* * *
Mihai awoke to the sound of a twittering bird on her windowsill, as a gentle breeze parted the flaxen shades, allowing late-day light to cascade into the tiny apartment. Gaining her senses, the woman wondered aloud where she was and how she got there. Sitting up, she groaned, “Was this but a foolish dream and am I delinquent in making my appointment?”
A voice from the shadows answered, giving Mihai an unsettling surprise. “Foolish? Maybe, but the hour is young and our appointed destiny still some hours away.”
“Who?!” Mihai bent forward, peering into a dark corner to find the face behind the voice.
The person, whoever she might be - for Mihai was sure it was a woman’s voice - was sitting in a chair propped against the wall, supported on its back legs, two hands clasping a knee that was pressed against the person’s chest, her foot resting on the seat bottom. At once, Mihai recognized by the style of boots and cut of the trousers, the person was an officer, but she could see little else.
The woman let the chair fall forward, onto its front legs, revealing her face. It was Darla, all done up in her most handsome of uniforms. “Did we enjoy our sleep, my Lady?”
Mihai grumbled words better left in the shadows as she slowly pushed her legs over the side of the bed while attempting to drive sleep from tired eyes. Little joy remained in the woman’s heart, remembering the previous hours and the dread of the decision she had made. It did not put her in a good mood.
Resting her hands on the bed as her feet touched the floor, Mihai grumped, “My darling of sour refrain, how long have you been here?”
Darla casually reached to turn on a wall light, spreading a mild, yellow glow across the small apartment, then lifted her foot, placing it back on the edge of the chair seat, wrapping hers arms around her leg as she leaned forward, resting her chin on her knee. Waiting until Mihai was about to utter some more colorful words before replying, smiling, Darla answered, “Oh, more than two hours ago.” Again she waited, flustering Mihai anew. Then, at just the right moment, “Lowenah had Zadar…you do remember our little brother, Zadar don’t you?”
Mihai sputtered, “Get on with it, you! Or I’ll… I’ll… put you on report for withholding pertinent information!”
Laughing, Darla replied, “Since you put it that way, Lowenah had Zadar and me bring you over here. Sure would like some of the stuff you were drinking. You were out cold, but had the biggest smile on your face. Why, I think we could have dragged you over here by the hair on your head and you’d have never known, that is ‘til you woke up later.”
Mihai shook her head to clear the last of sleep’s cobwebs from her brain. “So what a’ you still doin’ here? Got no place to wander off to, or other people to pester?”
Darla put up a good-natured fuss, declaring her innocence, answering as if offended. “I was asked to remain here, watching my ward until she awoke. Had I known the rude reception awaiting one of such genteel persuasion, I’d have departed as quickly as Zadar did! He said it was your snoring, but I wonder.”
Looking down at the floor, Mihai disagreed. “He must ‘a figured the bed was too small for the both of us. That’s the only reason he’d leave.”
They both laughed, Darla adding, “No, I believe it different. The boy’s nose is upon a new scent, I think.”
Mihai sighed wistfully, “He does have a way about him,” She looked into Darla’s emerald green eyes, “…doesn’t he?”
Darla giggled, “He can make one wish the night would never end, or is it that day would never come?” She giggled again, her face blushing red as her eyes looked toward the ceiling.
Changing the subject, Mihai noted Darla’s stylish uniform. Darla stood, and with arms gracefully spread wide, slowly circled once around.
In the days before the King’s War, there was little regulation regarding military apparel, especially formal attire. Darla was no exception in taking advantage of this freedom. Other than its light blue color, there was little else to distinguish it as a Navy uniform. It was natty to a fault, revealing the woman’s feminine curves while hiding her sensuality, elegant while not being garish, formal but still fully functional.
“It was just delivered today, just in time for tonight.” Darla turned a circle once more.
Mihai asked, half joking, “Haven’t you about enough of new uniforms? Only four months ago you were sporting one made, you bragged, by ContorieDamalis, herself, the finest linen maker in the Empire. What happened to make your taste in garments change so fast?”
A black cloud passed across Darla’s eyes, Mihai catching only a glimpse of it. Without missing a step, the girl continued her turn, chatting most cheerily, “That thing? I tore it on our last patrol in the Trizentine. Didn’t want to bother with a fix, too much work and all.”
Changing the subject quickly, Darla laughed and, stopping to face Mihai, grinned with delight. “You know what?! Mother told me to expect a surprise at the council tonight. In fact, she said I would have more than one.” She clasped her hands in joy. “Mother’s surprises are always so much fun. What do you think it might be?”
Mihai frowned, thinking of her resignation from being field marshal and then her dismal rejection of Lowenah’s wonderful gift. Maybe that was the reason Mother had Zadar and Darla deliver her here, to her apartment. Maybe Mihai wasn’t wanted at tonight’s council anymore.
Shaking her head, Mihai added, “I don’t know what it could possibly be, but I’m sure it will be worth your trouble to be there to find out.” Then she changed the subject, asking, “Did I really snore?”
Darla laughed, bending forward as she continued to chuckle. “Sister, if you had snored any louder, we’d had to replace the broken plaster in this room!”
A quiet knock directed the women’s attention toward the door. Darla jumped up to open it. With a swoosh, cool evening air rushed into the room, bathing Mihai in its chill, sending goose bumps across her bare skin. Shivering, Mihai stared into the shadows to see who the visitor was.
“Hello!” Ma-we’s cheery voice could be heard among the rustle of wrapped bundles filling her arms. “Well, girl…” speaking to Darla, “are you just going to stand there?”
