joy.

“It was nice for you to bring him back home,” said a young woman with long, white hair and sunkissed skin.

“It was no trouble, really!” replied Ago with a big grin. “Have you and your family been well?”

“Yes, they have, thank you for asking,” responded the woman. “What about you and Nadia?”

“We have been quite happy, as usual,” stated Ago gleefully. “Every day has been a journey!”

“Even after twenty years, it feels so new being married to her, huh?”

Ago smiled softy a looked at his left hand. A golden ring in the shape of a flower wreath glimmered in the light of the winter moon.

“Well...it’s not that,” spoke Ago. “Everyday I know her more than the last. In that, I fall in love with something new about her. Things won’t always be so calm, but that isn’t bad.”

The wind blew through his hair softly. A wind began to sing tenderly in the starry splattered night.

“After all, hardship is the reason she and I met.”

China glistened and reflected the dim fire in the fireplace. Tea was set out for both and Evangelique and Nadia.

“Tell me, Eva, what do you know about the history of Alieliyo?” asked Nadia, holding a china cup filled to the brim with dark herbal tea.

Eva sat silent. As she thought about the question, she realized she barely knew a thing about her country.

The only piece of information was a significant piece of lore.

“You are young,” stated Nadia. “So you must only know of the legend of the Floresco Revolution?”

“Yes, I have,” replied Eva.

“In the legend, it tells of a young man who set free the Hamadryad women destined to a twisted fate,” began Nadia. “What they never mention in the legend was the fate of the Hamadryad women was...”

The once warm atmosphere of the cottage began to chill Eva. She could feel bitter remorse arise from the shadows the fire couldn’t reach.

“I was much younger when the revolution happened,” spoke Nadia.“I was not born to feel any act of love and left to be in isolation. My body was not to be touched, for if it was, I was impure. I lived with that mentality for so long that I forgot I was a being with a soul."

The sound of flickering flames in the hearth gave a sensation of sunlight to the flagstone and wood walls.

“However...one day, a young traveler came to Aleilyo,” said Nadia. A tiny smile curled at the edge of her lips. “He was only sixteen then, and very timid. His existence shook me. He was gentle and overbearingly kind. He taught me of the love of Elohim, though I was quite against it for some time.”

Her voice became softer, creeping among the blues of the umbra like a thief in a dragon’s den.

“I had lived with the idea of being born as a sacred vessel for so long that I couldn’t comprehend the reality of it all being false,” she uttered. "But I couldn’t push away the young man’s words. I had to know more. Late one spring night, I had decided that I wanted to try to forget his words, despite my feelings. I went to the temple for the Hamadryad deity, hoping to find relief.”

Nadia’s hands were now clasped together tightly, stiffly. By the sound of her breathing, Evangelique could tell what Nadia was about to say next was something quite distressing to her.

“Instead, I found out the reality of my fate through the written documents of our people by accident. In that time, I found an ancient proclamation that called for the disposal of undesirable Hamadryad women in the form of sacrifice. Taking it as a commandment from the deity, they assigned certain women to become a vessel. And as a vessel, I was to be stabbed through the heart and then burned into ashes, so I could be made ‘complete’ in the eyes of the deity.”

Nadia’s lips quivered as she spoke about her past. Evangelique shivered.

“On that same night, I was brought to be sacrificed in front of my village,” started Nadia once more, her voice cracking slightly.

“I was so afraid, so lost...I was sure I was to die,” shuddered Nadia. I had lived a wasted life of no purpose, putting my trust in a lie. When my heart close to being harvested from my body, I thought about my end. Would I disappear into black? Would I burn in an eternal inferno?”

The moonlight seeping from the frost lined windows caressed Nadia’s hair like a mother comforting her child.

“I thought about it so much; I started to cry. I wanted to be with the young man again. I wanted to be able to accept his faith. It was a hard life to live, but the young man knew where he was going when he was to die. I didn’t. As I prepared to breathe my last, I prayed for liberation, and to my surprise, I was.”

Nadia smiled. There were traces of pain in her eyes, but the freedom she held in her heart showed that not even the past could stop her from being alive.

“The young man had arrived just in time to stop the blade that loomed over me from touching my skin. He used all of his strength that night to save not only myself but other destined vessels. He fought against those who tried to hurt those who were innocent, yet never killed. And when the truth became exposed, a bloodless revolution came to be, and I became a free soul.”

Evangelique tried to take in all she had learned. Her mother had never told her about the history of the Hamadryads. She wondered why for a moment, but soon set it aside, for she knew it must’ve been painful to reminisce.

“Evangelique,” called Nadia.

“Yes?” replied Eva.

“I know this is a lot to take in, but there was a reason I told you all of this,” spoke Nadia. “It has come to my attention that you are uncertain whether or not becoming a Lieutenant is a wise choice.”

Evangelique held her hands together. She felt cornered, and at a loss for words.

“I come to you at my own will to tell you what an impact the work of a Lieutenant can do. The young boy who saved me and my people was a Lieutenant himself.”

Eva’s eyes widened. A sixteen-year-old boy was a Lieutenant?

“That young man started a revolution based on love,” stated Nadia. “He never resolved to violence. He never abandoned me when I mocked him. He was a shy boy, but in Elohim’s strength became fearless.”

The fire danced to the sound of Nadia’s tranquil words. Truly, Nadia was freely alive.

“I don’t want to force a choice upon you,” said Nadia. “Whatever you do decide, I will remain your sister and friend. But I tell you this--to be both a follower of Elohim and a Lieutenant isn’t wrong. So whatever you do, whatever you choose, if it is your calling, hold onto that truth.”

Nadia and Ago walked in the snowy moonlight after taking Evangelique back home to the dormitory. The whisper of the silver stars echoed with the couple’s steps through the compact cold.

“What was it you two talked about this evening?” asked Ago.

“Oh, nothing much...” replied Nadia with a sweet smile.

“Oh, so you mean you talked about that thing,” poked Ago, knowingly. He sighed. “You didn’t tell her that it was me those twenty years ago, correct...?”

“Of course not, dear. I know you like to keep that part of the story a secret.”

Nadia laughed softly to herself.

“What is it?” asked Ago, confused.

“Well...it’s just she’s a bright girl,” responded Nadia. “I’m sure she’ll be able to figure out it was you just by the way I talked about you.”

“And what sort of way was that, exactly...?” Ago had become visibly worried.

“Well, about how timid you were, gentle you were, kind you were...” stated Nadia. She stopped walking for a moment.

“And how you never left me, no matter how undeserving I was.”

Ago turned red as a soft smile grew on his face. He took Nadia’s hand and kissed it softly.

“No one is deserving of kindness,” answered Ago in a whisper. “But as I have been freely given it, I should always freely give it.”

He drew closer to his beloved wife and kissed her deeply, just like he had the first time he held her close and kissed her.

“I’m just happy that of all the people in the world at that time, you’re the one who I got to treat with kindness and can now forever cherish.”