Religion was still a new concept for her. When you had lived so long in contempt of anything that had a hint of the divine or was called such, humbling yourself to it was a very difficult and often bitter pill to take.

But her new-found religion held many stories to draw upon for guidance. She regretted not having a copy of the book when she ended up on this new world, but a sudden wrenching from one reality to another often left little time for packing. Maybe one day she could try to memorize portions of the book, but for now her faint recollections would have to do.

The new world was beautiful. A tamed wilderness that seemed crafted just for her. There were fields of soft grasses. When she crushed the stalks they had the sweetest fragrance. She could spend hours lounging on her back in the midst of them, sometimes playfully rolling around in the sea of green stalks like silly child as she grew drunk on the fragrance.

And the rivers were a delight. There were silvery fish as big as her forearm that darted like glittering streaks through the rapids. She had to precariously balance on a rock and peer down into the churning waters in the hopes of getting close enough to snatch one up. More than once she had missed a swipe and ended up taking a choking flailing tumble into the water, but when she caught one and sunk her teeth into it, there was no greater tasting meal.

At night or on stormy days she could take refuge in the deeper crags of the rocky hillsides. The tall meadow grass made the softest bed when gathered up, and when she fed handfuls of the dried grass from previous night's bed into the campfire it gave off a smell like incense. The smoke made her feel calm and safe, like an old childhood memory of waking up in the arms of a parent after a particularly bad dream.

But the greatest treasure was that she didn't have to hide. It was a blessed joy to be able to walk all day without having to cover herself in layers of disguise or hide like a criminal. She could stroll wherever she wished and had no fear at all of being caught. Some days she would spend simply walking, often singing or shouting at the top of her lungs simply because she could.

It was the first story she had read in the bible. Since it was the first story /in/ the bible it was the one she was most familiar with. A story of a paradise called Eden. And this land, this world was her Eden.

One thing she always wondered was if there had been an Eden on her world with a similar test and temptation that her own people had similarly failed. She couldn't remember the history anymore, maybe her people once worshiped gods, or maybe not. Father Nigel did his best to help it all make sense to her, but a priest fresh out of seminary didn't always have the answers to the mysteries of the universe.

That night she had chosen to sleep under the stars. She stretched out on the velvet of the meadow and stared at the unfamiliar night sky.

Eden had a serpent. If a serpent came to her and offered her some heart's desire temptation, would she be able to resist? It was easy to make up little stories in her head about being tempted and resisting, but the longer she stayed she knew the more she wouldn't be able to fight it. Eden was a paradise with every luxury easily at hand... and yet this paradise felt like a prison more and more every day.

Here, she was alone. The most intelligent beings were the giant loping hunters that constantly gave chase to the great herds of horned grazers in the valleys. They were fellow predators and understood one another on the level of predators, but the hunters were still simple animals.

No companion, no friend, no lover, not even an enemy to argue with. Some days she would lose herself in the haze of smoke from the grasses to try and numb the pain. Sometimes she would try to fall back to a more primal time and ran with the hunters as they brought down prey. But it all ended in an ache that never quite went away.

The light of the sky reflected in her eyes as she searched the stars wearily. How long would she be trapped here?

Eden, in all its paradise and glory, was no place for her.