“Bless you for your belief, Maria....”
She smiled. She fell silent.
“Why don’t you open your eyes, you beloved?” asked Freder’s longing mouth.
“I see,” she answered. “I see, Freder.... I see a city, standing in the light....”
“Shall I build it?”
“No, Freder. Not you. Your father.”
“My father?”
“Yes....”
“Maria when you spoke of my father, before, this tone of love was not in your voice....”
“Since then much has taken place, Freder. Since then, within a rock, a spring has come to life, heavy with salt and red with blood. Since then Joh Fredersen’s hair has turned snow-white with deadly fear for his son. Since then have those whom I called my brothers sinned from excessive suffering. Since then has Joh Fredersen suffered from excessive sin. Will you not allow them both, Freder—your father as well as my brothers—to pay for their sin, to atone, to become reconciled?”