in carrying out the sentence." And the chain slackened. She stepped clear, and Adi stepped up to her.

"Please, Mother. I was about to consecrate this place as a temple, but…" and she held out a bowl, filled with incense. "These were the best we could do, without the Book of Aku to consult. Will it do?"

The High Priestess sniffed at the bowl. "It smells right. I will consult Anzu 12," and she produced from behind herself the Book of Aku. The others gaped, except for the child who just looked confused as the High Priestess flipped through the book, and sniffed the mixture once more. "Yes. There are some missing ingredients, but Anzu's list is very detailed, listing required and preferred and optional ingredients, and you've included all the needed and most of the preferred. An excellent job." She then went to inspect the altar and idol. "Yes… fine craftsmanship. Which of you found it?"

Aji bowed slightly. "I found it, and bought it with the earnings from our first night's fight. I thought it was worthy, and Adi agreed, but it's very good to know we were right."

The High Priestess turned to face her directly. "I am very pleased by your devotion. An excellent idol, a fine stand for its altar, suitable incense mix for its bowl, candles beside it. You have done very well indeed." She looked around the space, and gave a long look at the bedding. "You have broken Temple discipline."

Ashi had the sense to look abashed. "Yes, Mother. A little; living in the greater world has forced some small compromises upon us. Our bedding, the use of the cold box, foods unknown in the Temple but common here, the use of… Ayami, what are those called?" and she gestured to the lamps.

"Light bulbs, Ashi," she said, then after receiving Ashi's thanks turned to the High Priestess. "Candles and torches are very costly in the city, and very impractical."

Even though her mask, the glare was palpable, and Ayami felt silent. "Given your circumstances, I will accept these, so long as you do not further violate Temple discipline."

"We'll do our best," Ashi agreed, and the ceremony began. Akane turned out the lights, and the High Priestess lit a candle from the altar with her fire striker, then lit the second candle from the first, then the incense in the idol's offering bowl with the fire striker. Slowly, she and the others walked the apartment, six paces by sixteen, maintaining a steady, wordless, droning chant, a chant of three notes to make a minor chord, the deepest, in the mezzo-soprano range, from the High Priestess, Ayano, Ayami and Rika, then the sisters with the mid-range soprano note, and Akane in coloratura. When they had smudged the entire apartment, the High Priestess set the bowl back into the idol's lap.

The twelve knelt, and as the others repeatedly prostrated themselves, continuing their chant, the High Priestess spoke, hands raised. "O Lord Father, Master of Masters, Deliverer of Darkness, we beseech You most humbly to bless this sacred space to Your worship, to fill it with Your favour, and look kindly upon those who come here to revere You." She rose, stepped up to the altar, and removed her mask. She produced her knife, and pricked her chin, letting the blood drip onto the incense. "In token of our sincerity. I offer my blood to Your image, O Greatest of All, and to further sanctify the altar, I place within it this chalice, which still holds a bit of Your sacred essence," with which statement she opened the door in the front of the stand, set the bronze vessel within, and closed it. And she again donned her mask, then stepped backwards two long paces, and joined the chant. At length, she rose, and pronounced the ceremony done.

The others rose at her word, and she turned to face Ayami. "Apostate, you are still under sentence of death. But I will be merciful, and sentence you to the death of sleep. Further, I pledge that we will do all in our power to raise your daughter well, as a devout follower of Aku." She looked about herself. "Can any show just cause to dispute this ruling?"

"I can," Adi said. "I will prove that Ayami, though she turned from the Temple, did not turn from Lord Aku. If you will come with us, we can show you this proof."

"Very well," she said in her cold tone. "I will allow this."

.oO()Oo.

Soon enough, they were at Ayami's apartment. "Here is the first proof," Adi said, and opened the door to the shrine. Her mother looked it over, and nodded slowly. "We ourselves shared services with her. She willingly took an oath upon the idol, in which she swore that neither she nor her daughter meant us harm, and we gave her the same pledge. If you still doubt, think how Akane conducted herself during the consecration. Does she not know the forms and the chants? Does she not have acceptable prayer clothes? Would Ayami have taught her these things if she had turned from Aku?"

