Authors: L. M. Roth
“Yes,” the
girl said. “Our island serves Dominio! We are not many, but we try to advance
His Kingdom whenever visitors come to our shores.”
“Oh, that is
wonderful!” Felicia exclaimed. “For I serve Him also!”
The girl
beamed her joy as a radiant smile threatened to run away with her face.
“Then we are
sisters!” she crowed as she grabbed Felicia’s hands and clasped them tightly.
“Yes, we are!”
Felicia laughed. “And I am so happy for the sight of another woman, as I am the
only female on board our ship. And to meet a sister who belongs to Dominio is a
delight indeed!”
“I am
delighted also,” the girl answered. “And your ring has been especially blessed.
It is made of pearl, which represents the Kingdom, and the three strands
represent Dominio, Alexandros, and the Spirit. Any who wear this ring will be
protected in times of peril. Such is the blessing that was spoken over it.”
“Then I shall
love it all the more!” Felicia exclaimed. “Tell me; who is your local leader?
Do you have one or do you have more than one? I would dearly love to meet and
talk with them. For I have not talked of Dominio to anyone in weeks!”
The girl
giggled and clapped her hands.
“I can bring
him to you. He is my father,” she started to say, when she was startled by a
movement behind her.
“Oh!” she
exclaimed. “Here he is!”
A man who
looked a little older than her own father stood just behind the girl. He was
brown, with curly brown hair streaked with gray and warm brown eyes, and stood
as erectly as a young god. He gazed intently into Felicia’s eyes for what
seemed a very long moment before extending a hand in welcome.
“Greetings,”
he said in the Common Tongue. “I am Bimo. Welcome to our island.”
Felicia smiled
and bowed slightly but did not take his hand, as the Valerian people did not
touch strangers.
“Thank you. I
am Felicia Maximus, a passenger on the ship. I have just bought a very charming
ring from your daughter.”
To her
surprise Bimo blinked his eyes and let out his breath in a long exhalation.
“Marcus
Maximus? You are his daughter, perhaps?”
“Why, yes,”
Felicia said as she blinked her own eyes. “Do you know my father?”
“Yes, I do,”
Bimo replied. “I journeyed with him once long ago, when he was not much older
than you are now. I made my home in Eirinia for a few years, and then decided
it was time for me to move on and go wherever Dominio would send me. After a
time of roaming from place to place I eventually arrived here and founded a
colony of Alexandrians.”
“Oh, how
delightful! I do recall now that my father mentioned you once when I asked
about his travels. He will be so pleased to know that we have met.”
Bimo furrowed
his brow as he looked at her. For a reason that she could not understand, his
inspection made Felicia uncomfortable.
“Is he with
you now?” Bimo asked abruptly. “Or your mother? Surely you would not be
permitted to travel alone? Such would be improper according to your custom.”
Felicia
fidgeted under his penetrating stare. She dropped her eyes from his and looked
at the ground beneath her sandals. At last she looked up at him and sighed.
“Perhaps there
is some place where we could talk?” she asked with an appealing little smile.
They had not
long for their conversation, as the ship would only be in port for a few hours.
But it was not long before Bimo made Felicia see the error of her ways in
defying her mother and abusing Kyrene’s hospitality.
Would Dominio
approve of such flagrant disobedience to her mother and contempt for the woman
who had mentored her? He thought not, Bimo said. And she would find no blessing
on her venture to Eirinia, as it was born out of rebellion and not because
Dominio was sending her there to be used in the Kingdom work.
Bimo advised
her to make for home without any further delay. And once there, she should send
Kyrene a letter of apology. If Dominio wished her to continue her mentoring, He
would somehow find a way to provide a mentor in Lycenium.
Although
Felicia did not like what Bimo said, she knew it was from the Spirit of
Dominio. She hung her head with shame for her thoughtless treatment of Kyrene,
and the distress her actions had no doubt caused her parents. By now they would
have heard from Kyrene and were perhaps already looking frantically for her.
How could she have been so selfish and headstrong as to cause them grief and
anxiety?
Bimo put a
fatherly arm around her shoulders, and she admitted that what he advised was
the right counsel. She would continue her journey on this ship only so that she
could transfer to another ship at the next port that would carry her to
Lycenium. Bimo patted her shoulder approvingly. He told her that another ship
would be calling in a few days that would take her to Lycenium much faster, as
it was coming from the west and heading east. Until then she could stay with
his family and relate to him all that had befallen his friends of his journey
so long ago.
This course
was decided on, and Felicia enjoyed the next few days immensely. The little
island was a port where ships called for fresh water and fruit, and frequently
bought little keepsakes from the stalls for family back home. This commerce
enabled the inhabitants to earn an adequate income, and it livened their days
to see new faces and hear news of the wide world.
When Felicia
shared with Bimo the story of Florindia and how it grieved her heart that she
could not stay to teach the women more about Dominio, he assured her quickly.
“Not to
worry,” he smiled gently. “We will send a few of our people there to teach them
so they will not forget the teachings of Alexandros.”
Felicia smiled
with a sigh of relief. How she had worried about them so! How good Dominio was,
she thought, to send her to these shores where the provision for Florindia was
waiting!
Brenus could
not believe his good fortune. He was so happy with Melisande! True, there were
the occasions when she lost her good humor and snapped impatiently at him. But
those occasions were rare, and all he had to do was give way to her to restore
her to a happier mood. Was that too much to demand of him?
She had not
been pleased by the return of Cort, and less so with the addition of his wife.
For Cort and Siv had been married by the local priest shortly after their
arrival in Leith. Dag had beamed his approval of Cort’s choice, and declared
himself delighted to see a native of Trekur Lende once more. Both Dag and Judoc
had made Brit feel welcome, and they prevailed on her as well as Cort and Siv
to make her home permanently in Eirinia.
