THE TOWER OF HERA | Wattpad Creator

1

In the perfect geometry of the Sifting Room, we stand naked, and are judged.

Light rolls over us, over the pale bump of a shoulder, over heavy breasts, over slender wrists and fingers. The rectangular lights followed by rectangular shadows are like the curtains of a play, parting and shutting, and under the moving shafts, the room blazes bronze as a sunset.

The Sightless go down the rows of us, hovering, feet slack, toes gliding against the smooth floor. These beings are tall and formless beneath their seamless veils, veils of red, shifting like living wine. Only their pale feet can be seen.

They point their veil at a girl, then another, and another. The rest, they pass by.

Those they pass by hang their heads, faces twisted, bitter. To be sifted away means many things — you are not healthy enough, beautiful enough, fertile enough — and the shame of those things becomes like a heavy wooden collar. Some women never manage to pry it off.

Some of the sifted however, sigh and smile and press the backs of their fingers against their brow — grateful and glad. They will have to bear no child. They must have lovers waiting for them back home.

I look over at Yen across the way. A Sightless is nearing her in the row.

She does not look back at me. She straightens instead, eyes forward and steely, a soldier at attention. Despite the sternness of her, I know she will be chosen. Her body and spirit are strong, like the Pitch that rings from her, steady as a drum. And Yen is wide of frame. She will be able to bear many children.

Yen is covered from my view; a Sightless has glided before me.

I wait.

I think I am beautiful. Mother is beautiful, even Father. Many boys back in the grove had pined after me, sent me flowers and smiles. A girl, an older girl, had touched me under the eaves of her home, and I had let her.

But the curve and swell of my breasts and hips are slight, boyish. And I have never wanted to be a mother.

I do not think I would be a good one.

The Sightless before me does not move.

I wait.

#

After the Sifting, is the Garden.

A wide chamber, with the open sky at the far end. The space houses many trees, great and old enough to climb. There is a river, and gentle falls, and a wooden stage. Before the stage, a wide low table heavy with meats, cheeses, fruits, honey. Hovering by the edges of the chamber are more Sightless, this time in veils of blue.

Yen steps over to me. We're standing beneath the shade of a tree.

For a while, neither of us speak. We watch other girls cluster around the feast or wait their turns for the stage. The nakedness of all our bodies flashing against wood and grass — it's obscene, like watching a flock of defeathered birds. But the gods are watching us now, from somewhere above. Clothes would only get in the way of their choosing.

"Thinking of running?"

I look down at my bare feet. "No."

"Be stupid to try, anyways."

"Wasn't going to."

"The Sightless lingered a long time in front of you, back in the Sift."

I frown. "Yes."

Yen slides her gaze to me. Her eyes, thin and sharp as shivs, have always been a cut to bear.

She says, "This is better than being sifted."