The Chronicles of Heaven's War: Burning Phoenix (17 page)

Slapping his hands on his legs, Drorli
exclaimed, bemused, “That’s my girl! Quiet as a little mouse till
she jumps like a hungry cat... Got you good on that one, my
friend.”

Eurawha glanced over toward the other three,
stone-faced sober. “Always a first time, you know...” She went back
to her work.

Again there was laughter and haranguing of
poor Symeon, but this time by both Drorli and Hanna.

Symeon was not in a mood to reciprocate
humor. He fumed, “This is no way to speak about such a brave
heroine! Ishtar faced torture and death to save me. She is a
valiant warrior, and should be treated that way.”

Hanna piped in, “And spoilt, insolent,
haughty to a fault, arrogant, self-absorbed, and… and just a plain
brat most of the time!”

Insulted by Hanna’s
rude, uncalled
for
accusations, Symeon cried, aghast, “How can you speak with
such cruelty regarding this holy child when you, yourself,
witnessed so many of the brave and wonderful things she did?!”

Hanna nodded, answering, “Your girl was
certainly holy, but she wasn’t perfect. There were few of us older
women who did not receive demeaning looks from haughty eyes, I
being branded by them many times, myself. And if your little girl
could shirk her duties to go flirting with the boys, she did it in
earnest. Your little child was a royal pain in the backsides of the
older men. Why, she would even make fun of them behind their backs
when she was with the other young women.”

“I do not believe it!” Symeon ranted. “She
was such a dear child, always getting and fetching for me. Why the
girl treated me more like a father than my own sons did.”

“She worshiped you!” Hanna replied
abrasively. “She treated her uncle like a god, the rest of us like
duck squat. Ask Merna if you don’t believe me. Why, once the two
got in a little squabble over the way one of her boys was acting,
and Ishtar called Merna a ‘bitch’ right in front of her
children.”

Scowling, Symeon was about to make an angry
retort when Drorli spoke up. “Enough! Look, my dear friend, what
your wonderful companion is merely stating is that Ishtar was not
some unfathomable saint. None of you were, and may I add, none of
us have been either. Feelings, emotions and opinions get in the way
of us all. Ishtar showed outstanding love, faith and valor. That,
no one questions. But she was also many of the things Hanna has
declared. Doesn’t make her wicked, but it does show that she’s
human and, at times, a very
flawed
human.”

Symeon still sought to defend the girl.
“Have you not heard the wonderful accounts of Ishtar’s valiant
efforts to save Merna and her children? Why Merna, herself, not a
fortnight ago told me so. And what of her bravery and conduct
before the Governor? And…”

“All those things are true, my friend.”
Drorli patted Symeon on the shoulder. “That’s what helped make this
child holy. Still, I have heard from other reliable sources that
Merna called her a ‘pisser’ and a ‘selfish little scalawag’.” He
winked at Hanna.

Before Symeon could reply, Drorli added, “It
is my duty to prepare as best as may be for the delivery of your
kind to this place. It can be quite difficult at times. If you
recall, it took a great deal of convincing you as to where you
really were after your arrival. Indeed! Hanna was brought into our
world first because we believed she was more adaptable to change
than you, and that she could help ease your transition.”

“Now I have also done my duty with this
girl. She can be a real pill, will be, one that’s hard to swallow
at times. My team and I have gone to a great deal of trouble to
make preparation for her, and I still think we’re in for a time of
it.”

He squeezed Symeon’s arm. “Stop making your
child into an untouchable, holy martyr. She isn’t! Never will be!
And that’s not what Mother brought her here for. She will have to
earn her ‘wings’ – as some of your kind like to say – and she’s got
a rough sky to fly in to do so. We’re all here to help her do that.
The sooner you see her as a troubled little girl who’s done great
things, the better assistance you will be to us at getting her
situated in this world. Got it?”

Symeon slowly nodded, contemplating Drorli’s
words. His heart so much wanted to lift the girl up as a holy
saint, but his head knew differently. “I’ll try. I’ll try to
remember what you say. I know it’s true, but don’t want to believe
it...not now, not at this moment.”

