An Unearthing of Goddesses

An Unearthing of Goddesses Part 7

Anya and Lhamo rode on their donkey along a remote mountain trail. They wound up the treacherous slopes, the beast's hooves dangerously close to the edge, which fell away steeply to the valley below.

"Why must we ride a donkey?" Lhamo stretched, threatening their fragile balance even further. "My back hurts. Why can we not take a more modern, and comfortable means of transportation? A helicopter would have gotten us there days ago."

Anya turned, craning her neck. "Lhamo. Who taught me to always enter the room silently like a fox in the night? To observe and study, and only then to make a move. Is a helicopter silent like a fox?"

Lhamo laughed. "You were always an attentive student."

"We arrive at the monastery humbly, on our donkey. We look like we are pilgrims, on our devotional journey. They will have been watching us come for days, or longer. You have noticed I am certain, the hawk who lingers in the air every dawn. Our progress is being monitored. Besides, when you are visiting a holy place you must arrive with humility."

Lhamo nodded. "I have seen the hawk. I suppose my back can take a few more hours. But how grand a helicopter arrival would have been!"

They rode along in silence for a while, the only sound the occasional landslide of rocks tumbling over the edge that were loosed by the donkey's steps.

"Lhamo. We need to talk about the formula. What do you remember?"

The old man coughed. "Memory is a funny thing. It leaves me and then returns like a lover after a spat. Sometimes I have the formula in my head, complete and absolute. I can see it as I see the stars in the sky, connecting into constellations and forming into galaxies. I can see the calculations in their pure state, in multiple dimensions." He coughed again and waved at the sky.

"Then, the next thing I know - there are holes. Like parts of the sky have gone missing, swallowed up by some hungry whale swimming through the heavens, gobbling up the stars like minnows."

"When you next have a moment of clarity -" Anya said, slowing to a stop as they had reached a section so treacherous they would have to dismount and travel by foot - "We will have to capture it. I will need to freeze time at exactly the right opportunity. To gather the strength to do this, I will have much meditation to perform when we reach the sky temple."

Hours later, the duo had picked their way along the mountain path on foot. They had let the donkey go, to find his way back alone. They came to the end of the path finally, which turned into a stairway, crowned by an elaborate gateway that arched over the entrance. The staircase led up and up until the top was in a haze of cloud. At the pinnacle stood the sky temple, a series of pagodas crowned in a golden crest.

Anya took Lhamo by the hand. "Ready old man? We have a steep climb ahead." Lamo only grunted. They climbed in silence, stopping when Lhamo needed a breath.

"Lhamo." Anya said when they were about a third of the way up. "Do you remember when we used to climb the mountain to pick wild blueberries? We climbed for an hour at least. But it was worth it, was it not? The berries were the sweetest in our lands."

"Are you trying to make me feel better about climbing this forsaken staircase?" Lhamo wheezed. "And that our rewards at the end will be as sweet as the blueberries we gathered years ago?"

"Well, maybe." Anya turned and smiled.

"Horse manure. This is a grueling walk up a torturesome stairway. At the end will be an ego-filled, so-called religious man who wouldn't know a sweet blueberry from a dung pellet. I would rather throw myself from this cliff than have a conversation with him."