The Bride of Heaven

Ch 9 - One Sideways Glance

How wonderful it was to be free, how pure and welcome. I took joy in every mundane moment and reveled in my ordinary days. I was fully content to simply exist and be.

The attendants found me at Iora's home following the Commander's instructions and took to visiting me every few days, Neamhmon skipping his turns. The poor overworked women complained about the distance for their little feet, and since my hostess feared the flock of revering creatures might inspire a spark, the tired walkers were never allowed inside. They soon submitted to their new fate and would fret and fuss about me the same as before.

"We cannot understand why you would come here when you could be with the Grand General," the speaker voiced with disapproving shakes of her head while brushing wood chips out of my hair. "Who could love you more? His Grandiosity would give you everything you desire."

"Perhaps this is all I desire."

"It cannot be. It is nonsensical."

"I am nonsensical."

They all nodded in agreement.

They need not understand. I had found my freedom, however unusual it may have looked to those dear friends whose very life seemed to me the worst imprisonment. After every visit, they waved me goodbye, and I watched them go back to the shadows to wait for our next meeting. I felt myself a little freer for having somewhere to be when I had no purpose.

Iora had a neighbor whose son was in the army, and from him, I learned more about the war the Commander had once mentioned. This son was in the Fourth Regiment, one below in ranking from Neamhmon, and his duties consisted mostly of maintaining peace within the realm. Sometimes as far away as by the River of Five Crossings, as he told me with much pride, followed by assurances that it was indeed very far and a most impressive feat.

"Only the First and Second Regiments serve outside the realm," explained the strapping young soldier on one of his visits to his family. He had the glowing look of a brazen ideologist fueled by youthful vigor, and when he spoke of the army, every word was heavy with purpose. "It's a great honor to be counted among the ranks of the first two regiments. We're all striving for that, but not everyone can be a hero. I'm fine where I am, really, since it means I can come back home and nothing will materialize out of thin air on the way. Or maybe I keep deluding myself with that. And what's your sin, stranger?"

"My sin?" parroted I.

"He's asking how you got here," explained the young man's father, emerging to place two glasses of lemonade on the table between us. His son and I were seated on his patio, and he had come to see we had every comfort at our disposal. "It's how the young people do it nowadays; straight to the point and no decorations."

The son laughed. "I'll admits it's a little prying, but why pretend to be any better than we are? We're all in the Underlands for a reason."

"How do you know what your sin is?"

"You don't. You have to guess. If it were easy, this place would be deserted." He wrinkled his nose and sipped his lemonade. "As, if you ask me, it should be."

He was a gentle soul, bright and positive, and much fresher than myself in his immortal state though his bodily form appeared but a little younger. He was of the curly haired, barefooted kind, as he demonstrated by slipping a foot out of his army-provided leather boots—the significance of which at the time eluded me.

"What does it take to advance in the army?" I asked to bring the conversation back to rails that were less likely to lead to any significant revelations on my part.

"Bravery, mostly. If we are to face the unimaginable threats of realms above, we need hearts of steel. Cleverness goes nowhere with a monster that can twist the very reality before your eyes."