The Descent of the Gods

Water

Enoch and the Edenites sat in silence for some time. The girl had collapsed to the floor of her cage, her eyes tightly shut. She had not moved since her arrival. Enoch noticed that her breathing was ragged. He motioned to Jehuda, silently signaling for water. Jehuda shook his head no. When Enoch signaled that the water was for the girl, Jehuda passed the message along to Caleb. Caleb looked towards the girl's cage for a moment, before producing a small waterskin from under his cloak.

"These are Eden's waters," Caleb said soberly.

"May they quench the thirst of a daughter of Eden," Enoch replied. Caleb glanced in surprise at the girl in the cage, unconvinced. He shrugged, took a sip and then tossed the waterskin gingerly across the space between them.

A prisoner chained beside Enoch tried to snatch it just before it landed in Enoch's hands. Enoch missed it and the waterskin landed  in the dirt. The other prisoner dove for it, but Enoch drove his shoulder into the man's side, knocking him sideways. Enoch seized the waterskin, relieved that there was still water within. He faced the other prisoner.

"It's for the girl," Enoch said. "She needs it more than we do."

"Let her thirst!" the man spit out. "She's a Cainite." He moved a step toward Enoch.

"She may be," Enoch replied, standing to his full height, his right fist tightening. "But she is not like the ones we despise. She is here because only a few hours ago, she bravely condemned the worship of Cain, and called upon her people to repent of their evil ways. Does that sound like an action worthy of our hate, or our honor?"

The man backed down, slumping down into the shadows.

Enoch turned and saw that the girl still lay in her cage, but her eyes were open now, looking at him. Enoch's chain would not let him approach the cage, so he held out the waterskin.

"If you can catch it, you can drink," He said gently. She sat up, looking intently at Enoch, and then gazing at Caleb. Her eyes passed over him and his companions, noting their foreign garments. Her hand went to her neck as if by habit to clasp something that usually hung there, but her fingers met nothing, and she lowered her hand again.

"From where all waters flow?" She said softly but earnestly. Enoch was caught off guard by the question.

"That's right, from the very spring of the Euphrates," Caleb spoke. Then Enoch remembered that Seth had used that same phrase before - From where all waters flow. The Euphrates and the three  other great rivers that wound through far off lands were said to come from one source - the forbidden garden. From the garden that contained the Tree of Life sprung forth the bringer of life to the land - water.

She reached out a hand through the bars of the cage. Enoch threw it and she caught it. She drank.

"What's your name?" Enoch asked. She drained the waterskin before speaking.

"Naamah."

"What you did... at the altar..." Enoch stopped. He didn't know how to describe his disbelief that he felt to have seen her smashing down Cain's altar.

"I failed," she said shortly.