title: to the least of these

author: newtypeshadow

May 2004

Summary: A beggar watches two rich men, and envies.

The white-hot sun wavered in the afternoon sky; scorching rays beat cracks into the dry red dirt and made it ripple like water. It pressed heavily on the veiled faces stung by sand carried on the hot breezes. Kahli sat against the courtroom walls, curled into the meager shadow cast by the high steps. He was looking at the two officials on the steps beyond the gate. The temple of Judannah was built beside the courtroom. Alabaster and gold, it stood in the heart of the city, brilliance and artistry in every facet of its pillars, doors, fountain, gate.

Yes, it had a fountain. From its center pouring forth into the basin like the waterfalls of legend was pure water, filtered clean of sand and dirt and impurities of the land, sky, and man. The water was said to slide over one's fingers like the finest silk, and to slip one's hands under the spray was to be supremely blessed.

The gate kept all but the rich and the ruling out--away from the water that so carelessly slaked the thirst of the blue-robed men; away from the altars of the god who might grant prosperity to those without it, those like Kahli, burning under the sun and without a home to return to, family, food, or hope to reach old age. Like all the beggars, and indeed, most of the lower class, Kahli hated the rich, with their gold on their fingers and blue in their fine robes. He hated their wasteful exorbitance and pageantry, their flagrant disregard for those who could not cross through the temple gates.

Had he the strength and the will, Kahli would have drawn the daggar at his ankle and buried it to the hilt in one of their necks. But he desired more than anything to live, and the sun was beating down on his weathered body. Dehydrated, sore, and famished, Kahli let his jaded eyes speak for him. Beyond the gate, the taller man with curls of gold caught his gaze and sneered at him. He motioned to the other. The shorter man simply huffed and turned away, grinning. As one they descended the wide sandblasted steps and moved to the fountain. They dipped their hands in its spray and murmured softly, then washed their faces in the water pooled in the basin.

Wasteful! Yet Kahli would have given anything to be one of them, or to be at the base of that fount catching the drops sliding down their arms and falling to the dirt; it shamed him. His stomach growled and his dry tongue felt huge in his mouth, against his cracked lips. He couldn't even swallow, watching as the two men sipped water from the pool. Neither of them was sweating--they'd been inside the temple for the better part of the afternoon.

The taller one turned away for a moment and the shorter one dipped his hands in again, long black hair hiding his face. Then his hands were in his robes and the two were passing through the gate: first the golden set of inner bars, then the iron bars that kept out the poor and the unworthy. Neither man so much as glanced at Kahli, and he wanted to kill them so badly his lower lip shook and his aching fingers started curling. Still, he held out his hand above his raised knees, hoping against hope that one of them would notice and take pity.

Nothing. Kahli wanted to scream.

The officials were passing the courtroom steps when the shorter one's hand flashed above Kahli's head, quick as a thief. Before he realized it, Kahli held something dripping down his wrists. He quickly pressed it to his mouth. It was water. From the temple. He slipped the entire bundle into his mouth, catching a corner in his cupped palms even as he sucked the cloth dry around his tongue and dribbling lips. It was monogrammed, expensive by the look of it, and--

Something hard clacked against his teeth. He carefully pulled it out: a gold piece. And another. And a third. He cradled the money against his chest in a dirty fist and ducked his head around the wall, looking at the men striding importantly down the road as if nothing had happened. They turned a corner and disappeared, but Kahli never forgot. The sun was still cruel and life was still hard, but perhaps one rich man was not worthy of death. Perhaps Kahli, too, had received Judannah's blessing.