Prim got here to part of the street that was nicely worn. The path cut up and furrowed into nice little runoff trails, that twisted and snaked their means by way of groves of gently rustling bushes. The undergrowth was thick and inexperienced and heat with bugs and flowers. Prim felt a number of the pressure drain from her physique and she or he rested some time below a tree, feeling fairly relaxed.
After some time, she took a brief and refreshing nap, and awoke to the distant voices of vacationers a brief methods down the path. When she went out to greet them, she noticed them clothed in white, and their faces and options have been fairly nondescript, as if washed within the ocean some time.
“Hello sister,” stated they, “Who are you?”
“I am called Prim, who was the slave of Hansa, and now slave of the road,” stated Prim.
“You are in luck, sister,” stated the white-clothed folks. “This is the end of the road. You are free!”
Prim gazed previous the vacationers by way of the treetops to see a broad and verdant valley, noticed with the trim rooftops of innumerable homes, every sporting a neat little plume of smoke. It regarded like a really good place to be, and Prim’s coronary heart burned with a sure form of longing she had not felt in a protracted whereas.
“What is this place?” requested Prim.
The vacationers checked out one another, as if it was an odd query. “This the valley of Eternal Life,” they stated. Prim was shocked, as Immortality was one of many Three Forbidden Punishments. Seeing her expression, the vacationers laughed stupidly, as if that they had stumbled throughout a small and confused youngster.
“Don’t be so shocked,” stated one of many vacationers,”it’s true! Nobody is aware of need, starvation, or illness. Our days are spent tending our gardens, speaking to our neighbors and households, and praising God, who has granted us this boon. Death doesn’t contact us right here. People are neither born, nor die on this land. Our wants are cared for and the land is nice and inexperienced. What else may we would like?”
“You should join us, sister,” added one of many vacationers, “as God is good, you will know nothing but happiness in this valley.”
“Can you leave?” stated Prim, who had an expression like she had tasted one thing bitter. The vacationers checked out one another in confusion. “Of course not,” stated they, “why would we want to? It is impossible to leave the valley.”
“What else do you get up to?” stated Prim tentatively, “Other than praising god, tending to your gardens, and talking to your neighbors?”
The vacationers have been very confused certainly, and appeared to assume this was a really odd query. “Are you happy?” added Prim, as if this is able to assist.
“Yes, of course,” stated the vacationers, smiling blithely. The expression on their faces was exhausting to learn, however to Prim their phrases got here out like a heat paste. “You will know nothing but happiness in this valley.”
“This land is terribly cursed,” stated Prim, and moved on.
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