The Burning Candle

The Prayer Dilemma

Aire didn’t appear for a few more weeks. Ava had no choice but to keep the scrolls. She hid them in her room, only daring to take them out after midnight. Reading them was slow work, as she was so worried to damage them in some way that she spent almost an hour making sure she was clean enough, that the room was secure enough, that the window was shut, before even retrieving the scrolls from their hiding spot. But what she did read made her heart pound. No other mortals had read these scrolls; not for hundreds of thousands of generations. Aire really had gone all-out on her birthday present. Then again, to a god, was it really that much effort?

Scrolls aside, she was getting very annoyed with her would-be boyfriend. He never stayed around too long, and always left for such a long time.

Not to mention it had messed up her daily routine. She could no longer pray for the resolution to her daily problems, because He was her problem. To pray for his return would seem both selfish and needy, and to pray that he was serious about being in a relationship…she dreaded to think of what He’d think of her then. So she was stuck. She had considered praying to another god, but not only would that be dishonest, she hadn’t the slightest idea who to pray to. They’d listen of course, unless she chose one like Darke – notoriously known for only listening to ‘interesting’ prayers. But, isn’t dating a God interesting, she wondered. So who else? Earthe? He could give good advice, but maybe He would be protective of his firstborn son. In fact, all the Major gods might get angry with her for dating Aire. And what Minor god would care? Or help? In fact, they might use it against Him. So she really, truly was stuck in the whole God department, forced to wait for Him to come and get her. Was this how it was always going to be? Her waiting for him. No, she told herself. No. She was about to say that she could find someone else to settle down with, but froze. Since when did she need someone else? She was fine until He came down and kissed her. She had never even thought of finding a mate until He arrived. But now…

She sighed. She needed Him now. No matter how brief, and far-between their meetings had been, they had forged a connection. She had fallen head-over-heels with her God.