The High Priestess considered. "Ayami, you must swear upon the idol to speak only truth upon this matter. I will pledge to hear you fairly." And they did, after which the High Priestess' questioning of both her and her daughter began in earnest. At long last, she pronounced herself satisfied. "You are not apostate, and you have said that you are not a kidnapper. I forgive your weakness in fleeing the Temple. But your misguided attempt to comfort the Blessed Daughters must still be answered for. You may chose your punishment: My staff, or Rika's fists."

Ayami swallowed hard; both choices were bad, of course, but which was worse? "Let us take this to my room. This is not a thing to be done in a shrine." The High Priestess agreed, and in her room, Ayami drew the drapes, switched on a light, closed the door, and stripped. She knelt, back to her superior, and did her best to suffer the beating in silence. The High Priestess was feeling merciful, it seemed; she didn't even count two dozen blows before the order came to dress. She donned a heavy brown skirt and a thick, deep green blouse, then followed the High Priestess to the main room, where Akane had shown her well-trained manners in making and serving tea. The table was crowded with the enormous Rika taking up two full spaces, but Akane and the sisters were able to crowd up enough that they all fit; Akane had at some point changed from prayer clothes to a pair of faded blue pants and a deep red shirt with long sleeves.

"We have some questions, Mother," Ashi said once the late arrivals took places and cups. "How did you survive the blast that destroyed the temple? And which of the Daughters is this?"

The High Priestess held her tea but made no move to drink it. "I survived by Aku's power within me; Rika survived because of her being a heavy-worlder. Ayano received a miracle of Aku himself, but we are the only ones. Ours has never been a large order, but this is the smallest we have ever been since before the Temple was first founded."

"And now we are needed most, with the Last Battle approaching," Ayami added. The three masked faces snapped toward her, and she explained herself.

"Then it is well," said Ayano, "that we drank from the chalice, is it not?" And at Ashi's questioning look, her mother told the tale.

.oO()Oo.

Several days before.

The High Priestess groaned slightly in pain, pinned beneath a large rock as its weight pressed the life from her. She couldn't breathe, her ribs creaked, yet she managed to grip the floor with the darkness that sheathed her, pulling, pulling, the rock turning as she moved, until at last she was free enough to squirm away and stand. No light shone, no torch, not even an ember in the fire bowl before the idol. Working by sound and memory, she made her way to the gong, only to find it fallen. She listened, and faintly heard harsh, heavy breathing, a sound she followed, finding a sister's form beneath a great slab, by some wonder fallen in a such a way as to trap but not to kill. She put her hands beneath the upper end, and with all her might, heaved, a feat beyond any normal woman. Yet her need and her Lord's power in her gave her strength enough, and she could hear the other slide free before she let the slab drop once more. After the crash, they both heard a deep cry for aid, and as quickly as they could, make their way to the site.

A little fumbling and feeling found the problem: an entire nest of boulders and rocks, rocks they shifted one by one until a tiny landslide cascaded down as the victim rose. They listened very carefully, but heard nothing more, and all three knelt, praying to their Lord Father to receive the spirits of the fallen into His realm. Then they found an unfallen torchiere, and the High Priestess drew out her fire-starter to light it. As she'd believed, the great figure was Rika, her brutish enforcer, alive because of her heavy-world strength. And the other, she suspected. "Ayano?"

"Yes, High Priestess," her assistant said. "How did you survive the collapse?"

