| "I suggest that you should speak with a priest and get.....cleansed
of the.....business back around when you rescued Jake," Queen Astra quietly
suggested to Susannah.
"Oh....we took care of that business already," Susannah says,
blinking....and understanding just why Queen Astra was broaching
that
subject.
Before, she'd have been put really off by that....... But she knows
that, amongst other things, is that Queen Astra is not only the head of
the secular side of Aqualaria.....but also was the head of
the main religion of Aqualaria......something similar to the Pope of the
Catholic church back on her world....in a way. She didn't know how exactly
she felt about this business of not having church and state separated
(the norm for Terra Prime.....vice what is normal back in Western culture
back back on her Earth)....but that was an aside right now. She was clergy,
and those in clergy are worried about stuff like that....and possible negative
effects of her being.....bait back when she distracted that male demon
in the standing stones when Eddie was bringing Jake through to Mid-world.
To be fair, if it had been a girl demon instead of a guy
demon, then Roland would have been......bate. But it hadn't happened that
way and after she had missed her period....she was a bit......worried,
understandably. She'd been worried about having something like "Rosemary's
baby" (a movie that Eddie had told her about.....brr!). But, unknowingly,
she'd already had that....er.....cornered covered with past dalliances
with Eddie. Oh, nothing bad about that! Right? She and he had already been
husband and wife (if only making it official back when Queen Astra had
wedded them back on Terra Prime with those other folk). Well, she had believed
in God......in some Higher power (if not exactly....for a bit.....being
sure if God was there after all that she'd seen and heard back on Mid-world).....but
it struck her as being a good idea. She had heard bad things whispered
about possible side effects......to her and her future offspring if that
angle was left unchecked. It had surprised the local preacher to no ends....but
after an hour long Confessional with that one.....dragon mage.....Sigin
(didn't he and that other strange group go into that strange spaceship
outside the town limits?)....well, the guy had looked a bit shell shocked
already to not tell Susannah to get the **** out of there.
"I've already read your part in The Wastelands," the preacher
(formerly of the Catholic denomination.....before the Event made the question
of Papal Supremacy moot....and caused the Christian Church to again be
united) said shamefacedly, "I......read it on a plane trip out to Boulder
instead of reading for my next Sermon..... Well, if you hadn't.....that
demon would have killed you all before Jake got through......"
A dozen "Hale Mary" was all the priest proscribed afterwards....and
wonder of wonders Susannah.....did.....feel a bit.....cleaner afterwards.
Considering the world that Terra Prime was.....that probably was more
true than what it could have been, otherwise.
"Good," Astra says, nodding. "I didn't want to......pry or push. I know
that the culture that your from finds such things......"
"Yeah, you could say that, sugar...." Susannah chuckles mirthlessly.
"If anybody said I'd be doing anything close to what I've been doin'
with Roland, Eddie, and Jake even before you all came out o' thin
air on Blaine! Lordy!"
She'd called them mad.....whether she was in her "Odetta" or "Detta"
modes, Jake thinks to himself.
"'Ordy!" Oy says solemly, looking up at the others with his golden eyes.
Meanwhile, the Doctor (the EHM) comes back from the corner after
giving a quick briefing of events her in Nantucket to the Voyager.....and
getting a briefing of what was happening back there.
-
 The Doctor
looked....rather grim......
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