Religion Writing Prompt

This is my first attempt at writing any sort of fiction whatsoever, so bear with me :-)

I still don’t understand the point of all this, Darla thought as she ascended the long marble staircase of the Palace-Temple of Goddesses.  She would be a deity to her new countrymen, if only for a little while.  She would be fed constantly, her every whim obeyed, and oil rubbed on her ever-expanding skin.  I shouldn’t want to be worshipped!  It’s not proper for a woman from my homeland!

When Darla’s husband explained her adopted cultures views on pregnancy and child birth, she was shocked, as well as secretly thrilled.  While normal respect and courtesy was paid to women with child in her homeland, she thought this was extremely excessive and the idea of being deified, if only temporarily, set Darla’s own religious convictions aside. 

“Welcome Lady Darla.  To begin, we must cleanse your holy body in preparation for its connection to the afterlife,” the priestess said as she led Darla into a room near the entrance to the palace.  “You are extremely lucky; to touch the Holy Plane is a great privilege.”  In nine months I will return to Husband, but in the meantime I should make sure I enjoy this treatment, Darla thought as she let the priestess undress her.

As the priestess thoroughly scrubbed her body, Darla tried to remember everything she could about the pagan religion of the warrior society she had married into.  Darla remembered that her new people believe that when a noblewoman becomes pregnant with a son, she is reincarnating the spirit of a great warrior killed in battle, and for the entire time she is with child, she is in contact with the Holy Plane. 

How they manage to determine if a woman is having a daughter or a son with such accuracy is beyond my understanding, Darla thought.  The old man who came and rubbed my belly with that stinking herb was able to tell immediately the gender and health of Darla’s child and told her to go to the palace-temple the very next day.  I guess that’s good, Darla thought happily, it just wouldn’t do for the spirit of a great warrior to be born into a deformed or sickly body.

Darla could recall not understanding what was happening when she first arrived in town to see the people adorning a beautiful woman on a litter with flowers and perfumes and rubbing her distended stomach, but realized that would soon be her fate.

When the priestess decided Darla was clean, she was dressed in a simple white robe and led into a room filled with the hard bodies of young slave men who prepared to feed her and rub her body down with oils.  “Your Holiness, we are ready to do your bidding.”  This is the life, Darla thought as she smiled and walked towards them.