"Nasty," the Amazon Queen said.
"We'll elaborate to you later, who all the culprits were," Aset said, "but we were able to save your oracle."
"Pearl!" Damali said, hugging herself. "I was really wor ried and was trying not to even go there... but I figured Zehiradangra might be strong-willed enough. But, still, I didn't know."
Aset guided Damali by the shoulders to a small opalescent bowl filled with azure liquid. She could see some type of crystals, or perhaps undissolved salt at the bottom holding the
pearl in place.
"Hi, Damali," the pearl murmured quietly.
"Zehiradangra," Damali said in a gentle tone, going to the bowl and leaning close to coo to the traumatized oracle. "Oh, honey ... I am so sorry. I wouldn't have dunked you in the sea, had I known."
"I know, Damali. Your heart is always pure... unlike that, that... oh ..."
"Shsssh, don't talk. Rest," Damali said. "When you're ready to come home, I'll come get you. But you're safest here, with the Queens. Okay?"
"All right," the pearl murmured. "I'm just sooo tired."
"Sleep, honey. Just rest."
Damali stepped back, raking her locks as Nefertiti cov ered the pearl with a panel of white Egyptian cotton.
"What did they do to her?" Damali asked through her teeth as the Queens drew away from the pearl and back to the table.
"They were trying to make your husband impotent and your lust for him to cause strife, and hit you with jealousy against your team sisters, and - "
"What!" Damali put her hands on her hips. "First of all, that bitch is crazy if she thinks there's anything she could do to make Carlos - "
"We know. It was outrageous, but could have worked if you both hadn't learned your lesson with Cain and hadn't strengthened your bond. That's what she was banking on, for there to be some residual unforgiveness - it would have slith ered into your systems that way. The only reason it adhered at all was because Carlos felt guilt for something he didn't do - breaking the first seal." Eve looked at the other Queens. "That's how they get in. They find a weakness in your spirit or psyche and exploit it."
"It was so toxic," Lady Fu Hao said, "that if it had some how gotten into the rest of your team, there would have been a full-scale team meltdown. A mutiny. Old jealousies, bitter
ness, hurts unspoken of but not forgiven ... coveting those things one did not have. It would have been horrible and could have done years of irreparable damage to friendships, marriages, psyches, and spirits. It would have started with you two, then trickled down."
"How do I make sure none of this got into anyone else?" Damali said, her eyes frantic.
"My team is just healing from all sorts of personal drama; it's like an arm just out of a cast or a wound still tender after they took out the stitches."
"You couldn't heal it unless you recognized it," Aset said. "But now you know."
"So the moment you see any dissension, don't let it fester. Stamp it out," Eve warned.
"Bring it into the Light, get it up and out of that person and bring the parties together to heal."
Damali closed her eyes. "Last night... it was simply ridiculous. We couldn't even think. If the team were to lose it like that - "
"They can't be allowed to. It would stop all rational thought," Nzinga said flatly. "Then when the first part of the evil spell wore off, the next wave of it would come - Medusa's serpentine jealousy."
"Then Machiavelli's duplicity - backstabbing, talking about others on the team behind their backs, forming secret alliances," Chalchihuitlcue said in a low, concerned murmur.
"They raised Machiavelli for this?" Damali began pacing.
"Yes," Nefertiti said. "Added Jezebel's ... er, essence, to make you lust and - "
"Oh ... just... stop it!" Damali hollered, looking at her hands. "EeiiiLLL ... that skank!" She whirled around, napping her wrists. "I need to wash my hands - essence! As in essence!"
"You shouldn't have told her that part," Nzinga muttered. "Too much information."