Archangel by Sharon Shinn

Author:Sharon Shinn [Shinn, Sharon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781101554869
Google: 32oZ9K5SPfMC
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 1997-04-01T07:59:34+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Such accord could not be expected to last forever, although for two weeks relations were harmonious between the angel and his bride. The break, when it came, was so sudden that Rachel was caught totally unprepared; and consequently it left her even angrier than she might otherwise have been.

Her wound was completely healed by this time, due mostly to Hannah's ministrations. The older woman had, without comment, examined the cut and bound it up after spreading a white salve over it.

"What is that?" Rachel had asked.

"Ointment made from manna root," Hannah had replied. Rachel put her finger in the jar and touched the cream gingerly. "This looks so familiar," she said. "I think my mother used some once when my father was badly burned. She said she'd been saving it—for years? Could that be right?"

Hannah nodded. "It's very rare now. Almost all the roots are gone, and I haven't seen any new crops for, oh, a decade or more."

"What did you call it?"

"Manna root."

"Why is it so rare?"

"It comes from a flower that doesn't grow here anymore. All the seeds are gone, ground up by foolish girls. No more seeds no more flowers—no more roots. No more ointment. It's a pity because I have never found another salve as useful as this one."

Sometimes she found it as difficult to get information from Hannah as Gabriel must find it to get information from his wife.

"Why do young girls grind up the seeds?" Rachel asked patiently.

Hannah glanced up at her in surprise. "You don't know about manna? Perhaps the Edori never used it. They say it's an aphrodisiac—a love potion. Well, the seeds are, if they're ground up and slipped into food or drink. So the stories say. And only men are affected by the potion, so only women harvest the seeds and make the mixture."

Hannah glanced at her again, but the look on Rachel's face was clearly one of fascination, so she went on. "According to legend, Hagar is the one who discovered the potency of the manna, and she struck some deal with Jovah, as she was wont to do. She would go to her mountain retreat and sing to him, and he would send the manna falling down from heaven—clouds of seeds, a rainstorm of them, falling all over Samaria. Some would take root and grow, and other seeds would be harvested by girls looking to find husbands.

"Hagar and Uriel argued once about manna, the stories say. They argued about everything, but this fight went on for days. Uriel felt that the use of manna was unfair to men, that there was no defense against it, and that a woman could use it to ensnare a man who would never consider her without the aid of potions. Hagar said it was a woman's business to find a man, make him love her, and bear as many children as possible for the glory of the god. Hagar liked the idea that there were wiles against which a man was helpless.

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