The Honored and Kindly Mother

"Saia Brännkvinna," the Kindly Mother said. "Are you prepared for your journey?" That's what she asked me. Twelve years in study, training at her side and that of others both here and elsewhere. I was scared. "Everything is packed Mother." She said, "But are you ready?"
 
The Mother, known as Morgant, who I knew as well as my own mother Sabina – or perhaps more – sensing my hidden hesitation said to me then, "Bränni, I know you are nervous about the emotions of others and desires as you leave this place. But I've seen you do wondrous things and I know you have discipline. You have a whole lifetime ahead of you. In one lifetime a woman knows many pleasures: a mother’s smile in waking hours, a young man's intimate, searing touch, and the laughter of grandchildren in the twilight years. To fully deny these in ourselves is to deny that which makes us one with music of life and the universe. We are not statues or cloistered hermits."
 
"Shall we then seek to satisfy these needs? Are we not told to avoid love and entanglements?" I asked.
 
She answered, "Only acknowledge them and satisfaction will follow. To suppress a truth is to give it force beyond endurance. You must be measured. Love, friendship, loyalty. These are all good things. Lust, rivalry, betrayal. These are said to be bad things. But in reality each is of their measure and must be weighed against your search for truth and unravelling the Enigma. Only from experience can you being to understand the songs that bind us. Should you have such a strong love, that you lose yourself? Should you have a desire for revenge that would destroy your allies? Should you be so loyal to others than the Dréama that you betray your oath?"
 
"No," I said to her. "So how will I know if I am ready? What is is that I fear seeing my family again?"
 
She answered, "The world that you will live in is mysterious, exciting, unknown. What you fear is uncertainty and failure. This place is older, familiar, and calm. It has been the center of your world. Remember when you came here, a tiny thing who cried all night. Yet you learned a new world. There are so many worlds to learn. And we are but wanderers in those worlds. You are my best student but yet are humble. Remember that. Do not see yourself as the center of the universe as wise and good and beautiful. Seek rather wisdom, goodness and beauty that you may honor them everywhere and being your journey of enlightenment. Then return and teach us."
 
"I shall do so and obey the Way and the Craft," I answered.
 
"As you shall in all things," she answered...