“That’s right, we all spin in our own true track, but there’s more to it than just that,” she said. “Each one of us here on this Earth is like a single word on an individual page in a huge book. If all you give the book is just a quick look, all them words and pages seem like they be the same. But each one of them pages say something different from all the others in the book. When you take them pages and bind them altogether they add up to make that one book. But if only one of them words from a page is missing, then the book ain’t complete. That’s why each of us has to be here, and that’s why we all be different. Otherwise parts would be missing, and the world wouldn’t be complete.”

I nodded my comprehension, but it was only partial.

“I understand what you say, and it makes sense. But I’ve never felt that I belong to one place or the other. I’m always seeking something, but what, I don’t know. I just know that I’m never satisfied and that I’m never at peace.”

Cyriah pointed a finger at me.

“They are exceptions to what I just said, and you, dear child, are one of them. You don’t belong to just any one page of the book. You are the line that goes from page to page, connecting many lives, one to the other. You touch peoples across all the separations of race, and wealth, and power, and position, and you don’t see no difference in the worth of whatever person you meet, no matter who they might be. It is a rough and rocky path you’re on, one that mighty few of us can follow, but it is yours to tread and yours alone.”

“But will I ever find the peace—the relief from things I’ve done in the past—from the harm I’ve done to others?” I asked.

“No,” she said, shaking her head side to side. “Not completely. But the things you do for those in need—for those folks who need your strength, will be a salve to the aches that pain your soul.”

We were quiet a few moments as I considered these thoughts. Then Cyriah spoke again.

“But beware, my son. Where you go next is a place of profound evil. Your search will bring you to a realm of hidden foulness. The evil you go against will know you—even now, it knows that you are coming to confront it. It will hide its face and shape from you and strive to make itself seem sweet and innocent. You will not recognize it at all times, for it is clever and has the cunning of the serpent, and it will seek to destroy you.”