Radiance 17 - The wicked spring up like grass

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    It wasn’t until half-way through the torah reading that Virgo first noticed anything was wrong.
    She had found herself praying harder than usual, focussing on each word closely, as waves of meanings washed over her, cleansing her troubled mind. Nothing was proceeding according to plan - Li was supposed to have been in Netanya watching the store but somehow she had disappeared right when they had been busy fighting the dybbuk. Ostar and Mercury could look after themselves but if they had been up against some of the more powerful forces that the Sitra Achra could muster Virgo was right to be concerned. And now they had vanished. Virgo had been listening to the cantor, allowing the letters to rearrange themselves in her head but got very little - they were still alive, she was sure of that, but where they were or who held them she could not make out. Perhaps her mind was still too troubled; or perhaps they were being hidden from her. Either way, once shabbat was out she was going to call Rahko, Li and Asher to the Palace of Understanding and come up with a new plan of attack. Together they could surely free Ostar and Mercury.
    But then she noticed that Asher was missing. She had no idea when he had left but it could have been up to twenty five minutes when she had last cast her eyes in his direction. She waited another fifteen minutes while the Torah service finished before she was sure that Asher wasn’t coming back. Virgo needed a new plan.
    This was incredibly frustrating - Asher was so wilful, so impetuous, always acting before thinking. If he didn’t seem to have such a grip on the power of Malchut Virgo could almost have sworn that he was the wrong guy for the job altogether. It had taken years of trying before they had even met properly, and by then it had almost been too late - already years of bad habits and neglect of the tradition had begun to corrupt his soul. And now he had run off in the middle of the shabbat morning service - it was unacceptable, it was inexplicable, it was… so like his father.
    Okay, this wasn’t helping. Where would he have gone? To their rooms, perhaps, though it depended on why he had left - but knowing Asher it could have been anything - even just to get a drink. Still, she had to be sure he was okay. The demons wouldn’t touch him on shabbat of course but he still wasn’t fully recovered and shouldn’t overexert himself.
    Virgo quickly prayed the additional service for the sabbath, gathered her siddur and left the synagogue. That was when she knew something was really wrong.

Radiance 9 - The bounty of the age-old hills

As Asher landed on his backside for the third time in as many minutes, it occurred to him that he might be wasting his time. Sitting on a large outcropping rock at the bottom of Central Park, he rested his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath.
    “Again,” said Virgo, spinning the Staff of Moses in her hands while her feet seemed to be everywhere at once.
    It was a beautiful Sunday, one of those days that made you glad to be living in New York City, when the sun was high and bright but not scorching. The tourists weren’t out in full force just yet but the coffee shops were already making a killing on iced coffees and frappuccinos. It would have been a good day for people watching, Asher thought to himself, rubbing his aching calves, from this vantage point, in this weather. The women were beginning to shed their spring clothes to make ready for summer and the season for sunbathing was just beginning. He could have sat on this rock, sipped at an ice-cold coca-cola and admire the view. But no, he was sweating from pores he never knew he had, aching from every muscle, trying to master the art of pole-fighting while being grilled on everything he was supposed to have learnt over the last few months. And from the look on Virgo’s face right now, it didn’t seem like he was doing well on either front - she looked ready to break her staff over his head.
    “Come on, get up, we’ve barely started,” said Virgo.
    “You’ve barely started, I’m completely finished.”