Another chapter– longer than some of the recent ones and quite different from the rest of the story. It's moving right along... only a little bit left now. Well, enjoy! Next update at 85 reviews.
I don't know if any ardently fundamental Christians are reading this (Why an over-the-top fundamentalist would be reading not only the Young Wizards series, but this fic in particular, I don't know.), but there is some discussion of (gasp!) evolution as a truth in this chapter. I'm forewarning you so you can leave now. If I get any "You believe in evolution and not in literal creationism according to a strictly literal interpretation of the bible– you're burning in hell!" reviews, I'm going to be quite displeased.
"Soyo!" He exclaimed, sitting up abruptly and pulling on clothes. Nitarose a bit more groggily.
"What?"
"I told Mrs. Andrewsii I would be there at six to walk Soyo. She asked me not to be late this time—which, I confess, I have been quite a bit lately, with someone distracting me—because she was having company."
"So, now I'm just a distraction?"
"Have you not always been?" He laughed at her mock scowl. "At least you are a good distraction," He said, grabbing her.
She dodged his grasp and began stepping back into her own clothes. "I guess I'll see you Thursday, then."
"Do not leave so soon. Come with me."
"What?"
"Come with me. We have not been out in public together since—since the restaurant. That was nearly three months ago. I am beginning to think you only want me for the sex."
"It's taken you this long to figure that out? Besides, you have no room to talk."
"True, true."
Nita shook her head. Beneath her playful banter lay a pit of self-loathing. She returned home every evening from being with Him, drowning in guilt and determined not to go back. Yet, nearly every afternoon, she found herself there, in His apartment, between His sheets. She was somewhat more comfortable with the situation now, especially when she was with Him, resigning to engaging in a relationship with one she detested because she did not have the will power to stop. Everyone has a vice—with some it was coffee or chocolate, with others it was gossip or malice. Hers was simply an innocent sordid liaison with her eternal enemy.
"I don't believe you've invited me anywhere since the restaurant." She hooked her bra and raised an eyebrow at Him.
"You would not have gone," he told her, zipping up his pants.
"And how do you know that?" First one sock, then the other.
He gave her a look, a wry, somewhat patronizing look, and said, "How do you think I know that?"
Without a retort, Nita sighed. They had both finished dressing at this point, and before Nita could refuse, He grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of His apartment to one across the hall. His knock was answered by a small, white-haired lady and a happy, jumping Soyo.
"Good evening, Mrs. Andrewsii," He said, bowing deeply.
"Oh, you're always such a chivalrous gentleman, Brandon," she chuckled. Nita snorted at the irony. If she only knew...
"And who is this skeptical young lady?" she asked, turning to Nita.
He slipped an arm around Nita's waist. "This is my girlfriend, Nita."
"Well, aren't you a pretty little thing. You're mighty lucky to have captured the heart of such a sweet young man."
"Well, we'll be getting on our way," He said quickly, grabbing Soyo's leash as He saw the sarcastic quip forming on Nita's tongue. Nita bit back both the quip and a smirk and managed a small smile.
"Mrs. Andrewsii is a widow," He told her as his arm fell from her waist. They walked out of the building. "Her husband died right before I moved in here. She has one daughter that lives in California and does not want her bothersome mother living out there with her. Soyo is all she has left, but she cannot get him out and or play with him like she used to. So I walk him a couple times a week for her."
Nita looked at Him oddly for a moment, and then, to cover up her respect for this kind gesture of the Lone Power, asked, "I wonder how she would feel if she knew her beloved, chivalrous dog-walker was the very reason she's no longer as young as she used to be."
"I will never know, because she will never know." They strolled now without touching or looking at one another, walking and speaking together, but never interacting, never displaying any of the millions of small gestures, looks, or actions of lovers enjoying one another's company.
"Don't you ever feel guilty?" Nita pressed. "I know you don't abide by our moral standards—that is clear enough—but don't you ever look around at the world and see Mrs. Andrewsii crying over the lost of her husband—children, abandoned on the streets—beggars, wasting away without even enough food to eat—teenagers slitting each others' throats over a pair of tennis shoes—don't you ever look at that and feel guilty? Don't you ever wonder what it would be like if you hadn't interfered? Don't you ever wish everyone could just be happy, without the pain, starvation, the wasting away, and the death your 'gift' introduced?"
He gazed at her for a long moment, His hand tightening on the leash in his hand.
