Chapter 7
Present Aeon
When Lila arrived at the workshop she shared with Castor, her partner was sleeping—dozing with his head on a table face, drool seeping from his open mouth. Around him lay a half-dozen partially finished wood tables from their most recent order.
She’d been feeling guilty about meeting with Luc, but that swiftly dissipated.
“Castor!”
“What?” Castor popped his head up, dazed, at the sound of her voice. “What? I’m up. I’m up.”
“Were you sleeping?”
“No!”
“Castor, these tables have to be ready soon. Like now.”
“Well, maybe if you’d stop running off to play with swords,” he grumbled, easing himself upright.
“I only go to lessons after doing my share of the work, which is more than I can say for you. Have you been sleeping since I left?!”
Castor winced guiltily.
Lila rolled her eyes.
“Just give me that.” She grabbed a pencil and a v gouge from their work bench and ushered him aside so she could carve the requisite floral design into the table face he’d been drooling on.
She sketched the outline of the design she’d memorized, then carved it out with the gouge, constantly changing the direction of her cuts to ensure the wood fibers didn’t break off and leave a jagged edge.
Rapidly, yet precisely, she stripped the wood away, and a relief began forming as the background lowered.
Lila was always put in charge of the ornamental work. She’d been allowed, within reason, to come up with small, decorative designs, and this had been an enjoyable task at first, but most of their orders were bulk orders, and she’d grown weary of executing the same patterns over and over.
And now she was furious because Castor hadn’t even finished the rest of the table legs. They were supposed to be putting the finishing touches on their order, not rushing to get the tables assembled.
But that was what she got for leaving Castor alone with the work.
Not that she had a choice if she wanted to continue with her sword-fighting lessons.
Unfortunately, the warriors’ lessons coincided with her regular shift in their carpentry shop, but Lila had managed to get Castor’s permission to attend.
Perhaps she’d worn him down over the past aeon.
Perhaps he merely wanted to sleep and slack off.
At first, she’d practiced with the student warriors to blow off steam, but over time, she’d become quite adept at duelling, and even the advanced pupils hesitated to challenge her.
That was how Lila lived now, unable to keep still. She didn’t want to stop and take stock of her existence.
In no time at all, she completed the carving, then moved on to the next identical design.
“Do we really need more tables?” Castor asked, standing over her as she worked. “It’s not like the Creator is making more angels. Why do we need a courtyard at all? The Banquet Hall was fine the way it was.”
“Castor, seriously? You’re making Lila do all the work again?”
Eva appeared at the entrance to their workshop, and Lila’s irritation with Castor lessened.
“I’m taking a break,” Castor protested.
“Your bones are going to take a break when I’m finished with you.” Eva swatted at him, and he leapt out of reach. “If you won’t make yourself useful, get out. I want to talk to Lila.”
“All right, all right, I’m going.” Castor held up his hands and gave Eva a wide berth as he exited.
Lila shook her head. He was gone, all right. Gone as quick as he could.
Eva slumped into the wooden rocking chair in the corner of the shop.
“Lila, can I ask you a question?” Eva began, noticeably uncomfortable.
“Of course. You can ask me anything.” She smiled at her oldest friend and sat up, giving Eva her undivided attention.
“What do you and Castor do when you have an argument?”
“Avoid each other until it’s absolutely necessary for us to speak.”
“Oh…But I mean, how do you become okay with each other again?”
Lila paused, suddenly understanding.
“You and Adrianna had an argument?”
Eva nodded, grimacing.
“It’s just that…I wanted to watch a performance at the open aether theatre, and she said it was a waste of time and that we shouldn’t be paying attention to such frivolous things when there are so many things wrong with our world.
She actually said there’s something wrong with Heaven.
” She burst into tears. “So then I told her to take it back, and she…she yelled at me and went out the door.” A helpless sob tore from her throat.
“I don’t know what’s happened to her lately.
It’s like she’s a totally different person.
We used to love going to the shows together.
That was our thing, remember?” Her voice wavered, and she rubbed her arms as if to comfort herself.
“Now she’s gone all the time, and I don’t know where she goes or what she does or who she’s with.
She’s so secretive, and I don’t understand.
I can’t even sense how she feels like I used to.
I just know something’s really off with her, but she won’t talk to me except to say there’s something wrong with Heaven.
Does that make any sense?!” Eva flung out her arms. “We’ve always been happy here! ”
She turned tear-filled, plaintive eyes to Lila, begging her to agree.
Unfortunately, Lila had no such confirmation to offer. She felt sorry for Eva, though. Her friend had always floated on the aether, but lately, she’d been tethered by invisible weights that dragged her mood down a little more each time Lila saw her.
Crawling over to the foot of the chair, Lila placed a hand on Eva’s wrist.
“Eva, there is something wrong with Heaven.”
“What?”
“But that’s no excuse for Adrianna treating you that way,” she added gently. “Do you want me to talk to her?”
“Um…no.” Eva shook her head. “I just wish things could be how they used to be.”
Lila took Eva’s hand in her own and squeezed it. She thought about Luc’s sudden reappearance and smiled sadly.
“You know, sometimes, so do I.”