Page 48 of The Guardian's Promise

Lord, is this what it is to care deeply for someone? To remove aside all thought of yourself for someone else?

Chapter Twenty

With Joash no longer taking the focus of her attention, Mira took in Manna. When they had approached the city from the mountain pass, it had looked like any other ordinary mountain in Judea. Or at least any that she had seen. But then they had passed through what looked to be just another cave entrance, which left the bitter taste of bile rising. She had had enough of dark tunnels and scurrying critters.

Even the spectacle of celebratory dancers at their approach hadn’t eased her fears. But she had gathered up every bit of courage she could garner. For she knew the sooner they reached Manna the sooner she could return home. The sooner she could put space between her and Ari. Then she could mend the pieces of her breaking heart.

But when they walked through the gates of Manna she’d forgotten about home. Manna was only a bit larger than her village, a village made up of her family. Her mother, father, Rubiel. Aunts, uncles and cousins. Were all these people kin to Ari?

People pressed and touched, kissed her cheeks and bowed. There was no room to move without bumping into another person. No room to breathe. She felt lost. Alone in a sea of ornately colored tunics. It was enough to make her head spin. She almost preferred the black, cold walls of the tunnels over the weight of friendliness.

Now she followed behind Anna’s gracefulness. Marble columns were erected throughout the central area, reaching toward the ceiling. As if it reached into the heavens. Blue, purple, gold and red square designs decorated the floors surrounding the columns.

They passed rooms upon rooms. Each seemed to be a home of some sort. Much grander than her father’s house. A woman sat before a loom weaving fine linen cloth in front of a home. Another crushed grain. Her children ran circles playing a game of tag.

“Here we are,” Anna said as they climbed a set of carved stairs.

Mira’s eyes followed the line of stairs as she took each step. Something bubbled and swirled in her stomach. With no Joash to hide behind, she had to take each step on her own. Each step that would take her into the place Ari called home. A shiver ran down her nape and across her shoulders. It somehow seemed intimate. An intimacy reserved only for a wife.

“Since you have no belongings with you, I’ll take you straightway to the bathing chamber. There you will find clean clothing.”

“My thanks, Anna,” Mira said.

“None is needed, my child. You have been through quite an ordeal. You’ll rest easier once the dirt is washed from your limbs.”

Mira smiled. As much as her body ached from the days of hard travel she felt as if she would never again rest easy. And with the possibility of crossing paths with Ari, she wouldn’t find peace until she returned to her father’s house.

“This is Sybil.” Anna introduced an elderly lady with graying hair. Her smile was welcoming and her hands looked papery soft. “She’ll assist you in whatever you need.”

Mira bowed her head in greeting.

“You are with my Ari, yes?” Sybil asked.

Mira choked. “I am.” Even if it wasn’t by her choice.

“Lydia told me to expect you. He is a good boy.” How long it had been since Sybil had seen Ari? There was nothing boyish about him.

Sybil led her through a narrow path lit by oil lamps and down a few steps. They entered a large chamber. Steam rose from the tub made of cut stone large enough to easily hold a man of Ari’s size, although she knew this to be the women’s cleansing room. Sybil removed Mira’s veil and placed it with gentleness onto a stone bench.

“I recall the first time Anna wore this very veil. It was the day she left with Ishiah to meet his family.”

“You have been with Anna for a long time, then?” Mira asked as Sybil untied the sash at her waist.

Sybil laughed. “You could say that I have been with her since birth.”

Mira glanced at the woman. Although sagged with age, her facial features were somewhat familiar, could she somehow be a relative of Anna’s? “You must be like family.”

“I am.” Sybil lifted Mira’s tunic over her head, leaving her standing in nothing but the loincloth and the strips of binding around her chest. This ritual was so reminiscent of what Anna had done when they had arrived at the cave.

“Savta.” Lydia entered bearing linens and several small jars. “I have brought all that you have requested.”

Embarrassed, Mira wrapped her arms over her chest. This woman was Ari’s savta, his grandmother?

“No need to be shy, my child,” Sybil soothed.

This sort of hospitality was not unheard of. Mira knew it to be quite common, but she had never before—that was until only yesterday, twice in a short span—been treated with honor. What was more humbling was the fact that the actions of Ari’s family were genuine, from the heart, not out of duty.

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