There was little room in the world for something as unnecessary as graveyards. People put up markers for loved ones that made the wrong choice. Walter had little family left after A-Day. Even fewer who would miss him. His father had made no arrangements, so they fell to David.
David had claimed the body when they docked. The drop-off was seen by everyone at the Dock, and the normally constant chatter dropped significantly. David thanked them, and Karen and Irsu prayed with him for a while. In the next room, Atxi and James did the same.
Walter’s dog had come along, and now kept pace with David. The aging Labrador had gravitated to David at every step since padding down from the Nicholas.
“My boy knows what it’s like now.” Hitch observed. “Back in OS, they told JW’s not to get too tight with worldly people. At first, it was to protect us from their way of thinking. But by the end, it was to protect us from their sudden absence.” He sighed hard. “Oh, and while I have Atxi here, there was a delivery for her this morning.” Hitch reported, and handed an envelope to her.
Atxi blinked hard. He had handed her a Blue Letter.
~oo00oo~
“I don’t envy him the task.” Karen said as they watched David walk away with his family. “He got the Letter, but he was never meant to be Walter’s legal guardian.”
“David got the Blue Letter because he was the best option.” Irsu said. “Sometimes that means being the one who stands to grow the most as a teacher. Sometimes that means someone who’ll be a lifelong friend to the Returned. Sometimes it means the person who’ll have the most appropriate answers to the individual questions… And sometimes it means the person who can bear the difficult days best. Walter rubbed a lot of people the wrong way with his obsession. David was raised in a world without any of Walter’s particular problem. His father was a Tribulation Witness, his mother very nearly ‘Aged Out’ herself. Walter had all the pieces he needed within a week; and he couldn’t make the decision in a lifetime.”
“David will handle it.” James said with certainty. “If he couldn’t handle this day, he never would have gotten the Letter.” He squeezed Atxi’s fingers.
“David and Townsend are to be commended. They were still trying, right up to the last.” Irsu commented. “Some would have bowed out early, when they saw the way he was going; to spare themselves the heartbreak.”
James headed for the gangplank, leaving the others behind. “This I know. Believe me, I know.”
“Where’s he going?” Karen asked Atxi. “I thought we were all heading back out.”
“We are.” Atxi said quietly, still staring at the Blue Letter in her hand. “But he has to talk to someone first.”
~oo00oo~
Eileen saw James as he came along the dock. “Ah. So, you made it.” She said quietly. “I’m glad.”
“Are you?” James asked. “I wouldn’t be offended if you weren’t, you know.”
Eileen shook her head. “I never even met you until we came here, sir. Of all the things I have to live with, good and bad... Please don’t take this the wrong way, but-”
“I don’t register enough to make the list.” James nodded. “I understand.”
“It’s time for a fresh start.” Eileen said. “When I heard about your offer, it was an answer to a prayer.” She pulled out her Device. “It’s a fairly easy process these days. Last chance to back out.”
James tapped at her Device, and their business was done. When James turned back towards his ship, he saw a familiar face. “Smitty! Glad you could make it.”
“Wouldn’t miss this, Cap’n.” Smitty said with a huge smile. “And if I can borrow you a moment, I have a package for Karen.”
~oo00oo~
Atxi had finally worked up the courage to tear the envelope open. “I knew it!” She whispered. “It’s my sister.”
Irsu rested a hand on her shoulder. “I’m happy for you.” He said. “Where do you meet her?”
Atxi read the page twice, and almost missed James coming back aboard. “I don’t know. I haven’t heard of this place.”
Karen looked. “I have. Trust me, you’ll get there in plenty of time.”
“Someone give us a hand with this?” James called. “I’m still an old man, y’know.”
Coming up the gangplank was James and Smitty, each of them carrying a huge wooden crate. Irsu stepped forward quickly to take James half of the load. “What’s this?”
“No idea. It’s addressed to Karen.” James wiped his brow. “Who’s sending you things here?”
