Communion

“Excuse me, ma’am,” Tim ventured, somehow finding the courage to take a small step in his designer heels toward the newcomer, the one that Lust and Destiny had called ‘Mother’, “but it’s your daughter, Justice that I have an arrangement with. Is there a way that I could speak with her?”

Her eyes locked on his, causing his stomach to do a flip. The power this woman held, whatever it was, was terrifying. He was so scared that he was even resisting the temptation to check his makeup.

“Oh, I know much of your arrangement,” the woman said, “My daughter and I are in communion. What I hear, she hears. What she knows, I know.”

“Mother, no!” Lust exclaimed, “You have taken Justice home?!”

“Justice and Wisdom are one,” she said with finality, “How else can Creation find its balance? How else could the puzzle of this mortal be solved?”

“So the deal that I had with her is off?” Tim asked, once again finding a hidden well of bravery, “She’s been helping me with some of my problems, and…”

“Justice and I are one. She was birthed of me, and now has returned to grow in my power,” Wisdom said, turning her attention to her daughters as she spoke, “Justice is not lost. She and I will honour the pact, and you shall receive my assistance. But these two,” she touched the foreheads of Lust and Desire, “have wandered from their path.”

“Father instructed us to serve the mortal,” Desire said, head hanging, eyes on the floor, “for our power is rightfully his. The mortal is good, and worthy of our service. I willfully and freely choose to follow him.”

“You has strayed long before you met this mortal. It is not he that had caused your problem,” Wisdom said, shaking her head, “His intervention may be your salvation, or your damnation. It is yet to be seen which. Even without my input, your Father may have imparted good guidance.”

“Will you allow us to continue to serve him? I beg that you do,” Lust asked, her voice sounding on the very verge of tears.

“Mortals are not built to have ones such as us below them,” Wisdom said, “Creation demands order, and should I allow chaos, it would unravel.”

“But without him, we have no purpose,” Lust whined, “He fulfills us!”

“There is no doubt that the role he plays is important,” Wisdom said thoughtfully, “and I sense great change coming from him, one that will impact us all, but we must correct your course before we can understand his.”

She held her hands out toward the two immortals.

“Come,” she was, and with panic in their eyes, Lust and Desire slid across the room into their Mother’s embrace. Tim watched as she held them tightly. Then something strange happened. The sisters kept moving toward Wisdom, despite being pressed up against her. No, that wasn’t right. Not toward Wisdom. Into Wisdom.

It happened quickly. One second the twins were being hugged by their Mother, the next they had vanished, seemingly sucked into their matron.

“What just happened?” Tim asked, backing away from his visitor.

“Fear not,” she said, “they have returned home to me, to commune. Together we will resolve the issues of their roles, their path. But enough about them. They shall be my concern. You, on the other hand, have a trade to make, or have you changed your mind?”

“Actually two.”

“Well then, mortal, let us not delay. Tell me your desires, and I shall see if Wisdom can help.”