“Be silent this instant!”[iv] Afua commanded both the woman and the evil spirit. Both immediately shut up. Then to the evil spirit, the anointed prophetess pointed and said, “Be gone in Jesus Name!”
Though others in the room could sense the atmosphere clearing, Xander could actually see it clearing. On top of that, when Afua steadfastly began to lead everyone into a time of praise and worship, Xander actually saw several angels appear in the room in a blaze of Divine light. On Katan he’d mostly seen them when they came to retrieve a righteous soul, yet on Earth their assignments seemed to extend to other things.
Xander noticed the angels observing the worshippers[v], but only for a moment, for as soon as Afua began to speak the words of the Creator in a prophetic rhyme, four of those angels did the most amazing thing. The heavenly beings went over to the four evil spirits remaining, snatched their trembling, impish bodies up and literally kicked them into oblivion.[vi]
At that point, Xander rose to his feet and began to praise louder. Simultaneously he began to smell a sweet aroma.[vii] It tickled every hair in his nostrils oh so good that he found himself taking even deeper whiffs of it. How blessed his lungs felt to partake of such a scent.
That aroma was followed by the descending of a cloud so bright[viii], so concentrated that he literally could not see the hands in front of him. However, when that cloud finally lifted seven minutes later, the angels were gone, but the most wonderful colors could be found in the room. Peaceful blues, warm oranges, faithful emerald greens, a festive purple and pink mix, and above all else, brilliant pure light.
Suddenly the sick found themselves made whole. The demon-possessed and oppressed found themselves more than just delivered, but also filled with the Spirit of God, and the ten spectators had become active, faith-filled believers. They believed not in Xander or Afua, but in this powerful Person they called Jesus.
Xander learned a lot of things from Afua that day. He also learned a little something about himself today. He was in love, truly in love for the first time in his life. The feelings Xander had for Roni didn’t even scratch the surface of what he now felt for Afua. If only Afua would allow herself to return those feelings.
Lakota learned a few things today, as well. She learned to be more selective about whom she associated with. That woman with the deceiving spirit had been one of her favorite neighbors. No wonder she always came home confused after being around her.
Lakota also learned that even the most anointed people had personal struggles. Case and point – Afua, who for whatever reason, seemed determined not to fall in love with anyone.
From now on, Lakota would pray for the woman who had led so many of her friends to the pathway of healing and deliverance today. She wanted Afua to have all the happiness she could get, even if that happiness was with Xander.
~~~ >< ~~~
On the wet ride back to the swamp, Dr. Karson and Xander spoke long and excitably about all that had occurred at Lakota’s house. In the backseat, Afua put the small crate of spring water containers on the floor in order to reposition her body more comfortably on the seat. Then using Nasiir as a pillow, the tired woman slowly drifted off to sleep, lulled into slumber by the steady rain hitting the roof of the white vehicle.
Nasiir didn’t mind being used as a pillow. He was fond of Afua and liked ministering to her this way. Plus, in doing so, Nasiir got a chance to hear her murmur the softest secret ever heard in the Katanian tongue just as she crossed over into dreamland. A secret that the Hekiman already knew from that earlier kitchen conversation.
That secret was, “I love you, Xander.”
Not one to keep any secrets from his best friend and too excited to wait until they were alone on the ship, Nasiir began to sing his discovery in the Katanian language. The short song was like a sweet lullaby and both Badru and Xander stopped talking to listen to it.
Xander smiled wide when he heard the following words:
“Though cloaked in sleep,
Your future mate’s heart still speaks.
It makes her lips utter,
I love you, Xan-der.”
“That was beautiful,” Badru said once the song was over. “What does it means?”
“It means all is well,” Nasiir answered, smiling knowingly to himself.