“I ordered it.” Karen said lightly. “But you can’t open it yet.” She turned the blue page towards James. “Our next stop?”
James looked, and smiled at Atxi. “Our next stop.”
~oo00oo~
Spyglass Cove was more or less unchanged by going empty for a while. White sandy beach, with a large, half-moon cove. The sort of place you could park a fleet that didn’t want to be found. The treeline was at the very edge of the beach, and the water so blue it could make your eyes hurt to stare at it.
“Beautiful spot.” Karen observed as James dropped the anchor. “With the trees so close, I feel like there’s someone watching.”
“That was the point, back in the day. Deep shadowy trees meant the Pirates camped out here could observe newcomers without ever being seen.”
Atxi came up on deck when she felt the boat stop moving. “So this is Spyglass Cove.” She looked to the Blue Letter, though she’d long memorized it. “Why would my sister come back here?”
“I have a few ideas.” Karen said blandly, sending James a saucy look as she jumped up on the railing, and made a perfect swan dive into the water; not bothering with the inflatable boat James unpacked.
~oo00oo~
The Hut was still there, though the insects had moved into it. There was a layer of dust over everything… and a skeleton stretched out in the hammock. It was wearing the tattered remains of homespun breeches.
“Lancewood.” James sighed, and tied the ends of the hammock together, making it easier to take his worn out bones away from the camp.
Digging a grave was relatively easy. Lancewood had plenty of tools around. James said nothing while he worked. He sent a glance back towards the beach, but the others knew this was something he wanted to do alone. He dragged the whole hammock, and its burden, into the grave, and filled it in. He used the axe as a marker, and put Lancewood’s hat on top.
That done, James swept his own hat off, and bowed his head… before realizing he had no idea what to say. Lancewood had nobody there to say a word for him; except an old enemy.
“Irsu once told Atxi that if you asked everyone here: ‘What Convinced You?’, they’d all have a different answer. What changed my mind wasn’t the offer of eternal life. I’ve been dead before. It’s not like I suffered any when I was gone. What kept me back was the same thing that convinced me. It was you.” James almost laughed. “The only people I could relate to in this world were the people I truly despised back in the Old Days, and that was a reason enough to believe, and more reason to say no.”
James hesitated, realizing this was becoming less of a eulogy, and more of a prayer, but there was nobody there to counter his claims.
“Have you not read what was spoken to you by God, who said: ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’? He is the God, not of the dead, but of the living.”
James turned. The Boy was back, the one that had spread his wings for Atxi.
“When Jesus said that, Abraham, Issac, and Jacob were all dead more than a thousand years. It was another two thousand years again before they were Returned.” The Angel said. “But to Jah, they were always alive; because they were His.”
“He could bring Lancewood back.” James said to him. It wasn’t a question.
“He doesn’t get any special treatment, just because you have to say goodbye when he can’t hear you. He made his choice. You made yours.” The Boy said without pity or judgement. “God gave him the breath of life, twice, and he never said ‘thank you’, even once.”
“I always knew how to handle my enemies. When it was an enemy I could defeat, I attacked. When it was one too strong, I lay in wait, and watched for a chance, looked for a weakness.” James looked down. “This world has only one way to deal with enemies, and that is to show them love and friendship; until there’s nothing left of them to love. Not nearly as satisfying as I would have liked it to be, but things are different now.”
“Better now.” The Boy said, and gestured at the marker, then back at the Ship. “Walter Emmerson once asked if we liked Human Music, their plays, their movies… We hear all of it. Shakespeare once wrote: ‘What is Past, is Prologue’. And that takes on a whole other meaning for you now. Everything that has come before, from the events of the first page of the Bible to the moment you made your dedication, is still the very first page of your story. Lancewood’s story has ended. There will never be another page written for him. Your story is just beginning, and it can go on forever and ever. Every horizon is yours to sail. Jehovah is a God of the Living. And you are alive.”
~oo00oo~
“Are you sure you want to do this here?” Irsu asked as James returned to the group. “I mean, you just came back from… well, burying someone.”
