Zilpah and Shekinah are almost my favorite characters, and they have this wonderful bond where even though they are sisters, Zilpah has become Shek’s mom. Here’s a scene from the upcoming sequel to the Brass Starling:
Zilpah ran up the grand curving stair to her sister’s room. She eased the door open to see Shek sitting up in bed, a cutout of silver moonlight shining along the edge of her dark silhouette.
“It’s mama, Zil!” she wailed. “I saw her; I saw her in my dream. She tried to take me back. She told me to get up. To walk back home.”
“We are home, Shek.” Zilpah whispered. “We don’t live there anymore.”
Zilpah smoothed her sister’s hair and held her. Shek shivered in her arms. Gradually, she soothed her and she relaxed and laid back down on the bed. Zilpah tucked the covers around her and sang to her.
“The sun is setting,
the sun is rising,
the moon is waxing,
the moon is waning,
the stars are burning,
the world is turning,
the days and nights are never-ending.
Oh sweet girl, full of woe,
dry your tears, I love you so.”
“Is that true Zil?” Shek gasped, “That the days—that the days will never end?”
“Yes, love.” she answered. “Hashem had to make the days before he could create the world. The days contain the world, and the world can’t exist without the days. Each day creates the world over again from nothing.”
“How did He make the days Zil?”
One reply on “I like this scene”
Awesome writing, I like their interesting names as well