Darla yipped with joy, “Mother!” jumping like a puppy long waiting for its master.
An instant later, Ma-we found herself being dragged through the door. Almost tripping on the threshold, she cried, “Hey, child! Gravity still works here! Do be careful!”
To say Darla was oblivious to Ma-we’s predicament would be to say water flows downhill. She hugged her mother, bundles and all, twirling her round and round, until Ma-we cried out, stubbing her toe, “Please! Little one! Please!” with a painful grimace on her face, “Do be a good girl and put me down!”
Mihai, who had turned rather glum at seeing her mother, could not help but laugh at the antics of her little sister. Forgetting her sullen mood, she sang out part of a little child’s tune.
“Should the merry pig
dance with the goat,
Shall the swill stay in the trough?
Or will the corn fall off the cob,
To be scattered in the mud?”
‘Plop!’ A small bundle fell from Ma-we’s arms to the floor.
“Little Darling! That is quite enough!” Ma-we sputtered. “Now put me down!”
Darla laughed, spun around one more time, to Mother’s fussing, then gently returned Ma-we’s feet to her.
What a sight for Mihai! Darla was a big girl, taller than average and muscular. Ma-we, on the other hand, was most demure and only three fingerbreadths over three long cubits tall and, also weighing in at only seven stone or so, she was of a stature smaller than most of her daughters. “It makes me more lovable...” She would often say, when asked why she had chosen to be thus among her children.
And Darla? This was a side of her that few people ever saw. In groups she was often shy, as an officer, strictly bus
iness, and in combat, ruthless. Today she was with Mother, ‘the most wonderful person in the universe’. When with her, Darla could release all her pent-up emotions. She could become the little child again, safe and innocent, free from all the dark memories that haunted the woman day and night.
Darla released Ma-we, only to start rummaging through the securely wrapped bundles. “What did you bring us?!” She excitedly asked, pawing at another package. “What treats are here for your darlings this day?!”
Clutching the bundles tight, Ma-we pulled herself away and turned toward the bed, scolding, “My little mouse, my little mouse, thou who seeks another’s cheese. Run along, run along, for these sweet treats belong not to thee.”
Dropping the packages on the bed, she turned and, after giving Darla a kiss, poked her with a finger. “Today belongs to gifts untold, but for you, not here will you behold. To your sister, sweet and dear, these things belong, I fear, I fear.”
Darla pouted, making a sour retort, “When birds of spring sing out love’s songs, the crow shouts out, ‘Be gone…! Be gone!’ And off will the tenderhearted songbird fly, crying out, ‘Oh, how sad. Oh why? Oh why?”
“It’s the raven, Dear.” Ma-we replied, “The raven.” then slapped Darla on the behind. “And that’s what little songbirds who don’t listen deserve!”
Jumping back, aghast, Darla began rubbing her eyes to cover pretend tears and started another refrain of a child’s poem about a little girl rejected by some dancing frogs, then attempted to reach past Ma-we to get at the bundles anew.
Mihai burst into uncontrolled laughter, watching the two struggling in mock combat over who was to get the bundles. Through tears, she shouted to Ma-we, “That’s what you get when you spoil the child! Remember, ‘The mule will wander far and wide, should a weak-willed master attempt it to ride’.”
Holding Darla at hand’s reach, Ma-we, breathless, replied, “I have spoilt all my children… YOU…especially, you included!”
Mihai laughed, but a cloud swept her thoughts.
Darla and Zadar were the two youngest children in all the realm. Darla was not three at the time of the Rebellion, with Zadar being born some months after it began. But it was Darla who spent her growing-up-years living in the Palace’s shadows, reaching out to few and being avoided by most. Euroaquilo, who frequented the palace during her early years, took a shine to the girl. He was the only man willing to draw close to her.
Darla’s affliction was too difficult for Ma-we’s other children to handle…and her eyes, those eyes. Few looked into them more than once out of an uneasy feeling of being watched by something unnatural. So it was, when the children visited Mother, Zadar was made their center of attention, while Darla was politely ignored. Even the woman’s coming of age celebration was postponed until she was well into her thirties, Ma-we having found no man willing to trust his dream-share to her.
As she watched, Mihai shook her head in puzzled wonder. Funny, regardless of, or possibly in spite of the way Darla was viewed, she never displayed any outward resentment for the way she was often treated. Her devotion to the cause and her siblings was unquestioned. Throughout the long wars, she had not faltered, even placing her life on the line many times to rescue others from death. It was this selfless devotion to her siblings that won over the hearts of her fellow comrades, especially her sisters.
And then there was Zadar. He had been totally spoiled by the others while little Darla silently watched from a distance. Yet she never harbored any resentment toward him. Truth be said, the two were very close, oft times inseparable. When he grew into manhood, he forced his siblings to accept Darla into their company, even using intimidation or shame.
Mihai was drawn back to the moment when she noticed how quiet the room had become. Darla was resting her hands on Ma-we’s shoulders, while Mother gently stroked her daughter’s face. Some kind of guttural purr came from Darla’s throat, indicating her pleasure with the moment, an ability that was uniquely hers.
Standing on her toes, Ma-we kissed her daughter, asking, “Sweet love of mine, would you surrender the moment to us for just a little while? I do need some time alone with your sister.”
Darla stared into her mother’s eyes, searching for something secret only to the two of them. Satisfied, she bent forward and kissed Lowenah, and started for the door. While opening it, she looked back over her shoulder at Mihai. “You are to dine with me this eve. I shall wait for you at the tram. If he has not wandered too far away, Zadar will join us at the Kataklino Cafe at eight.” She popped through the door into the evening shadows.