“Lancewood and I were never exactly friends.” James explained. “Besides, that’s the best reason of all to do this here. Two lives are just getting started here. And two people left this place to start fresh. This is the place where one life ended, and four began anew.”
“A good metaphor for the day’s proceedings.” Irsu agreed. “I take it Eileen had no objection?”
“She signed the Cove over to me before we left.” James reported. “It was a straight up swap. The place I was allotted was landlocked.”
“I knew that wouldn’t keep you down for long.” Irsu agreed with a smile.
James looked around. “Where’s Karen?”
“Right here.” Karen called, coming back from the ship. “I had to take a call. David’s mother wanted to know if Atxi was still interested in helping out with that study about older cultures, and how they’re adapting to the New World. Except that the ‘book’ is now an exhibit at the Expo.” She sent James a glance. “Apparently, David is part of the project now.”
“David is going to need a lot of attention. I know he’s an Elder, but guilt is the one purely destructive force left in the world.” James agreed. “And it’s not my place to offer help.”
“No, see: That’s the thing. David was the one making the call. He wants to go with Atxi, and knew she’d be here.” Karen explained, waving her Device. “I think he’s looking for a new project he can throw himself into; and his mother’s career has always interested him. So he wants to know if he can hitch a ride with you, next time you go in the direction of the Expo.”
“As it happens, I’m heading that way soon.” James told her. “A man named Nick Alman is chartering my ship. Apparently, he’s organizing his first Ministry, out to the Undecided Colony.”
“Nick?” Irsu repeated the name. “He was there the last time we went out to the Island. He won’t be popular there.”
“No indeed, which is why I’m going with him.” James explained. “I’ve been their supply line for decades. Seeing me losing the grey hair will make a difference.”
Karen smiled. “I hope so.”
“So do I.” James admitted. “Because I have no natural talent as an evangelist, and there are some people there whom I would like to see live forever.” He took a corner of the tablecloth and straightened it. “This world isn’t a big enough proof for them as it is. Maybe seeing it happen to me will help.”
“I hope so.”
James bit his lip and looked at Irsu. “They aren’t bad people, Judge. Not really.”
“I don’t know if good and bad are the point anymore. It’s about trust. Walter never trusted God to give him security; and you decided you could.”
“I’ve never needed security.” James shook his head. “I lived my whole adult life without it. Before coming here, it was actually the most interesting part of being me. But there was one thing I couldn’t live without. And Eternity was just barely long enough for it.”
“What’s that?”
James cast a look towards Atxi, who was emerging from the trees, with a large basket of freshly-picked fruits.
Karen smiled sweetly. “Well. A happy ending.”
“If there is such a thing as an ending anymore.” James acknowledged, and left the picnic to head towards Atxi.
Smitty smiled, so glad for his Captain. “So. If Atxi’s Blue Letter is arriving here, I’m guessing we’ll have company soon. Shall we put an extra place at the table for lunch?”
Karen nodded. “Why not?”
~oo00oo~
“This is a nice spot.” Atxi commented, breathing deep. “I was a fair way from the ocean before coming here. A beach was never exactly part of my world view. But I have to admit, it seems little more like ‘Paradise’ here than it does back in the cities.”
James chuckled. “You ask any of the people at the Expo, they’d say the opposite.”
“I suppose so.” Atxi nodded. “But there’s a favor I’d like to ask.”
“Anything.”
“Can my sister stay here for a while?” Atxi asked awkwardly. “I know you just got this place signed over to you, but you spend most of your life on the ocean anyway. The sheer size of the world scared me when I first got here.” She ran a hand through her hair, still grey. “Watching me grow young before her eyes will help. She’ll have the same trouble I had, accepting The Truth. I want to bring her around to it in pieces, tell her what to look for.”
“I’ve got a charter to do, which will take a week or so.” James nodded. “After a week, I’ll be back. You can show her the Nicholas, let her get used to technology, to seeing her sister grow younger instead of older…”
“There’ll be time.” Atxi nodded. “To die of old age was a dishonor among the Aztecs. My sister will have no answer to my looking older, or to my getting younger.”
