The Valkyries

much.”
    Paulo remembered Gene. He too had been an angel’s instrument. Thinking of Gene, Paulo realized that he and Chris had also served as the instruments of an angel.

Chapter 49
     
    A T SUNSET, THEY WENT TO A MOUNTAIN not far from Ajo. They sat facing the east, waiting for the first star to appear. When that occurred, they would initiate their channeling activity.
    They called this process Contemplation of the Angel. It was the first ceremony they had created after the Ritual That Demolishes Rituals had swept the others away.
    “I never asked,” Chris said as they waited. “Why it is that you want to see your angel?”
    “Well, you’ve already explained to me a number of times that it didn’t matter at all to you.”
    His voice had a sarcastic tone. She pretended not to notice.
    “Okay. But it’s important for you. Can you tell me why?”
    “I’ve already explained that. The day of our meeting with Valhalla.”
    “You don’t need a miracle,” she insisted. “You’re just being capricious.”
    “There’s nothing capricious in the spiritual world. Either you accept it, or you don’t.”
    “So? Haven’t you accepted this, your world? Or was everything you said a lie?”
    She must be thinking of that story in the mine,
Paulo thought. It was a difficult question to answer, but he was bound to try.
    “I’ve already witnessed a number of miracles,” he began. “Many miracles. You and I have even witnessed some together. We watched J. create openings in the clouds, fill the darkness with light, move objects from one place to another.
    “You’ve seen me read people’s minds, cause the wind to blow, perform rituals involving power. I’ve seen magic function many times in my life—both for evil and for good. I have no doubts about it.”
    He paused. “But we have also become used to miracles. And we always want to see others. Faith is a difficult conquest, and it requires daily combat in order to be maintained.”
    It was time for the star to appear, and he had to end his explanation. But Chris interrupted.
    “It’s been that way with our marriage, too,” she said. “And I’m exhausted.”
    “I don’t understand. I’m speaking about the spiritual world.”
    “The only reason I’m able to understand what you’re saying is because I know your love,” she said. “We’ve been together for a long time. But after the first two years of joy and passion, every daybegan to be a challenge for me. It’s been very difficult to keep the flames of our love alive.”
    She regretted having brought up the subject—but now she was going to see it through.
    “Once you told me that the world was divided into the farmers, who love the Earth and the harvest, and the hunters, who love the dark forests and conquest. You said I was a farmer, like J. That I walked the path of wisdom, achieved through contemplation. And you said I was married to a hunter.”
    Her thoughts were pushing their way out, and she couldn’t stop herself. She was afraid the star might appear before she had finished.
    “And I am married to a hunter. I know that, and its been very difficult being married to you! You’re like Valhalla, like the Valkyries. They never rest. They deal only in the strong emotions of the hunt, of taking risks. Of the darkness of night and the taking of prisoners. At the beginning, I didn’t think I’d be able to live with that. I, who was looking for a life like everybody else’s, married to a magus! A magus whose world is governed by laws I don’t even know—a person who feels he is alive only when he is facing challenges.”
    She looked into his eyes.
    “Isn’t J. a much more powerful magus than you are?”
    “Much wiser,” Paulo answered. “Much more experienced. He follows the path of the farmer, and it is on that path that he finds his power. I’ll be able to achieve my power only by following the path of the hunter.”
    “Well then, why did he accept you as a disciple?”
    Paulo laughed. “For the same reason that you chose me as a husband. Because we’re different from one another.”
    “Valhalla, you, and all your friends think only in terms of the Conspiracy. Nothing else is important—you’re all fixated on this business of changes, of a new world to come. I believe in that new world, too—but, God, does it have to be this way?”
    “What way?”
    She thought for a minute. She didn’t know exactly what he was getting at. “This way that always involves