Veil Beginnings
PROLOGUE
This is the story of a mysterious lady’s veil and its journey through time. Is the veil of supernational origin? The veil has great power for good or evil as we understand them. Anyone who possesses the veil can see into the next world and dwell in the Milky Way. Gazing through the windows of its eyelets, one can see celestial wonders.
Stars twinkle. Stars explode. Stars can bring hope or despair. Wishes often hang in the firmament unanswered. A veil of stars. A veil of mystery. Is the indigo veil a gift or curse? Is it as old as the velvet void itself? Is it the color of storm clouds? A background for gold and silver stars? Is it unearthly, or did it have humble beginnings in France as magical snowy strands of silk, before putting on its luminous indigo mantle?
Chapter 1
Veil Beginnings
Lyon, France 1782
Merde! Jacque Marceau cursed under his breath. Wet streets again. And that maudit smell. His eyes and nostrils burned, and tears rolled down onto his greyish red beard. Sweat ran off his arms and mixed with the mud and rainwater and sewage in the gutter. Marceau began to cough. He walked in a steady drizzle to the front door of the textile mill, entered and seated himself in the wooden chair next to his loom. He caressed the filmy silken threads in front of him gleaned from nearby mulberry trees. They glistened like silver, the slender fibers, with an almost unearthly beauty. Marceau’s skilled fingers maneuvered the delicate threads. The world around him faded: the wretched weather, his nagging wife, his drunkard son, overwhelmed by the web of beauty he was creating. Minutes became hours as he gazed at his handiwork, moving, shaping, becoming. Eyelets formed like teardrops and spread to adjoining spaces, creating a starry raiment. The master lacemaker held the veil up to the light and saw swirling stars, star clouds, terrible beauty. He continued working. The next morning, when the mill owner opened the door, a magnificent silk lace veil lay on the worktable. The Frenchman lay crumpled on the floor, his lifeless blue eyes staring upwards at unseen wonders.
