Free Moyra Caldecott by Etheldreda Page A

glimmer of sunlight that almost hurt her eyes.
    She shivered.
    By the position of the sun she knew that a great deal of time had passed since she shut her eyes. Yet it felt as though it had been no longer than a moment. She knew that she would never see her mother and Bishop Felix again as they had been, clothed in their curious sheaths of flesh, but it did not matter. She would be with them as they really were, and because she too would have sloughed her skin by then, it would seem natural.
    ‘How stupid,’ she thought, ‘to think that things can never be anything but as they are at the moment.’

    Etheldreda took Heregyth and their two charges, Prince Aldwulf and Princess Withberga, to Kent to Easter with her sister. There she found a gloomy hush about the court, all the bright wall hangings of the great hall folded up and put away, and nothing but plain water served with the meals.
    It was the children who explained it to the visitors.
    ‘My father says for forty days before Easter we must fast and pray as our Lord did before he was crucified,’ Princess Eorcongata said solemnly. ‘Otherwise we will not be able to share in the resurrection.’
    Etheldreda raised an eyebrow. They too kept the Lenten fast at home, but the whole court did not take on this air of dark desolation.
    She looked at Eormengild, Saxberga’s eldest daughter, and saw that she had a bored, petulant look. It was clear the Lenten fast was an imposition on her from outside and was doing her no good at all. If anything it was driving her further from participation in the resurrection. The boy Egbert seemed indifferent to it and went his own way, pretending compliance when anyone was looking, breaking the rules when he was alone. Eorcongata seemed to be the only one in tune with her father’s thinking.
    ‘You see, it is very important,’ she explained to Etheldreda, ‘we have to empty ourselves of everything that is of the physical world in order to make way for the spiritual message God gives us at the crucifixion. If we look at it with the eyes of our body we do not understand it at all. We have to look at it with the eyes of the spirit, and then it all makes sense and is very beautiful.’
    Etheldreda smiled. The girl was right. How wonderful to find such sensitivity in one so young. But – and here her face darkened as she looked at Eormengild – but the emptying must be from choice, not from imposition. What harm was Eorconbert doing to his eldest daughter? What harm to others of his people? She determined to speak to Saxberga about it, meanwhile suggesting that Egbert and Eormengild should accompany Heregyth and the younger children to the woods.
    Eormengild’s eyes instantly lit up, and then darkened again.
    ‘That would be enjoyment. We are not allowed to enjoy ourselves in Lent.’
    ‘Nonsense!’ said Etheldreda sharply. ‘There is no quicker way to God’s heart than to enjoy His works with love in your heart. The forest is full of His Presence. Go and be with Him.’
    The children looked so uncertain and uneasy about what she had said, that she laughed. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll speak to your father about it. I’m sure he will understand. Sometimes I find I am closer to God by enjoying a new leaf with the sunlight shining through it, than I ever am in my chamber on my knees.’
    They needed no more encouragement.
    They were away, Eorcongata as eagerly as the others.

    At Easter, on the day of resurrection, the release from the harsh discipline of the forty previous days was wonderful to see. Flowers and garlands of leaves were brought from everywhere to decorate the little stone church, the preaching cross on the green and all the houses. Children wore flowers in their hair and even Eorconbert wore his grandest, most colourful clothes.
    After the singing of the praise and prayers at home Heregyth suggested that they ride into the country and see how the country folk celebrated. She had been finding the Kentish court oppressive