After our time in Capernaum, Jesus decided to go back to Galilee, but before then, we had to pass through Samaria. It was about noon when we arrived on the outskirts of the city, and, much wearied from travel, the disciples left to buy food. Jesus rested near a well, and I waited with him, since the disciples clearly didn't need my assistance in purchasing food items.

It was the first time since the desert that I had been utterly alone with him, and I took it as a chance to question him about what the black-cloaked man – the devil – had told me.

"Remember the desert? The, um, temptation? And the man?"

Jesus had been gazing in the distance expectantly, but he turned to me at the sound of my voice. "Yes, of course, Judith. What about it?"

I bit my lip. "He, uh, told me to ask you something. If you're, um, hiding something from me? He said it's a…"

Jesus raised an eyebrow. "A what?"

"A curse."

His eyes immediately darkened, boring into mine, a look of sharpness and intensity. "Judith, do you know who that man was?"

I nodded. "He was the devil."

"Yes. He was no man. He was the greatest tempter. The Father of lies. Every word he breathes is a lie, or part of one. His half-truths are treacherous, and you must not fall for them."

I frowned. "I know, but what does that have to do with you hiding something from me? Are you hiding something from me?"

Jesus stared at me, for so long without speaking that I began to feel afraid. Finally, he spoke.

"I am. But-" he added in response to my recoiled body and look of accusation, "- it is not a curse. In fact, it's the complete opposite. It's a blessing."

I didn't understand. "Then why won't you tell me?"

Jesus gazed at me, in tender love. "Judith, I will tell you. Just not right now. One day, when my Father deems it right, you will know. But until then, you must trust that he has your best interests in his plan. Do not let the evil one's lies bring you away from him. From me."

The look he gave me threw me over the edge. I couldn't help it. I tossed my arms over his shoulder and gave him a tight hug. For some reason, he had morphed from a brother-like person into a…father-like person. My master. My Lord. My God. Of course I trusted him.

A feeling of gratitude washed over me as I grasped onto his tunic tightly, feeling like a little girl in the soothing, protective arms of the father I never had. How many people might yearn to be as close to him as I was? To have lived and walked with him all my life?

Just then, a woman approached the well, and I quickly withdrew myself. People never seemed to like me, or want to approach me and talk, so I tended to avoid them as well. Besides, this was a Samaritan. Jewish people simply do not associate with them.

But while I stood at a considerable distance, Jesus hadn't budged. As the woman set her jar down, Jesus asked, "Will you give me a drink?"

She appeared as startled as I was. "Y-you are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?"

Jesus responded in one of his queer phrases that always went against common sense.

"If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

The woman looked at him sceptically. "You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?"

Jesus smiled kindly. "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

The woman was impressed. "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water!"

"Go, call your husband and come back."

She faltered. "I…have no husband."

"You're right," Jesus replied. "You've had five, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you just said is quite true."

The woman blinked. "I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

Jesus shook his head. "Believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."

The woman stared at him, clearly not understanding. I had heard many similar speeches, of which Jesus had patiently explained, and even I was confused.

Finally, she decided to say, "I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

"I, the one speaking to you – I am he."

Just then, the disciples returned, all of them surprised and whispering among themselves to find him talking with a woman, who left her jar and hurried back toward the town.

Offering some bread and fish, the disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."

"I have food to eat that you know nothing about."

I frowned. No one had brought him any food, since I had been with him the whole time. Could it be like the 'water' he claimed to have?

"My food," he continued, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don't you have a saying, 'It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."

Fortunately, after this confusing dialogue, he accepted the food, and then attended to the flocks of Samaritan people who had, according to the woman's testimony, flooded out to see him. Many believed, and we stayed there for two days.

But I was glad when we finally left for Galilee. For home. And I had great hopes of what Jesus may be able to accomplish, because if so many Samaritans had believed in his words, how many more Galileans might believe?

A/N: So the order of miracles and stuff may not be exactly in order, but I'm doing my best to make it as historically accurate as possible, and including everything. Thanks for reading!