Chapter Fourteen: Kingdom of Heaven

"Nono!" Rachel told Ingaret quickly, and pulled her upright. "You don't bow to me. I'm not a god, not an Angel, not a Prophet or a Queen."

Ingaret sucked in a breath. "Am… Am I in heaven?"

"No." Rachel said gently. "Not heaven. But you're not as far off as you think. My name is Rachel, and I'm here to explain where you are, and why."

Ingaret was still giving her an unsettlingly earnest stare. "As you say."

"You want to have something to eat, first?" Rachel offered, hefting the picnic basket. "There's a nice spot a few minutes away."

~~/*\~~

They walked together for a while. Rachel took her to a place near the Gardens, where there was a view of the Bridge, and the River. Somewhere that Ingaret could see the old buildings and many people, without having to get too close to either. There was no shortage of places where they could sit and relax. Rachel let her look, laying out some food. Ingaret tasted the fruit and moaned happily. Rachel pushed the bread and juice over.

"This bread is excellent." Ingaret mentioned. "I… can't really repay-"

"No price." Rachel promised. "Enjoy. We have much to discuss, and long conversations are improved on good food."

"Most things are improved with good food." Ingaret smiled.

"As I said, I'm here to explain where you are, and how you got here. Some of this will be hard to believe, but I promise that everything I tell you will be the truth." Rachel said gently. She reached into her basket and pulled out her Bible. "Now-"

Ingaret let out a screech and jumped away from Rachel so fast she overturned the basket. Rachel jumped back with a loud yelp. "What? What's wrong?!"

Ingaret was looking around swiftly, as though expecting to be attacked. She saw nobody in any direction, but she was still in a near state of panic. She snatched the book out of Rachel's hand and put it back in the basket, covering it up at once. "Are you mad?" She hissed at Rachel.

Rachel swiftly understood. "Ingaret, it's okay. It's not forbidden here!"

The woman froze, not expecting that. "What? Where are we? What is going on?!" She sounded so helpless and confused.

"It's okay. You're safe." Rachel repeated, trying to soothe a feral. "Ingaret, it was this side of twenty minutes ago you were trying to worship me." Rachel reminded her. "You can tell me the truth. Because the one thing I can promise you, is that you are safe here, and free to talk about your own relationship with Jehovah God. In a lot of ways, it's the only topic that matters."

Ingaret's eyes flashed. "Iehovah." She said flatly. "Where did you learn that name?!" She demanded. "Who taught you that name!?" She was half terrified of the answer, half desperate to know.

Iehovah. Because the Latin language had no ‘J'. Rachel filed that away, getting a better sense of where on the timeline Ingaret was from. "I learned the name from two people who came to my door. They were Missionaries, of a sort. They had a Bible and they showed me the same thing I wanted to show you. A promise."

Endless beat.

"A promise?" Ingaret yearned, nervous.

"Yes. A promise that was made to everyone in the world." Rachel said gently. "I was in a bad place. I was watching the whole world coming apart around me, with nothing being certain. Not even that I would see the sun rise the next day. In a world like that, it was nice to hear a promise full of hope, so I let them talk. Very quickly, I was living the promise fulfilled. A world without badness, and love as the rule."

Ingaret said nothing.

Rachel's scientific mind was sharper than it had ever been, Paradise making her smarter and clearer. She was reading the moments, putting things together. Her reaction to the Bible was telling. "But I'm sure I don't have to tell you how powerful the message is, do I?"

"Dangerous." Ingaret said finally. "It wasn't wonderful, it was deadly."

Rachel filed that away, and took a chance. "But you still wanted to know more, didn't you? Even if it was dangerous."

Ingaret said nothing.

"Because you recognized why it was important. You didn't want to just take it on blind faith that God existed, or that he cared, or what he wanted. You wanted to find those things out for yourself." Rachel pushed. "I'm right, aren't I?"

Ingaret was clearly thinking something she wasn't saying. "Last time I asked someone a question about what the Bible said…" She whispered quietly. "I was warned that challenging what I was told was blasphemy."

"Questions are the only way to find answers." Rachel told her. "I know you don't know me yet, but please believe me when I say that I have spent my life seeking answers to questions of every kind. Ask yours. You can do that without fear."

