One afternoon, in the dome, as she rolled on the wooden floor, she felt that there was a lot of electricity in her hands. She began to brush them against each other and this electric sensation spread to her arms and neck, and then began to go down her torso and spine, losing itself in her pelvis. She wondered what it was and took a deep breath. Some Identes noticed what she was doing and whispered to each other. She touched the ground. She felt the boundaries of the ground in all directions, as if her body extended through the circumference of the dome. She closed her eyes. It seemed as if the wood began to flow from the ground up her spine. The wood, or the sap of the wood, and suddenly she found herself wondering what the difference was between a living body and a dead body. What's more, she wondered if a body could be dead. What was a dead body? And she felt as if in her mind an intricate three–dimensional puzzle of dark, shiny, geometric metal pieces and smooth edges were shifting and reassembling under another organization. When she opened her eyes, all the women were sitting at the far ends of the circle, looking at her.

 

The next day, after lunch, Alondra heard whispers behind her in the dining room. Some women spoke in whispers, as if what they were saying was inappropriate:

 

– What Radix Speciosa! Venus had just risen on the horizon...

 

– But it had already risen! And the deluge!

 

She heard similar things constantly. She didn't pay attention to them. She didn't want to know anything about the cosmic superstitions of Las Identes. She had decided that if she had to live there she should ignore them, since they seemed an insult to her scientific mentality. If she gave them credit, she would have to end up considering them, and that meant giving up the most intimate part of her being. Furthermore, it could mean a breakup that, considering that at the moment it did not seem possible to return to the city, could not be allowed. As she watched Agua work every day in the laboratory, the only cosmic nonsense she deigned to listen to was hers, since she understood that it was part of a broader discourse. That belligerent and hopeful tone that she perceived in the conversations in the hallways and after dinners disgusted her.

 

Every night she heard Agua move in her room, and she had already become convinced that, indeed, her bed was touching the other side of the wall. Although she had not seen Agua officiate any other ceremony apart from the day of her arrival, nor did they seem to give her special treatment, it was palpable in the air that she was the supreme and only leader of Las Identes. There was no other figure who seemed to have the sobriety and authority that Agua exuded. She did not eat with the rest, nor did she come to worship. She gave the impression that her authority emanated from her hermit existence. But it was true that, when a difficult issue arose, she was mentioned. Since Alondra was also Agua, everyone scrupulously avoided saying her name.

 

– What is “Radix Speciosa”? – Alondra asked Agua one morning in the laboratory. Agua was studying some frequencies on the computer and stopped her long, thin fingers on the projection of the keyboard. Without looking at her, she answered:

 

– It means: “beautiful root.”

 

– And what is it?

 

Agua stood up, grabbed the pair of tubes over which she seemed to be emitting the frequencies, and took them to a shelf to put them away. As she did so she absentmindedly explained:

 

– We Identes venerate the “Beautiful Root”. Although we are not a religious order, we believe that the “Beautiful Root” opens the moment from which our beliefs must be disseminated throughout the world. We call ourselves “Las Identes”, which means that we must open ourselves to the world to take our practices and beliefs to all corners of the Earth.

 

Alondra felt confused. What Agua had just said gave her some information, but she did not clarify at all what the “Beautiful Root” was.

 

– But then, what is the “Beautiful Root”?

 

Agua leaned on the table and arched her long back, letting her neck fall between her shoulders, her hands resting on the table and her feet crossed on the floor. She looked at Alondra sympathetically.

 

–Actually, I haven't told you anything about the history of Las Identes yet. How about you come to my room tonight? It is a long and interesting story. I would love to tell you.

 

Alondra nodded obediently.

 

[…]

 

 

The door to her room was open. Agua was sitting on the chair next to a small wooden table where there was a lamp. On the other side, effectively wall to wall with Alondra's, was her small bed. The room was exactly the same as Alondra's in everything else. No luxury or decoration. The rooms of the rest of Las Identes used to have some, all made by hand. Agua's room was, along with Alondra's, undoubtedly the most severe and modest room in the entire compound.

 

Agua held out her hand, indicating that she sit on the bed. Alondra sat down. Agua began to speak immediately.

 

– I was born in the city, but I don't remember it. I was very young when my mother came to Las Identes. All my memories are in this valley. I know every one of her trees. I have seen many grow up. Despite being younger than others, I am one of those who have been here the longest. Since I can remember, I knew that Las Identes had existed since before the war. Not from the last war, but from before the wars of the 21st Century. At the top of the compound, where we live, was the old monastery, which had belonged to various religious orders since the 12th Century. The lower part was what was then called a hotel, a temporary residence for visitors. In the middle of the century, the hotel gradually became a permanent residence for a group of women. The monastery above, which was Christian, but which was occupied by a very modern order, from the 20th Century, was mixed, but at that precise time there were only four women and one man. As the people of the monastery were very old and the economic and political situation began to get very complicated, both institutions supported each other. The women of the community down the hill began to take care of the people who lived up the hill, and the religious order began to give them space and usufruct privileges. They signed a contract whereby the land above was ceded to the women community. When the properties of the Church were liberated, shortly before the war, the community of Las Identes was a legal reality. That was in the year 2073.

 

– And why was it a community of women down the hill?

