More Things In Heaven And Earth

Twenty Five

"Show me your hands. Do they have scars from giving? Show me your feet. Are they wounded in service? Show me your heart. Have you left a place for divine love?" - Fulton J. Sheen

I dressed and went to the kitchen. I wasn't surprised to find Judith, Atsheena, and Gaia hard at work making breakfast. Myra sat near the fire, nursing sweet baby Pavarti, who had stolen everyone's heart. The good smells of warm bread, eggs, and hot coffee perfumed the air around us.

"Today will be our last day here," I told them. For a long moment none of them spoke. Finally Judith broke the silence.

"I love you as much as I ever loved my own children, Simone. I wish I could see what great work is about to happen, but this journey is not mine to make. My days are short, and I'll pass them in this place, spreading the message of love and caring for every weary soul that seeks shelter." Her eyes brimmed with tears and shone with purpose. I hugged her, wishing I could hold on and never let go.

Myra's soft girlish voice carried across the room. "I will stay as well. I feel...," she paused and a sheepish look crossed her face. "I've never talked like this before but I feel it's my calling. I don't mean to be presumptuous, but I think this community will thrive and I think maybe I'll make a good leader here."

I hadn't considered how many goodbyes might be involved in this process. My battered heart stumbled a little at the thought. "I think you're right," I told her. I brushed my hand on the silken softness of Pavarti's dark, downy hair. "I'll miss you both very much," I said. I understood their decision to stay was not made of fear, but of strength. They would be women alone in a dangerous world, a young, nursing mother and an old lady, taking on the task of providing refuge for the weary. Their task was immense.

Gaia pulled a pan of rolls from the oven and set them on a towel on the counter before turning her considerable bulk in my direction. "Well, I'm coming with you. I can't think of a thing that sounds better than a nice long walk across the earth!"

"I love you, Gaia," I laughed.

"Well, I love you too, little girl. And each one of these here. And the ones who live out there too. And, don't you think for a second I'm going to miss the moment when the one who tried to destroy it all gets exactly what's coming to him."

I looked to Atsheena. "It could get bad," I told her. Her tunic-style shirt showed a bump much too large for one who'd been pregnant for so short a time. Freyja had explained to me that such a child could grow at any rate. It could be born in a week or a year. It could come into the world in perfect gentleness or tear through its mother to escape the womb. Atsheena's fears were not irrational.

"I'll come," she answered. "I will know a life of peace in this world, or I will let Acedia's minions send me to another. I don't fear them as much as I fear another six hundred years of existence apart from true life."

I told the rest of the group what my plan was over breakfast and the next morning we left our home and began walking west with no fanfare at all. Everyone simply gathered up their belongings and we headed out in a ragtag group of thirty three men, women, and children meandering down the road. We knew that Tesscati had ripped a perimeter in the roads a few miles out of town but it seemed logical to follow the road at least that far. We didn't move fast. There were old people and small children.

It was midmorning when we came to the end of the road. The concrete was buckled and pushed forward, creating a wall no vehicle would have been able to cross, not only across the road but for a considerable distance in either direction. We turned on a straight southwest course and began crossing fields. Our pace slowed even further, but our progress was consistent.