"That's absolutely awful, Shel… I'm so sorry. Is that how your father got injured? That was the day I saw Chaim bringing Dibri home in a rickshaw, wasn't it?
I remember that he needed almost a month to heal after that, and at the time, I thought THAT was why we weren't seeing you around…" Ezrae's voice was sad, not only because of what had happened, but because he suspected what was going to happen next.
"In a way… it was. And no, he was, miraculously; Praise Yahweh; entirely unharmed by the cave in. However, he was immediately and brutally assaulted by Kosey & Eramir. They beat him and beat him… And they demanded that he make up for what he did.
They said they wanted 'a son for a son.' And my father kept telling them, he didn't have a son…
He was close to dying, close to blacking out, when he gave in. He told them about me, his daughter, and Eramir demanded I be given to Kosey as his wife.
My father agreed, and they let Chaim bring him back home to us, and it took us a long time to nurse him back to health…" She sighed heavily, wiping away a tear, as the memories of that month, and her father's battered body came flooding back to her.
"He had no choice. It was either me, or his life… In the following month; parameters, rules, and plans had started to be established. So now, to answer your questions…
"When? A week from tomorrow. Did I think it was truly better to just separate myself from you? Yes. Because it would have been better for me to have just disappeared, then to have seen your heart break.
No, Divora and Reyna argued with me for like 6 weeks. But in the end, they agreed. I never knew why, until yesterday… *Giggle* It seems the two of them have fallen head over heels in love with one another."she said with a sly grin.
Ezrae's jaw dropped so hard it popped, and he said, "Ow, crap! No way, seriously?! Wow… well… I guess, good for them…" he rubbed the back of his neck, his face blushing as he looked away from Shelomith, clearly a bit uncomfortable.
She chuckled and continued talking, "As for my soul… we are taught that life isn't the ultimate goal, but being with Yahweh. My soul is fine, as long as I do not waiver from my faith.
I have been given permission to attend temple on the Sabbath, to participate in the Israelite community as I please, and to worship our Lord as I wish. My soon-to-be-husband, despite the circumstances of this, has done his best to ensure I remain as comfortable as possible during this transition period."
She reached over and kissed Ezrae on his cheek. "Including getting to spend this last night with you…"
Ezrae turned his head and looked into Shelomith's eyes as they slowly leaned in and kissed each other, for what felt like an eternity.
When they parted, they both had tears in their eyes. It was like finally feeling whole for the first time. Sparks flew, lightning exploded in their hearts, and the flames of love roared like a heavenly beast.
Shelomith wiped her eyes and smiled at Ezrae. "So, what would you like to do?" Ezrae thought about this for a moment… His eyes dropped down to his staff, where his predecessors had written their initials, one by one, with 6 in total.
He picked up a sharp rock off of The Plateau, and looked back at Shelomith, saying, "I wanna walk in my grandpa's footsteps… I wanna tell stories, and write stories… I want to entertain people and keep their minds happy in darkness…"
He held the top of the staff in his left hand, as he carved his initial, Ε, With his right. As he carved the last line in his initial, his hand slipped, and he accidentally pricked his thumb with the rock.
"Ah! Damn it!" Ezrae cursed, flinching away from the injury, and dropping his staff. When he flinched, he got blood on the staff; but just as the staff was about to hit the ground… It didn't.
It floated about 6 inches off the ground, nearly perfectly parallel with it, and suddenly; something strange happened to him. As if he was struck by lightning, he stood stark straight in the air; also floating about 6 inches off the ground. The staff slowly moved up so it was standing up straight, right in front of Ezrae's body.
Simultaneously, the 7 initials on the staff lit up in 7 different colors, and light began to pour from Ezrae's mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. Shelomith looked on, terrified, yet completely unable to make a sound. In fact, it felt like her whole body had locked up on her. She stared at him in silence, pathetically, as tears rolled down her cheeks.