Chapter 9: Two-Faced
Patience and disquiet are two emotions that don’t pair well together -- no matter if the viewpoint is human or Paragon. Both affected Wicus at the moment. The council still hadn’t reached a consensus. That was a problem. He was eager to begin while less eager to tempt fate. Standing in his large office with its high paneled walls and lavish furnishings -- all done in earth tones of greens, tans and browns-- the whole effect was normally serene. Even if the evidence of his good taste didn’t appeal to his restlessness today.
His extensive collection of memorabilia was housed in cases that appeared to be made out of a gossamer-like material. They were in fact very sturdy units, well placed throughout the room. His collection was entirely unique to him and in an odd way revealed his devotion to duty.
Flint-rocks, clubs, spears, bows and arrows, swords, knives, muskets, rifles… all manner of guns were displayed. Small weapons from every era of human history that were developed or found favor in North America. And he knew their back-stories, not from extensive study; he’d witnessed them in action.
The battles, the losses, the deaths, all viewed from the vantage point behind the shroud that protected his world from theirs; the indistinguishable area between reality and the tangible that all soul minders called home.
Each item served as a reminder of the brutal nature of mankind and the constant need for magic, the constant need to get it right when he matched people together.
His thoughts shifting into a determined frame of mind as he considered the work that confronted him: finding a replacement soul mate for Emily Wren. Many were beginning to refer to the day that her soul mates were killed as the culling. It seemed an odd choice of term, since culling traditionally meant cutting the worst or weakest from the herd.
In this instance they had been the best, those souls already properly equipped with the correct attributes to meet the people who were their designated soul mates.
With a swipe of his hand across the empty space in front of him, Wicus produced a portal revealing Emily's studio apartment. Her twin-sized bed was pulled out of its normal resting place, the blue sleeper love-seat.
Ever practical, she’d bought the piece at a thrift store for fifteen dollars and re-covered it with a staple gun and eighteen dollars worth of jersey fabric even though she had never upholstered anything in her life. Although as he recalled, there had been some trial and error involved.
He smirked at the memory.
The girl was thoroughly capable with a sensible nature that allowed her to tackle most any problem she attempted. Idly, he wondered what would happen when she met her soul mate and released magic into the world? Of course that would depend upon how well he did his job. He had to get this right.
Emily was tucked under the covers breathing deep and slowly, sound asleep.
He'd forgotten to check mankind's time.
Paragons operated on a different clock than the human world. Their days were 36-hours long and while they didn't actually need sleep, many indulged in a two hour nap before beginning a new day.
Centuries ago, the Council of Nine tried to transition the Paragons into a 24-hour day but it never really took. There was one positive result, most soul minders had two clocks, one set on Paragon time, the other reflecting the hours that made up a human day.
Wicus watched Emily sleep for a while.
He was satisfied that she seemed at peace. Not one to sit up fretting over a boy, he thought. Perhaps there would be time to do the work required without her falling for a barren. The conversation with Titus had rattled him a little, made him question his judgment.
Asleep she exuded a quiet confidence which was surprising considering how bashful she could get. He wondered briefly what she might be dreaming about, he couldn't tell for sure.
A Paragon, especially a soul minder, could usually see into the dreams of a mated soul -- even influence them-- but not into those of a chaste girl like Emily. Her dreams were the sole providence of God, unless she ate or drank something weird in which case they were at the mercy of her digestive tract.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.
Wicus heard a noise in the room. He saw Max sitting up near Emily's feet at the end of the bed, his tail was beating a steady rhythm on the bare wooden floor. The terrier had a curious look on his face. He began to whine.
Max issued three half-halfhearted barks, "Woof... Woof... Woof," each low and breathy.
Narrowing his eyes, Wicus assessed the animal more closely.
While his side was open, he knew a skim was covering the other side which made the portal invisible. Yet from where he stood, he could swear that Max was looking right at him.
"You can't see me...can you boy?" he spoke in a low tone. Disbelieving his burgeoning theory.
"Woof..woof..." barked Max.
Surprised, Wicus stepped back from the portal.
"That's not possible." Concern rattling him.
There was no equivalent of a dog or any kind of pet in the Paragon world. The souls of animals were not under the purview of the brotherhood as their lives were less complicated than humans. Their mating rituals were governed by instinct rather than messy emotions.
Max's timid barks woke Emily. She turned over to where he sat, instantly alert.
Eyes wide.
"What's wrong?" she asked the canine while looking around the studio apartment. She paused and sat still for a moment. Clearly listening for signs of an intruder. Satisfied that no one was trying to break in, she reached for him.
"Here boy."
Max got up on all fours and trotted happily closer to his master's outstretched arms.
"Oh, I get it...you really want some attention...can't sleep huh? You know there's not much room up here...especially the way you like to squirrel around," she lightly scolded, scooping him up and pulling his body to hers in a one-arm hug, ruffling his gray fur with the other hand making it stick up in wild spikes along his spine.
"You are such a good boy... you're spoiled... but I love you anyway."
Max joyfully licked her face while she giggled. Releasing him, she laid down, patting the mattress.
"Come on... settle down, I have to get some sleep."
Wicus had moved back to the portal and watched the entire tender scene
Max stepped over to where Emily's hand rested on the mattress. Sitting on his haunches, he looked up from his new spot on the bed, stared at the portal and slowly put his head down on his paws.
Wicus could have sworn that the animal looked right at him. How was that possible? he mused. Stepping back, he waved his hand and the portal evaporated.
Still pondering what the encounter meant, he was startled by a quiet whoosh.
Quickly turning, he was surprised by the appearance of a shimmering square in the middle of his office.
Aaron and Al had dropped by for a visit. Both stepped through the magical portal in front of him, one after the other.