Drorli grinned. “Believe what you want for
the moment. Celebrate in the rebirth of someone you love so much.
Tomorrow is soon enough to ponder deeper questions. Still… tomorrow
will come. I know you will succeed at this quest. You been so
outstanding at so many of the others you’ve undertaken.”

Eurawha called over just after several
attendants entered the room, one of them nodding to her. “All right
all, we’re ready to go. Suit up!”

She approached Hanna and Symeon. “If you
want to accompany your little girl, you’ll have to get suited up.
We may need to adjust the atmosphere in the travel chamber during
the trip, depending on how quickly Ishtar’s new body adapts to the
elements. If we need to reintroduce certain gases to stabilize her,
it could make others exposed to them sick, thus the need for the
suits.”

In less than twenty minutes, an antigravity
machine was humming its way along a thoroughfare toward a tiny
village several leagues east of Palace City. This was no ordinary
village, but one specifically designed to introduce the children
from the Second Realm into the dramatically different world of the
First Realm. Drorli’s team went to great effort to make each new
arrival comfortable after he or she awoke, and spared no expense to
assist the person in adjusting to this new home.

While Eurawha continuously studied the gages
in the cabin, all the time keeping a close eye on Ishtar who was
now sleeping upon an anchored gurney, she chatted with Hanna and
Symeon about upcoming events. “Of course we have secured the outer
perimeters, assuring the girl’s safety. That should not be your
concern. Your part is to help introduce the child into this world
as effortlessly as possible.”

Eurawha paused, looking intently at the two,
raising an eyebrow in doubt. “Well, do the best you can. Ishtar is
an extremely bright child, inquisitive – snoopy. Trust me! I’ve
studied this child’s history… better than you have, I assure you.
You two will have your hands full fooling her, but try you must.
She needs as much time as possible to acclimatize to her new
home.”

She turned her attention to the sleeping
Ishtar, carefully examining the girl’s exposed hand. “Now, the
child will awake gradually, falling in and out of dream states
several times, but once she does come to, her cognitive powers will
spring to life. She’ll be up and about in no time, and when she is
there’ll be no slowing her down.”

The machine eased to a stop. An attendant
stepped out of the cab and hurried forward to undo a gate that
blocked the highway. Drorli called back through a speaking tube,
checking to make sure things were all right. Eurawha assured him
that everything was fine, softly caressing Ishtar’s hand as she
replied. The gate was quickly opened and the machine passed
through. After picking up the attendant, who quickly closed the
gate behind them, they sped on down the road.

Sitting back in her technician’s chair,
Eurawha breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Her team had worked
diligently for several years to help prepare these ‘off worlders’ –
as the children from the Second Realm were often referred to – for
life in this universe. It was not easy, to say the least.
Technology, customs, way of life, even the very thinking processes
between the two groups were so different. Eurawha believed her team
had become tired… worn down… from their constant labors.

It took months of preparation to return just
one person because of all the technical preparations as well as the
weeks of study and investigation it might take just to understand
the personality, disposition, history, and culture of the new
arrival. Then there were the post arrival energies expended to make
the person feel comfortable and at home, something that might take
many additional months. Too, there was the choosing and training of
the mentor who would journey with the newcomer until that person
was prepared to function alone in this realm. Oh, all the effort it
had taken!

Eurawha sighed relief again. She had been
most pleased to have been personally requested to assist Drorli in
this grand experiment. Still it felt good to think that this child
was the last, at least for a very long time. When the rebirths were
to be renewed in the distant future, Mother promised the team that
she would make sure the process would be far less cumbersome and
time consuming, and that many more hands were to be there to offer
assistance. Eurawha smiled with satisfaction, proud to have been
part of this prestigious team. And it had felt so good to be
working with Drorli again after these many years.

Her eyes closed and head leaned back,
Eurawha calmly reminded Hanna and Symeon. “After we arrive, you two
are to hurry to Ishtar’s room, make sure the bed is made ready so
that the attendants can get her snuggled in quickly. That will
assure her a long, undisturbed sleep. Double-check the room to see
that everything is in place just so. We’ve put our trust in you to
give our girl the needed reminders to keep her believing – for the
moment – that she’s still in her room in Ephesus. When you’re
finished there, I will assist the two of you with final
preparations.”