It was true
that the more temperate climate agreed with Brit far better than the frigid
winters of her native land. She and Judoc were soon inseparable companions, as
Judoc hastened to acquaint her with incidents from Cort’s childhood and
adolescence that she had missed. Brit feasted on these anecdotes with the
hunger of one who has fasted long and is now permitted to sate their craving.
How she loved Cort! And how she had missed him in the years after he ran away
from home.
Brenus found
himself deeply moved by Cort’s mother and her joy in her reunion with her son.
He frequently caught her gazing at her son with tears shimmering in her eyes.
At Cort’s wedding, Brenus spotted her weeping at the feast. He walked over to
her and put an arm around her. She smiled through her tears and shrugged her
shoulders.
“I am so
happy,” she whispered. “So happy.”
Brenus
happened to glance from her glowing face to behold his own wife’s glowering
one. Why did Melisande shed such a malevolent stare upon Siv? Surely she should
be pleased that Cort was married and would not be troubling her any longer!
He said
nothing at the wedding, but later as they were preparing to retire to bed he
decided to satisfy his curiosity. Something did not feel right in his spirit
and he wanted to reassure himself that all was well. Although he would not
admit that, not even in his own heart…
“Ah, was that
not a lovely wedding, Melisande? And to think: Siv waited for Cort all those
years! A true romance, that is. And those are rare indeed!”
Melisande had
been brushing her hair prior to retiring, and to her husband’s astonishment she
suddenly flung the brush across the room. She then glanced at her husband, and
seeing the look of astonishment on his face, she managed a difficult smile.
“Lovely, yes!
But as for Siv waiting all those years, I doubt there were many men who paid
court to her anyway. She is not exactly a beauty, you know.”
“Melisande!
That is very unkind of you! And I think that Siv is very pretty, like a young
doe with her wide eyes and triangular face. True, she is not beautiful in the
accepted sense of the word, but she is pleasing to look at indeed!”
“Hmpf!”
Melisande huffed as she stomped across the room to retrieve her brush.
She visibly
calmed herself at the sight of her husband’s narrowed eyes that watched her too
closely for her comfort. She smoothed the scowl from her brow and lifted her
lips in a smile.
“If you say
so, Brenus. Perhaps men have different standards of beauty than women have. And
probably a good thing, otherwise few women would be made wives!”
Brenus
continued to watch her intently as a little fear clutched at his heart. It
could not be…
“But are you
not happy for Cort? For he waited a long time to take a wife, and now he has
married a good woman who shall make him as happy as you have made me.”
He never took
his eyes off of her face as he waited for her response. She seemed to falter at
his words, and sat down abruptly on the stool where she had been sitting to
brush her hair. She turned to smile at him, recovered from her momentary lapse
of serenity.
“Oh, certainly
I am happy for Cort. It is wonderful for him to be reunited with his mother, is
it not? And to see what friends she and Judoc have become is quite touching. Why,
the natives of Trekur Lende may flock to your village in droves to add a splash
of color to the local habitation! And that shall keep life most interesting,
indeed!”
Brenus
contented himself with that, choosing to overlook the fact that Melisande did
not agree with his words regarding Cort’s happiness. Once again he asked
himself the same question that haunted him ever since the night Cort had fled:
did he lie about the scene he caught him in with Melisande? Or was his wife the
perpetrator, pursuing his own brother to indulge in a forbidden love?
He could not
bear that she be lying to him, so once again he forced himself to believe that
she told him the truth.
But such
incidents were rare, and throughout the winter before Cort’s return, Brenus and
Melisande had been as ecstatic as only lovers can be. Due to the temperate
climate, they did not see much snow, and on the rare occasions when any fell
Melisande was as playful as a little girl, making snowballs to pelt at her
husband, and laughing when he put a handful down her back. Then they linked
arms and walked through the wintry wood oblivious to the cold, having eyes only
for each other, Melisande occasionally laying her head on his shoulder in
perfect contentment. For Brenus, it seemed that every desire of his heart was
satisfied, and he and his wife were the epitome of two souls combined as one,
lovers who were made for each other.
At such times
he felt that he had found heaven on earth, and cared not that Melisande did not
appear any closer to Dominio than she had the day they wed. Indeed, she seemed
even more disdainful of the faith the entire village shared than she had on
their wedding day. He cared not; for she had cast a spell on him as effective
as any enchantress that lured a wayfarer to a willing destruction. So great was
his passion for his wife that he would risk displeasing Dominio Himself, though
he knew that to be blasphemy.
As it was, she
was all he needed. That she was not always so content was an unpleasant reality
which he chose to ignore. There were times when he caught her sighing as if her
heart would break, for what reason he knew not. If he inquired she might shrug
and smile and say it did not matter. Or she might snap at him and tell him it
was none of his concern, did she not have a right to sigh if she felt like it?
She had never
made good friends with Judoc, and on occasion wrangled with Maelys, who found
her to be competition for attention. It was clear that she was not going to
befriend her new sister-in-law Siv, and indeed, had an active antipathy for
her. The fact that Maelys quickly befriended Siv was another source of
irritation to Melisande, who felt that Maelys drew a distinction between the
two young women, calling Cort’s wife “sister” while being barely civil to
Brenus’ wife. There were a couple of women in Leith that she called on to
visit, some of the younger married ones. But increasingly she had started going
to the neighboring village of Annick and whiled away her day there.
Brenus did not
see anything to object to in this matter, although he failed to see what the
attraction was. Annick was still the same fishing village where his mother used
to sell her fish before she met and married Dag: there was nothing particularly
attractive about it.
He was simply
glad that Melisande was settling into Eirinia, and had found some new friends.