The silence stretched for a long time as Ingaret stared into Rachel's eyes, trying to decide if she trusted enough to talk. "You have a Bible." Ingaret said finally. Her tone was stunned disbelief. But it wasn't horror, or even fear. It was blatant envy.

"I have two." Rachel said softly. "This one is for you… If you want it."

Ingaret's eyes grew as big as dinner plates. "For me? A whole one?"

"Yup." Rachel said with a smile, and pulled it out of her basket, holding it out. Ingaret stared at it with obvious longing, still glancing around in open fear, looking for enemies that weren't there. Until finally, she reached out and took it.

Ingaret was staring at the book in her hands, agog. Rachel sat back quietly, letting her look. Ingaret turned the book back and forth, gently running her thumb over the cover. She turned the pages very carefully, examining the printing, checking to see if the ink would smear.

She's never seen a paperback. Possibly never seen a codex book before. Rachel found herself tearing up a little.

Ingaret was crying without shame. "I… I had to wait until the sun went down." She confessed finally, the words rushing out of her at last. "I kept the pages hidden in a barrel of balsamic vinegar, sealed in a wine bottle. Whenever the house was asleep, I would go down to the cellar, take the bottle out, and unroll the pages. Twelve handwritten pages of the Gospel of St John, and one page from the Psalms. I would be able to read it for an hour or two before the candle started to fade, and I would reseal the pages in the bottle with the wax." She sniffed. "The Inquisitors had spies everywhere; looking for the press. One of them overheard me quote the Christ to one of my neighbors and searched the house. When they found it, my husband was tortured until he renounced me." She shook her head. "I do not blame him. He never knew his wife was a Heretic."

"We went through something similar." Rachel said softly. "When the final order came down, my relatives were faced with imprisonment if they didn't cooperate and turn us in. The Bounty was enough to feed a family of four."

Ingaret took her hand, feeling some camaraderie with her guide on that alone. "They found the hiding place." Ingaret said quietly. "They brought the bottle to me in the cell and made me eat the pages. They hung the bottle around my neck and lit the fires for…"

"It's okay." Rachel stopped her. "You don't have to. Just know that it's over now… sister."

Ingaret said nothing. She was suddenly far away. Gone to some tiny place in her head. Rachel sat with her, waiting for her to process the impossible, unimaginable, incredible new reality that she'd barely understood was coming.

~~/*\~~

What Paradise Means To Me:

I wasn't really that smart, back in OS. Okay, that's putting it mildly. I was dumb as a sack of rocks. Three different Doctors had three different diagnoses of me by the time I was fourteen, and they had me on three different mood stabilizers at one time or another. But the truth was, I just wasn't that bright.

I thank God every day that he doesn't judge people by their IQ. Because now that I have one, I finally understand what it means to go from milk to meat.

~~/*\~~

Ingaret was nearly catatonic for a while. She stayed quiet for much of the day. Rachel brought her some food, and she ate. She still didn't say much as the sun set, and Rachel tucked her in. Rachel decided not to put Ingaret in the Dorms. She had a guest room.

But Rachel couldn't sleep. Nightmares were an unsettling thing. Rarer these days, but everyone had some at first. Nightmares came when the subconscious mind had to sort through things; and everyone who escaped the Old Days had plenty to sort through.

So Rachel had kept an ear out for her guest. But Ingaret hadn't made a peep. Giving up, Rachel got up and went to the kitchenette, making some warm milk. But as she passed Ingaret's room, she noticed the light coming from under her door. On and off, on and off.

She knocked lightly. "Ingaret?"

"Come in, please."

Rachel did so, and found Ingaret by the lightswitch. "I… I couldn't find a candle, but I bumped this, and…"

"Of course, you've never seen a lightswitch before." Rachel nodded. "I'm sorry, I should have shown you."

"I saw the lights, outside; and in your foyer." Ingaret nodded. "I thought it was like the lanterns they had in the palaces… I accompanied my employer once, while he negotiated a contract. The client was wealthy, and he had fine lighting in his home…" She shook her head. "There's no candles in the house, because every room has the ‘lightswitch'."

Rachel nodded. "It's called electricity. Power runs through the device. The device is designed to turn energy into light."

"Where does the ‘energy' come from?"

"Solar power. The sun is the power source."

