Something More :: the story of Xerxes and Esther retold

01

"―And he said he'll call on me again only to make me his queen." Cooed the young woman of only sixteen and little education. "He loves me, surely."
           "Lustful intimacy guarantees nothing." Says a girl just outside the group, Esther of Susa. "You've sold your purity for the slim chance of becoming the wife of an adulterer and you shine with pride for what?"
           "He said he does, and a king doesn't go back on his word." She replied in hopes of defending her actions.
          "Was this before, during, or after the heat of passion?" Esther responds sharply.
          "Esther!" Proclaims another girl also used by the king in a similar manner, as well as several high-ranking men. "What do you know of such things that you have room to judge us? Your intellect will cause his favor to wander - he is a man of the eyes, and he chooses whom pleases him."
           "Vashti was of virtue until the night they wed, so your attempts to pleasure him will come up short. You are women created by God, and your life should showcase that."
           "You speak as a Jew, as expected from a woman of your ranking." Retorts a higher-borne lady among them, Rachel of Gaash.
           "You've shared your beauty with many, Rachel, and I'm sure the title of concubine would serve your family greatly. I say this in honesty with no intention to harm, I assure you, but we all grew up as women of God and it's been thrown away for the pleasures of a hot-tempered man choosing women to ruin for his entertainment. I don't care whom he chooses, and if I am cast aside for one more willing to submit to his desires, my view of myself will not change and I'll return to my life thinking close to nothing of this season but as an experience to learn from."
            "I think she's right," said the young woman of good intention and poor choice, "I'm a fool, as we all are. Esther of Susa, you serve the Lord as one after his own heart and I pray the king admires that in you."

Esther couldn't help but soften to the women around her and she prayed with them, asking God's will to take place. In that moment, they chose her to lead them in the ways pleasing to the Lord. The servants assisting them in their time of preparation took notice of her way of carrying herself and could only hope her heart could sway the king for good.

°o.O.o°

She'd spent almost an entire year in the palace, and being away from the people she'd grown up with takes it's toll. Her cousin Mordecai, one of which she'd named uncle, was a palace scribe and was the man to teach her much of the law she's learned to know by heart. After the death of her parents when she was young, he took her in as his own and she's come to him for everything ever since. They have to be careful about finding one another, however, for watchful eyes may be reporting to the king's companion, and earning an unclean reputation isn't exactly desirable.

          "The women are wanting something no man, even an earthly king, can give them, Hadassah, and I admire your clear understanding of it."
          "Uncle, you use my Jewish name in a place we are close to despised and I am wary of the palace's thinly veiled walls. Our time together is brief still, so let us use wisdom."
          "You correct me kindly," Mordecai chuckles warmly, "shall you do the same to the king?"
          "I doubt he'll choose a woman uninterested in the physical matters of such a relationship; I'd much rather discuss the broken policy causing such depravity on the streets I used to live on." Glancing at the horizon, the sun begins to set. "Our time is ending; keep me in prayer, uncle, my time approaches and I'm wary of what's to come."

They share a brief embrace and go their separate ways, Esther holding tightly to the hope of returning home. It pained her to not have much time with him, as he is her only family, but his safety in this is priority, as well as her own. Down the hall to the rooms of the candidates, she sees the king's companion calling upon the next girl asked to come before the king. She prayed her friend's heart would remain intact in the midst of his luring presence and that she will keep harsh words behind her tongue if the king so chooses to dismiss her. Words can make or break his view of the girl, and disgrace due to the slip of the tongue is one that can end her life. No one disgraces the king without punishment.

°o.O.o°