Beyond Obedience

Dee and I were sitting down by the stream, wiggling our toes in the crispy cool water. There is a spot where a flat rock juts out over the gurgling water. It is high enough that the water only splashes on the underside, where it is dark and musty and covered with green. My legs are a bit shorter than Dee's and I have to point them a little to touch the water, while Dee just sits and kicks her legs back and forth making a hundred ripples radiate into the broken surface. Around us, everything had burst into spring. We had been awaiting it, watching and listening, hearing the call of birds throughout the days and late evenings, catching the first small blooms of color that promised more, watching the bosk graze on grass that no longer held the jacket of pale winter.

I was quiet today, mesmerized by the sky's cracked and distorted reflection in the waves that disturbed the water's surface, aimlessly flicking one of the golden bells at my ankle. Dee had been speaking to me, and finally found something that would break through the haze of my thoughts and bring a smile. "Are you trying to figure out what is past obedience?" Dee had to repeat it, just so I could be sure. I explained that it is not a what, not something I thought I could even come up with. It is simply that I saw the existence in the breath in His eyes after He gave the basics. A dream, one of His dreams, that still thrives, even if it is held with no hope of realization. I wasn't sure if it could be learned, or just given the wings of capability. I felt it was beyond my understanding, but I knew it made me giddy to taste it. I told her perhaps it was part of that unknown that I had come to hunger for.

But that was not what was on my mind. I was trying to understand people. I was trying to understand...Red. I had grown frustrated because she couldn't see anything but the chain. I wondered if it was her strength and pride as a previous free woman that clouded her vision, refusing to allow her to see how generous the Brave Warrior was. He had welcomed her into the warmth of His home, not chained her in discomfort below the wagon, or even in the cavernous emptiness of the slave wagon, or...worse. He made sure she was fed...through me..and even shared His milk with her in an attempt at calming her fears. Was it that independent woman that demanded her meals on her schedule and not mine, that thought she could get her way by challenging others, even the friends of the one giving her a chance at life? Would she have chosen death over such an existence? I had looked at Dee at this point and said that I was not cut out to be a free woman. Even Master's friends who came to His home, didn't they take into account that the very reason neither Red nor I were allowed at the main fire was that we didn't yet know how to be around people - His people. I nodded at Dee at this point and added..I understood now why He sent me away. She offered that maybe that is why the Mistresses left Red alive, for surely the plains were rich with the nutrients of slaves who didn't make it. She also reminded me that I was smitten, and that made me smile and blush, readily agreeing.

Then she told me something else. Dee had brought me food at the command of her Master. Dee thrived in the joy of carrying out His wishes, and I knew this. Both her Master, and she, had a warm regard and respect for my Master, which made the task all the more pleasant in her eyes. That was not why she had taken food out to Master Fonce for me that day though. She had not been commanded to, nor did so out of some kind thought for Master Fonce. She did so - because of me. She liked my gesture and wanted to further it along. Her Master had been very pleased, so pleased he explained that sometimes the heart of a person is seen in how they treat others. This..was important to her Master. This..was that something beyond obedience for him. I took Dee's hands in mine and squeezed with a delighted smile. YES!