Unity and Destiny Pt. 09

**** Epilogue *****

Nicola parked the van in their usual spot off the highway, and they waited. This time, Diana came alone.

She walked to them cautiously, attention focused on the back seat of the van. That was where the Mexican leaned against Edgar, her eyes blinking but gaze focused on nothing. It was the same as always, her senses muted by layer upon layer of crystal. Information entered, but none escaped, except by the complicated loophole that only Esther understood. Nicola had asked if it was like a black hole, and the metaphor was intriguing, or perhaps even more than that. She'd already started talking with Raj about it.

Diana looked tired and defeated. It was over two weeks now since the events in Oaxaca, and the Chosen would still be trying to make sense of the loss of Unity.

"Who is that?" Diana finally asked. Esther had allowed her to examine the Mexican with her senses, and surely she was stunned by the Blessings that covered the ageless woman's body.

"She is Unity," said Esther simply. "She was the vessel for everything you felt in those devotions, though she was not the source of every vision. Some were yours, as you guessed. Some were those of others. But Unity itself was all in service of her own agenda. Diana, she cared for nothing except her own power. She would have let the world burn, if it was useful. And the world nearly did burn."

Diana stared at Esther. Her eyes widened in slow recognition.

"You," she said, taking a step back. "You're the math instructor, the one the others couldn't remember. Esther, that's your name. I thought I was hallucinating. But no, you're so much more than that, aren't you?"

Esther nodded, and she waited as Diana tried to fit Esther back into her memory properly.

After a minute, Diana rubbed her eyes.

"I was furious with you, though I can't remember all the details. And I know you did us kindnesses as well, you and your friends. For Peter, and the children. But what you just said about this woman makes no sense at all."

Esther nodded, and she explained it more fully, going back to help Diana recover memories of their interactions. The older woman was sharp, and Esther knew she would recover most of her memories on her own. But Esther could see Diana didn't really believe what she said about the Mexican. That was all right. Their group had argued about this since they got back. Javier kept reminding her that it was no trivial thing to care for two adults, that they couldn't just go back to school and leave them alone, or expect Nicola and Mark to take care of them. He'd stressed it wasn't Esther's responsibility alone. And he was right, as always.

"What have you done to her?" Diana asked, finally.

"With great difficulty I locked her mind away," Esther said. "She is unspeakably powerful, but only I have the key. She can still hear and sense the world around her, like a person with a limited number of Blessings. But she can only speak to me, and then only with difficulty, when I am nearby and making the effort. So far she has said nothing meaningful. I will visit you as often as I can, and try to speak with her. And one day I hope I can find a less drastic solution, because whatever she's done, she deserves her chance to return to Harmony."

Diana nodded, looking surprised and briefly suspicious. "Yes," she said. "Exactly. That was the argument I used with the other elders, regarding your friends. But you truly believe it, don't you?"

Esther nodded. "The man with her is named Edgar. He understands English and Spanish, but we have never heard him speak. He was enslaved many years ago by that woman, and his mind has been so damaged that he will resist any effort to separate him from her. He will insist on taking care of her daily needs, but I hope in time you will find something else to interest him. Gardening, perhaps. He has been cruelly used for so long, and he deserves Harmony of his own."

Diana looked more closely at Edgar. "That certainly seems true. But this is a great burden you ask of us. If this woman is as dangerous as you say, her mere presence may disrupt our attempts to reach Harmony. On a practical level, you must understand how marginal our resources are."

Nicola spoke up. "This is not a request, Diana. You claimed you were willing to accept the consequences for your actions, when you believed yourself acting for Unity. This? This is the consequence. If you care so much about Unity, here it is. All packaged up for you thanks to Esther."

Esther glared at Nicola, but her friend didn't back down.

"We will provide you with resources," Javier said. "Money, or materials, and what time we can spare. As Esther said, she'll visit when she can. But Nicola is right: this woman is the responsibility of the Chosen. Maybe it's unfair to dump her on you rather than the group at the lake, but that's because we think you might take the responsibility seriously."

Diana frowned, looking at Esther for a long time, until something finally changed in her expression. "I'll have to bring this to the elders. What story am I supposed to give them?"

"Tell them she ventured terribly far from the Way," said Esther. "Tell them she pushed all the Chosen away from Harmony, and that she has warped your visions since before any of us were born, so that you may trust nothing you remember from Unity, nothing except the unity that you built among yourselves. Whatever you believe, what I told you about her is true. You will not regain Unity, and I mourn with you for what that means in your life. But I suspect you'll find other methods to follow the Way, though they afford you less certainty than ever."

Diana didn't tell the elders quite that story. But in the end, the Chosen accepted care for Edgar and the Mexican. As Nicola drove back, Javier furrowed his brow in that now-familiar way.

"You taught math," he said uncertainly. "To the children, when we stayed here. I watched you once, and you were so patient. Am I remembering this, or just making it up?"

Esther sighed, hugging him. "I don't know that I was so patient as you remember," she said. "But yes. I can tell you about it, if you like."

His memories had changed somewhat, as with all the others. Their own minds had rapidly reconstructed what had been suppressed, but the process wasn't without error. Still, there was nothing so unusual or tragic about that. Memory was a fragile thing for most people, and easily rewritten. The original memories were always fuzzing, altering, decaying. Even for Esther, every new memory changed all the old memories, if only by changing their context. It was a mystery that everyone proceeded through life believing they were the same person as ever. A beautiful mystery, one that touched the parts of her that believed in the soul.

There were some unexpected side effects of the Mexican's meddling. Lukas might eventually reconstruct details about her, but he and his men would likely never remember the extent of the powers she'd demonstrated. Esther would practice those powers, slowly, carefully, alongside all her other studies. She would systematically try to understand the astonishing abilities the Mexican displayed. She couldn't afford to take risks, or expect too much too quickly. She had to aspire to Abuela's wisdom.

The war in Mexico ground forward despite their actions. But to everyone's relief, the Americans and Russians had been shocked into a summit meeting, and there were talks of drastic reductions in nuclear missiles. France was even suggesting it might abandon the weapons altogether. A great ray of hope after all that had happened. And there were still mysteries in the world of the Changed. The one who had sent her the warning message. The subtle manipulations that Lukas had suspected. The maddening hints scattered through Tanaka's notebook.

She'd finally told Javier about the Mexican's true visions, and the ones yet to come. It turned out he'd already suspected as much. As for Javier's own fears, of precious memories lost: those would fade as they built a lifetime of new experiences together. Thinking that far ahead was more than enough for Esther, and if she ever started thinking another way, she'd have Javier and the others to keep her grounded.

As the miles of sagebrush and juniper passed, Esther gripped Javier's arm, watching the highway disappear into the horizon ahead. And for once, she didn't need to look away.