Konrad and Alexandra (PDF) - Rolf Gross

a rear door when she entered.If Persephone was surprised to see her, she did not show it. She cleaned some wine spots and breadcrumbs from thetable and removed a half-empty bottle of wine. Then she offered Alexandra a chair."Does Deda or your fiancé know that you are here?" asked Persephone after Alexandra had told her that she wanted heradvice in the emotional tangle resulting from her abduction."No, they don’t, and I don’t want them to know," said Alexandra.Persephone nodded. "Good, it will be better that way. I will be able to talk to you more freely."Persephone prepared a pot of strong tea for them, brought two chipped cups, and sat down opposite Alexandra. A strongsmell of alcohol reached Alexandra on Persephone’s breath. With sunken eyes and two deep, embittered furrowsradiating from her pursed mouth, she looked much older than at the sema. Her cold, dark eyes pierced Alexandra withoutmercy. "You do know that your mother was here when you had disappeared? I tried to see you, but those visions arealways vague. The important minor details often escape me. So, will you describe the episode to me and all of theexperiences that were important to you?"Alexandra described the sequence of events, but taken aback by Persephone’s intoxicated condition she tried to hide herconfused emotions in Shuamta and afterwards. But as she relived the scene before the iconostasis, especially Dato’sattempted suicide and her confrontation with the two accomplices, Alexandra once again got highly excited.Persephone did not seem to pay any attention to her. With a blank expression she stared straight at a spot on the wall.How can I get her to focus, thought Alexandra, break her indifference? She moved her hand involuntarily and knockedover her cup. Fascinated Alexandra watched the puddle spread on the table. Persephone, still staring at the imaginarypoint on the wall, seemed entirely unaware of the accident."I see you quite clearly," Persephone said in a deep, rasping voice. "You are not afraid. Why are you so excited? Why doyou prevent Dato from shooting himself?"A cold shudder ran through Alexandra. Persephone was in a trance.Desperately trying to contain the lake of tea on the table Alexandra whispered tensely. "I wanted to save Dato, so hecould outgrow his childish infatuation with me, that he could become a man.""Never mind the spilled tea, concentrate!" ordered Persephone focusing her veiled, dark eyes on Alexandra. "You are nottelling the truth."Alexandra blushed, but reassured by the sudden recognition on Persephone’s face, collected herself and told her aboutthe intense sensation that against her will she had been involved in a mysterious drama she did not know or understand.Its rules seemed to demand that she witness his death. "I knew that Dato would kill himself only to impress me, that hewould not commit suicide by himself. If I were to refuse to play his game and take away his gun, he would be all right andlive. With great certainty I knew that I had to prevent his death."Persephone with an indignant face looked at her contemptuously. "The weak wretch will live—a miserable life! He hadcome to die in your arms, not to marry you. You are too young and ignorant to understand the old female rules. Youwould have had to seduce him into raping you, emasculate him at the height of his ecstasy, and let him bleed to death inyour embrace. But which woman is still prepared to follow the ancient rules? You acted like a coward."Persephone raised herself, pointed at Alexandra, and said. "You are his Death. One day he will come back and demandthat you attend to his dying."Alexandra shuddered. She stared at Persephone—the drunk queen of the underworld.Slowly her strength returned, she shook herself and rose. Blazing like Pallas Athene, she faced Persephone andfearlessly looked into her age-old eyes. "I shall dare to defy you. I shall marry clear-headed Konrad, the red-beardedforeigner, follow him into exile, and find the strength to save Dato from his guilt and the female spells of my beloved,archaic Georgia."Shaken and deeply disturbed Alexandra swore never to see Persephone again.11.Easter Night with the shepherds at Zedazeni1899Alexandra often wondered what her mother had been like when she met Irakli. Irakli had first met Tamara at a wellchaperonedball in Tiflis. He was studying literature and philosophy in St. Petersburg at the time. Tamara had been in thecompany of Aunt Sophia Bagrationi. Irakli, according to the family tale, fell in love with Tamara and had not rested until37