by Jon Chaisson
*
Peace, Love and Light, Karinna.
The voice stopped her in her tracks and sent a shiver down her spine. She managed to stumble under another awning before she realized it was not Denni who had spoken, but Kai. She had just blessed her…what had she done? Was there not enough time? She glanced at her watch; she had another ten minutes to reach the warehouse, only two blocks away. She had more than enough time. She’d make it there in five. She’d spoken with Ashan on her comm right after she’d finished talking with Poe, and had shown little concern aside from making sure this insane plan actually worked. Why had Kai blessed her…?
The question quickly faded from her thoughts when she saw the lone man standing under the next store awning, fifteen feet away. He was young with long dirty blonde hair tied back in a tight ponytail, and his features were plain. He looked to be somewhere in his early to mid-twenties. He was taller than her by about five or six inches, but his build made him look shorter than he actually was. He was standing there, humming to himself and holding two large umbrellas. One he had open and held aloft, the other closed and pointing down, the tip resting on the toe of his right boot. He twirled the handle of the second umbrella around, mindlessly playing a balancing game with it. He seemed to be off in his own little world despite the chaos unraveling around him. Eventually he looked up, straight into Caren’s eyes.
The effect was instantaneous. She stared right back at the young man and caught her breath. She knew him intimately. Goddess, she knew this young man as if they’d been friends and lovers for years! Her brain refused to believe at first, but her heart immediately knew. It was the exact same connection she’d made with all those people she knew she’d never met before on Trisanda. And this was the man who had brought her there, in that dream. A dream that had only been days previous, yet seemed so long ago…
He was a connection. An anchor. Her anchor. Yes, that was it. You’re…
He smiled at her.
A…Anando? she said within.
His eyes. His eyes were magnificent shade of brown, warm and inviting. He had willingly opened up a portal to his soul to her, reaching out with gossamer tendrils that reached straight through the thickest, most impenetrable wall she had built within herself. No one, not even Poe or Denni, or even her parents, had been able to tear that wall down so easily. His spirit touch felt so…alien, yet so familiar.
So familiar…
Anando, she said again.
His spirit touch felt like love. An uncompromising love that went beyond anything she’d felt ever in her life. It was beyond family, beyond physical and emotional. It was pure.
“Somfei cho-shadhisi eilee,” he said. Hello, my dearest love.
Caren stared at him, mouth open but no words coming out, but every single wall of defense she’d ever built in her life came crumbling down all at once. Years of anger and frustration at the world…years of physical and emotional pain she’d endured…the hurt and sadness of the loss of her parents, the terror that she’d lose her sister. She felt another shudder as he nodded, a nervous giggle escaping his lips. It was the simple lopsided smile of youth and the loving glance of someone she’d known throughout all her lifetimes, who had always been there for her. And would be forever more.
Lifetimes… she thought. She knew him from some other life, some other time, some other universe…it made no sense! No one ever fell in love — no one ever knew love this easily! This could not be possible. And yet at this very moment, they were standing a half-block away from her little sister…the most holy and revered One of All Sacred, the one who would save the worlds and protect them from harm. Maybe it could happen…? Her mind reeled. She felt some deeper connection with Anando, some unexplainable attraction that went beyond physical and emotional. She was so sure of this connection she dared not question it. She was Mendaihu, and her spirit had never lied to her. And at this very moment, it sang.
Somfei Anando…cho-shadhisi eilee, she said. Cho-shadhisi…he had used ‘twin’ in his Anjshé. Not dearest love, but soul mate. And she had answered the same, knowing it to be the truest thing she’d ever spoken. His smile widened, his dark eyes looking down on her with such a radiant love she found herself shivering.
I… she started.
No need to explain, dearest Karinna, he answered. I understand.
He held out the opened umbrella to her, covering the gap between the two awnings. Wordlessly she took it, her hand brushing up against his. She walked out from under her own awning, under the umbrella, and immediately into his awaiting arms.
She felt her own spirit dance…gossamer tendrils of her own making, slowly rising from the shell that she had kept closed all this time. It was the spirit dance of one who has found pure peace within and with others…and she had found it, at long last. The source of this peace was so mundane, so unexpected she had reason to doubt it. Surely there was more to love and inner peace than this! Still in his arms, she gazed up into his eyes and into his soul. A soul that so perfectly complemented hers, though she still could not imagine how.
“Goddess…” she said, her voice but a whisper.
Anando…lifetimes have passed. I have forgotten it all… She held him as tightly as she could, not daring to let go. She felt tears welling up and forced herself not to show them. I wish I could remember!
With a flick of his wrist, he opened up his own umbrella and directed her towards the warehouse. We will have all the time we need to rekindle those memories, he said within. Come. Denysia needs you now more than ever.
She nodded silently, wrapped an arm around him and walked with him the rest of the way. Their link was forever, that much she remembered. If she had to wait a day, a month, another eternity to bring back those memories, so be it. For now she rejoiced in knowing she would soon be with two of the small handful of people she loved more deeply than anyone and anything else in the universe. And together, they would protect Earth.
Mendaihu Gharra, she thought. I shall protect the Earth.
And I shall be there beside you, he answered.
