Jack Vettriano Ritual of Courtship

Jack Vettriano Ritual of CourtshipJack Vettriano Right XJack Vettriano Right Time, Right Place
who are so numerous and so powerful.
And we hope you can do so soon, or we shall all die.
There was a murmur of agreement and approval from the crowd. They were all looking at Mary, and she felt more than ever like the new pupil at a school where they had high expectations of her. She also felt a strange flattery: the idea of herself as swift and darting and birdlike was new and pleasant, because she had always thought of herself as They nodded and murmured and stroked her with their trunks as she stepped down. She was daunted by what she had agreed to do.
At that very moment in the world of Cittagazze, the assassin-priest Father Gomez was making his way up a rough track in the mountains between the twisted trunks of olive trees. The evening dogged and plodding. But along with that came the feeling that they'd got it terribly wrong, if they saw her like that; they didn't understand at all; she couldn't possibly fulfill this desperate hope of theirs.But equally, she must. They were waiting.Sattamax, she said, mulefa, you put your trust in me and I shall do my best. You have been kind and good and beautiful and I will try very hard to help you, and now I have seen sraf, I know what it is that I am doing. Thank you for trusting me.