Free Call of the Goddess: A Bona Dea Novel (Stormflies Book 1) by Elizabeth N. Love

lessons in certain aspects associated with her service. Moonsday she took part in visiting with citizens about the city, strolling the avenues with young Carmen Offut and introducing herself to the individuals who performed their services for the Palace community, including tailors, farmers and the mechanics who maintained the cars.
    On Tinsday, she took part in the Council session, observing how each member contributed proposals to distribute surplus foods from their respective regions and discussed the most logistical and equitable options. The fishers in the southeastern areas of Westland were graced with a bountiful harvest of greenfin this season due to a bloom of the algae the species fed upon. Much of the fish could be shipped cold and served fresh. The rest would be dried for storage.
    The third day she toured the hidden areas of the Palace that she would not normally see–the Archives, the Laundry, the Recycling and the Holds in the basement where emergency food and general supplies were stored. She toured the tunnels and the bunkers where she might be housed in a weather emergency, a place stocked with rations and water, cots and even games to keep the occupants entertained until the threat passed.
    As her main function, the Protectress provided a visible, physical link between the rule makers to the rule followers. She represented the community as a whole, a single soul with the responsibility of hearing and seeing the needs of everyone in order to maintain their world as a safe and peaceful home. She was a balancing force between the Covenants and the people required to interpret the ever-changing world.
    Publicly, this appeared to be a symbolic duty. Even with telepathy, a person did not have the capability to know all the needs of the people everywhere in the world. Even a powerful and adept telepath possessed a limited range. Admittedly, Axandra was the strongest remoter she knew, even if she kept her abilities reigned in. With the Goddess, hearing and seeing farther became possible, for it amplified her own mental talents. The Goddess filled her head with the voices of the people, even those hundreds of kiloms away. She could literally hear the concerns of the people in her mind. She could see what they saw. At night, when all was quiet and she lay still, her head flooded with the lives of strangers. However, the Goddess's involvement was kept secret.
    Axandra understood why the Prophets trained so vigorously in blocking. Even that training, much forgotten over time, did not help her now. Sometimes, blocking anything seemed an insurmountable obstacle. The Goddess held her mind open, allowing everything to flow in. She begged at night for it to give her rest.
    Tonight, the voices cried with distress, people in a small village somewhere south. They felt very afraid, but she could not pinpoint why. Their voices sounded like whispers where one could only hear the hisses of breath. In her dreams, blurs of darkened faces clashed with the sound of someone running, panting with strained lungs.
    In the morning, Miri woke her early. The suns barely kissed the sky with dusty pink light. “Miss, a messenger came with terrible news. Councilor Morton needs you downstairs.”
    Groggy from the restless night, Axandra pushed against the mattress to rise slowly, pulling her legs from beneath the light covers. She knew immediately that this news concurred with her dreams. She dressed quickly in whatever clothes the assistant pulled out for her, ignoring her hair and face to get downstairs in a hurry.
    Residents of the village of Cutoff found a man dead in his home, violently killed. At first the Safety Volunteers suspected an animal attack, but the home was shut tightly with no way for an animal to enter or escape. The neighbors heard no cries for help, and no predatory animals were sighted near the village that evening. The Night Watcher discovered the body after noticing late in the evening that the lights in the house were