Despite the Angels (4 page)

“Don’t think badly of him for that, Alessia” she whispered. “It’s the first time he has shown an interest in a woman. He’s just practising. He’ll choose better next time.” When Taklidon came back in to pick up some of the dishes to go to the picnic site, he would not meet anyone’s eye. He looked at Alessia from under half closed lids and muttered under his breath.

“Do not let him upset you, Alessia. He will find another, more suitable. He is not right for you, remember that.”

  Alessia picked up one small bowl, as did Rasifi; they made Mikolos and the two boys carry the bigger dishes to the picnic site. The palace craftsmen were gathering together and would receive gifts of wine and grape juice from the palace. When they arrived there was already a festive atmosphere. The food was being shared as the groups sat on the ground enjoying the warmth of the late afternoon sun. Other women came to look in their bowls and praise Alessia and Rasifi for their culinary skills and on their beauty. There was much laughter and exchanging of outrageous gossip. Wine jars were handed around and soon the stories became more preposterous, the laughter louder and the mutual praise more extravagant. As the dusk fell, there were cries for ‘music, music’ and ‘dance’.

“Alessia can dance” said Kadmos, through a large mouthful of honey cake. “She does it all the time.”

“Come on, then, Alessia!” said someone, “let’s see you!”

“I only do the earth walk,” Alessia admitted, “It’s not the sort of dance you want to see today. It’s very gentle.”

“A dance is a dance,” said another voice. “Come on, start us off.” Then the gentle tune Alessia remembered from Hetrion’s troupe started up, so she shook out her hair and stood up. She walked to a clear space, stood quietly for a moment to acknowledge the Earth Spirit and then started the slow familiar moves. The others watched her for a few moments, but as she had predicted, this was not the sort of dance they wanted on such a day and the chattering gradually swelled again, as attention slipped away from her. Alessia continued her dance to the earth: to stop would have been the height of disrespect. After a few minutes, she became aware of another dancer, moving with her, following her lead and then, to her delight, taking the lead, allowing her to follow in the half remembered steps she had only partially learned with Hetrion.  Together they circled and swayed and as she danced with the earth she was only half aware that the noise of the revellers was becoming distant and the quietness of the night was clearer.

As one they dipped and turned together and Alessia allowed herself to glance up to see if what she hoped was true and yes, it was Danthys who was dancing with her, leading her further and further away from the party. She caught his eye and grinned, and as he grinned back at her the moment came in the dance for the reminder that the earth is only sleeping. They both made the small quick move and then Danthys did it again and Alessia followed, her breath catching. They circled once more and then Danthys was making a series of the earthquake moves, his lively eyes meeting hers. A laugh bubbled up her throat and burst out. As they made the next circle move, Danthys caught her hand and she spun towards him. His arm was around her and his eyes just above hers as they looked deep within her. She could feel his heart thumping in his chest. He put his hand on her breast.

“I can feel your heart, Alessia. It wasn’t such a strenuous dance, was it? Or are you like me, so pleased to be here you can hardly bear it?”

“I can feel yours too, Danthys. And the sweat on you!” Alessia stopped, wondering which out of all the things she could say, would be right. She looked up at him again, so close she could see the little beads of sweat on his lip. She reached up a finger and wiped them off. As she did he pulled her to him and kissed her, hard. He kept one hand on her breast and stroked it as she ran her hands down his bare back and returned his kiss.

“We’ll get cold here,” said Danthys, at last pulling his mouth away from hers. “Come, up to the workshop.” He pulled her hand and broke into a trot towards the palace. Alessia followed willingly, but thinking to herself that it was as well she was willing, as Danthys had not asked her opinion. He didn’t need to, she thought, he knows me too well.

Over by the nearest bonfire, just starting now against the chill of the evening, Rasifi leaned over to Mikolos and whispered, indicating the direction of the palace. Mikolos nodded and smiled, put an arm around his wife and took another long drink from his wine cup. The world was turning as it should.

