Despite the Angels - By Madeline A Stringer Page 0,20
creeps up on you, even when you aren't expecting it. You really should stop pussyfooting and take another life yourself. Then you might understand.” He stopped, looked at Trynor and laughed. “But you don’t, because you are worried. You are worried that you would make a mess of it, or feel the pain too much, or something of the sort. So you stay an observer. I tell you, young friend, it will get us into trouble sometime.”
Trynor smiled. “Is that a prophecy?” He laughed. “Or just a threat?”
“Neither. Just a bad feeling for a moment.”
“Well, stop it at once. Look at Danthys.” Trynor pointed and Jotin turned to look. Danthys was walking slower than the others, falling behind. His expression was anxious and his smooth forehead was furrowed, maybe for the first time. Jotin moved quickly over to him and put his energy around the worried boy.
“Alessia, look!” said Trynor and Alessia turned to see Danthys’ face. She waited for him to take the few steps to catch up with her, then put out her hand to him.
“That was my sister. She has gone to tell the others we are coming. Oh, Danthys, it is going to be so wonderful to see them again and to introduce them to Arma, and to you, of course. They will love both of you.” She reached up and kissed him, and Danthys put his arm around her waist and drew her to him.
“I don’t know why I got worried. Why should they not like me?” he said, in a puzzled tone. “But I just found myself wondering for a moment, how they would feel and whether I would be a threat to them.”
“How could you be a threat?”
“I have no idea. It just came into my mind. Ridiculous really.”
“You see the damage you caused, Jotin? And you were trying to blame me for causing problems.”
“It seems this one is over,” said Jotin, indicating the road ahead. There on the road was a group of people pointing and talking. A little girl was jumping up and down, and as the bull-dancing troupe drew closer she broke away from the others and ran towards them, her black curls bobbing. Alessia handed Armishamai to Danthys and knelt down, her arms out. Little Paslona, with squeals of “Alessia, Alessia!” threw herself onto Alessia’s lap and buried her face in her older sister’s shoulder. Muffled squeaks could be heard, as she recounted how she had missed her sister, and what skills she had acquired since Alessia went away. Alessia lifted her up and, carrying her as she had since Paslona was a newborn, she was gathered back into her family.
“So is this your daughter, Alessia?” asked her father after the first excitement had died down. “Isn’t she a little beauty? And this fine man must be her father? You are very welcome. It is wonderful to welcome our daughter back as a full woman, blessed by the Mother and with her man beside her. Come , we must drink to this day. And you too, Hetrion, you must help us to celebrate, for you played a big part in this story.”
The party lasted into the dark, as stories were exchanged. Alessia told of the earth walk, her new knowledge of gold, her love for Malatos and her adopted family there; and her family told of all the goings on in the town since she had left, the new births and the deaths, the celebrations and festivals. They included Danthys easily into the circle, sometimes remembering to explain to him who they were speaking about. As the time wore on, they explained less and less, as it seemed that he had been a part of their family always, and Danthys relaxed and told his stories too, of Egypt and the wonders there.
The two guides kept only a cursory eye on the proceedings, as they could see that all was well. They looked in occasionally, just to be sure, but as the evening wore on they could see their help was superfluous. Jotin was glad, as his attention was called for in no uncertain terms by one of his other charges. She had just noticed that what she had mistaken for a log in a river was actually a crocodile. So Jotin transferred his energy to the southern continent, to alert the girl’s family.
Trynor’s other people were all sleeping, as night had fallen on their parts of the world, so after a while he went back to his own home,