"You can catch sunlight?" Ingaret was awed. "Keep it in a jar until the dark comes, and…"

"No. We don't store sunbeams, we collect its energy. That can be used to keep food fresh, to boil water, to create light." Rachel explained. "It's just a question of finding a way to collect and store it."

Ingaret shook her head. "So close to God." She murmured.

"Don't take it as a sign. It's a candle with a better wick." Rachel smiled softly. "So. You were looking for a candle. Can't sleep?"

Ingaret was still holding the Bible tight against her body, as though protecting it. "I was trying to find the pages I had, before all this; and I got caught up." She opened the book to the bookmark she had left and started reading. Her voice was slow and stilted. She wasn't an experienced reader. "But his Dis-cip-les asked him what this ill-us-tration me-ant. He said ‘To you it is gr-ant-ed to und-erst-and the sacred secrets of the King-dom of God, but for the rest'…"

"Luke chapter eight." Rachel nodded. "You were reading all this time?" She looked around. "Oh! Full moon tonight. You read until the moonlight went. You know that you can read them in the daylight now, right?"

"I honestly can't believe this is really happening." Ingaret whispered.

"We all go through a bit of that." Rachel told her. "All of us came through a trial of one kind or another. Not many of us like yours, but something. Something we don't have to worry about any more. The good news is, the way to be sure is all around you, starting with that book in your hand." Rachel reached out and turned the pages without taking it from Ingaret's grip. "Hebrews 4:12: For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints from the marrow, and is able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart."

"This I know." Ingaret nodded.

"You have The Word now, Ingaret. Not scraps, or pieces." Rachel told her. "Those ‘thoughts and intentions of the heart' got you here. Now, you can have more."

Ingaret seemed to cave in a bit, finally opening up. "I was a maid in… Well, my Sir prefered to keep his arrangement with me a secret. He didn't care that I was married, or that he was too, but..." She flushed. "Most of his staff were women, and we knew what our lord expected of us. If we said no, there were plenty of hungry women where we came from."

Rachel nodded, no judgement on her face.

"But he liked to impress us. He knew we couldn't talk about it, or we'd lose our posting. It was that or living on our wits, so… He told me not to go to Church. He said that they lied. He said he had proof. When he showed me the pages… They were a gift, from a tradesman that came through our town. It was too dangerous for him to speak publicly, because His Majesty had decreed that heretics were to be..."

"The Lollards." Rachel nodded. "We know them. Some of them have come back. They lived dangerous lives. And since your employer couldn't show it off to anyone outside his house, he told you." Rachel nodded. "Secrets are best when shared."

"There was a Bible at the Church, but I didn't speak Latin. I tried to learn part of it, but nobody teaches a woman such things. Then the Master… My employer, I mean. He showed me pages, in my language. He told me things that the Church said the opposite of. We had to be careful, but I asked him to teach me to pray the way the pages said, instead of…" She trailed off a bit. "My employer took most of the pages with him. He took it out of the country, before the Inquisitor's men found him; told me to keep a few for safekeeping, just in case. They searched house to house, and no matter how wealthy you were, if they found a page; they'd burn your house to the ground, with you in it." Ingaret hugged the Bible tightly to her chest. "So much… there are so many pages in this book, Rachel. I watched them turn my husband on the rack for a few pages that he didn't know I had. You just… handed me a whole copy, and it is so Beautiful!"

Rachel hugged her tightly. I lived in a world where information was available so fast that nobody even thought about stopping to think for it. And we used it for gossip and cat videos…

"When I was being…" Ingaret cried on her shoulder. "I called out to Jesus, begged him to save me from the pyre. And when the flames hit me, I realized he wasn't going to. They told me that I was a traitor to the Church and my soul was going to-"

"I know. I know." Rachel soothed, still holding her.

Suddenly exhausted from the long night and heavy emotion, Ingaret started yawning. "My last thought was that they must have been right. I was burning and I would never stop burning and… Then I was here."

"And the first thing I hand you is a whole Bible." Rachel nodded, feeling some tears of her own forming. "Paperback, leather cover, gold edging."

"You are an angel." Ingaret yawned harder, but her voice was awed, and she buried her face in Rachel's shoulder. She kept talking as Rachel lead her slowly back towards the bed. "You all are. A world full of Angels. A Land ruled by a loving God, where every man and woman are his Blessed servants, granted to understand the sacred secrets. This is the Kingdom of Heaven, and I am not damned."

