The Sinner and the Serpent: Tales of Lilith and Eve

Changing Eyes

In the course of a few meetings with the First Wife, Eve noticed that Lilith's eyes were never the same color. The first time she'd met her, when Lilith had spirited her away from Eden to show her the acrid deserts of her banishment, her eyes were golden like the sands themselves, with dark spots freckling around her irises.

The second time they met, they were as green as the leaves in Eden during spring. Deep emerald and full of wisdom and intangible wealth. Eve had wondered what Lilith had done to get eyes so green.

When she made a passing remark, Lilith merely smirked, and said that her eyes were made of the starry night and shifted like moon. Eve found the answer cryptic and unhelpful, but it only added to her fascination with the spurned woman.

Adam's eyes, on the other hand, were always blue - like the sky, where he would look like a reflection into the vastness above him, searching for their Father.

And like Adam's eyes, the skies would be filled with nothing. Maybe a cloud or two, but ultimately a vast vacuum of light blue. Beautiful in its looming endlessness, its rich color, but sometimes dull in its inability to often change.

Not like Lilith. Lilith was always changing, always molding herself into something else, something better she would claim. Eve was in awe of her, and she was also intimidated. She could never be like Lilith. She wasn't formed that way. She always had this aching pull back to Adam, like an invisible tether made of the thickest, unbreakable vine.

"Your eyes are brown," Lilith said to her. She stole a tendril of Eve's hair in her black nails and played with it idly. Eve remained still and watched her, feeling anxious after each one of her breaths. Lilith was relaxed, and obviously lonely - always longing to touch Eve and discover what made them so different, and what God had kept the same.

"Brown, unremarkable," Eve said with a sigh.

"Not so," Lilith said quickly. "The Earth is brown. It gives life, it comforts us in death and it grounds us if we try to fly too high into danger. The Earth is a constant companion. Her cool essence in our hands as we plant and under our feet as we walk. The Earth is our Mother."

"Mother? We have only God," Eve said. "We have no mother."

"Tsk, tsk," Lilith said shaking her head. "So upsetting he does not teach you the way I see our Mother. He does not give her credit."

Eve felt stupid, and in the silence, she regretted what she had said. Lilith rubbed her back tenderly.

"Don't fret, dear one. You are learning more about your mother everyday."

"I am?" Eve's interest piqued. She tensed, feeling more curious than ignorant this time. How was she learning about their mother? The Earth did not talk to them as God did.

"Our Mother nurtures us always. She cares for us. She creates everything from the sky to the smallest flea, and your Father takes the credit."

"Your father?" Eve asked. "Is he not yours as well?"

Lilith pulled back, sighing. She started to sift the dark dirt through her fingers. "I do not claim him. Not anymore. I am my own woman, and since I have decided this, I have certain powers that a Father would not want his daughter to have. And I am not human. Not how I was meant to be. I have grown beyond humanity."

Eve was even more confused. "If you are not human, than what are you?"

"A being with powers. A being of this earth and sky. A being of sand and blood," Lilith replied. "A being who influences. A being so strong she can move rocks and wind."

"A god then?"

Lilith shakes her head. "A goddess. And a part of our Mother. A creator and a destroyer."

"A part? Then it is almost as if..." Eve's words trailed off as she thought about Lilith and who she really was. She considered all of her powers, and she thought about all the times Adam told her to stay away from Lilith, that she was banished by God. God saw her as an enemy, and Eve knew that God had done some terrible things to Lilith, yet he had not killed her yet as all-powerful as he was.

"God cannot destroy you," Eve said her thoughts aloud, and Lilith watched her with changing eyes as if she had followed Eve's train of thought through every step.

"No, he cannot. He takes credit for making me, but I am from the Earth. The Earth is my Mother."

"If you are from the Earth and the Earth is our Mother," Eve stated. "Then you are our Mother."

Lilith laughed and Eve saw unshed tears in her eyes for the first time. Her smile was a big as the full moon. She leaned in and drew Eve into a soft embrace.

"I can be, my child. I can be your Mother when you have none. But yes, I have the powers of our Mother, and because of that, because the Earth is always changing, I cannot truly be destroyed."

Eve leaned into the embrace and closed her eyes. She inhaled Lilith's deep scent and felt her mind clear and her heart swell. Within Lilith's arms she felt a love with the woman she had never felt before, not even with Adam. It was different, loving another female like this. Eve felt her mind opening up as well as her heart, seeing the potential she had. She wondered if this potential was dangerous, and perhaps she would get in trouble with God. At this moment, with Lilith's breath so close to her, Eve did not care what God or Adam thought.

Lilith did not let go of her in turn, and Eve preferred a choice where she could hold onto her newfound Mother forever. Against Adam's wishes, she would like to keep her mother close, and learn more about her as much as she could.

END