________________________________________
[i] Psalm 107:20
[ii] Hebrews 4:12
[iii] James 2:19
[iv] Luke 4:35
[v] 1 Peter 1:12
[vi] Revelation 20:2-3
[vii] 2 Corinthians 2:15
[viii] Exodus 40:34
Chapter 20
Xander materialized into the receiving of his childhood home later that night. His siblings were asleep, but Noam and Ezra were still awake. They’d waited up for him.
“Greetings, son.” Noam stood up from the eres where she’d been sitting with her husband.
Ezra stood up, as well, giving his son a nod of greeting. By nature, Ezra was more of a thinker than a talker. It was no wonder he was a scientist, able to spend long periods of time without personal interaction.
“Greetings, Ma-Ma and Da-Da.” Xander stepped out of the light as it slowly faded around him. He immediately hugged both parents. Even though he’d been communicating with his father every day, he still missed the physical contact of him.
Ezra and Noam seemed to miss the physical touch of Xander, as well, for they squeezed him tighter than usual. “I think I will go wake up the younglings now. They tried to wait up, but their eyes grew heavy and I sent them to mittah,” Noam said as she finally released Xander.
Pretty soon Noam entered the room with three even smaller people. They were all rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. There was Gamaliel – the oldest birth child by Noam and Ezra. He was maroon in color like their father, yet his eyes were blue like their mother.
Next was Freyde. She was the oldest female. She looked exactly like their mother with her violet skin, blue eyes, and dark violet hair. Third was the youngest – Karmeli. She also bore the skin and hair of Noam, but her eyes were green like Ezra’s. They were all beautiful children. All miracles of God from a womb that had been healed of barrenness.[i]
“Eldest, we missed you so much,” Karmeli said in her sweet little voice as she hugged Xander around one of his calves. She was the most affectionate child in the group.
Not to be outdone by their youngest sibling, Freyde took Xander’s other leg while Gamaliel leaped upon his back. They also squeezed him tight.
“I missed all of you, too,” Xander replied as he bent to pick both sisters up. Fortunately, he was solidly built and could manage all three of his siblings at the same time. With Gamaliel securely upon his back and with Freyde and Karmeli firmly in each arm, Xander walked with them over to the largest family eres on the south wall. He got as comfortable as he could get with three extra people hanging onto him.
“Is Earth beautiful?” Gamaliel asked as he slid from off his brother’s back and sat beside him. As usual, he was the inquisitive one. It was very likely that he would become a scientist one day just like his father and older brother.
“Parts of Earth are very beautiful,” Xander replied, positioning each sister on a separate knee. “But because there are so many people on the planet, it is very hard to see the beauty sometimes.” He thought about the fact that even the beautiful Amazonian rainforest, which looked more like a prairie than a forest from space view, had been nearly slashed and burned up in order to make more room for habitable dwellings.
“I wish to see the parts that are beautiful,” Freyde said. She was the adventurous one in the group. It was likely that she would become a space traveler one day.
“I promise to take you there one day when you are older.” Xander removed a lock of dark violet hair from her forehead and tucked it behind her left ear.
Freyde grinned wide. “I accept your promise.”
While their children continued to talk amongst themsel
ves, Noam and Ezra stood a ways back near the center-placed marble shulchan. They began to talk to each other. “Did you see his essence before the younglings came into the room?”
Ezra nodded. “Yes, our eldest is in love. He is also highly frustrated,” he replied, recalling all the various spectrums of red in Xander’s essence.
“Correct. I cannot determine if he is frustrated because his love is unrequited or if the frustration lies in the fact that now is not a good time for him to be in love with anyone. Especially with all the things Earth is experiencing right now.” Inwardly, Noam would not mind meeting this Earth female who had captured the heart of her son. What mother wouldn’t want to meet her future daughter-in-law?
“I will question him about those things tomorrow. In the meantime, let us enjoy our son’s presence.” Ezra took his wife’s hand in his before going closer to their children.
~~~ >< ~~~
Meanwhile, Nasiir was busy on his own planet beginning the courtship ritual. Pendo did not mate with the buck that her father wanted her to and thus took herself completely off the courting schedule…until now. Now she was an active participant.