"You are not." Rachel promised.

Ingaret's tone changed, almost hypnotised, like she was trying to convince herself of some new facts by rote; saying them calmly and evenly. "The Master was right when he said they lied about the Lord."

"He was."

"And I am not a Heretic for reading the pages. I am Forgiven of all my sins."

"You are."

"The Lazarus that I read about was real, and I am like him now."

"Yes."

Ingaret was still clutching the Bible to her chest, even as Rachel pulled the blanket over her again. "It's not a mistake. I am here because this is where I am meant to be."

"We all are." Rachel promised. "Welcome home, sister. Welcome home."

~~/*\~~

"You know, this whole miraculous communication that the world seems to be under now? It goes further than I thought it would." Rachel later related to Alec over the phone. "Languages evolve, and in the 1300's, the English Speaking nations would have been halfway between ‘Ye olde English' and Latin. But so far, I haven't tripped over anything. Syntax is a little off in places, and of course there's the generation gap of all time; but so far there haven't been any huge miscommunications."

"So, it's going well, then?" Alec asked.

"This woman has such a sharp mind, Alec. In her time, she was a barely literate maid, kept around so that her boss didn't have to leave the house to find a mistress. But I gave her the equivalency test, and she matches my IQ. Maybe even has a few points on me." She shook her head. "She keeps telling me it must be a mistake, because ‘her station' isn't the kind that has education. I remember hearing about the Class Distinctions at the turn of the century. It was a prison sentence before that."

Alec hummed. "I wonder how many brilliant, creative people never got a chance because of where and when they were born?"

"Too many." Rachel agreed, eyes glancing upward. "Another thing to be thankful for."

~~/*\~~

Rachel and Ingaret continued their studies for another week. David had joined them once or twice. Rachel wondered if she was babysitting, or tutoring the boy about the old world. Ingaret knew how to cook and clean, and had some experience with work in the fields, so she found ways to help contribute. In a lot of ways, she was more knowledgeable about forgotten skills than most of the Returned ones.

But some things came slower than others.

"I cannot tell you how surreal it is to see people reading the Bible in public." Ingaret told David one day. "They told us that the Word of God was full of Secrets that would drive ordinary people mad. Only Holy Men could read it."

"That was the popular reason for most of the Christian Era." Rachel said with a nod. "But I'm guessing you know the real reason."

"Well I don't." David put in. "I mean, even if they had the wrong idea, why wouldn't they want their people to have Bibles? If Faith is what kept people under control, why make it harder to believe?"

"Well, first of all, not many people could read." Ingaret told the boy. "I had to teach myself. Nobody was going to spend money on tutoring a woman. Especially a vulgarity."

"Which was code speak for ‘ordinary person' instead of Nobility." Rachel put in. "And second of all, they didn't want a challenger."

It was clear David was having trouble following that, so Rachel passed him one of the Bibles. "Both of you, look up Matthew 5. The Sermon on the Mount." Ingaret and David both did so, while Rachel pulled it up on her Device and started reading. "Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need, since the Kingdom of the heavens belongs to them." She gave Ingaret a smile at that one. The woman out of time had died for her spiritual need. "Happy are those who mourn, since they will be comforted. Happy are the mild-tempered, since they will inherit the earth. Happy are those hungering and thirsting for righteousness, since they will be filled. Happy are those that give all their wealth to their lords and Priests, for their God will repay it to them tenfold in heaven. Happy are those who serve their armies, for-"

David raised a hand. "Sister Bridger? Wh-where is that?"

Rachel smiled. "I'm reading the Bible, David. Is something wrong?"

"Well, that last part isn't in there." David said, pointing at the page in front of him.

"And how do you know that?" Ingaret asked, eyes shining. "After all, if you'd never held a Bible before, you'd just have to accept what she said, wouldn't you?"

David blinked, trying to process this.

"You'll have to forgive our young friend here, Ingaret. He's never lived in a world where you couldn't double check these things. Especially Bible things. The idea of someone making scriptures up is ridiculous to him."

"Bless him, lucky boy." Ingaret agreed.

"When the Bible was finally translated into the ‘commoner' languages, all hell broke loose." Rachel explained. "When someone could challenge the Church's doctrine on scriptural grounds, there was no holding back. The Catholic-Protestant wars of the 16th century tore a line down the middle of the world, and everyone who had never even heard of Christ was pillaged and conquered in the mad dash to spread one version of the Gospel or the other on the edge of a sword."

