He tries to focus on something other than his anxiety (late again, late again!) which is hard at first. But as he hurries down the well-worn path to the left, distraction becomes easy. There is color, and light, and sound, all of it warm and beautiful. He suddenly feels his god here. Oriens is smiling in the fresco that shifts with the color of dawn and he is coaxing morning glories to bloom from the most beautiful creature Mateo has ever seen.
When the woman says "peril and beauty" all the unwritten songs that lie in his heart, waiting for peril and beauty to give them the wings they need to soar, they shift like leaves in the morning breeze.
They are granted a question-- just one.
He folds into an exaggerated bow, one leg extended forward, wings tucked, tail feathers fanned out neatly. "What is your name?" He glances up to her, but remains bent in deference. And because the other maze-goer does not ask her question, and because faith emboldens him, he sneaks in another not-shy glance, and another question- "Will I see you again?" His tail feathers wiggle ever so slightly, a dog begging for a bone.
- - - -
Mateo chooses the first path
(provided he stops flirting)
art by empluvie
