Feminine 101

If you have not already done so, or if you are new, I recommend starting with Chapter 1. This is a linear story and will make a lot more sense read as a whole. Please leave a like, comment, or subscribe to my blog to get notifications when a new chapter is published. If I get 100 views on a single post of One More Life, I will self-publish a digital and printed copy with an exclusive Epilogue. If you only missed the last post, you can read Chapter 18 here.

It was over an hour before Nikki reappeared in the near-empty lobby. She could see the devastation in her friend’s posture, etched around her eyes–ageless, inscrutable windows. What sort of relationship could Dayleigh and Rana have where a week ago they didn’t even recognize one another but tonight anyone might assume they had been together forever? Nikki sat mute and unfathoming next to her friend.

.

Rana let the silence stretch a few moments. The coffee had grown cold in her hand so at last she stirred to set it gently on an end table beside her. Then she leaned forward, elbows on her knees, fingers laced together. She breathed deeply and exhaled a long, controlled breath, steeling herself, deliberating where to begin.  

.

Haltingly, she spoke almost to herself at first, “I’ve never told anyone, not really. All these years…and I’ve only shared it as a fairy tale, a bedtime story to lull babes to sleep.” She swallowed, “Do you remember the story–in the bible–about Moses and…the ten plagues in Egypt?”

.

Nikki, resigned to the hush of Rana’s absent gaze, started slightly when she spoke then registered what she said. Squeezing her eyes shut, she shook her head. “Yeah, I think so,” she replied. She focused on her friend’s faraway expression.

.

“Me too. There was an Egyptian girl, the eldest daughter to one of Pharaoh’s advisors. And there was a Hebrew slave. Her father certainly intended her to marry well to some prince of Egypt. And the slave was…very handsome.” She smiled distantly at the thought. “They fell in love. It wouldn’t have mattered. Nothing could have ever come of it. Except that Moses, the lost prince, returned and…well, he turned Egypt on its head. When the slave came for the Egyptian after the plague of darkness, her father was no fool. He knew by then the lost prince did not make empty threats. So, to save her life, he sent his daughter with the slave.

“It was the longest, ugliest night.” Her face appeared haunted and sorrowful, “But, in the house of the Hebrew slave, she was safe.” 

.

Nikki barely blinked as she listened. Rana sat very still, those strange eyes boring a hole in the floor, seeing something beyond. The seriousness in her friend’s tone was unsettling and made Nikki shift uncomfortably.

.

“When morning came, all the slaves prepared to leave. The Egyptian knew she would leave with the slave. They both knew. He took her back to the palace that had always been her home so she could see her family one last time.

.

“Her father was in shock from the humiliation of Egypt at the hands of the Hebrew God. Both of her parents would flinch whenever the slave spoke, or took a step back if he moved toward them. When they were leaving, a man named Mesed–one of Pharaoh’s magicians or priests, I guess, a colleague of her father’s–had come. When he saw the Hebrew slave and the Egyptian princess alive still, he knew what her father had done. To punish her father, the magician cursed her. 

.

“‘You would chase your slave into the desert? Chase him over the world! For all eternity, may you pursue and never be satisfied.’ 

.

“It cast an immediate shadow over them. Still she left. They followed Moses into the desert and were married before they crossed the Red Sea. She would eventually bear him children. In the midst of the throng of Hebrew exiles, they would make a life together. Still, in the quiet of the night, they were troubled by the words of the Egyptian sorcerer, so much so that the slave, now her husband, took her to see one of Aaron’s sons–they were the new priests. They told him about the sorcerer and the curse. It was before the law was given. Because he had no frame of reference, he offered them his blessing instead. 

.

“ ‘I say to you, that your chasing will bear fruit in faithfulness for all eternity.’

“And it did. The curse was…altered. They lived out their days and died, as most did, in the desert. Not more than twenty years later, they met again. They were different, but the moment she touched him–merely brushing past him outside the tabernacle–it was like being awakened from a dream. They had been reborn, to pursue once more. And so they were. Reborn over and over. Sometimes wealthy, sometimes as slaves, others as nobles or princes, often as peasants or merchants or artisans. But always, they sought and found one another, loving again and again. And always, death parted them, sometimes after only a few years, sometimes after decades of happy marriage.” Her voice dropped to a whisper, “But never this soon…” She buried her face in her hands, the torrent of silent, wracking sobs unleashed at last. 

.

Nikki was unable to speak. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. What could she say? It was preposterous, of course. Perhaps it was a sort of allegory? A coping mechanism for whatever trauma had separated them. And what sort of tragedy could make them not recognize each other at all? There was no accounting for it. But a fairytale?

.

Yet…

.

It had the ring of inexplicable truth. 

.

Rana’s shoulders heaved in silent sobs, tears dropping to the carpet and evaporating. Eventually, the tears slowed, their stores exhausted, and she dropped her hands to her lap. Lifting her face, she met Nikki’s gaze. Those timeless eyes were like a final thread woven into a tapestry. Finally they fit, not those of a modern college student, but someone who had lived what must have been dozens of lifetimes. Of course she could relate to the spoiled daughter of a wealthy man. She might have been one once. Nikki slumped back in her chair as the pieces fell into place. Mrs. Dunning prattling on and on about her play and Rana’s superhuman, even ridiculous empathy. Her ability to talk to the cleaning ladies, even the perfect Spanish that she rattled off without seeming to realize it. 

.

“Where’d you learn Spanish?” Nikki blurted out the thought without even pausing. It might be impossible, but it explained a great deal.

.

Rana smiled, “In Spain. I was called Valantina de Aguirre. Andrés was the younger brother to Lope de Aguirre, one of Cortez’s more infamous conquistadors. We raised horses.”

.

Nikki studied her friend’s expression intently, not detecting the slightest hint of guile or sarcasm. “Were you ever fat?”

.

Rana actually laughed, the sound ringing in the deserted lobby. “Many times, though usually after giving birth.”

.

Nikki’s eyes widened, “How many?”

.

“Three hundred sixty-seven.”

.

Nikki let out a low whistle, still wrestling with the insanity of such a story. “I don’t suppose it got easier.”

.

“It was harder in the times I couldn’t have children at all,” her eyes took on a distant expression, “or when I lost one. Seventy-two miscarriages, eight still-births. Fourteen died in their infancy.” She swallowed against tears that threatened to come again, tears for an ache that never fully faded.

.

“I can’t even begin to imagine…” It was true. Who could bring themselves to invent such a reality? “Do you remember all their names?”

.

Rana smiled a little sadly, “Every one. Sometimes, I would get upset and call one in the current family a name from before.”

.

“You never told any of them?”

.

“As fairy tales, I did. I was a wonderful storyteller.”

.

Nikki’s eyes narrowed, “No doubt.”

.

Rana’s expression was soft, “I know very well that I sound certifiable. I don’t hold your disbelief against you. I’m not even sure what possessed me to recount it all beyond grief. I‘m quite overcome. But it’s all wrong! The thought of losing him so soon…”

.

Nikki grasped the young woman’s hand. “He’s not gone yet.”

To continue reading Chapter 20, click here.

If you enjoyed this, wish to own a copy for your collection, and enjoy exclusive content, you can purchase the book here.

©2025 Noell, LLC