Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

long ride with Claudia and her parents along the Georgian Military Road to Kazbegi.
One evening Deda took Konrad aside. "Would you like to come with me to a sema in
Shavnabada?"
Konrad was taken by surprise. "Lord, are you still going there? I cannot believe it."
Tamunia-Deda lowered her eyes. "After you helped me at Easter to throw the skeletons out of
the closets of my marriage, Irakli and I have found a new understanding. The following Easter
he came to Zedazeni with me, and now tolerates that I regularly attend the sema in
Shavnabada. The Halveji have elected me sema-bashi, dance master, who keeps the dancers
from colliding and helps any that have fallen."
Konrad still could not accept Deda’s involvement in Shavnabada. Pensive, he knew
Alexandra would refuse to join him. "Are you aware of what happened between Persephone
and Alexandra after Alexandra’s abduction? Alexandra has sworn never to see Persephone
again, and you know that she is not going to give in."
Deda frowned. "I heard of their meeting only from Persephone and know nothing of
Alexandra’s vow. Persephone has become older and wiser, she has got rid of the man with
whom she was living at that time and who was a bad influence on her. She has given up
drinking."
She raised her hand in defense. "Leave Alexandra out of this. I invited you, because I
am worried about you. You are not consumed by professional interests as most men are. Your
only real passion is Alexandra. You float through life without direction, and let her create the
tensions and excitements in your marriage."
Konrad winced, Deda had put her finger on a sore and occasionally troublesome aspect
of his marriage.
"I admire your equanimity," Deda continued. "Look at the intimate relationship between
Alexandra and Vladimir. My husband would not permit me to spend hours with Vladimir
teaching him to drive. You have to be blind, if you did not notice that Vladimir is in love with
her."
Konrad smiled. "My indecision is occasionally troubling me, but Vladimir is not one of my
worries. Deda, it would be silly of me to point out that we are living in a different age than you
and Irakli. Alexandra and I are sufficiently sure of each other. We are neither jealous—or at
least no longer—nor did I grow up with Irakli’s code of honor. Assuming you were married to a
different man, could you not imagine that you might have the freedom to have an affair without
destroying your marriage?"
She lowered her eyes. "Maybe I am not free enough. But I can imagine that a love as
strong and mutual as yours and Alexandra’s could survive. Men have always taken the
freedom to philander. But men are more insecure than women, they cannot bear the idea of
their wives sleeping with another man. I see what you are saying, in exchange for a stronger,
more intense and more equal relationship between the two of you, you give Alexandra the
same freedom which society grants you as a man."
She looked questioningly at him. Konrad chuckled. "Well, something like that. In practice
it is more complex and much more delicate. This kind of freedom depends on a myriad of
emotional factors and an unconditional openness between the two partners. It is no cure for a
marital dispute, nor should an affair be used to ‘prove’ something to the other. Under the right
circumstances the strength and trust that can grow from such an experience is extraordinary,
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