Ma-we’s eyes followed the sound of Darla’s fading footsteps until the evening swallowed them up. With a sigh and slow shake of her head, she turned her attention to Mihai. “My child, your sister loves you too much, loves me too much. She does not test it out, the love, I mean. She hasn’t truly searched to see how honest mine is for her, but only bathes in the warmth it produces.” She sighed again. “The hour draws closer when her trust will be tested to the full, my child, to the full.”
Ma-we said no more of the matter, changing the subject before Mihai could ask any questions. “My Dear!” She grinned. “How wonderful to see you this hour, this very, very special hour!”
Plopping in the nearby chair, she wiped a hand across her forehead. “What a workout it’s been, didn’t realize just how much until I sat.”
Mihai was in no mood to fraternize, staring at the floor, still seated on the edge of the bed. What was the use? At a most critical moment, she had failed - failed because her heart refused to listen to the logic of her mind! Now what hope remained for her people, her sisters?
As if understanding Mihai’s accusative remorse, Ma-we waxed apologetic. “My tender child, daughter of the New Age and mother to the old, I am very sorry my reply to you this day fell upon sleeping ears. I have caused you much grief, for I, too, became slow of tongue because of the things I heard coming from your mouth.”
Mother’s sweet tone was too much for Mihai and she scowled. “What are you about?! I…”
“You did the right thing!” Ma-we leaned forward, staring at a very surprised Mihai. “That’s right! Somehow…don’t ask me how…” she winked. “But for a selfish, uncaring…well, you know the kind of person you accuse yourself of being. Somehow you managed to listen to your heart this time instead of your head, which listening to your head is often very wise, but not this time, at least.”
She slapped her legs, still grinning. “Michael, you made the right choice!”
Mihai was stunned, speechless. She had made the right choice? How?!
Ma-we jumped up from the chair, filled with excitement, and was quickly seated beside her daughter, grasping her hands. “We have drawn closer to winning this day! The danger to my worlds has diminished. Hope grows in my heart that I have made fate wise and it shall do my bidding.”
Her head spinning from revelations unmasked, Mihai asked, “What of the prophecies, all the prophecies that must not be dismissed or every good thing shall pass away?!”
Ma-we’s reply was merrily scolding, like a child taunting her playmates for not finding her hiding place. “What have you to do with prophecies?” She laughed. “You don’t yet understand! I am the Maker of prophecy. I invented the game long before your kind walked free upon this soil.” She broke into rhyme.
“Words there are, many and bold.
Some are new and others old.
And others you’ll find twisted and bent,
To fit my mood, I have them sent.
Your kind you think are truly smart,
When riddles you discover in the dark.
But for the answer, your braggarts sway,
While the real meaning I whisk away.
I rarely speak without one of these,
A riddle, a riddle, as I please.
The wise I make to look like fools,
For truth stays hidden in my riddling too
ls.”
Ma-we chuckled. “Prophecies or riddles? Please! They are both one and the same to me. In the days long before your kind, I and others beside me would spend countless hours making riddles of prophecy. Why, there are some riddles we made up that could take months of your time to merely express, not to mention the countless years of your time to figure out.”
She squeezed Mihai’s arm, grinning with pleasure. “Some riddles that I have been told, so many countless eons of your time ago, I am still puzzling over. That’s right! Even I am not privy to all the secrets of the universe.”
Sitting back, supported by outstretched arms, the Maker of Worlds mused, “Never have I uttered a prophecy that hasn’t been twisted up in one or more riddles. Never!” She nodded. “That’s right! Even my own children - even you have never been given a clear and simple explanation of what the future may hold. And I have my reasons for doing so.”
“First, in the beginning, I could not tell for sure what free will would eventually do to the hearts of my children. Until you came along, I had never felt love in the way you gave it. So love took on new meaning for my children. If I had not known what form it would take, how could I have prophesied it, other than to put it in a riddling prophesy which could have many different outcomes? But my self-said prophecy gave me hope… faith, you might say… that someday I would find the love I was seeking.”
“Let me ask you a question.” Lowenah’s eyes twinkled. “Am I the only source of life in the universe?”
Mihai was surprised by the question and answered abruptly, “Why, yes! By your own words you have said you are the Bringer of all life.”
Leaning forward, Ma-we lifted a hand, shaking a finger. “My words you have quoted correctly, but are they not riddling words, themselves?”
Mihai puzzled.
Mother explained, “My fingers have not yet reached beyond forever. I still search for the end of all matters, will for as long as it takes. I live eternal because I have no reference by which to gauge my life. Still, I did have an awakening of sorts, a time when I came to realize I was me. And I do not know all things… yet.” She poked Mihai. “And I hope not to!”
Ma-we shook her head. “Know-it-alls are so very boring. They never have anything new to speak about. Have you noticed how they act?” She puffed out her chest. ‘Oh, now that I have stopped telling you about all the wonderful things I’ve done, allow me to talk about how wonderful I am’.” She laughed. “Boring! Oh, so boring!”
Lowenah quieted. “Allow me, please, one more question. Will life always spring eternal?”
This time, Mihai, uncertain, asked, “Won’t it?”
Ma-we glanced away, studying the dials on a corner clock. “Only to the limit of my abilities and life, which, since I did not create me, but have always been there, and because eternity is beyond my vision, how can life eternal be an absolute?”