James nodded, and took a deep breath. “Atxi, I had given some thought to… well, the future. Our future. But if your sister has to be the priority, I can stay on the ship. I’ve done it most of my life. If you want to wait for-”
“James.” Atxi interrupted. “If there’s one thing we know about, it’s wasting time. Especially on the important things. I’m not doing that again. Yes, I will marry you. Today, if you want.”
James chuckled. “Well, we do have everyone we’d invite here already. Including your sister, if you can wait till after lunch.”
Atxi was giggling. Then James was too. She stepped forward and took him in a tight hug, their laughter growing stronger and more joyful; tears streaming down their faces. It wasn’t just happiness. It was the sheer joy of being safe and in love after such a near miss.
~oo00oo~
Atxi and James stood at the edge of the ocean, with the others gathered around them in a semi-circle, a few feet back. In front of them all, Irsu beamed at them both. “When we read about the millions coming back, it’s easy to see numbers. But each and every person who returns to life has a story. A personal story, that’s unique to them, and nobody else. Even if there are a million people who lived under similar circumstances, there’s nobody who thought about what you thought about, and who felt what you felt when it happened.” Irsu looked to the small audience. “But Jehovah does. He who reads hearts and minds can know us completely. Jehovah knows each hair on our heads individually, but for the rest of us; it’s easy to see only part of the story. Never ever forget that these are people, and they are precious and unique. Because Jehovah never forgets that; not ever. We all come to God from different places, but we all come to the same place. Every person who comes to Jehovah brings a lifetime of unique thoughts, and that makes the world a little more special and interesting. It may not be what we expected, but it’s what’s good.” Irsu smiled broadly. “Speaking for myself, I’m glad to have eternity to get to know you all.”
James and Atxi were both at the water’s edge, holding hands tightly. Karen and Smitty were there, watching the proceedings with big smiles on their faces. “Amen.”
“Atxi, I told you once, that if you asked anyone: ‘What Convinced You?’ then they’d all have an answer.” Irsu gave the two of them his full attention. “Do you have one, now?”
Atxi nodded. “It was a long road. I went from expecting something very particular, to being told those promises were false. I met a woman who knew more about my nation, after they had all gone to dust, than I knew after living with them. I lived with a hundred people who were all desperate to keep things the way they knew, and saw through all their lies once I bothered to look. I was taught how to spot the truth by someone I felt was the worst liar I’d ever met, and learned how love could be eternal, from someone who had little interest in eternity.” She clutched James’ hand tightly. “But most of all, I learned that Jehovah was the True God; because he’d heard my prayer, even before I knew his name, and He’d patiently waited centuries for me to hear his answer.”
Irsu smiled, so happy for her. “And you, James? What convinced you?”
“What did it for me was that when my time came, people came looking for me. They all knew I was making the wrong choice. Even as I died, there was no yelling, no anger.” He looked in the direction of Lancewood’s marker. “The people who lived here made their choices long ago. Lancewood’s wife knew he wouldn’t change his mind, but she stayed out of loyalty, until whatever love she felt for him was gone. But when my time came, I had several people who were sad to see my clock run out, and that meant my life had value to them. Something to ransom it back with. They never gave up on me. I always thought that Power and Evil were the same thing, but if a flesh and blood person could forgive that much wasted time, then surely someone as almighty and all-knowing as Jehovah God could do the same.”
Irsu nodded, eyes shining. “A long path, indeed. When you first came back; we told you that this was what Jehovah had always intended the world to be. In fact, we aren’t there yet. There are still billions more to be raised and taught, and hundreds of years of work to clean up and restore the world to a true physical, and spiritual Paradise. But now that you’re here; we’re a little closer than we were yesterday. Welcome Home, brothers and sisters. Welcome Home.”
Everyone cheered as Irsu lead them into the water, and baptized them both.
