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a soothing comfort to the unborn children. The women connected, so that they could feel each other, close in their minds, and they also felt Raven and Savannah, and through them, the children.

Savannah's two daughters were nestled close, listening intently and trying to ignore the spasms that occasionally clamped down on them. Raven's child was a boy. Her body was desperately trying to abort, laboring hard to rid itself of the intruder. The boy was in great distress, torn between fighting to stay with his mother, and gaining peace by leaving. Raven crooned softly to him, rocking gently, her empty arms folded over him as if she was cradling him.

Syndil signaled to Skyler to take her position at the corner of the immense bed of soil prepared for the two pregnant women. Natalya and Lara took the lower corners. A hush fell over the cave until the only

sound heard was Raven's labored breathing.

Syndil's arms rose into the air and the other three women followed suit. Her feet began a pattern of dancing, her body swaying gracefully as her hands flowed in elegant lines. Skyler waited several heartbeats, humming the melody in perfect tune with Syndil until her feet took up the rhythm and she started the first line of the chant two lines behind Syndil. Lara took her cue from Skyler, waiting instinctively until her feet and hands, of their own volition, began to move. She felt the song of healing rising from inside to burst out. The air shimmered with power. And then Natalya joined them.

Their voices rose in song and they danced an intricate pattern to the sound of their bare feet patting the dirt as if drawing music from the very center of the earth. Lara felt the song, felt the dance, through the soles of her feet. She knew each step before she took it, each graceful movement of her hand and sway of her body before she made it. The song was loud in her mind, in perfect harmony with the other three dancers, perfectly tuned to the notes of the earth itself.

Oh, Mother Nature, we are your beloved daughters. We dance to heal the earth. We sing to heal the earth. We join with you now. Our hearts and minds and spirits become one.

As she sang the song, this time it was right, the women merging into one unit with the earth, in accord with the sky above them and the hot core beneath them.

Oh, Mother Nature, we are your beloved daughters. We pay homage to our mother and call upon the North... Syndil bowed low and swept into a circle.South , Skyler repeated the move in perfect synchronization with Syndil.East . Lara dipped low, a sign of respect, spinning with the other two women as Natalya went next.West . All four women completed the fourth bow and turned at the exact same moment.Above and below and within as well .

Power burst through the chamber, alive now, visible threads linking all of the women in the room, drawing on their energy.

Our love of the land heals that which is in need. We join with you now, earth to earth. The cycle of life is complete.

The soil warmed beneath their feet. Raven and Savannah gasped as the wave of heat washed over them. The color of the soil darkened even more into a rich, fertile black, sparkling with minerals.

Lara felt the joy of the earth through the soles of her bare feet, moving up through her legs to infuse her body with strength and happiness. As part of a cosmic whole she was one with the women, one with the universe and had a complete feeling of confidence and accord. For that one moment in time, she had no fears, no vulnerabilities, part of a greater whole. She was flooded with almost a euphoric feeling of well-being, transcended by the energy and peace surrounding her.

The dancers stopped swaying and the women buried their hands in the richness of the fertile soil, far more valuable to them then the richest gold mine. They all should have been drained and weary, but the soil infused them with energy.

Syndil's face reflected the joy Lara was feeling, her eyes shining with wonder.

"This is what our soil should be for our women," Syndil said. "And with four of us, we can do so much now."

"I feel a difference already," Savannah said, relieved. "My cramps are far less."

Raven bit her lip and shook her head. "It isn't helping me. The contractions