The Tempest Act 3, Scene 1 Part 4

Act 3, Scene 1 Part 4

Miranda smiled back. Since her stay here, all the men she had been with was her father, Ariel, and the brute Kabib. She had forgiven Kabib but not forgotten the act. She feared him for he may do it again and they may both get punished; he by her father, and she, the lost of her innocence. She knew it would not be allowed for her father protects her. He was protective of her; never left her alone with the other two. He gave her a gun to safeguard herself. He was her knight.

But she once asked her father on the whereabouts of the others in the house.

"There are no others, Miranda. Only you, me and the other two." That was all he told her. "You needed no others except me." But since the attempted rape, her father forbid her to speak to others too and it was only him that she could speak with.

It was Freddy who spoke to her.

"If there was harm I did to you, please forgive me. I may had been lost or was another in my mind." Freddy went down on his knees. "I believed you are the one I love."

Miranda held out her hands to the head of the young man. His words so sweet and true melted her resistance. She thought in her mind that he may be a Nates, but he may not be the same Nates as those who murdered her mother. There are many Millers but there was only one Paul Miller.

"I forgive you, Freddy Nates." Miranda replied. "And even you are the only other man I knew after so long, I think you are a good man. And would be a good husband."

Behind of Miranda' seat at the far corner behind the hidden doorway was the imp with his benefactor. The imp saw his benefactor smile and asked of him.

"What cheer do you find in this act?" Ariel asked. What he saw was the act of a servant performing his task while being watched by the mistress.

"A far gone memory of my younger days." Paul reflected. He remembered Bernice looking at him moving the crates at the warehouse while she sat there with her body holding their unborn child then. She also wanted to help but he denied her so that their child was safe within the mother.

"Bernice, there are no strength than that of love which would make a man do wonders." Paul smiled as he lifted up the heaviest crate with ease.

"Even to forgive the one who may hurt had your wife." Bernice was assaulted by a drunk which Paul had confronted later. He almost the killed guy until Bernice came in time to stopped it. It was the first time, she knew of his works and who he was on the streets. She forgive him, and he also forgive the drunk. If not for Bernice, the drunk would had been fed to the sharks. Instead the drunk was given a knee cap and sent off on the Greyhound. That was Paul Miller's only form of forgiveness.

But in his mind, what he saw in Bernice then, was what Freddy saw in Miranda that day. She was kind like her mother. His opposite in this world. A balance for their journey here. One that was taken short by the murder of her by the Nates.

"I think the chess game had moved to a different set of moves. If I am to win, perhaps I am to merge with my knight for their pawn." Paul spoke up. "It would throw the defenses off on the other side. They would not be prepared for such bold move."

"Pardon, me benefactor, but your words meant nothing to me." Ariel was not a chess player. He find them boring compared to his hobby of puppeteer and music. He invented most of the props used for the stage play in the halls. It was also a recommended hobby to ease the effect of thinking on the inmates. Ariel was always called to do the play.

"I would sanction them..." Paul muttered to himself again. "He is different. She had forgiven him too."

"Have you gone mad?" Ariel spoke up to his benefactor. "You are mad to merge you love to one whom you hated."

"In the game of strategy, madness is sometimes a favored move to win the game." Paul replied to him. "See him not as the one I hated, but the one I recently liked and forgiven for his sins. Only he, mind you. For now."

But would you forgive the others?" Ariel asked his benefactor. Paul did not reply immediately.

"In the game of chess, the pawns are always expendable but there are moves which sometimes the pawn can win even the game. He is a pawn, but the others are not. They are the rooks, the knights, and the bishops. For them, they are to be removed with extreme prejudice."