La Nuit La Plus Profonde
On the darkest night of the year, Christine arrived dutifully for her voice lessons at the mirror in her little loge. After warming up vocally, her thoughts became wistful. "My dear Voice, how do you celebrate Christmas up there, in Heaven?" The Voice did not immediately respond. "I've always wanted to know."
"Such mysteries are not for mortals to know," said the Voice sweetly, but perhaps with a touch of hesitation.
Christine sighed and smiled. "I thought as much. Though I suppose it must glorious, just the same."
The Voice softened, lost its air of grandeur. "An Angel's memory is short, my child. Remind me how you marked le Noël."
Christine's eyes shone. "In Sweden, when the winters are so very dark, we sometimes see Christmas in the Heavens."
"The Northern Lights."
"There is a saint," she continued, "Lucia, whose day we celebrate. The eldest girl of the family dresses in a snow-white robe and wears a wreath of candles and greenery in her hair."
"Holly berries," the Voice murmured.
"She wakes before everyone else, in the darkest hour, and prepares a breakfast of hot buns and coffee."
"The eldest girl—that would have been you," the Voice observed.
Christine's smile sank into the paleness of her skin. "Well, after Mamma died, we seldom had Lucia breakfasts. But Papa and I always sang the old carols. Whatever the weather could bring, wherever we found ourselves—sometimes in barns—we were happy together."
The Voice was silent. "You will not be alone this Christmas, child?"
"Oh no!" Christine replied, too quickly. "Mamma Valerius and I will be quite happy. I am sure she will take me to Mass, and I will sing for her the carols of Brittany the Professor taught me as a child." There was no trace of sadness as she said it.
"That is good," said the Voice. The human warmth was gone. "Now, my child, you must practice. The time for conversation has passed."
"Yes, my teacher. Forgive me."
At the organ, Erik rearranged his music. "Something lighter," he muttered, tossing away the lethargic Schubert and replacing it with Corelli's Concerto Grosso.