Canticle Blue

7. Sanctuary

Music - Who Lives Up There by W.G. Walden

Geddes joined the two of them. "I heard your translation, Havilan. But what does it mean?"

Havilan's mind was still racing, but the question brought him back into the moment. "If you don't mind, Geddes, I'd like to think about it before giving an answer. I wouldn't want to trivialize it by presenting it as anything less than what it is."

Syl tried to find a way to respond. "Havi, maybe you could give a sermon."

Havilan and Geddes were both staggered by laughter. Once he caught his breath, Havilan said, "Syl, I don't know if I do sermons."

But she wouldn't give up. "You could do a short one, maybe, when we get the floor cleaned up. We could move some of the camp chairs up here. I think Os could make you a lectern with his tripod. You know, something to hide behind."

Everyone within hearing range laughed out loud at this.

He tried to bargain, still hoping for a way out. "Will you promise to pay attention?"

"Oh, for sure I will," Syl insisted, sneaking a peek at Geddes to make sure he wasn't giving her away.

So, against his better judgment and reason, he agreed. "Okay, I'll prepare
something, not a sermon, certainly, but maybe a talk. You'll have to give me a day or two. Os might need some time for that 'lectern' too."

With that much settled, they set about sweeping their way into the room. It was hexagonal in shape and roughly thirty feet between parallel sides. The ceiling was slightly higher than ten feet. The entryways they had found were the only two in the room, and beyond the west entrance there were stairs continuing upward. Within the angle of the north side of the room were multiple, carved-stone water basins at hand and foot levels. Their source of water was continuous, but they were surprisingly quiet. The overflow areas of the basins fed into the same side-channel the team had discovered along the wall near the beach. Above each entryway was a line of shiny hook-like pegs inserted into rock. Havilan speculated that curtains had once hung there. They were made of a material that even Os could not identify.

Havilan surveyed the room and tried to imagine a Per'sa gathering. As it turned out, there was a panel above the east entrance to the room, and it displayed the text he had expected. There were also stacks of dust-covered, woven mats near the entryway at the west end of the room.

Syl joined Havilan near the mats. She saw them first as artifacts. "Geddes and I have been trying to decide whether we should try to clean a few of those," she said. "Not to use, but for study. That would be some meticulous work."

Elyse overheard Syl and crossed the room to speak with her. "Syl, I would love to help with the mats, even if you clean just one. I'd like to look for pollen grains caught in the fabric. We think we have a good idea of which plants were brought to the island in the second century and afterward. But it would be nice to know which ones were thriving on the island when this room was still in use. Some of them might be gone by now. The Institute gave me some great books for classification."

"We'll work with you on that then," Syl responded. Then she snuck a mischievous look at Elyse and turned to Havilan. "So Havi, this room hasn't heard a good sermon in hundreds of years."

"And it might have to wait much longer," he laughed.

"Was there any special way they would have to sit at meetings like that?"

"I think it was probably correct for them to sit with great curiosity and attentiveness," he teased.

"We can do that," Syl chirped.