#holiday square

 Hannah followed the path along the hills towards the big stone barn. After she woke every morning, it was her job to milk the cows before setting them out to the pasture.

But this morning was special. She could feel it in the air. This chilly Imbolc morning as she passed the bare birch trees that marked her path, she looked for the important signs- and they were there. The delicate white snowdrop flowers that protruded from the thin layer of snow at the base of the trees signified that winter was finally losing its grip on her world. 

Hannah couldn’t help but feel the energy around her. It was as if something new, fresh, and exciting was about to happen. And as she thought ahead to the barn, she knew full well it would. Before she continued on to the barn, she had to stop and pick a few of the snowdrops. They foretold the future, both near and distant. 

This festival was about feminine energy and she knew the festival to come would be centered on her as the milk farmer’s daughter. And this festival she would be presenting them with her own maiden.

As she entered the barn, she gazed around at the cattle and the sheep. They lay nestled in their stalls. Many of them were plump with unborn lambs and calves, others nursed newly born calves, their udders heavy with the first milk of the season. As Hannah wandered to the third stall, she opened it and smiled.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” came a soft feminine voice as Hannah spotted the young woman sitting in the hay beside a pregnant ewe. The animal took little notice of the two as Hannah came in and settled down beside the woman. 

“Castiel,” she said with a smile. The other woman was Hannah’s best-kept secret. A mystical wanderer who had happened upon the barn a few weeks ago, waited for Hannah every morning. Castiel represented mystery. She had wandered all over Britain, alone, seeking the druidic mysteries of nature.

But on this Imbolc dawn, the day for feminity and sweet delicate love, she had declared her dedication to Hannah. 

“I’m going to present you to them all at the festival,” Hannah told her wayward lover as she reached forward and brushed a hand threw her hair only to have Castiel pull her in for a deep kiss.