~oo00oo~
There was a celebration. Right on the pristine white sand, those who came to see the ceremony had laid out a picnic, complete with tablecloths and torches. There were hugs and kisses in every direction, tears on every smiling face. James and Atxi hadn’t let go of each other’s hands since stepping out of the ocean. As everyone expressed their joy, the two of them traded a look. They’d come closer to the edge than any of their friends had wanted to admit.
“When I was a girl, I thought the Gods decided things for reasons I couldn’t comprehend.” Atxi said quietly. “Part of me still wonders, even now, if maybe the reason it took me until old age before I finally figured things out is because my sister will waste far less time, watching me grow younger.”
“Mm.” Irsu sipped chilled juice, enjoying the day. “I stopped looking for reasons over every choice and consequence long ago. Free Will isn’t subject to whims of anyone; and you’ll make yourself crazy looking for justification. But lessons? Lessons can be learned from almost everything, if you have a mind to look. I hope your sister learns fast. Time is a limitless resource now, but the world isn’t a place to waste such priceless gifts.”
“Amen to that.” James admitted as they ate. “We still have a lot to learn.”
“You do.” Irsu wasn’t concerned. “But you finally got the most important lesson into your hearts. Everything else is just time and study.”
“Study was never my strongest skill.” James admitted.
“Me neither, but we have time.” Atxi smiled at him, and put a kiss on his cheek as she stood up. “And speaking of time, I have an appointment.”
“Don’t be nervous.” Karen told her.
“I am nervous. But not about this.” Atxi said seriously. “I came close. I don’t like the idea that my family might do the same. My sister is… like me, in many ways. I look back at my life, and if I’m forced to admit: I wouldn’t have been half as patient with anyone as God has been with me.” Atxi told her friends.
“Me neither.” James said with grim understatement, trading a look with Smitty. They knew what ‘trying someone’s patience’ would cost pirates, back in their day.
Atxi checked the time again and looked upwards briefly. “If my sister takes the same path that I did, I hope that I can be as patient and as compassionate with her, as God and the rest of you have been with me.”
“We will, and He will, and you will, too.” Karen promised her.
“And, without wanting to start the ‘destiny’ debate again,” James added. “Patli will have something you didn’t have. She’ll have her sister there to meet her when she arrives.”
Atxi glanced in the direction of where Lancewood was buried. “I hope it’s enough.” She said quietly as she left the table.
~oo00oo~
Atxi walked deeper into the trees. “Father, I pray that my sister learns the lessons that my life has taught me. And after her, my mother; father… All the souls that I have loved.” Atxi prayed aloud quietly. “Thank you for bringing her back to me, and thank you in advance for all the others… And thank you that James and I can be together forever now. It’s funny, but back when I first got here, a lifetime seemed to be long enough. Now I know it isn’t.”
She arrived at a clearing. The birds in the trees and the press of the green, leafy foliage was almost like the places they had hidden together as children, while their parents were trying to get them to help with the harvest. The Blue Letter didn’t specify more than the cove, but the second she saw it, Atxi knew this was the place.
She checked the time again, and-
There was a sound, like a gentle breeze, like the air was inhaling and exhaling at the same time; and suddenly Atxi was not alone. Her sister was there, lying peacefully on the grass. She opened her eyes and blinked, as though waking from a nap.
Atxi swallowed back the sob, and started towards her. Almost immediately, she was running.
Patli turned at the sound. “Atxi?!” She couldn’t believe her eyes. “Is… is that you?”
Atxi nearly tackled her sister into the hug. Even as she did, she knew she had some explaining to do. Atxi had been little more than a girl when she died. She was older now.
“Patli...” Atxi said with a smile so wide it hurt. “I’m so happy to see you again!”
“Atxi! Sister, it is you!” Patli hugged her back tightly. “We made it! Thirteen Heavens, and we’re in the same one!”
Atxi almost wanted to laugh, but instead started to cry. “Well. We’re together. For now, that’s what’s important.”
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