Tree of Life Book III

Part II - Chapter 02

TREE OF LIFE BOOK III – PART II

CHAPTER 02

The next day, more of them came.

This time, it was six men. Val took me and led us a good distance away from the entrance to the Garden. We stayed crouched upon the bough of some tree and spied on the new ones who had come seeking me out for whatever purpose. They did not see us there, looking down on them, watching them scurry all about the area, scenting the breeze, twitching their whiskers. Nearing the end of the afternoon, they gave up and shuffled away again, arguing among themselves.

I let out a sigh of relief. I turned to my companion and smiled. "I'm glad that's over and done with."

She smiled in return. She shook her head.

Craning her head back, she gazed upward into the late afternoon sky. The look on her face caught for a moment, stuttered, as if she had found a new scent of a sudden, or tasted something in the air, something upon the wind that told her that times had moved on and things were not to be the same, ever again.

The morning after that, the men returned. The same six as on the first day, but this time, they had brought another four with them. With these new helpers, the group began fanning out to cover an even wider area than what they had surveyed on the previous day.

Val told me to get my things together. It was time for us to go.

~~~

I looked over my shoulder as we left that place. I did not know what I was feeling. I had no words for it. The Garden was all I knew. I had never ventured far from it before. I wondered if I would ever go back there again.

Turning to regard the companion by my side, I knew that whatever it was that I was feeling, the one thing I did not feel was fear. With her as my guardian and friend, the world could be unmade in an instant and there would be no speck of fear in all that was in my heart.

I took her hand in mine as we strolled along. I saw her check back over her shoulder several times. "Do you think they are following us?"

She chuckled at my expense. "Why? Are you worried?"

I shook my head. "Not at all. Why would I be? Even if they were to catch up to us, you would get rid of them with ease. You have your sword…your other powers…"

"Ah, but I would hurt them." She leaned closer to search into my eyes. "Do you not care?"

I frowned. "Of course, I do. Don't you? They are all the Master's things. They have all received life from Him. I care for them all. It is who I am. And I'm sure you care for them too, as you should." I studied her face. "Don't you?"

"I…" She shrugged. "…perhaps in a different way…"

"What? What do you mean?"

A brook flowed by to our left, in the distance.

She turned to me. "This way."

We jogged over to the water's edge. We left our things by the bank. Wading out into the stream, I began drawing the sustaining fluid up through my legs and into the rest of me, replenishing what I was needing up to that moment. I turned to regard my friend and she was scooping it up by the handful and drinking it.

I shook my head and smiled at her. "Why do you do that?"

She smiled back. "What?"

"Why do you drink? You don't need to."

She laughed aloud and the birds in the trees near us heard her and swirled by to be closer to her. They danced around her head for a moment and then were gone. Half stepping, half dancing, she took a seat by the edge of the river. Dipping her toes into it, she played with the water, drawing her foot back and forth, back and forth. The sun was on her golden hair. It shone. Brilliant.