Jeremy Laszlo - The Choosing

“What do you suppose we should do now?” Garret again asked, looking as before towards his brother.

“I had thought to return to the inn to eat.” Seth stated making up his plans as he spoke.

“Do you not want to see the festivities brother?” Garret asked. “There will be plenty of food out here.” He added as if to persuade his twin.

“To be honest Garret I do not feel well, and I suspect that I would not be good company. I think I will return to the inn and retire early tonight, perhaps I can witness the festivities tomorrow.” Seth replied knowing well his ailment was of a mental nature rather than a physical one.

“You want us to join you?” Garret asked with real concern.

“No need for that. Enjoy the festivities, perhaps take note of some things you think I will enjoy and tomorrow you can show them to me.” Seth said knowing his brother did not want to return to the inn.

Garret nodded solemnly, realizing his brother’s mind was already made.

“Well if you are certain then I guess I will see you in the morning.” Garret stated and then added with a smile. “Don’t keep him up all hours of the night and wear him out too much Sara. We need him to feel rested tomorrow.”

Sara replied with a playful scowl, and waved as Garret and Ashton turned to once again join the masses of people milling about in the street. Watching them once again vanish among the crowd Sara turned to face Seth.

“Not feeling well? Perhaps I can perk you up a bit.” Sara stated as she stepped into Seth’s body.

Rising on her toes, Sara pressed her lips to Seth’s. She kissed him more passionately than was appropriate for a public place, but she cared not what others might think of the display. Letting her lips fall from his, she shrank back down off of her toes and took his hand in hers. Seth smiled appreciatively before turning to walk back the many blocks to the inn.

As they had planned Seth and Sara returned to the inn. They went immediately to the dining hall and waited for Felix to appear. As was customary Felix appeared shortly after their arrival, and they sent him to prepare for them a dish of his choosing. They spoke quietly from time to time often exchanging flirtatious smiles. When their food arrived they thanked Felix graciously and consumed their meals quickly. After they had finished they sat for a few moments relaxing. The inn was deserted of guests. Everyone had gone out to venture in the streets to enjoy the festivities. Felix returned shortly and accepted their compliments to his meal as he collected their plates. He left them once again alone in the dining hall taking with him their dirty dishes. A Bell rang somewhere in the building above them and it was followed shortly their after by Sasha striding quickly through the room. She smiled and waved to them in greeting as she passed heading for the lobby. Her muffled voice could be heard speaking to someone on the other side of the stone wall, and listening carefully Seth heard the inn’s door open once again after the voices had stopped. Sasha returned around the corner this time carrying a large leather sack in her hand. She brought it to the table and placed it at Seth’s side.

“A man has just delivered this for you Seth.” Sasha stated in her eloquent voice.

“Yes I was expecting it.” Seth replied honestly.

“Would you like me to have it taken to your room for you?” Sasha asked then, always the host.

“No thank you Sasha I can get it from here. However we plan to retire momentarily, could you see to it that we are not disturbed?” Seth asked.

“Certainly.” Sasha replied sharing a quick smile with Sara. “Well then if you will excuse me I have a lot to see to this evening.” Sasha said.

“Of course don’t let us keep you.” Sara answered quickly in her soft angelic voice.

With that Sasha turned and strode out of the room. Seth looked to Sara who was in turn already looking at him.

“Guess we should get to work.” Seth stated and then added as an afterthought. “That is if you want to help. I’m sorry I assumed, I should have asked earlier.”

“That is fine love, if I can find a way to help you, I will do what I can.” Sara answered her voice full of love.

Seth pushed back from the table. Grabbing the bag he rose and waited for Sara to do the same. Sara rose and stepped nimbly around her chair beside him and they walked together down the hall towards their room. Seth retrieved their key and unlocked the door. Allowing Sara to enter in front of him he followed her through and closed the door behind them. Seth tested the door after he locked it assuring himself it was secure. Satisfied, he carried the bag to the seating area where Sara now stood waiting patiently. He joined her in quick order and untied the leather straps securing the top of the bag. Pulling the mouth of the bag open wide Seth peered inside. Assured of its contents Seth then flipped the bag over pouring its contents to the floor in a jumble. Scroll cases and scrolls littered the floor along with several books of varying sizes. Seth eyed the pile with uncertainty, not sure of where to start. Sara on the other hand immediately kneeled upon the floor and went about sorting the items into piles. The first pile consisted of scrolls without cases. The second was comprised of scrolls that were in cases. Finally, the last pile was a short stack of books stacked neatly with the largest at the bottom, and smallest at the top. Sorted as such the task did not seem quite as daunting as it had before and Seth seated himself quickly next to Sara the piles arranged in front of them.

“I guess we can start with the scrolls.” Seth stated noting it was the biggest pile.

Sara nodded in response and she took up the first scroll within her reach and unraveled it quickly to begin reading. Seth followed her lead and he too picked up a scroll and revealed its contents. They read each scroll entirely, pausing between scrolls to exchange details of the Goddess or her followers they had deciphered from the ink. After they had completed the unprotected scrolls they moved on to those in cases. After each document they would share details of its contents and compare those details to others they had previously read. They finished the scrolls contained within the cases in quick order and moved on to the books. Most of the books were small consisting of fewer than fifty pages. Only two of the books were larger volumes each containing several hundred pages. They started with the smaller books and found immediately that the tomes were divided into small sections, each dealing with a specific subject. This allowed them to skip portions they did not need and go directly to the pages they sought. The small books were finished very quickly after this discovery and all that remained unread were the two largest of the books. They each selected one and opened it upon their laps. Flipping through the first few pages they were each surprised to find the books were indexed in a similar fashion to the smaller tomes. The book Seth held was a collection of short histories of the gods. Each god it seemed had its own section within the book and Seth was able to quickly locate the pages pertaining to Ishanya and he began to read them. Sara’s book was not divided as such and she found references to Ishanya in several places in the index of her tome. She flipped to one section, and after she finished it she would return to the index to locate another section. She followed this process until she had gleaned every ounce of information contained in the book about Ishanya. Seeing that Seth had not yet finished she decided to once again scan through the index for anything else that might be useful. Running her fingers across the page she found a heading that caught her attention. The words read “The Heavenly war” and noting the page number Sara flipped the pages until she found it. She read through the passage quickly fore it was not lengthy, and as she finished, Seth too had completed his task. They each closed their books and placed them back on the floor. It had taken several hours but finally their task was completed. They each took a moment to organize their thoughts before sharing the information they had learned. It was Seth who spoke first.