David handed the Bible back and took a fruitroll primly. "Well. That sounds bad."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Okay, so it's ancient history to a ten year old. Not that much different for me, after seventy odd years of Paradise. But just remember, the Resurrection is happening in two groups. Believers first, then the rest. We're lucky to meet Ingaret, because she can tell us all about the world she was living in, and tell us all about how to teach those people the truth."

"Me?" Ingaret blurted. "You want me to teach?"

Rachel chuckled. "Daunting? Remember, very few people from your era are walking the world right now. We have more to learn from you than you do from us."

Ingaret shrank into herself swiftly. "I… I can barely read, let alone teach anyone."

"Relax." Rachel promised her. "This is all for the future. A hundred years from now, you'll be ready to talk about your life."

Ingaret let out a bark of laughter. "That long… God, why me?" It wasn't a self-pitying curse. It was a genuine question to heaven.

"Better you than the Inquisitors." David said blandly, as only young children could, and he scampered off to find his father.

"He didn't even trip on the word!" Ingaret sighed. "You people aren't even human anymore."

~~/*\~~

A week passed. Ingaret found her feet in her new reality. Rachel found she was glad that she hadn't gone back to The Conference right away. It was the first time she had the chance to shepherd someone into the family. An experience that she'd never had the chance for before, and she wouldn't trade it for anything.

Ingaret started attending meetings, meeting others in the Congregation. She started learning about the rest of the world, including the century she was in. Rachel hadn't been wrong about Ingaret's mind, and she took to things like Databases and Smart Devices like a duck to water, with David as her tutor.

But there was one point that still weighed on her mind.

"We're still us, right?" She asked Kevin one night over the phone. "I mean, we're still the same people, deep down?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ingaret made this comment a while ago, that we aren't even human anymore. She's still trying to see herself as being part of the world, and we're in a world where ancient languages and Biblical history is practically a fourth grade education. Ingaret comes from a place where knowing how to read is weird. Even unseemly, for most people."

"It's not that unique. More than three quarters of the world we grew up in didn't read a book after graduating high school."

"Granted, but… We're still us, right? Becoming more… ‘perfect' doesn't mean we're losing ourselves?"

Kevin took the question seriously, seeing how it was weighing on her. "Back in OS, someone once asked me what being a JW was about, and I gave him a long list of all the things we don't do. Christmas, Birthdays, elections… I think about that conversation, over and over. I keep thinking that we defined ourselves too much as people by all the things we weren't. All the things we didn't do. Like the gaps in the story were the only parts that mattered. Now the reverse is true. Give Ingaret another hundred years, and she won't recognize herself either. She'll be what she should have been, without ‘her station' or money or any of that other stuff holding her back."

"I guess that's true."

"Remember, she knew what was important to her, even to the point of being executed for it. Now she's free to make those passions her full time occupation. This isn't a bad change to make to your personality."

"Yeah, you're right. It's a good thing." Rachel sighed. "I just… had a moment of worry."

"Why?"

"I had to spend a lot of time trying to hold onto… me. The things I cared about, the things that mattered… I changed a lot of those things dramatically and then the world fell down before even I was used to myself." She swiftly changed the subject. "I don't want to talk about this any more. Tell me about your thing."

"Those adjustments you made to the power feeds worked perfectly. Final test flight is going well." Kevin told Rachel. "You have to fly a fair distance to find some heavy winds these days, but it seems to be going as planned. I'll need to make some adjustments on the rudder and flaps. I underestimated the resistance against the solar panels. Turning is sluggish as a result."

"There's never been an Airship with Solar Panels." Rachel excused. "Send me the specs on the upgrades. I have the material here; I can have replacement parts ready for you by the time you dock back at the Empire State."

"Shall I give your regrets to Benedict?"

Rachel froze. "Oh, I hadn't even thought about that."

"I think Ingaret needs you more than The Conference. You're literally the only thing in the world that she recognizes right now."

"I know." Rachel sighed, agonizing. "I'll talk it over with her by the time you land. Send me those designs."

"Well… Nothing says she can't come with us. I haven't carried non-crew passengers yet, but someone has to go first."

"Oh, she'll love that." Rachel drawled.