As custom on Hekima, the males began the courtship ritual by stepping sideways in front of their females of choice. Their heads are held high. A neck wrestle starts between the males and females. It is a sign of rising consent. Then the males walk behind the females while issuing a low, humming call. The female ears perk up.
The males then approach their potential mates with their heads held low. They brush the females’ forequarters with their necks. At this point, the wedding ceremony is deemed complete. Now it is time for the couples to go off into the woods alone in order to begin mating.
For Nasiir and Pendo, the mating portion would not begin until after his mission on Earth was complete. However, the fact that they’d gone through the whole courting ritual made it clear to everyone that they were both spoken for. In Earth terms, it was as if the wedding had just taken place, but the honeymoon of consummation had been put off until another time.
Nasiir and Pendo were content for the moment to just bask in each other’s presence. Their time in the woods would be spent talking instead of mating, both were equally intimate matters.
________________________________________
[i] Psalm 113:9
Chapter 21
Jay paced back and forth in his home office, pondering what had just been told to him. Someone was looking into his past, asking a lot of questions about him, and even visiting some of the families of those who lost loved ones connected with the Nico-1 mission. Based on what Jay had been told that someone was Badru Karson.
On top of all that, the defunct scientist had an accomplice. Not just any accomplice. No, that accomplice was none other than the young man that tried to have a meeting with Jay months ago. The same young man that he hadn’t had time for back then or rather wouldn’t make time for back then.
Now Jay wanted the young man found and brought to him. Suddenly this college student who only signed his name as Xander was significant to the Vice President of the United States.
I should probably have Badru brought in, too, Jay mused.
But just how was he going to do that?
From experience, Jay knew that trying to terminate or even apprehend Dr. Karson was a most difficult task. He’d tried countless times to do so over the years, but to no avail.
Just last year, Jay ordered another hit on Badru. He’d been easy enough to find at that public library. And yet he’d been untouchable. None of Jay’s hired henchmen could even get close to the man without something happening to them, their cars, or weapons instead. Even when those things were working right, Jay was usually nowhere to be found on the day in question.
At one point, Jay started to think that he had a spy in his camp.[i] As a result, he fired all of his former secret servicemen and got a new team of discreet operators.
When the new team yielded the same results, Jay realized that Badru must have some kind of innate ability to sense danger. How else could he have avoided and survived so many perilous situations? Fortunately, Jay had no idea that that innate ability actually resided in Badru’s daughter.
Unfortunately, it was Afua that Jay just decided to try to apprehend this go around. If he couldn’t get to his only surviving enemy directly, he’d settle for the next best thing. Surely Badru loved his daughter enough to seek Jay out for a change. And once he did, the Vice President would get rid of him once and for all.
“Excuse me, Mr. Vice President, but we have those pictures you wanted,” said one of Jay’s secret servicemen as he stood in the doorway.
Jay stopped pacing and beckoned the extremely tall man into the elegantly decorated room. He couldn’t wait to see the face of Badru’s accomplice. As soon as he heard about Badru and Xander visiting the Kennedy Space Center, he’d had images from the H-NASA tour monitors forwarded to him immediately. Those images had been blown up so that Jay could see exactly who his new enemy was.
Receiving the photos, Jay’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. No! It can’t be. He blinked rapidly as red spots began to appear in his semi-freckled cheeks. Soon his hands began to shake.
Determined not to drop the pictures, Jay held on to them even tighter. His grip actually caused the ends to crumple. It just can’t be.
“Mr. Vice President, are you all right?” the secret servicemen asked as he came closer to the dumbfounded man.
Hearing concern in the man’s voice, Jay forced himself to snap out of his shock long enough to respond. “Yes, yes, I’m fine. I just need a moment alone to study the pictures in more detail,” he lied, dismissing the officer. Jay knew Elexander Manning’s features when he saw them. Who could ever forget the face of an enemy?