"By Aku's power," she answered. "And you, by His grace. Quickly now, we must find any others. Rika, carry the light," and the huge woman did as told. Guided by the High Priestess' sharp senses, they searched the Temple, finding only ruin and death. Somehow, the chalice was still upright, the Book of Aku had survived the blast with only singes, and the High Priestess vanished them, then they made their way to the kitchen, gathering as much as they could, including three cups, then the remains of the armoury, then the main entrance. Ayano only watched, while Rika cracked rocks with a great hammer, and the High Priestess hauled them clear. Against the heavy-worlder and their god's favoured servant, her strength was barely a child's, so she did the only thing she could: fetched a water barrel, then filled it bucket by bucket. She had no idea how long the excavation took, but when it was done, there was just enough room for Rika to struggle out into the starlit night.

The other two followed, and saw the ruin of the bridge. "No matter," said the Priestess. "We can climb down and up. It is is not so far." And so they did. "Now, to the ruined temple," and Ayano bristled slightly, "Know you a better shelter?" She shook her head, and they made their way to the abandoned structure, pausing at sunrise for the prescribed prayers.

In the kitchen her daughters had found, the High Priestess noticed faint marks at the pump's pivot, showing recent use, and Ayano pointed out the recent ash and the store of wood by the hearth in the dining hall. The three felt no real need for a fire just yet, and settled in for some much needed sleep on the tables near the hearth.

Just under three hours later, they woke, and they prayed, then slept and woke and prayed again, as the sun was rising. Then a simple breakfast of water and fruit leather and dried meat, and they went out to explore the angkor and its surroundings. When they came together again, the High Priestess spoke first.

"I found spoor, in a pattern suggesting the person was suffering from severe digestive upset. It was not animal, I am sure of that. Did you two find such signs?" They both nodded. "I found three such sites, and you?" She nodded to their answers. "Seven. My daughters were here, and learned they do not know enough to survive in the greater world without aid. But where would they go?"

Ayano felt her skin grow cold. "Perhaps… forgive me, High Priestess, if my thought offends you."

In her controlled, icy manner, the High Priestess answered. "Say on. If you say a needful thing, I will not punish you."

Ayano nodded to that. "They know of the apostate, and that she fled to the south. They might seek her out; we taught them to do whatever was needed to further their mission, and if they need to learn, they'd seek the only person they would know of who could help."

RIka produced an affirmative-sounding grunt.

The High Priestess gripped her staff tightly, then forced herself to loosen her grip. "That is… likely. At the least, they would think that south is a way to other people. Better to follow even a vague direction than none. Very well, we will follow the road south to the city; the girls will not be hard to find. We will start tomorrow night and follow the traveling prayer schedule."

They took another meal, sitting on the floor as they were accustomed, and as they sat, the High Priestess looked to her tiny congregation. She drew out the sacred chalice, and set it down. "You remember when Aku came to us, and what came after." They nodded to that. "There is not enough of His essence for that to happen again, but there is enough for each of you to take one long swallow and still leave enough for worship. I will guide you through the mastery of this gift." And the two did as told.

The rest of the day, they lay upon the tables, shivering and sweating, seeking to embrace and thereby control the power that beat and surged within them, and by the time of sunset service, were able to stand once more.

.oO()Oo.

"Aku's power now flows within us," Rika said, and the girl stared at the deep, smooth voice. "Yes, Blessed Daughters. I can talk, for His power has rekindled the fire of my mind. I am not brilliant, but I am no longer the near beast you knew." Ayami and the sisters smiled at that.

"On a practical level," Ayami said, "you'll need to find some sort of work. You can't live in the city without funds, and you need training in many skills; remember Asumi 24." The High Priestess nodded to that. "I know you're all mighty fighters, though not on the level of the Blessèd Daughters, but there's only so much work for fighting women. So you might want to look into other options. I'll need to consider the possibilities, speak with my agent. I'll have a few possibilities for you in probably three to four days, and I'll come to the Temple for sunset prayers."

"And me!" Akane said firmly.

Her mother smiled to her. "Yes, Akane, and you." To the High Priestess, she explained. "We follow the reduced schedule: Sunset, midnight and sunrise. The full schedule is unworkable outside of Temple life." After a bit more inconsequential talk, the ten rose, and made their way, somewhat awkwardly in Rika's case, back to their new Temple.