"I told you he would be in," said Aaron to his companion.
"You were right, very right... as always your timing is impeccable," replied Al.
"Have you started? We're here to lend a hand," the two graciously offered.
Recovering quickly, Wicus was pleased by his great good luck.
"What a wonderful surprise! It's so good to see you... see you both...no I haven't started. Your assistance is most welcome." Doubt poking around in the back corner of his mind. The newcomers arrival fueling his secret apprehension that he might not possess the skills needed to do this properly.
The oddly matched pair were much older than Wicus and had the flaming red eyes to prove it.
Aaron was short, barely 5-feet tall. At 6-foot-5-inches tall, Al towered over him. Each had the same straight, short, jet black hair. What made them unique among the brotherhood were their faces or more precisely, their face.
In the annuals of their history, no one knew of any other Paragons who even slightly
resembled each other, let alone were identical. At least their faces were.
"I'm glad that you're here but I didn't expect you. You weren't at the Great Hall. I understood that neither of you suffered any losses?" observed Wicus, striving to be a gracious host even though their arrival caught him off guard.
"We were fortunate, the culling didn't touch either of us," replied Aaron.
"We're volunteering... yes, volunteering where we can... to make it easier on the rest of you," added Al.
Aaron tended to the souls in Antarctica, while Al's domain was over the Arctic. They alone had been spared the tough duty of selecting new souls to retrofit as replacements.
"Where's Waxine?" asked Aaron, "I had hoped to speak with her during our visit."
"She has other pursuits at the moment, but she'll return later." Wicus replied.
"Other pursuits? Oh...other pursuits. Yes, well, perhaps we'll still be here when she gets back." He exchanged a quick blank look at his mirror image.
Wicus saw it but said nothing.
He wondered briefly if the true purpose of their visit was to help him or to speak with Waxine. He dismissed the thought almost as quickly as it entered his head. He understood Waxine's popularity. Those without Luminary companions were fascinated by them and by her more than most.
The presence of the pair seemed to magnify the gravity of the task ahead of him. Emily Wren will have her soul mate. Seeing as they were here to help, he thought, it’s best to get on with it.
"Gentle Paragons, shall we begin?" he asked with a great sense of ceremony.
"By all means."
"Yes, yes, let’s begin, by all means," echoed Al.
With a wave of his hand Wicus called up a large, curved, flat panel screen that unfolded, stretched upwards and downwards, and unfolded again and again, until it wrapped around the entire room from floor to ceiling, leaving the trio standing free in the wide area that remained open in the center. This panel was not some inanimate object. Like many things in the realm between reality and the tangible -- it was supernatural.
"I'd like your help finding the best possible candidates to replace those that were lost," Wicus formally asked the enchanted nematic display, or E-N-D as it was called, speaking as though talking to a friend.
It sprang to life. The screen was imbued with a special kind of magic. Not only was it diligently prepared to do Wicus' bidding, it was eager to start. The images on the curved panel were more vivid than any HD or plasma screen invented by man. Already there were millions of red dots populating the entire span of the screen, all possible candidates. Each representing a soul who had met and lost his original soul mate through some mishap or misfortune.
“It’s a dark obligation that lays ahead...Whatever names are selected...” Wicus paused. His brain in stormy contemplation. He wouldn’t wish this on any of the people under his care, yet it was necessary.
“Will have...er...difficulties to surmount,” offered Aaron.
Wicus’ gaze shifted to Aaron and he mutely nodded. The air in the room suddenly thick with the heaviness of the assignment.
“Well, look at this spread,” observed Al, glancing back at the flat panel.
He and Aaron took a few steps forward and began walking the length of the display.
One dot near Wicus seemed to be blinking more intently than the rest, the pattern was odd, inconsistent. Without lifting his hand, he casually moved his left index finger to the right less than an inch. The screen responded to his desultory magic and the dot turned into a blue dash which unfolded into letters revealing two words, a name. Wicus raised his eyebrows, eyes tightening in displeasure as he read it.
“Humph," he grunted almost silently and gave an infinitesimal shake of his head precisely once. No, he brooded, not him, definitely not. Was there a glitch in his magic or the E-N-D’s? he wondered. He didn't know what else could have caused the problem.
Quickly he moved his finger to the left and the name on the panel wrapped back onto itself until it became a dot again and then disappeared from the screen all together.
Convinced that it was removed for good from the pool of candidates, he glanced back at his guests. The older soul minders gave no indication that they had taken notice of Wicus' action. In fact, both seemed engrossed at the sheer volume of names on the display.
"It's fortunate there's an ample list of possibilities," observed Aaron from the other side of the room to his tall companion, "at the same time it is rather depressing."
"Rather depressing indeed... To see that so many young people have both met and lost the loves of their lives... It’s... It’s humbling," agreed Al.
"They have suffered much already which may mean less retrofitting will be required. Loss always alters a person...leaves a mark on the soul, it’s unavoidable," Aaron announced wisely, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Unavoidable," echoed Al, "Let’s hope we find a candidate that does not need too much adjustment."
"That would be my wish as well," said Wicus more to himself than his visitors.
Again questioning whether his skills were up to the task. He routinely tweaked a soul if it needed adjustment before a match-up with a secondary…but a full fledged retrofitting? That was something altogether different.
Glancing back at the screen, he noticed that the dot had returned. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. Was the screen intentionally defying him? Such things rarely happened in his world. Again he moved his left index finger, magically making the dot disappear.
“Such a list...nothing to do but go through it one by one,” observed Aaron.
“Yes, one by one,” echoed his friend.
“Fine soul minders you lot make,” said Wicus gruffly, grinning to soften the sting of his words. His spirits, while not high were full of energy anticipating closure to this current problem; providing replacement candidates to be Emily’s soul mate.