Slowly sitting upright while placing her
hands on her knees, Eurawha smiled, looking at her two companions.
“And then we shall wait…”

Symeon and Hanna smiled at their handiwork.
For several weeks, they assisted with the construction of the small
room that was to be Ishtar’s new home for the moment. Drorli’s team
was meticulous with the duplication of the girl’s old bedroom.
Hanna was valuable in offering up tiny details that research
information might well leave out, like the medicine smell of the
old cowhide robe that was rolled up on the cedar chest near the
foot of the bed, or the patched arm of the girl’s favorite doll
that she had saved since childhood. Symeon helped as best he could,
making suggestions here and there. When the team was finished, both
he and Hanna said it looked and felt just like Ishtar’s room.

It was about twelve feet wide by sixteen
feet long. Hanna told Drorli that it was used as a storage room for
sales goods. After Ishtar’s father died, she demanded it for her
sleeping quarters, they reminding the girl so much of her father.
It being near the back of the home and away from the family
quarters, the girl’s mother resisted until finally being worn down
by Ishtar’s constant requests. Hanna said that many of the musty
scents and odors lingered long after the room was emptied. She
thought those might be some of the reasons the girl like the room
so much.

The stucco over red, baked bricks appeared
aged and cracked, the ceiling sooty from the smoke of countless
fires burned in the stone fireplace. Even the oaken floor was shiny
smooth from the endless mopping and heavy foot traffic. Hanna said
the room was used as servants’ quarters before Ishtar’s father
bought the house when the family moved to the city. He did little
with it other than clean it out and paint on a thin coat of
whitewash. That was the way Ishtar left it after she acquired the
room.

The decision was made to reproduce this room
because it had only one door, and all the windows were bricked up
long before Ishtar’s day. Also being far from the central living
quarters and away from the street, it was a quiet room, much easier
to replicate the living conditions of the day that way.

There was a small, half-burned tallow candle
sitting beside the chipped earthen basin on the washstand that was
located just to the right of the blazing fireplace - Hanna’s idea,
she remembering that Ishtar always had it placed on the washstand
so that she could get a better view of her face while primping
before the tiny wall mirror. Ishtar also obtained those particular
candles from the butcher’s wife because of the peculiarly pleasant,
pungent odor they produced when being burned.

It was this kind of little detail that Hanna
brought to the table when assisting in Ishtar’s returning. At
times, she fussed over the smallest of them, charging that Ishtar
was very inquisitive and the slightest thing out of place would
instantly be noticed. Although Hanna complained the loudest about
the ‘spoilt child’, her love for Ishtar was nearly as deep as
Symeon’s. In fact, it was later said by her that she believed her
peevishness was more to quiet her own adoration for the girl, other
than to find fault.

Hanna was as excited as Symeon as they
awaited Ishtar’s awakening, though she kept most of her emotion
hidden away from the others. Drorli noticed, but said nothing. He
did make special time for her, though, requesting her assistance at
little, unimportant projects, or just chatting casually with her
about her life in those bygone days. Hanna was grateful to him for
it, realizing the man’s motive. His reward was her occasional
gentle touch, and her radiant smile, showing the woman’s deep
appreciation.

“I feel old all over again. Even the aching
in my bones troubles me.” Symeon wryly commented as he peered into
the dressing mirror. He touched the side of his wrinkled face with
hands covered in age spots and sporting tired skin. “This stuff
feels so real that I’m beginning to wonder whether I’ve woken up
from a wonderful dream and am back in my old world.”

He turned and looked at Eurawha who stood
near in her smock beside the makeup table. Smiling, he added with
reassurance, “Nope. I’m still here. You’re still here. And all your
fancy toys are still here.” He looked over at Hanna who was sitting
there half-naked, her upper body being done up to appear like a
woman in her late middle years. At the moment, she was musing over
how saggy her new breasts were, the attendants having recently
applied the prosthetics over her round, full, natural ones.