She looked back into Mihai’s astonished face. “That is why you must never take life for granted! It is a gift, filled with riddles of uncertainty and chance. What may befall us tomorrow we cannot know for sure today. Riddles give us flexibility to adjust to whatever may come. Riddles may help keep us living with hope when all becomes hopeless around us.”
Mihai was still confused, and somewhat flustered at the thought of ‘eternity questioned’.
Glancing again at the clock, Ma-we warned of the lack of time, concluding her dissertation on riddles.
“My riddling prophecies you do not yet understand. Let me say this: what you saw today in the scepter and crown are but an infant’s understanding of the riddles and meanings. And it is a very important matter for it to be that way. Without riddles, I would have little means to see into the hearts of my creation.”
“So many times I gave gifts to the people in the Realms Below – you saw it for yourself. What happened? The very men rewarded with a tiny bit of divine information puffed themselves up with pride, declaring their knowledge of me was divinely great!”
“See! And look at the mess there today. Around the time of the Great War, I handed over to you a man and then a group of men to declare a time of hope. And what did they do with the message given them? They took control, deciding for themselves good and bad, beating any who disagreed with their prattle. Even now, at this very moment, they foment trouble, secretly seeking new power and glory, thinking themselves as the princes of a new world yet to come. I shall say no more of them.”
“As you can see, riddling prophecy acts like a two-edged sword. It gives hope to the humble who have honest faith in me that I shall carry out my purpose. But, for the proud, it opens up their hearts so they reveal what they really are – revelers without real love, lusting for power and glory, openly displaying a wanton desire to dominate over others of their own kind.”
She patted Mihai’s hand. “I think we have beaten that horse way far enough. Now on to more personal matters…”
“At the end of the Great War, a new star in your league of followers had risen to prominence. Unlike the former, who had attempted, through honest and humble means, to declare my message of hope to the inhabitants of the Second Realm, this new saint became an unbendable master, relegating my style of love to protocol and rhetoric, while bullying his masses into line, to do his personal bidding.”
“This man, although personally loyal to you and me, reflected the passion of your brother – being proud, boisterous, and arrogant. I did not bring him and the organization he had twisted and bent to his will to nothing because there was too little time for me to start anew. Even though it was now polluted and corrupt with insolence and pride, it could still serve my purpose, to bring forth my Shiloh of prophecy.”
“Although still yet to be conceived in the womb, the hour of the child’s arrival was clear to me. I could not afford to bring forth another organization in order to bring my prophecy to fulfillment. I decided then to continue to guide this group until my purpose was fully accomplished.”
Ma-we sighed, shaking her head. “Although your followers still shout your name and mine, their hour of abandonment is close. I can see that they will not accept my Shiloh when I deliver him, but will stone him and cast him away as an evil and wicked prophet of the Devil.”
She shrugged. “But that is the way of men. Good men do wicked things and all must suffer the price for such foolishness.”
Snapping her fingers, a fire blazing in her eyes, Ma-we declared, “Well, my Shiloh does live, even as I speak! He is still but a child, yet I see him as a powerful lord and king. My faith in his loyalty is strong. My millennia of genetic endeavor have not been fruitless. And you” she poked Mihai again, “have opened the way for him to take the throne appointed for him from the world’s foundation!”
Mihai jumped back, startled. “What are you about?! My head you filled with words uncertain, dreams of shifting glory, and troubles of fate denied. How am I to understand my trials faced this day? Did the ominous clouds of destruction really hang over the universe should I have chosen the wrong road, or were you only gaming with a weak-minded, foolish child?”
Ma-we laughed. “Riddles, riddles… Fooled you, too!”
Before Mihai could reply, shock growing on her face, Ma-we added, “A game? Yes! A foolish child? No!”
Lowenah stood and began to pace. “When you were young, I watched you play games, some full of pleasure and others full of peril. You were most careless when playing Khoor-ruuk, risking yourself and others, competing in the glider races. More than once you injured yourself, even to the point of breaking your bones and cracking ribs, something that was very rare among your siblings.”
She stopped, looking in Mihai’s face. “Those skills you acquired then were taken with you into the cockpits of the flaming chariots you flew after the Rebel Wars began. What you played at then often proved fatal to others, even bringing you close to death on occasion. But was it still not a game of sorts that you were playing, a very
deadly game, but a game none the less?”
Clasping her hands behind her, Ma-we resumed pacing. “A game need not be pleasant or peaceful to be called a game. It is the pitting of one’s mind against another’s that makes something a real game. For these many long years, I have gamed against your brother. Is it dangerous? Yes! But there’s nothing else for it. If the game is lost, then all is lost.”
“My child, dearest in love and caring, I did not mislead you with my riddles, for I asked you not to believe them without question, or to take any action regarding them. When I made request of you to do something for me, I was clear and concise, revealing to you all that you needed to know. But you fell prey to the most tricksy of moves a game-master can make. You assumed to understand what I was doing.”
She came over and sat beside a troubled Mihai, gently patting her leg. “Child, there was nothing I could do but watch as you and your siblings gathered false reasonings into your bosoms. Misunderstanding a riddle is not damning for an honest, humble heart. Any pain or loss experienced will eventually be compensated for…eventually. In the meantime, I was able to keep your brother in the dark concerning my real purposes and clandestine activities. Your brother assumed, too, but he has acted to his own ruination by thinking he’s outsmarted me.”
“For these six-thousand years, I have outsmarted him, he thinking you were to stand the throne in his stead. You have taken his blows and must continue to for a little while longer. By my allowing your suffering, I have succeeded in gathering my new creation, my children from the Realms Below, altered and refined through generations of genetic selection. They stand ready, soon to lead this world of yours to victory against all wicked men.”