~~/*\~~

"FLY?" Ingaret was aghast. "No! Never! Have you ever seen a bird?! They have nothing under them! Nothing between you and the ground but the act of falling!"

"People fly all the time now, Ingaret." Rachel soothed. "There hasn't been an accident in more than seventy years!"

"No!" Ingaret put her foot down. "Does nobody in the twenty second century have fear of anything? There's a reason we don't just climb up trees and jump! People do not fly!"

Rachel backed off. Sooner or later, Ingaret would either get there, or she wouldn't. Nothing in the Bible said that a person had to enjoy flying; and it would be wrong to force her.

Even if it made things harder for Rachel.

~~/*\~~

What Paradise Means To Me:

People think that I became a Witness after my sister died, because of the Resurrection Hope.

I guess that's true, but there's another reason too. Studies say that her particular brand of cancer was hereditary. My grandmother and mother got it too. I'm the youngest of three sisters, and we all knew that I'd have it too; just like all of them. Three sisters, watching our mother rot in a hospital bed, then watching it happen to each other, one by one. The longest anyone lasted before getting sick was thirty. I was twenty eight when A-Day came.

I won't be sick. Not only will I not be sick, but my gran, my mom, and both sisters will be here one day!

Everyone remembered that Resurrection Video played at one of the Conventions. That's me. That's me and my sisters.

~~/*\~~

Rachel had heard it said that when you brought someone to the meeting for the first time, you heard it through their ears. She had been a Witness only briefly before A-Day, and had never had that experience herself. Until now.

Ingaret had been listening gravely to the talks. She had finally stopped clutching the Bible like someone was going to take it off her. When they got to a part involving audience participation, she couldn't believe it. The microphone wasn't the part that stunned her.

"So, what fulfilment do we have today of Luke 20?" The Speaker asked the question. Several hands went up, and the Speaker found one of the younger ones with a smile. "Yes, brother David?"

"That scripture says ‘in this way, the last ones will be first, and the first ones last'." David chirped. "In Jesus time, the leaders who considered themselves ‘first' were eventually brought to ruin, but the disciples, who were seen as ‘last' among the people were the first to receive their reward. Today we have those who genuinely loved God getting Resurrected first, and the people who rose to lead in human institutions being left for later. It's a lesson that true success didn't come from wealth or power back then, and doesn't today."

Ingaret stared blankly at the back of the boy's head for a moment, before she was up and heading for the door quickly. Rachel gave the speaker a look and quickly went after her.

She caught up outside the Hall, where Ingaret was leaning against the wall, head bowed, eyes closed. Her lips were moving soundlessly, and Rachel knew at once that she was praying. The older woman stepped back to let her finish; which took several minutes.

Ingaret turned, unsurprised to see Rachel, and waved her off. "No, there's nothing wrong. Not really." She wiped her eyes. "Back when I was… there; they told me that I was not meant, and therefore not capable to understand Scripture. Not only because of my station, or my gender, or…" She shook her head. "Those children in there? They can explain, interpret and quote, chapter and verse better than the Bishop did at Mass."

Rachel smiled. "Those children in there don't understand what a ‘gun' is, or how to pluck and cook a grouse. They aren't smarter than you, just trained differently."

"Even so," Ingaret shook her head. "I don't have a hope of making it in this world."

"You've decided that after two weeks?" Rachel teased. "I figured you were smarter than that."

"Well, I'm not. That's what I just said."

"Ingaret, we don't know for sure where the ‘unforgivable' line is. Jehovah does, and we're happy to leave it to him. But odds are that at some point, possibly centuries from now; you're going to see those faces again. The Guard who locked you up, the husband that renounced you, the Master that liked to show off what he knew… maybe even the Inquisitor that told you that you could never understand." Rachel pulled up the scripture on her device. "There's a lot of those paradoxes in Jesus teaching. Here's another: Luke 14. ‘When you spread a dinner or an evening meal, do not call your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors. Otherwise, they might also invite you in return, and it would become a repayment to you. But when you spread a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; and you will be happy, because they have nothing with which to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous ones'." Rachel held out the screen to Ingaret. "Read the next verse."

Ingaret did so. "On hearing these things, one of the fellow guests said to him: ‘Happy is the one who dines in the Kingdom of God'."

