He smiled slightly at being called 'Brother'. He'd not been addressed that way for centuries. Not since His last interaction with Salynn, the one god who could truly claim such kinship with Him, being the first creations written into being by the Creator, Kelynn, at the Beginning. But where He watched over the affairs of the land, His free-spirted brother watched over the affairs of the sea. As the Navigator and the Bringer of Winds, sailors, fisherman, and shipwrights looked to Him, not farmers and city dwellers, and Their paths seldom crossed.

In the here and now, the young male-mother pulled out the stopper and downed the potion. Bitter as parting and with the burning sting of loss. Its blessing was not a pleasant one. But in taking and bearing it all in good faith, his mission- and the rite- was complete.

His smile became more genuine. "Your payers have already been heard," He said. "You have offered yourself, body and soul, to the One and to the temple with sincerity and conviction, and that offering has been accepted. You may lay down your great burden and stand up, for though the life you knew has ended, by the blessing of the 'lam, your new life in service to the One has begun."