"Perhaps this is what you are mistaking, Nita. I did not invent pain or hunger or competition for resources or anger or malice. I invented release. I made the solution. The others originated as unfortunate side effects to Our creation. There is only a limited amount of energy in the universe, Nita, but that is not My fault. I did not create entropy. It just is. I created a method that let Us use the energy more effectively by recycling some of the energy back into the system."
Seeing she was not convinced, He looked around drew in a deep breath.
"The first organisms were heterotrophs, did you know that?" He asked finally. "In Their far-reaching wisdom, my Brothers and Sisters made organisms that had to have an intake of energy from an external source to survive. But where was this energy to come from? They did not know, so They made the autotrophs, who could make their own food. But it was too late for the heterotrophs, who had begun to metabolize stray carbon compounds and had multiplied across the first planet. Soon, those compounds would be used up, and then what?"
He paused, giving her a chance to answer. Nita said nothing, but walked on, listening intently. He continued, "In another oversight, They had made organisms capable of reproducing themselves without any manner of getting rid of the older organisms. They would all continue to live, ageless, while the population grew larger and larger and the food resources grew smaller and smaller. What then, Nita? What would you suggest, all mighty and all-knowing?"
Again He paused, and again she did not answer.
"Nothing. There was nothing else to do. I tried to explain this to the other Powers, but They did not even see the problem, for They were too blinded by the glories of Their creation and Their own perceived grandness. So, alone I took steps. I introduced death, yes, but as a solution to both the hunger and population problems—old organisms would die out, replaced by the new ones they had previously begot. The new heterotrophs could metabolize the carbon from the bodies of other deceased organisms. It was perfect." He finally stopped walking and turned towards her, pleading with his eyes for her agreement, for someone to finally recognize that His gift really was just that, a gift and not a curse. Her face remained stony, her eyes, noncommittal.
He sighed and began walking again. "The other Powers were abhorred by My solution to a problem They did not recognize as even existing. Believing Me to be destroying Their creation instead of saving it, They cast Me out. Eons later, here I am." He gestured widely.
Nita chewed her lip, pondering all that He had said. After a pregnant pause, she ventured, "But surely there was another way. Couldn't You have made all the organisms autotrophs from then on? Couldn't You have made organisms that didn't reproduce, so that there wasn't a population problem? Surely–"
He shook his head. By now, they had reached the park. He reached down slowly to unclip Soyo's leash. "Do you not think that I thought of all that? But there was no other way. None."
He watched the dog bound away and circle several trees. He led Nita to a bench and sank down on it. "Think about it, Nita. Even if We made all the organism from there on out autotrophs, what about the first heterotrophs? Without the ability to die, they would live on, scrounging for stray compounds. But, eventually, their food source would run out and they would starve—not to death, you see, for they could not. Instead, they would remain miserable for eternity, unable to do more than simply exist, day to day, in horrible hunger and pain.
"We tried forming worlds entirely of autotrophs, by the population problem still exists. Without the ability to reproduce, however, organisms cannot adapt to their surroundings. You would not be here. Most of the species in the universe would not be here. Contrary to popular belief, the Powers do not micro-control every aspect of every world. They set the world in motion, with different factors, and see what happens. You have studied evolution in school—while there are some errors in the human perspective of it, your scientists have a good idea of how the Powers go about creating. We—well, They, now—start small. Small creations are easier and take less energy. They develop the world, introduce an array of small organisms, and watch what path the organisms take. It is just a giant science project, one could say. What will happen if We make the planet with a methane atmosphere? What organisms will become dominant or sentient if We place the sun this far away?"
"So much for loving, compassionate gods," Nita scoffed.
"Of course, you are not referring to Me..."
"Oh, never."
"That is what I thought." He nuzzled her, ignoring her sarcasm.
She pushed Him off. "Not here. Not in public."
"No one is watching." He moved against her insistently.
"Maybe not at the moment, but someone will—"
He pulled back and gestured around. Soyo, who had leaped after a squirrel, was frozen in mid-air. The squirrel was also frozen, in the middle of a frenzied scurry. A young girl stood on the path, one hand intertwined with her mother's and the other clutching an ice cream cone. Her tongue was out, touching the ice cream, but remaining motionless. Everything was motionless. An unnatural silence blanketed the scene.
"What have you done?" Nita cried, glancing about, as He scooped her up and laid her on the ground.
He hovered over her, not answering.
"Where were we?" He asked, his face looming ever closer to her own.