Nirvana Effect

18



Lila had requested an audience with him three times. Manassa had never granted it.

When he walked into his quarters she was on his bed.

She studied his face to gauge his reaction. He smiled.

“I’m not going to even ask you how you got in here,” he said.

“Your secret exit is also a secret entrance. You should guard it.”

“Then it wouldn’t be a secret,” he said. He could not resist talking to her. Or looking at her. She wore a loincloth but she may as well have been completely naked on his bed.

“What is this I am laying on?” she asked.

“The English call it a ‘mattress’. It’s a bed.”

She giggled. “You did it. You’re a god, and you sleep on a ‘mittress’.”

Manassa stifled a laugh at the mispronunciation. I wish.

“You’ll need to leave,” he said. “You’re married.”

“I don’t want to be married anymore.”

“That’s too bad,” said Manassa. He walked to his desk.

“Can’t you do something?” she asked.

“It’s the laws of the tribe.”

“But they say you can do anything. You’ve done miracles. You appear out of the air…”

Manassa started working at his desk.

“Mahanta…I miss you, Mahanta. I’m sorry I married. He’s so old and gross. My family needed it. I’m sorry.” She was crying. “I miss you. Please, help me. You don’t have to marry me. I could just be your…”

“’Mattress’?” he asked without looking at her.

“What?” she asked.

He chuckled. He turned around in his chair. She was standing up pleading beside his bed.

He missed her, too. And the idea of her in bed with her husband made his blood boil.

“I swore I’d marry you,” said Manassa. “And you married another. This was an unforgivable sin.” She held her breath. “But that was against Mahanta. Mahanta is no more. I am Manassa, and no Onge can sin unforgivably against me.”

She sighed.

“I will have you,” he said. “But in order for me to have you, you must follow what I say exactly. Understand?”

“I understand,” she said.