Prelude
It began long, long ago, before recorded history, when the first angel, Ganymede, asked The Most High for permission to linger here on Earth a bit longer. He asked for a little more time to breathe the fresh, untainted air, and to experience time in the humans’ way. He was intrigued by their development and he felt drawn to the spark of the Father within each one.
He was granted this unique opportunity, hearing the Father’s voice tell him that he would walk the earth until his true purpose was fulfilled. Though not knowing what the Lord’s plan was for him, Ganymede had complete faith that his life would be used to glorify the Lord, so he graciously accepted the Father’s permission. Traveling over the land gave him the opportunity to marvel at the Father’s creations, and to befriend those ever-developing groups of people that he encountered.
After a great time, Ganymede wanted more than the solitary roaming that had become his existence, and he chose to settle in a small village nestled in lush, green hills that was brimming with life and possibilities. The sea rose up before the village and offered its inhabitants not only a fresh food source but also the future promise of travel. Ganymede could look long into the future and see the vessels that would one day traverse the seas and dock along those shores.
As time went on, Ganymede became an integral part of the village, helping to heal those who were injured or sick and leading their spiritual growth with stories of the Father and promises of the next life. His neighbors felt as though there must be one God, instead of many, because they could feel the energy and purity radiating from Ganymede and knew that he was no false prophet living among them.
Ganymede continued to meditate and commune with the Lord, and he blessed generation after generation in the ever-growing village. When he thought that it was surely time to return to his Heavenly home, he noticed someone who had previously escaped his acute attention. A young maiden named Maireid had become of age, and when she came to listen to him speak of holy things, Ganymede felt moved for the first time in the way he had seen every married man and woman react in all the time he had lingered on this earthly plane.
He found that his heart felt a bit lighter when she spoke, and he longed to be near her just to watch her breathe. Not knowing how he should respond or react to these startling new feelings, Ganymede entered a period of deep meditation and sought guidance. It was on the second night of his meditation, as he sat prostrate on his knees in the courtyard behind his dwelling, that he finally heard the Lord’s voice.
The Lord told him that He was greatly pleased with all the good works Ganymede had accomplished in the Father’s name while walking and living among humans. And before his time was done, he was to truly know the human experience by marrying and having a human family. For the first time, Ganymede’s mind roamed over the possibilities of what it might feel like to be loved in that way – as a husband, and as a father – and the possibilities seemed hopeful and full of promise to him.
Early the next morning, he bathed and dressed simply, and then went to the home of young Maireid and her family. He tentatively knocked on the door and was received by her father, who did seem a bit surprised to see the young man who never aged at his home’s entrance. For the first time, Ganymede understood the nervousness of courtship and he had to chuckle at himself. He offered Maireid’s father a basket of warm bread and asked if he might come in and have a conversation with him.
After a very short exchange, Maireid’s father, Enote, was all too happy to see his daughter with one so respected, but he was concerned about how she would age and Ganymede would not. The angel replied that he could not know how this new phase of his life would progress or develop, but perhaps he would finally age alongside her.
Throughout the next weeks, Ganymede was allowed to sit and talk with Maireid and take short walks with her. Her mother and aunts always walked along behind the two, and he could hear their conversations behind them as they passed the time while they guarded over her. But Ganymede used the time to establish a deeper friendship with her during their visits.
He learned that she liked the early hours of the morning when the day was still new, fresh, and quiet. When it held such promise that it gave her hope of good things which might come to pass. Maireid also confessed her love for animals, and how she detested the moments she had to help prepare birds for her family’s dinner table. And she loved the color blue, from the sky and the water near their village.
Ganymede eventually took her hand in his one afternoon and felt her squeeze his fingers back in return. When he looked down into her warm, green eyes, he saw the spark that made his heart rejoice. The angel thanked the Lord for allowing him such a new and heartfelt gift.
After a month, Ganymede walked with Maireid in her parents’ garden and asked her if they might sit along a low, wooden bench. She blushed but agreed. He told her of his conversation with the Lord and that of all the young maidens he had ever known, none had moved his heart as had she. Ganymede asked Maireid if she felt the same, and when she answered that she did, he asked her to be his wife. Her bright smile and sudden hug were all the answer he needed, but she did find her words and told him that she wanted him for her husband for the rest of her days.
The courtship did not last long after that and, finally, Ganymede and Maireid were joined as husband and wife. The village came out in its entirety to celebrate this most magical union, and to wish the two well. Ganymede felt as if he had just begun to live for the first time, even after all the ages he had spent traversing the world. Every time he knelt in prayer he asked for a little more time to walk alongside Maireid. He knew the joys and utter brilliance of basking in God’s presence, yet he found that he also wanted to share a lifetime – a human lifetime – with Maireid.
For Ganymede, her lifetime would have been but a blink in time, or lack thereof, to which he was accustomed. But here on Earth, taking the slow path meant that he would not suffer the loss of one of her breaths. He would not miss one flutter of her heart nor one smile that spread and colored Maireid’s cheeks when she looked at him. It was the light within her heart, mirrored in her eyes, which lit his heart aflame and captured him day after day.
As it had been decreed, Ganymede lived out Maireid’s days with her; and, most unexpectedly, their lives were blessed with a daughter a little more than a year into their time together. Arianna, half human, half angel, was a joy to her parents and a source of comfort to their little village. Her laughter, flitting through the small houses and lifting on the breeze, made everyone feel safe and just a little happier. Content. She was a balm to their homes, and they were captivated by her.
Arianna grew knowing that she was quite different from the other children and even adults that she encountered. She could see and hear things that other people could not, from long distances away or from the person’s mind sitting next to her at the hearth of her parents’ home. It was always her parents’ sustaining love and easy acceptance, though, which made her feel wanted and a part of the human experience.
And like her father, Arianna could heal anyone, no matter what the injury or illness was. Though this amazing gift was able to cocoon the family for a significant time, there eventually came a day when Maireid faced what all humans do. Maireid aged and, reaching the end of her body’s days, she finally breathed her last.
Arianna and Ganymede grieved their mortal loss together, leaning on one another for the strength, love, and courage needed to see them through. And though they loved their home and the people around them, Ganymede understood that he could not let them remain there forever. He would have to return to the Lord’s presence soon, and Arianna would have to learn to navigate the world, for better or for worse, without him constantly by her side. Ganymede knew that he would always be able to visit her and counsel her, but he would no longer be with her every waking moment. And the human world could often be a terrifying place.
So it was wi
th a very heavy heart, on a crisp, cool spring morning, that both Ganymede and Arianna bade farewell to the villagers who were their extended family. The hugs and gentle way in which the women squeezed her hands reassured Arianna that she would always have a ‘people’ to call her own and a place to return to in the future. The elders of the small township promised Ganymede that their story would be told and that the villagers’ descendants would know their names so that they would always be welcomed back, whenever or if ever they chose to return.
And though Ganymede graciously accepted their pledge and love, he knew that within a few generations their story would fade from memory. Mortals would think the story of one who never aged too difficult to believe if their eyes could not bear witness to such a truth. He and Arianna would fade from the villagers’ minds and become but a whispered bedtime story. And it was for the best, he thought. For Arianna would not know just one people in one place, but all peoples in all places during her long life.
As they walked along the winding road that led away from the only structures she had ever known, Arianna turned just once to look over her shoulder and whispered, “Good-bye,” to her home and to her mother. When she turned her head to look forward, Ganymede gathered her in his arms, and the two stepped ahead, united as she faced her future.
Chapter 1