Konrad and Alexandra (PDF) - Rolf Gross

across the top followed by fields and islands of white, green, gray, and dark brown towards the bottom. In an almostblack area off-center she had spun in a large carline thistle, silver, gray, and green.Despite its delicate three-dimensional body the hanging was nearly transparent, woven so thin and loose that he couldsee her laughing eyes through it."Do you remember the invisible, delicate fabric we imagined between us and were afraid to tear if we would kiss eachother? This is it! After I almost destroyed our sacred web with my emotional outcry of affection, I decided that I, likeArachne, had to repair it and make it stronger."You see this is the sky of Georgia, and the white fields are the snow of the high mountains below which grow vines andgreen meadows. The carlina acaulis is the sun and at the same time our relationship, beautiful and full of thorns. I foundthe thistle and the twigs at Zedazeni one early morning."She dropped the hanging on his bed and hugged and kissed him happily.5.Alexandra's Necklace1898Konrad’s emotional bind dissolved. His visualization exercises became fluid. Early in the morning between sleep andbeing fully awake he could now see Alexandra wearing the necklaces he drew, and in another week he found a shape heliked. It looked like a Greek omega upside-down with a thin bridge between two large eyes on top, which would alsoserve as the ringlets by which he would connect the links.Full of excitement he took his design to Henri, who gave him a relieved hug and three kisses. Henri suggested thatKonrad hammer the links from simple round wire and widen the bottom arcs of the omegas.Every morning before his lectures Konrad worked at Henri’s shop on this labor of love. Despite the toil and frustrationthese became the happiest hours of his days. He thought about Alexandra, their love, and their future. Would she agreeto marry him, follow him into an uncertain future in a cold, northern country populated by people totally different from her?Would his love be strong enough to support her far away from her family and her beloved Georgia? He sensed the closeties between her and this sunny, cheerful, and yet mysterious land. She still posed a mystery to him to which he couldnot give a name.Henri showed him how to wind the wire on a mandrel, but thereafter he hammered each link separately. In three weeksall eighteen links were finished. Konrad worked a long time to learn how to use a pointed, mouth-blown tube to fan theflame of an alcohol burner into a long, hot spike for soldering the delicate connecting ears to the links. During thisoperation the tiny pieces had to be fluxed and strapped to a block of charcoal. He burned two of the precious links beforehe mastered that task. Henri let him copy the figure-eight clasp, which he claimed as his personal trademark.The finished necklace pleased Konrad immensely, it flowed from his hands just as beautifully as Alexandra’s. Hewrapped it into a piece of simple tissue paper and hid it in his coat pocket.He had invited Alexandra for dinner that night. As they prepared to leave he mysteriously pulled out the small packet.Her eyes filled with tears when he took her before a mirror in the hall and fastened the necklace around her neck.Alexandra embraced him. Looking over her shoulder he saw himself in the mirror and wondered, is that I? Who is thisfabulous woman in my arms, and why am I so happy?Overcome by her beauty he kissed her and quite spontaneously asked, "Will you marry me?"She held on to him tightly. "Yes, I will, yes, my love."Konrad’s riding boots fit like gloves. Looking oddly magnificent with their upturned tips they made him feel like a trueCaucasian."Now you have to learn how to ride again," Alexandra said. "Let's go to Betania. This is not a long ride. It leads throughbeautiful woods to a romantic, old church built by Queen Tamara."Alexandra took out her white stallion, and her father provided Konrad with a mare that could hold the stallion’s pace, butwas docile enough for him to practice and improve his horsemanship.It was not the first time that Konrad sat on a horse. In his student days he had belonged to a Burschenschaft, a studentfraternity that owned a stable of horses, and instead of fencing and drinking he had often gone riding through the sandyMark north of Berlin. But for the past five years he had not had much opportunity to ride and badly needed a refresherbefore the planned trip to Tusheti.22