‘This sharing . . . it is called the Joining. Through the Joining we are for a short time able to participate in the mystery that is the Earth Mother.’
Deborah was thoughtful for a moment, trying to imagine what it was Éha was describing to her. She was struck by the fact that Éha had never before spoken so seriously.
Watching Deborah carefully, the little Pixie said, ‘Would you like to . . . share yourself in the Joining . . . with my assistance?’
It was more than just something about the Pixie’s innocent offer that made Deborah ignore Theuli’s warning against doing such a thing. She felt strangely compelled, as though caught up in something which had a life all its own; it was disturbingly similar to the compulsion which had drawn her to the Dance of Life of the Spites.
They got to their feet and stood facing each other. A bit shy, Éha reached out and took Deborah’s hands . . .
They were suddenly tiny again, enveloped in light. Deborah began to experience the expanding sensation she had felt once before as she danced with the Sprites.
Something is going to happen . . .
At once, her entire being seemed to explode into a disembodied ball of light that was warmth and ecstasy, spine-tingling exhilaration and heartbreaking rapture, a paradoxical merging into one and separating into two; she felt as though all the world was within her, and that she was all the world . . .