The End of Eden

VI

"Did you know the full moon is tonight?" Annabelle asks one afternoon, a week and a half after I met Vessel in the rose garden. I let my flight go on without me, content with staying a while longer in Eden. Serra was happy to have me stay, Annabelle even more ecstatic.

She squealed and hugged me after I told her I was staying, and then demanded I get a sunhat to help her in the gardens. And that was that.

I attended my first gathering of Vessel sharing the words of Sleep, interested in hearing what all had been shared, but I couldn't keep my mind from wandering to all the dreams I had of Sleep, and the two evenings I had shared with Vessel, something I didn't tell Annabelle or Serra about. But we hadn't spent more than a few minutes together since we were in the rose garden together, which made me feel anxious.

Instead, I had been found three times by other vessels.

One evening, Three found me, sitting with a closed book on my lap, looking out at the fields beyond the center of Eden.

I didn't jump, but he did stop short, pausing as he looked at me, his form towering over me.

"Three, right?" I asked, standing up. He looked aside, and nodded. "I'm Ellie."

He nods, his eyes slipping down my face to my neck, then to my bare feet, since I kicked my shoes off. "I know," he says quietly, and I'm so shocked he's spoken, that I almost miss his next words. "You are pretty, like a flower. A flower girl."

"What?" I ask, turning to face him. Three only reached his hand out and pats my head before he turns and walks down the slope into the flower fields and beyond.

It was a weird encounter, but the next time I go to read in the rose garden, Three is there, a single white rose in his hand that he wiggles at me, then hands over. I giggle as I accept it, thanking him for it as I inhale the beautiful fragrance.

He doesn't talk to me, but instead sits in silence with me on the bench as I read, though not for long from the sun setting. Eventually, I tuck my feet up under me to the side, and he turns to look down at my feet, bare again. I watch from the corner of my eye as he reaches out for my foot, and gently untucks it from my body, and bring it to his lap.

"What are you doing?" I ask, but I don't pull my foot away. Three runs his finger along the edge of my foot, around the bone of my ankle, and then up my calf. There's enough pressure that he doesn't tickle me and I watch as he does it again.

"Long, beautiful legs, wrapped around my neck," Three says, and I pause, my stomach flipping inside me. He muttered it, like he was talking to himself, but it was lower than his normal bright, off kilter voice. "Bringing me to your secret place."

And then I giggled, and his finger running along my body pauses, and he lifts his head and Three giggles with me. It's so absurd, but it's so incredibly sensual, and I don't know what else to do but laugh.

I end up dozing off on the bench, my feet in Three's lap, his hands all over them and up my legs.

The next morning in the shower, I scrub at the accursed black body paint that's left behind from where he touched me.

The next one I meet is Two, though briefly. I have a tray of sweets that are fresh from the oven in my hands, and I run right into him as I'm watching myself balance the tray in my hands. He turns, and catches my wrist, knocking the tray askance and causing one sweet roll to fall to the ground.

"I'm sorry, sweetling" he whispers when we both duck to pick up the roll. The surprise of his voice dazes me, and he plucks up the roll, and helps me stand, my hand firm in his.

"No worries," I say. He plucks up three more rolls from the tray, lifts his dark blue eyes to mine, and winks before he turns away. I'm left standing and staring alone at him as he walks to the sanctum where he and the others reside.