 

– The First Labradors, as that is what we call them, were a group of women who decided to retire in a country life and dedicate themselves to what was then called permaculture. In other words, they were already cultivating the land apart from the large corporations, without using their seeds or their products. At first they were not exclusively women, because they also had sons and boyfriends. That started later, with the war. They realized that they could not support the men. Having children was inefficient for cultivation. As they became independent and isolated from the city, there were several conflicts with the men of the community, and some of them were expelled. Others went to war. Those that were left, were dying at the same rate than the community, and then they decided to stop raising children. During the first stage of the war, as you know, many people began to flee the city. The First Labradors, who were already old women by then, made the decision not to admit any more men into the community.

 

– That must have been controversial.

 

– It was. But it was also effective and good in the long run. Thanks to that, the community was strengthened, since it stopped revolving around them. Since there were no men, there were no more families, and this reduced ruptures and conflicts within the community, which became more homogeneous. In addition, it simplified the feeling of ownership and belonging. They began to call themselves Las Identes when they had their own corpus of established beliefs and practices, in remembrance and homage to the religious order at the top, which called themselves Los Identes.

 

– Is that why you always say that you are not a religious order? Because, for everything else, I've never seen anything more like one.

 

Agua smiled and almost laughed.

 

– Yes, Agua. That's why. To be a religious order, we would have to come from a previous cult. But it's not like that. We Identes are a new religion. We do not have any reference broader than our own community. In any case, that is not a decision we have made, or the arrogance of believing ourselves to be better than other cults. We just live the same circumstances as everyone else. Like the people of the city, we have no communication with other territories on Earth, and we do not know if there are other communities similar to ours. Although I must confess to you that, as Rector Idente, I wish they exist. Because the more we are, the more likely it is that our mission can be successful in the world. And the world, now more than ever, is in need of our message.

 

Alondra’s eyelids arched.

 

– Yes, Agua. We have a message. Don't look at me like that! – She said, amused –. Although we are not a religious order, Las Identes have a message, and this message is simple. Everyone can understand it, but not everyone understands it.

 

– Which is the message?

 

– «Do not break the seeds».

 

– That's what you told me when I arrived.

 

– Yes, but that’s not all. Agua paused to take a drink of water. «Do not break the seeds» does not refer only to cultivation. We also refer to the seeds of our body. We believe that the seeds that are in our body are sacred and should not be broken. Just as we feel disgust when we see plants grow, we also feel disgusted when a woman's body is invaded by a being that grows inside her. Her seed has been corrupted. We do not approve of begetting. For that reason, and following the decisions of the First Labradors, the way to be part of Las Identes is to get here. For the same reason, we do not admit men in the community. And, also for this reason, in general we disdain heterosexuality.

 

– I can understand it.

 

Agua showed unconcern and a certain dismissive surprise. It was not the indifference of someone who distrusts or disagrees with something, but exactly the opposite. It was the indifference of someone who is in control of her own territory, and has no need to please or seduce. Until now, Alondra had not seen this expression on Agua's face. But her quick and spontaneous response had made her appear, as if to say: “then you are one of us.”

 

– Can you understand it...? And do you understand?

 

Alondra felt that it was time to reveal something of herself.

 

– In the city there is also this feeling. In my environment, it was common.

 

Agua had her elbows resting on her knees, and when she heard this she relaxed her lower back so that her vertebrae slowly lined up one by one, giving her back an upright position. She breathed in slowly. She got up and sat on her bed, close to Alondra, her legs crossed as if in the meditative posture. Alondra did the same and they stood looking at each other.

 

– Who was your mother, Agua?

 

– She… she died in the war.

 

Agua nodded slightly. She grabbed Alondra by her elbows and brought her body closer to hers. Alondra's eyes widened and she tried to relax her shoulders to let them be done. Agua rested her forehead against Alondra's forehead and closed her eyes. Alondra thought that whatever she was doing, it must require symmetry, so she did the same. She grabbed Agua’s elbows with her hands. Agua began to breathe as she did in the dome session and Alondra accompanied her. The first few minutes, Alondra felt stupid. She didn't understand at all what she was doing, nor did she felt very interested in it.

 

But then a sensation began to invade her, similar to the one she had felt days before in the dome. The body of Agua began to look like a part of its own, and the bed a support whose wooden legs were attached to the floor, and the floor a support that attached them to the stone on which the hermitages were built, and the stone a part of the mountain, and the mountain a part of the Earth. And all these parts seemed to come together in their foreheads, between which a bright light was felt to grow. Alondra had never felt anything like that, except perhaps that afternoon when she had been playing with Mirlo in the living room of her house, the day they saw the rainbow.

 

For a few minutes, she felt so connected to the moment that not a single thought crossed her mind. She only felt herself an extensive body with the body of the Earth, the mountain, the room, the bed and Agua. When her thoughts returned, they were clear: Agua, Water, and Mirlo.

As soon as those images passed through her mind, Agua opened her huge, slanted blue eyes and Alondra, noticing the brushing of her eyelashes, also opened them. They looked at each other, that close. Agua breathed in even more slowly than usual. Alondra felt all her muscles drop to the ground. Her knees were touching. She did not dare to start or finish any action.

 

– Thank you. It's time to rest.

 

Alondra was paralyzed. What had she just said? She was sending her to her cell? Sure, Alondra thought. Where else? What had she being thinking? This was not a sensual invitation. It was something else. Although she didn't quite understand what, she suspected that it had something to do with the Identes cults. She felt like an idiot for continuing to use outside logic. And obediently, she rose and withdrew, bowing her head.

 

When Alondra was already lying on the bed on the other side of the wall, from where she could only notice a deep silence, she realized that Agua had not explained to her what the Radix Speciosa actually was.