Chapter Three
Departure
Anest and Lily awoke to the sounds of wind and heavy rain. There had been clearer skies recently which they hoped would continue, but during the night the unusually heavy fall downpour had resumed, beating down upon the earth like a foretaste of impending doom.
It was early yet. Lily watched and listened as the cold rain spattered loudly against the windows, and thought the irrhythmic gusts of shutter-rattling wind had a forlorn sound. She shivered. Before becoming joined to Anest, she had been immune to the elements; indeed, she had been part of them.
Now, the room was cold, the air damp. This world of separateness was depressing and confusing in so many varied ways. She was joined to Anest, but last night they had a strange ceremony which had nothing to do with their relationship that she could see. Anest had tried to explain to her something of the nature of symbolism, and she had felt what was becoming a familiar pang of loneliness; for the world of symbolism was abstract, impermanent, and indirect. It was about life, but it was not life. It was about magic, but it was not magic.
Anest did not seem particularly concerned about the ceremony one way or another, except that, in his words, their joining was now official, that the purpose of marriage was to tell the world that he and Lily belonged exclusively to each other, and that in this world, such a declaration was desirable and necessary.