Danthys led Alessia into his father’s workshop and lit an oil-lamp. Then he beckoned her over to a corner, where there were several large cushions on the floor. Suddenly shy, Alessia hung back, but Danthys reached out to her and ran his hands through her long curls, dislodging the vine leaves. She put her hand up and stroked his smooth brown hair. Smiling at each other they knelt down onto the soft cushions. Danthys pulled at the laces of Alessia’s bodice, but in his haste did it the wrong way and tightened them. Alessia picked at the knots, distracted by Danthys’ mouth travelling all over her bare flesh. At last she got the laces undone and also her apron and skirt. Then she turned her attention to the clasp on Danthys’ skirt.

“We’re definitely not needed now, Trynor” said Jotin. “They know what to do from here.”

“How do you know? They might not,” protested Trynor.

“I remember. I was a man several times. It comes naturally. You really should try it again sometime, it would help you.”

“Not me,” said Trynor, “far too uncomfortable, having a body. I’ve watched. Mostly pain, of various sorts. My one life ended badly, you know. That’s how I know what pain is and that I’m not keen on it.”

“There’s pleasure too, though. The taste of a fig straight off the tree, the feeling of warm water on your skin, the smell of a tiny baby. You can’t imagine. Come on outside, we’re in the way.”

Later, Alessia sat up on the cushions and stretched. Her legs felt soft and useless and the sweat on her naked body was beginning to cool. Danthys was sleeping, his arms thrown out and his mouth slightly open. He looks lovely, she thought. He is lovely, so gentle but insistent, so funny. She looked around in the dim flickering light. It was much the same as Mikolos’ workshop; all the familiar tools were there. She tested her legs and found that they would actually hold her. She got up and started to look around, running her fingers over the familiar shapes, thankful that they were now familiar and that she had not stayed behind in the west and been a potter all her days.

“Do you want to see it?” Danthys voice was slow and soft, “Do you want to see our cup?”

“Oh, Danthys, I shouldn’t. It’s too near to being finished. It is a contest, after all. What if I told Mikolos what it’s like by mistake? It would give him an unfair advantage. Your father might be angry, if he lost like that. I wouldn’t like to see him angry.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. He is almost never angry. That bull neck is just a joke the gods played on him, he’s really very gentle.”

“I’m glad you didn’t get his neck” said Alessia, as she traced a finger up Danthys’ long throat and along his jaw. “I suppose you must have an Egyptian neck?”

“Yes, I look like my mother, as you know. But I’m all Cretan inside.”

“You can even do the earth walk, how did you learn that?”

“Well, I actually learnt that in Egypt, last year. I think it’s the same as the Cretan one?” Alessia’s finger had now reached Danthys’ mouth and was following the outline of his lips. He darted his face forward and took her finger into his mouth as he pulled her down again onto the cushions.

“Look, before we go back to the celebrations. Tell me what you think of it, at least.” Danthys ignored Alessia’s protests, opened a heavy box at the back of the shop and lifted out a cloth bundle. He unrolled it and the gold gleamed in the soft light. It was big for a gold cup, plain but well proportioned, with three small handles.

“It’s very beautiful,” she said, “but it has no decorations on it!”

“My father can’t decide how to decorate it. He makes ornaments for it, then melts them down again. He has tried dolphins, axes, a bull, - what has yours got on it?”

Alessia ran her hands over the solid gold, feeling its spirit warm under her fingers. The little handles were too small, she thought, for such a heavy cup.

“I’m not sure if Rasifi has decided,” she said, as her hands unconsciously shaped Mikolos and Rasifi’s cup in the air. Danthys watched, unable to pull his eyes away from her, even had he wished. His hands began to move in the same shapes.

Jotin was looking in through the doorway and would have held his breath, had he had any. “Look, Trynor! Look at their energy fields.”

“Yes! How wonderful! Let’s help,” Trynor and Jotin moved together and held the two humans’ energies, encouraging the melding together that they had seen.