Mihai excitedly asked, “The Swords…? Shiloh…?”
“Yes! Yes, my Dear.” Ma-we smiled, sadness in her eyes. “The monster I have created to bring a ruin to all living things, it has been done. What was shall not be. And what is to come shall be the thing unwished for. The storm, even now, is rising in the North. Tonight you shall see the coming breeze, and its cold breath shall chill your heart. Please, my Dear One, do not allow it to destroy your heart.”
“What?!” Mihai asked surprised. “Why should I fear the very creatures you have promised me? Do I not love the children you have made for me?”
Ma-we frowned. “Daughter of darkness and death, do not attempt to fool your mother. I see jealousy hiding at your door. Have not your own words this day betrayed your displeasure at the usurper appointed to command your brothers and sisters? Do be careful! Disaster waits for you on the trail. If you do not listen to humble wisdom, a humiliation awaits your fate. Naked you shall be made to look if you do not get hold of your heart, for I see that Time will take a man’s hand, and he will reveal all that is secret concerning you and your rule.”
“My rule? I chose not the crown today. I have no rule, not even that of army commander.” Mihai’s heart had focused upon words it chose to hear, pushing Mother’s warning of her daughter’s jealousy over her own kind into the clouds of willing forgetfulness - a most dangerous thing to do, one that would eventually prove itself fatal.
Ma-we eyed her daughter, but decided that added discussion of the matter would be fruitless. ‘Little can the watchman do should the one hearing his warning stuff up his ears to the danger heralded.’ She squeezed Mihai’s hand. “My daughter, you must learn to learn, for life will teach you many unwanted lessons.”
Stroking her daughter’s hand, Ma-we confessed, “I have never seen you do one thing out of wanton selfishness, but do be careful. Love, if not checked by wisdom, may well cause a person to make damning decisions. Love without caution, even if it is for me or your siblings, can be as dangerous as pride. I fear your love will act blindly.” She slowly shook her head. “But it is not my call to make.”
Sitting back, Ma-we smiled. “And now to answer your question concerning rulership...” She snapped her fingers. “But first I recommend a quick bath or a good steaming shower.”
“What?!” Mihai was confused over Ma-we’s change of subject.
Glancing again at the clock, Ma-we hurried Mihai along. “Time runs ever faster the sooner one needs to complete an errand. I’ll explain things to you as soon as may be, but not sooner. If you don’t hurry, it will have to be later than may be… much later.”
Not asking further questions, a very curious Mihai did as Mother requested. She made quick work of matters, choosing to shower, it being much faster. In only minutes ,the woman was toweling herself dry.
Ma-we met her at the door. Without saying a word, she lifted a hand and ‘whoosh!’ a puff of warm air instantly dried Mihai’s hair. She grinned. “No good, no good at all. It’s much better now.”
Squeezing Mihai’s arms, Ma-we excitedly asked, “Do you recall the words you spoke so long ago about the master leaving in order to receive a kingship and throne?”
“Why…why yes, I do.” Mihai answered, surprised. “But that kingship is gone, or should I say passed along.”
“Gone?” Ma-we quizzed, looking up at the ceiling in thought. “Gone? No. It never went anywhere.” She looked into Mihai’s face. “It’s still where it’s always been.” Saying no more, she hurried Mihai into the bedroom, toward the bed.
“Mother? What?” Mihai was caught up speechless at what she saw.
Some of the bundles had been opened, their secrets displayed on the bed. A beautiful bejeweled, floor-length silk gown was spread out beside an equally long, flowing, purple satin cape, a pair of matching, high-laced sandals and some golden jewelry completing the ensemble.
Ma-we asked Mihai to dress, assisting her as she did. After slipping the shimmering purple cape over her shoulders, Ma-we inserted the gold chained, green emerald earrings through her daughter’s ears. With a ‘snap!’ Mother locked them in place. “There!” She smiled. “Make sure you release the clasp before attempting their removal.”
Turning her daughter around to face the mirror, Ma-we breathed a satisfied sigh. “Perfect, just perfect…” Then looking into Mihai’s eyes through the mirror, she commented, “How long I have waited for this day to see my child of fruitful birth stand up as a woman among her kind. To-night! It is a good night to be here, when the world is born anew.”
Bewilderment grew on Mihai’s face. “You confuse me so. Earlier this day, I stood before you, denying crown and throne in order to remain a woman and, hopefully, one day bring forth life from my inward parts. Then you riddle me with words concerning another rulership which is a mystery to me. And then you speak of a new day when you see a favorite child stand up in some kind of glory. Mother, your riddles are too much for me.”
Ma-we was busy with Mihai’s gown, adjusting a shoulder strap while humming a little tune. She gave a gentle tug and then turned her attention to the cape, fitting it snug around Mihai’s shoulders so that it hid much of the dress. As she worked, she stared into her daughter’s ocean-blue eyes and began to coo.
“A merry sprite went off to walk,
Through a field of crimson wheat.
By chance she met an ogre foul,
Who asked to take her to the ball.
In disgust and fright, she ran away,
Hiding low in the crimson hay.
And all the while the ogre cried,
‘Please, oh please, be at my side.’
As darkness fell, the field she fled,
But the ogre caught her, and to her said,
‘Tonight, with me, you’ll dine and feast,
For you cannot escape fate with this beast.’
He took her to the fairy dance,
And into the firelight they came by chance.
And behold, the girl came to see
The ogre was really a prince to be.”
