Enlightenment may come from strange places...

By: Niusyla Posted on: April 19, 2004

You leave Nineveh street to wander through the park, seeking to calm your mind. You bend to look at an exquisite coneflower, and straighten suddenly as you see a movement from the corner of your eye. Spinning round, you raise your mace above your head in one smooth moment to confront your attacker…

An emancipated girl stands there, looking vacantly at you. You slowly lower your guard, and reach into your pack, remembering what Handel told you…[i]Traditionally, a votive candle is used to show you mean no harm…Children love to sing…We look after them here, give them a better life…[/i]Damn. No candle. You turn and begin to go back the way you came, only to feel a touch on your wrist. The ragged girl stands there, shivering in the scraps of cloth that pass as clothes. Her eyes are filled with pleading as she looks at you, and you jump, startled, as she speaks.

"You don't care about us." She spoke flatly, not accusation, but statement. "Of course I do! Why, I take many children like you to be enrolled in the choir each month" you reply.

"No. You don't. You care because it looks good, because your guild asks you to do so. Because it's a Good thing to do. Not because of us. Did you ever ask us what we wanted? Did we ever have a choice? When you live like this you have to find the blessings you can. Look around you. Look at the beauty of this place. This is my home. Sure, food now and then, warm clothes, they'd be nice, but not if it means giving up my friends, my life, this world I have made for myself."

She pauses in contemplation, as you stand there, stunned. [i]How dare she! After all we do for them she complains about the good treatment they get in the choir! They should be grateful to us! [/i]Another flicker of movement catches your eye and you see your guardian angel draw away from you, looking anguished and saddened. You reach out to her and she flinches. [i]She…she flinched at my touch. How can that be? Love, don't do this to me![/i]

"See. Your angel understands."

You jump as you remember the presence of the girl.

"What you think and what you do don't match. Do you know, whenever one of us gets a bit of food, some clothing, whatever some passer-by wanting to look good, decides to give us, we share it. All of the orphans in this city and believe me that's a lot of us. We share. We don't ask for gratitude between us or empty gestures. What we have, we share, and so we all stick together. That's friendship. That's real goodness. I've had friends here sit for days nursing me to health, giving me the food they find, saving the water for me. That's worth far more than your choir and your empty kindness."

She turns and pushes her way through the bushes. You try to follow but you can't fit through the gap. Slumping on the floor you put your head in your hands. Was she right? Were you only thinking of yourself and your image, rather than the orphans? [i]I…I never spoke to any of them before. Just gave them the candle and told them to follow me. I should have realised before this. I pretend to be a servant of the Light and I might as well be serving Darkness for the good I have done. No wonder my angel turns away from me. I'm surprised she's stayed with me this long. [/i]Exhausted and sorrowful, you fall into the oblivion of sleep.

Upon waking, you feel more clear-headed than you have done for years. You breathe in the gorgeous smell of the flowers around you and notice the natural beauty of this place. [i]We should build more places like this. Places the orphans can come for peace, or shelter.[/i] You grin suddenly. [i]But only if they want to![/i]

Your guardian angel reaches over and hugs you tightly, and hand in hand you skip for joy out of the park. As you leave, you fail to see the girl peering out from behind the sheltering trees, her eyes shining with happiness. With her are her friends, and they all look at you with their faith evident in their faces, for you are their hope for the future.