"That's you it's talking about, Ingaret." Rachel said softly. "And me too, because I was very new to all of this when I had to make a choice that would decide my whole life. Just like you, I only knew the basics. Admittedly, with a lot more help than you had. But I was getting opposition from everyone I knew, wondering why I had picked the most difficult moment to make such an unpopular choice. At a time when I had way more questions than answers, it very nearly cost me my life too." She felt herself tearing up too. "But here I am."

"Here we both are." Ingaret sniffed. "Isn't that insane?"

"Absolutely insane." Rachel hugged her. "But I think it's the most wonderful thing ever."

~~/*\~~

There were a few secret smiles as Ingaret took her seat again, but nobody commented on it. There were always new faces in the Congregation now, but Ingaret was the first one to come from outside the Congregation; at least here.

The meeting ended with announcements. Numbers of people coming back, schedules for names that people knew, updated membership in the Congregation."

"-and Brother and Sister Tanner were returned to us just this afternoon. Brother and Sister Tanner were privileged to be present at the Cedar Point Convention in 1919, shortly before their deaths. You can imagine how thrilled they are to be here, and together again. We'll be holding a Funeral for them later on this week, pending the arrival of a few others from their generation, but I'm sure you'd like to join us in welcoming them back, now."

There was a loud round of applause to which Ingaret contributed. It was the first time she'd been told of a Funeral, but the announcement was made every other week.

~~/*\~~

"Did you meet the new arrivals?" Thorne asked Ingaret that afternoon.

"I did, and they had more questions for me than I had for them." Ingaret admitted ruefully.

"To be expected. Your time was at least mentioned in our history books. They have more questions than you, because they know what to ask about." Thorne told her kindly. "What do you think of the 22nd Century?"

"I'm starting to get a handle on the technology; and I've decided that this is not a dream." Ingaret smiled softly. "I'm told that I'll have my own house at some point; and that staggers me. I've lived in Service my whole life, like my family for three generations; I was born in servant's quarters and grew up polishing floors. But as wonderful as it is, I still feel like people are watching me." Ingaret admitted. "I know it's not… They're still looking. And I think I figured out why."

"Oh yes?" Thorne asked casually.

"That passage about ‘last and first'. It's because I'm something in between." Ingaret reasoned. "I've been reading from the First Testament. Those people were expecting this world. And those who came after, they recognized this world was coming. I didn't get that chance."

"But you wanted to." He said. "That's why you're here early."

"Right, but everyone else will arrive at some point, won't they?" Ingaret pressed. "The reason everyone's so interested in me, is because I'm a small preview of what's to come."

Several feet away, Rachel watched Ingaret's conversation. After several weeks of observing and learning, she was starting to interact with the rest of the local brothers. Rachel was glad to see it. She had been reserved, analytical; taking in everything she could before going as far as talking to people she didn't know. Exactly the way Rachel had been, when Amelia had knocked on her door, decades before.

Unable to help herself, she pulled out her phone. It rang twice before a familiar voice answered. "Rachel? Is that you?"

"Hi, Max." Rachel said softly. "You and Amy are well?"

He laughed. "It's been years since anyone asked me that, but yes, we are."

"I'm sorry it's been so long between visits; I just lost track of…"

"Don't worry, kid; the great thing about eternity is that there's always an infinite amount of visits to come, however far between." Max chuckled. "Amelia and I have been busy too. We just moved back to Scotland. Took a little wheedling to get that spot as our land allotment, but we did it."

"I'm happy for you, home again." Rachel smiled. "I… I got a Gold Letter a few weeks ago. She's from the 1300's. Ingaret Godlefe."

"Really? Sounds like she must have an interesting story."

"Ohh, it's unbelievable." Rachel agreed. "I've been looking after her as best I can, but… I had no idea what it must have been like for you and Amy."

"You were an excellent student." Maxwell promised her. "You just had that kind of mind."

"So does Ingaret. She's smarter than I am, and she grew up in a world that told people without money that it was a sin to ask questions. She died for her questions… But as fast as she's drinking this in, what I meant was… It must have been tough, knowing what was coming, trying to convince me to leave it all behind. I mean, Amelia even lost you, right when I was teetering. And the storm was about to break and swallow the world, and Amy still made me and my soul a priority. I remember thinking that was actually a little cold towards you… well, your memory."