Ma-we grinned. “Riddles within riddles within riddles… A riddling book is what I wrote, but truth and honor it is filled with. Did you not believe your sister when, in fro
nt of your very ears, before you descended to the world of men, she promised that you were to have a kingdom? Think, child! How could I have promised such if I had already promised my darling something so different? You know that I would not do a thing like that.”
“What you believed to be so foul was not…was not what you thought at all. I have many kingships to offer. The crown prince over all my universe is but one. Your kingdom still awaits you. Tonight I shall have it declared to all the world.” She put a finger to her lips. “But they will not be informed as to which kingship it is…not yet.”
Staring up and into Mihai’s eyes, the Maker of Worlds asked, “Now, if I will give to my daughter - child of my own flesh - all the promises I did promise her when she was but a babe, but has held so dear in her heart all these many days… if I will promise to give her, one day, a son… No! No…many sons and daughters, without number and also to all her sisters besides, will my darling child accept this one other burden and all the woes that are delivered along with it?”
What could Mihai do, other than accept whatever Mother was offering? Why, for the gift of offspring, she would face, alone, Asotos and all his bands of henchmen. She would accept a thousand years of torture at his hands if she could produce but one soul through which her blood coursed. “Yes!” She blurted unhesitatingly, “Whatever your servant girl must do will be done!”
“Good! Good! My child has promised. Now it’s too late.” Ma-we scurried to the bed, picking up the remaining bundle. “What will come to be must be her fate.”
Hurrying back, she handed it to Mihai. “Open it! Open it, my darling little child.” She giggled.
“A gift for you
A prize for me
A shock on your brother’s face
We’ll see.”
Mihai shook her head as she opened the bundle. It was good to see Mother so pleased with the moment, especially considering the events of the day. When Lowenah acted so childlike, her daughter knew that all was well with her. Ma-we’s quiet moods, something she had been most affected with, as of late, were distressing to Mihai. For as merry as Ma-we was this eve, it must have been a very good day for her.
Struggling with the last knot – the bow having slipped when Darla and Ma-we had jousted over it – Mihai placed the package on a small dressing table. Ever so slowly, she worked the string loose, the secrets hidden within the silky wrapping being postponed to near frustration. Eventually the ribbon surrendered, Mihai pulling the wrapping away, gasping.
Ma-we grinned, elated. “Well, what do you think? What do you think? Come… pick it up. Pick it up! What is my darling waiting for?”
Mihai, hesitant, reached out and slowly lifted up a golden crown, cool and hard to the touch, but as light as a goose-down feather. Little more than a band in the back, it widened like two growing waves, joining together in a peaked crest at the front. Aligned along each wave were six gemstones, each of different beauty and power. The two top stones - one to the right and left of the crest – were Cortessoian, a jewel made by combining green emerald and ruby-red sapphire. Beneath the crest there was an engraved roaring lion, under which were words in an ancient tongue, meaning, ‘A thousand years may eternal be’.
Ma-we was all so anxious. “Well?! Are we putting it on?! Or must I take it from you and do it myself?!” Not waiting for a reply, she pulled the crown from Mihai’s hands and set it on her daughter’s head.
“See! Both your heart and mine are gifted this day.
A riddle answered in a most wonderful way.”
Mihai’s head began to spin wildly. Clutching it, she pitched forward, falling into a black void that hurtled her down ever faster into a growing vortex of nothingness. No sight, sound or feeling reached the woman’s senses other than that of falling, ever falling. Yet that was only an illusion, vertigo of the imagination, a universe of descending emptiness. Concluding this journey to be a vision, Mihai reached out with her mind to find its hidden treasures.
She soon detected tiny sparkles of color tumbling through the dark nothingness, eventually filling the void with blinding oceans of rainbow hues. “Mesmerizing!” she would later describe this world of living delights. Yes, “Alive!” she said, because of the pulsing messages they imparted to her, even answering questions asked of them with her mind. But this world, too, soon passed from sight.
This kaleidoscopic universe eventually parted, leaving Mihai as she was drawn into an emerald green sea. “Mother’s eyes!” Were her eyes not the same in color and warm delight? A sound like the roaring of giant waves on an endless beach filled the girl’s mind as she was swept along. Then, down she tumbled again, the roar becoming a deafening tumult. ‘Plop!’ Mihai crashed into something, stopping her fall, being knocked senseless.
Was it a fleeting moment or an eternity before Mihai awoke? With a vision, one never knows. In fact, it is a good question not to ponder. She found herself lying upon a sandy shore, pounding surf in the distance. Sitting, she became aware of childrens' laughter coming from down the beach. Getting to her feet, she started off in the laughter’s direction.
Struggling up a dune, her feet slipping backward in the loose, dry sand, Mihai eventually made the rise, the beach at low tide stretching out before her. There was a warning cry from someone near the dune, sending dozens of naked little bodies scurrying away, disappearing beyond other dunes. Only one child, a small boy of light complexion and auburn hair, remained.
Slowly and cautiously, Mihai worked her way down the dune, ever fearful the boy would also run away, but he did not. He quietly stood there awaiting her, a living conch in his hands, its shell glistening with colors of the woman’s earlier vision. Studying the boy, Mihai could see no fear in his eyes. Indeed, he appeared to be expecting her. Oh how easy it is to forget it is a vision when Mother’s fingers play at the game!
Stopping two paces away, Mihai stared, examining the boy in an attempt to understand his part in this vision. He spoke up as if reading her mind. “You wonder who I am, for you see me not in past or present.”
Pondering aloud, Mihai asked, “Who are you, then? An apparition from future days? A symbol of things to come?”