“Well done for noticing, Jo,” said Trynor in awe, “We have something special here. It’s really astonishing, when they aren’t in the same soul group. That is a real shame, because one and one make more than two this time. They could work together at Home, not just in their lives. These cups will be more than beautiful. We must work together with them in as many future lives as we can manage: these two might create something astounding.”

“Remember that couple who made the first wheel? Neither would have done it on their own, their guides said, but something extra happened when they got together. I wonder are Danthys and Alessia as significant as that?” Jotin passed his hands above the two heads that were bending together over the gold cup.

“I always put bulls, or flowers,” said Alessia, “flowers mostly, they are easier. I put the new moon on the last jars I made.”

“You mean on your pottery? Like the flower you wear?” Danthys indicated the pottery flower between Alessia’s breasts. “Clever you, to draw attention so well to one, I mean two, of your most beautiful assets!” He dropped his head, to put a kiss just below the flower.

“I’m glad it had that effect,” murmured Alessia, stroking his head, “even though I never intended it to.”

“Haha. I’m sure! How can you not have noticed?”

“I’m behind it, looking out. I noticed you!”

“Yes, you did and everyone noticed you noticing me!”

“So?”

“So nothing! Let them! You’re my woman now, aren’t you?”

“Shouldn’t we put away the cup before you do that again?” Alessia took his hand from her bottom and held it towards the cup. Then, she found her hands tracing a shape, Danthys was tracing it with her, and she thought she could see the cup grow new handles, curled and beautiful. But she said nothing, as an idea came into her mind that she thought she would keep for Rasifi. She reached for the cloth and started to roll the cup into it. Danthys grabbed her hands and brought one to his lips, looking down at her with a smile in his eyes.

“You have just given me the most wonderful idea, Alessia! My father’s cup will be spectacular.”

“And you have given me one too. I hope Rasifi and Mikolos will like it.”

“My woman could only have wonderful ideas. And so do I,” he quickly put the cup away and turned again to Alessia, tracing his finger down over her skin to where the flower nestled. Alessia moved closer, her hands running down his back as she lifted her face to his. They moved together, barely able to keep still and their delighted laughter filled the dim room.

Alessia looked up at the moon and tried to remember. Just how full had it been on the night of the grape harvest festival? She was almost sure she knew, but was confused because her body was not telling her. The days since had passed in a happy haze, seeing Danthys every day, sometimes taking their food out of the palace to eat together at midday. He had grown familiar to her, but not less exciting. In the evenings they met, often by the beach, to walk together in the moonlight. Several times they had found a sheltered place and had been able to lie down and enjoy each other all over again. The moon had shone down on them, but she had not noticed it properly. Just how full had it been? Was she right that it was the same now? For the first time in four years, she had no certainty. Just a growing suspicion that the Mother had blessed her. She put a hand on her belly and asked it “is anyone there? I’ll look after you, always!”

In the morning she was more certain of the blessing, when she found she could not eat. Rasifi looked at her and grinned. Nothing much got past Rasifi.

“You’ve been seeing a lot of Danthys these last weeks. Looks like you’ll be seeing even more of him?”

Alessia looked up and blushed. “Yes, I think so. I will need his support when I can’t work.” A thought stopped her. “Will you allow me to keep working with the gold if I am with child?”

“Of course we will. Gold needs a female spirit to work it, to soften it. What is more female than a pregnant woman?”

“Will I be able to continue after the baby is born?”

Rasifi reached across the table and took Alessia’s hand. “Not for a few months. You must rest and care for the baby. But when your strength is back, there’s no reason why you can’t start again.”

“I must tell Danthys,” said Alessia, “I hope he is as pleased as I am.”

Rasifi stood up and started to clear the table. “He has to be. If the Mother blesses you and uses him, he is blessed too. He cannot reject a blessing, it would be bad luck. Not to say he won’t be surprised. Amazing the number of young men who are surprised. You’d wonder what they thought they were doing when the night was warm and the woman was beautiful. The wine clouds their minds, I think.” She bustled out, her hands full of dishes.