"And because she did, you're here, I'm here, and Amelia and I are home in Scotland, almost a century since leaving home." Max said, and Rachel could hear the smile in his voice. "Nothing is worth more than that."

"I've thanked you for it, but… Until this week, I don't think I truly realized what I was thanking you for." Rachel said warmly, and her phone beeped. "Max, that's my call waiting." Rachel said with a wince. "I'm sorry to cut this short…"

"No, not at all. It's always nice to hear from you, Rachel. Next time you're in Scotland, come and visit?"

"I will." Rachel promised. "If it doesn't happen soon, I'll request it." She switched calls. "Hello?"

~~/*\~~

"So, I met Professor Bagley." Beckah said into the phone. "I had expected to see you coming down the gangplank with him."

"Oh, I'm sorry; I forgot to tell you. My plans changed at the last minute. I couldn't convince Ingaret to try her hand at flight, and… It wasn't time to leave her to her own devices just yet."

"I get that." Beckah smiled. "Kevin was a little stunned, though. He thought for sure that you'd want to squeeze every last second that you could out of The Conference."

"For as long as it lasts." Rachel said grimly. "And it grieves me, but I'm needed here. Ingaret has found work, and she's figuring out the way the world works now. She took to the Devices way faster than my own mother ever did. But she isn't quite there yet. I figure I'll be able to rejoin the Conference in another three or four months."

"What about the wedding?" Beckah blinked.

Rachel was surprised. "What wedding? You and Alec?!"

Beckah quickly covered the phone and turned to her fiance. "Alec! You sent Rachel an invitation, right?"

Alec froze. "I thought she'd have heard it from Kevin. They talk every day."

Kevin held up both hands. "I thought Beckah would tell her. I assumed, since they were old friends…"

Beckah swatted Alec. "And I left the invitations up to you!" She uncovered the phone. "Well, the thing is… I kind of need an answer very quickly. I've been waiting for you to RSVP, and if you're going to be my Maid of Honor; I need to know soon."

"Maid of Honor?" Rachel chirped. "I'd love to! Oh, Beckah; sweetheart! I'm so happy for you! I don't know how I missed the invite, but if I can still be there; I'll make it, come fire or flood!"

Alec gave her a look. "‘Waiting for her to RSVP'?" He hissed. "Aren't we all supposed to be honest about things now?"

Beckah winced and covered the phone again. "I'll do penance for the lie, later. But if Rachel realized that all three of us simply forgot to mention it, we'll be doing a different kind of penance for the next thousand years."

"Yeah." Kevin said with grim irony. "Deep down, we're still us."

~~/*\~~

"So they forgot to invite you?" Ingaret drawled after Rachel made her goodbyes hung up the call. "I'm actually relieved."

"Beckah's not as good at covering the phone as she thinks she is." Rachel said, unconcerned. "Why relieved?"

"That people can still make mistakes." Ingaret commented. "With God Himself looking over your shoulder every second, who could dare?"

It wasn't exactly the way things were, but Rachel knew Ingaret was learning enough to know that. It was good to see Ingaret could joke about it. "It does, however, change my plans a little. But if Kevin is there, I'm betting Beckah will keep him there for the wedding. Now that Beckah's jumping the broom; she has this thing about setting up all her friends."

"I don't get the impression that would bother you. Or him." Ingaret observed. "If you don't mind me making an observation, you don't seem that upset about your invite getting misplaced."

Rachel ran a hand through her silver hair. "The whole world is a company town these days, something gets lost in the shuffle eventually." She bit her lip. "I've been Beckah's friend for seventy years, but the thing is, I can't for the life of me work out why. We have almost nothing in common."

"One thing." Ingaret reminded her.

"One huge thing. Biggest thing in my life, in fact. But still just the one thing." Rachel agreed. "I'm still friends with everyone who was in the same room as me when A-Day hit. But if I'm honest… I think I feel more in common with you than most anyone else."

Ingaret smiled broadly. "I had two brothers and a sister. She was… She didn't like that I was teaching myself to read, or that I was asking all these questions. She thought it would only get me in trouble. And she was right. Her heartbroken face in the crowd was the last thing I saw before you." Ingaret stood. "Jehovah God chose well when he had you there to meet me… Sister."

It was the second time someone had called her that, and this time, Rachel didn't hesitate to say it back; hugging Ingaret tightly.