The boy shook his head. “I am neither apparition nor symbol. I am a reality though not yet beheld, a promise though not yet fulfilled, a coming dream, a breath of refreshing spring. As you live, so do I, for I am a holy being, born of kings sired by the Cherubs, themselves. I am born from mortal flesh which covers an immortal spirit. My fate is your fate, for you choose my existence.”
Mihai asked, very curious now, “Who are you?”
The boy frowned. “You still refuse to understand. Oh trouble… Oh trouble… Look at me and see. Are not your eyes and mine the same? Do we not share a common mind and soul? Look, I am the son you wish to have, child of kings, a promise granted.”
Crying with joy, Mihai reached out to hold the boy. He jumped back, scolding, “Do not touch what is not yet yours!”
“What?!” Mihai cried.
The boy silenced her. “I am come to give you hope and assurance, because what you see is what you will have, but in latter days, when all that is now is no more. You, my Mother, must hurry to an end this wicked hour if you wish to see your son again. I will mark an end of an age and the beginning of another, a sign that peace has come to all living things.”
He handed a surprised Mihai the conch. “But first you must dry up the River Styx and bring the Boatman to his end. He will not halt his ever-quest to bring all souls into his breast until you have brought him to a finish. To you has been this burden given, for today the crown of life you took upon yourself.”
Mihai protested. The boy hushed her, waving his hand as he slowly faded from sight. “Drink it up and bring it to a finish, for in your hands now rests the destiny of lovers and friends. Bring to an end what your brother created so long ago. Part the waters so there will be a returning for all who have passed beyo
nd.”
Alone, Mihai stood on the beach, the tide ever rising, tumultuous waves splashing further up the sand. Or was something else happening? Everywhere she looked, the sea increased in agitation, as if it was being called away from its bed. Looking down at the conch, she saw the shell pulsing its radiating colors in rhythm with the waves. Or were the waves dancing in rhythm with the pulsing shell?
A burning sensation filled Mihai’s hands. She let out a cry and dropped the conch, it crashing into the sand, gray, dull and lifeless. Looking at her hands, the woman observed as the pulsing rainbow hues raced up her arms, flooding her body with their radiating energy. Soon Mihai was aglow with power, a living beacon calling to the advancing sea.
Mihai lifted her arms, fingers extended. She stood high on her toes and called out words strange to her ears but understood in her mind, their translation being, ‘A ruin! A ruin! A ruin! I shall make it! No more shall your shadow descend upon my people. I shall cut down your living boughs and give what was yours to another. Your heart is for me a sported treasure in which I will exult!’
The raging waters rose high above the woman’s head. Just before they enveloped her, she shouted, “Down with all that is yours!”
To Mihai’s surprise, the tormented sea did not wash her away, drowning her in its wrath. Instead, she discovered, it drew in to her, being torn from the ocean floor. Inward the water rushed, all the oceans and seas, rivers and lakes, until the flood departed, leaving a barren landscape scattered with the wreckage of many broken and twisted ships. For but a moment, the woman stared at the ruined land. She was then lifted up and swept far away, into a silent world filled with glowing spheres of radiant light.
Drifting through this strangest of universes, Mihai felt she was not alone. Gradually she came to realize that life pulsed strong within each sphere. ‘Strange,’ she thought. Reaching out and touching one as she floated past, a voice called out to her, drowsily speaking her name. Shocked, she jerked her hand away, putting the woman into an uncontrolled spin.
Helplessly tumbling end-over-end, Mihai managed to gently bounce and bump into one sphere after another. Each time she touched a glowing ball, a sleepy voice, as if waking from some deep, forgotten dream, would call out to her, often by name.
“The Web of the Minds!” Mihai shouted, although no sound came from her lips. “Mother shows her child the world hidden from mortal vision!” She marveled in wonder, recognizing many of the voices. Lost acquaintances and lovers sang out to her, and her heart would sing back. Oh, how delightful to be near the ones she had so longed to see again! Yet here they were, still very much alive, waiting once more to be clothed in mortal flesh, so that they, again, could sense the world around them.
“Oh, Mother…!” Mihai cried, only to see the spheres fade into darkness.
Ma-we caught the child up in her arms. Mihai moaned, “What…? Where…?” She had been gone for but a twinkling of an eye from this world, but countless ages and lives had passed before her eyes during that time.
Helping Mihai to stay on her feet, Ma-we steadied her daughter. “There, there, we will soon be fine.” She giggled. “Travel sickness, you know. Catches up to the novices quite quickly…”
Rubbing her eyes, Mihai asked, “It was a vision, wasn’t it? A wonderful, beautiful vision?”
Ma-we hesitated, grinning. “A vision? Er… well… you might want to call it that… for now, anyway.” She took Mihai’s hands. “The day may well come when you will understand that visions and reality are often one and the same. You do not always discern matters the same as Immortals…yet.”
Blinking in an attempt to regain her focus, Mihai asked, “I’m… I’m really back… here, I mean, or is this another part of my vision?”
Still smiling, Ma-we asked. “Did you like the trip?”
“So I’m back here, in reality, I mean?” Mihai asked again.
“You’re back here, if that’s what you mean.” Ma-we answered slyly, nodding. “And I guess you’ll be stuck here for some time, so you might as well accept it as reality.”
Mihai asked no more concerning the matter, concluding the part of her adventure she called a ‘vision’ was finished. Mother had different ways of looking at things, and when she was in a good mood, it was impossible to get a straight answer from her. Mihai sighed with satisfaction. At least Mother was in a good mood.