However, the man in the picture was obviously too young to be Elexander. Plus, his complexion was too light. In fact, the man known as Xander had the complexion of…Juna…especially with that beauty mole under his full lips.
“It can’t be!” Jay reiterated for the third time in the last five minutes. Except this time, he was alone and was able to speak his thoughts aloud.
Jay dropped into the nearest Victorian styled chair, lest he fall down like the golf ball-sized hail plunging from the sky outside. Jay looked at the picture much closer. Yet no matter how close or how far away he moved the picture from his eyes, Xander’s coloring, full mouth with that beauty mole underneath, and otherwise strong Greek features all pointed to the fact that Elexander and Juna’s son had somehow survived the trip back to Earth.
But how? Where could he have possibly been all this time? Jay now leaned reflectively forward in the hunter green-colored chair.
He also wondered if the young man’s parents had made it to safety somewhere. If so, where were they now? And why did any of them have to resurface at such an inopportune time? Especially with the new presidential elections only months away.
~~~ >< ~~~
After talking and nuzzling nose to nose for hours, Pendo withdrew from Nasiir to look into his eyes. She wanted to see his brown pools by early morning light. Neither were aware that this particular garden spot was the same place that Elexander and Juna Manning had taken their last walk on Hekima.
“You know you took quite a chance leaving me like that for your mission. How did you know I would turn Matu down?” Pendo said as they stood a few feet away by the babbling brook.
Nasiir grinned, despite the fact that he hated even the mentioning of Matu (MAH-two). “My pride desires to answer with, ‘I knew you could not get over me so quickly’. But my heart demands that I be truthful. The truth is, my mother told me that you would be my mate one day. But that it was crucial for me to go off on this journey with my friend before settling down here at home.” His tone and his face suddenly became very serious as he added, “I have since learned why this mission is so crucial.”
Pendo nudged closer, brushing her furry shoulder with his. “Why was it so crucial for
you to be on Earth? Especially after being on Katan all those years.”
“Nasiir was sent to both planets so that he could save ours[ii],” the one now called Mother Tuhfa answered for her youngest son as she made herself known.
“Mother Tuhfa, is this true? Will Nasiir really save Hekima?” Pendo asked the sage buck, who’d kindly taken her under her wing over the last few months that Nasiir had been away. They were closer than Pendo was with her own mother.
Tuhfa nodded. “Together with his Earth friends, both old and new, he will save many planets from destruction.”
Pendo turned to stare at Nasiir with complete adoration and admiration in her eyes. “I did not think my heart could love you more, but I feel it swelling with even greater love now.” Then as the realization that all callings of this magnitude did not come without a price, her eyes filled with fear.
“Will Nasiir get hurt?” Pendo didn’t want him to suffer at all. Even though he was destined to return to her one day, her heart wanted to be ready for whatever physical condition he would return in.
Tuhfa shook her head. “No. Nasiir will not suffer any harm.” She paused and then decided to tell even more of the message she’d been given early this morning. “But one of his Earth friends will, almost to the point of death.”
“Which one?” Nasiir asked, ready to warn the intended victim or at least protect that person with his life.
“I do not know. That information was not given to me.”[iii] Tuhfa looked intently at her son, allowing him to see her sincerity. “However, I do know that that person will be sacrificing themselves for another. I also know that the rise in danger begins very soon. In fact, I sought you out this morning to tell you that very thing. Nasiir, you and Xander must prepare to go back to Earth immediately.”
Sensing the frustration within her son and his destined mate, Tuhfa nodded sympathetically and added, “Though we all wish you to stay here longer, you must go back and complete your mission. Your Earth friends need you.”
Nasiir suddenly became very warrior like as his brown eyes flashed fire. “Will the enemy find them before we get back?”
“No. One of your Earth friends has her ear continually to the Creator’s mouth. She will get the warning in time to save them both. However, they will need you and Xander’s help soon thereafter. Do not look for them on the surface for they will be housed underground.”