22. Farewell Jerusalem

I've never been this close to my master before. Servants in my position rarely see the household. We rarely see the servants in the household, for that matter. I clean and keep the stores. It's not a noble task, but someone must do it, and it keeps me sheltered, fed, and clothed.  Now that my family is gone, I have no one to recommend me or apprentice me. At least here I may have better protection from the plague that took them.

When I contracted to Laban I of course knew who he was. Everybody knows of Laban. But that he would ever have need to speak with me was a dream I never would have even dared to imagine.

And yet, here he is. He smells worse than I would have guessed. Like he's been out working in the fields instead of feasting with the elders. Perhaps there was some mishap at the altar. I once saw a bull go mad and nearly kill a priest. If he's had to hold an animal down, that would explain a lot about his disheveled appearance. But it isn't my place to ask, so don't. Servants do as they are told or they lose their position, or worse, their lives.

He asks me for the records, which is a surprise. Hasn't he just been dining and reading with the elders? I guess he is a more devoted man than rumor suggests. I must remember to tell Benjamin he is wrong. All four volumes? What is he trying to find? Isaiah told me not to let these records leave this room, but surely if Master Laban wants them...better to risk Isaiah's wrath than Laban's. Isaiah doesn't have a sword.

He wants me to help him carry them. Me! The lowest of his servants. The others are wrong about Laban. He is not mighty and proud. Oh, what a story I will have to tell Benjamin.

I will never understand the pattern of this city. I thought the temple was the other direction. I must have lost the way when I tripped on his cloak. Stop talking, Zoram. He doesn't care what you think. But I can't stop. I'm so nervous. And he hasn't silenced me. He really is much kinder than he is made out to be. Mother was right. I am hopeless. 

No, this is definitely not the right way to the temple. Why is he meeting with the elders outside of the city gates?

Who are they?

Nephi? 

Thieves.

Isaiah is going to kill me! These thieves are going to kill me! Laban is... oof!

Lehi? The crazy prophet? 

This deal sounds too good. Freedom.  No more dusting shelves and bowing to Isaiah. A new land and a heritage of my own. I don't think I could escape now if I tried. I could try calling to the watch, but they probably wouldn't hear me. And if they did? I let these boys take the sacred records. I'll be flogged. Stoned. Beheaded. If they don't kill me I'll be out on the streets again. No one will employ me after this. I can't go back. I accept their deal and make an oath to stay with them. Farewell, Jerusalem.