Finally addressing Ma-we’s question, Mihai answered, “Yes, yes I did enjoy the trip.” She reached up to adjust her crown and cried out with surprise when finding it gone. “My crown! Where?”
“It’s here!” Ma-we interrupted, touching a finger to the side of Mihai’s head. “You possess it within your mind. It is a gift that is only yours. No one can take it from you, nor can you lose it. If you desire it to be seen by others, you only need to think kingly thoughts and it will appear. It would be most appropriate for you to act kingly tonight.” She turned away, watching the time. “Once you have wished the crown upon you, it will not fade until you will it away. Oh, yes! It is very real when you wear it… hard to the touch, you might say.”
Ma-we turned back toward her daughter. Her jovial demeanor changed. “The position of king is not just an entitlement to the throne over my people. You now have a kingdom that is its own - an everlasting kingdom – but you also act as steward to the throne of the king yet to come. Your obligation is to protect and secure that kingdom until the one entitled arrives to lay claim to it. It is a most serious responsibility.”
Ma-we warned, “The hour approaches when you must take the lead over my children. Already I see a great fire in the East that blots out the sun with its smoke. It will silence my lips for but a day, yet in that day all good things may perish. You must stand as a sentinel over my kingdom until that day has passed and protect it until its fate has been determined.”
She stepped up to Mihai and began to stroke her satin cape. “You, my child, are but a king…not a dictator. Into another’s hand you have surrendered the army. Tonight you will honor that person in front of all onlookers, declaring TrishaQa·Shaib·Jal the new lord over all the armies of the Empire.” Lowenah took Mihai’s arm. “Child, remember this well: Trisha’s loyalty is to me and after this night will be also to you. But…but! She is a god over your people at war, not accountable to you regarding military decisions.”
Looking into her daughter’s concerned eyes, Ma-we explained, “You are the bonding agent that unifies the Empire. Trisha, though, has now become one of the Angels of Death that will bring all things to ruin. Yes, I have chosen others as well. You have the power to hold back the winds of destruction, but once released, it will be your duty to strengthen your people for the storm that will rage upon them. Let the warrior do the slaughtering. You do the healing.”
She patted Mihai’s arms reassuringly. “Today I have bestowed knowledge beyond excellence upon you. You will need it to rule. But I cannot give to your heart the wisdom it will need to survive this coming contest – game, if you will. Thus, the knowledge you have acquired is only useful if you force your heart to become wise with it. A king must think and reason first! Feelings are a pleasant distraction used sparingly and only on the coldest of nights.”
Taking hold of Mihai’s hands and giving them a squeeze, Ma-we concluded, “Please remember this: A field marshal may lose an army, but a king an entire universe.”
The two chatted for a while about some of the things Mihai had experienced, Ma-we nodding and replying when appropriate. Observing her daughter closely, Ma-we troubled inside. ‘I must stay the course even though she does not yet understand. Much must be lost before this age ends, much more than I wished might be. But there’s nothing for it. Destiny rides the skies unbridled. It belongs to my children to rein it in and force it to do their bidding. There’s nothing else for it.’
Seeing the hour was late, Ma-we took her daughter’s hand and, to conclude matters on a lighter note, change
d subjects. “My Darling so dear, I must be on my way. You should hurry along for dinner. We’ve kept your little sister waiting far too long. What mischief she attains to at this moment is for the imagination to conjure. Remember times in the past?”
Mihai nodded, recalling that Darla had been known to ‘get into a mix’ from time to time, especially with some of the more prominent children of the councils.
Touching her head, Ma-we suggested, “Hide your crown for now, until arrival at the council, but wear it when you enter, if you would, please.”
Mihai promised.
Smiling, Ma-we kissed her daughter. “I’ll see you in a bit…have some little business to attend to before tonight.” She kissed Mihai again and darted out the door.
Turning away, Mihai walked over to the mirror. She watched as her crown slowly faded from sight. ‘Sorta’ like things on Mother’s table.’ The woman thought, placing a hand where the crown had been.
For a few moments the grown-up girl stared into the mirror, reflecting more on what she had become than as to how she appeared. A new sobriety filled Mihai’s heart. The days of her coming of age lay in the long-forgotten past. A new age of violence had long ago swept away any innocence of earlier times. It was now her duty to see to the end of this wicked age and make way for the new – an age of healing.
Glancing around the tiny apartment, Mihai was filled with a romantic melancholy regarding this place. She could remember how it had so long been a hiding place for her soul, a sanctum of security in troubling times. But now there was something different about it. It took her a moment to realize just what.
Now she knew. The woman could remember, just like a person can remember the security of a certain toy, but she was unable to feel that security. It was gone - gone with her innocence that she had refused to admit to until tonight. There was to be no going back now. The world was changed. Mother had made sure of it, and this evening would seal it forever. Whatever was to come on the ‘morrow, this tiny dwelling was not to be part of it.
Tomorrow Mihai would remove what few keepsakes she desired from here, delivering them to the Palace. The upper chambers of the Firstborn she would procure, holding them in trust until the man-king promised them arrived. In the back of her mind, the woman understood that this room was but a symbol for all the children of the Empire. Forever was darkness falling on the past. Although the sun was to arrive again, and shine its light on a new and cleansed universe, it would be a different one than the one left behind. Forever gone would be the childlike innocence of the eternal past.
Mihai walked to the opened door, casting one last, longing glance back into the room. She sighed, knowing there was no returning to this comfy nest. Waving her hand, the room fell dark. For the last time, the child passed the threshold, quietly closing the door behind her.
* * *
Section Two
Of Councils
Great and Small