LOOK DOWN, FAIR MOON AND BATH THIS SCENE
LOOK down, fair moon, and bathe this scene;
Pour softly down night's nimbus floods, on faces ghastly, swollen,
purple;
On the dead, on their backs, with their arms toss'd wide,
Pour down your unstinted nimbus, sacred moon.
- Walt Whitman
ISOLDE'S POV
Instead of the expected obnoxious sound of the bell, today's morning started with the sound of footsteps and voices coming from the stairs near our room.
It has been a week since Dhara arrived and I was just starting to get used to her snores.
I don't know who was trying to complete with the morning bell but they honestly need to put a sock on it. Who speaks so loudly at the crack of dawn?
The voice became clearer and clearer as the speaker drew closer to the room.
"But Dayuu, why must I share a room with strangers? The rooms are too small apready, it'll be packed when I set up my vanity and closet," a girl's young voice floated in.
There was a moment of silence which I'm assuming was Dayuu answering the girl.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN NOT SET UP MY PERSONAL CLOSET?" the unknown voice screams in frustration.
"There are certain rules and regulations that are to be followed whilst in the Academy, Miss Abdallah. You are given a closet in your room which you will use. I do not care if it's too small for all your clothing," Dayuu's voice was loud and full of authority.
So she really had it in her all this time, huh? Couldn't have guessed from her ever smiling demeanor.
And with that, the door of our room opened and Dhara woke up with a jerk in the next bed. How was she sleeping through all the ruckus?
"Girls, this is your last roommate. Miss Eboni Abdallah. Please, do help her get settled," Dayuu said, reverting to her sing-song manner of speaking.
Behind her stood a girl of my age at a much taller height probably because of the high-heeled shoes she was wearing.
This new girl with her smooth chocolaty skin that had a touch of shine and long braided hair looked striking in her sparkly pink knee-length dress and a pink stone necklace wrapped around her slender neck.
Her whole persona demanded attention and screamed high fashion.
Everything about her seems to be shinning like the dancing reflection of the full moon upon the gently swaying bamboo forest. I had read something like that in a book once.
A glow that was not blinding in it's ferocity like the sun but gentle and quite to melt itself into the dark night sky, peeking through the crowd of bamboo that always seems to be separating it from the moon-drunk lovers.
I was no poet but I am sure somewhere out there, someone has wrote at least one poem about this girl who seemed to be God's magnus opus.
She looked like a princess, a shinning princess of the young bamboo forest.
Sol, were those diamonds? Are you supposed to wear diamonds to the Academy?
Wait, she is the noble girl, isn't she?
Without sparing us, mere mortals a single glance, she made a beeline towards the closet and opened it.
She inspected the interior for a moment and her beautiful face twisted into a grimace. After glaring at the closet for a few minutes, she whipped her head towards Dayuu again very dramatically.
"Dayuu, please, there is not nearly enough space for all my luggage. Where will I keep my jewelry? And shoes? Dear Selena, what of my purses?" she says sounding very distraught as if not having enough space in the closet is the worst thing that has happened to her.
"Miss Abdallah, I am not in the habit of repeating myself. This is the closet you are given and this is what you will be using. End of discussion," Dayuu spits her words with finality. There was no changing her decision now.
Maybe the noble girl also got the tone of her voice. She went quiet and started to bring in her luggage from outside into the room. Dayuu stood on the door observing her for a few moments and then left with a swish of her sky blue skirt.
So here we are, Dhara and me, watching the new girl trying to fit her four luggage worth of clothes in the not-so-big closet and failing miserably.
So far she managed to barely fit only half of her clothes and of course none of her shoes. She looked more and more ready to cry at the unfortunate predicament.
Well, on the bright side, she still hasn't acknowledged me or Dhara and we were nice enough to not bother her while she's fighting a losing battle against the closet with unimportant tasks such as introductions.
Truth to be told, we were kind of mesmerized by her presence.
Everything she did was performed with grace. Starting from her body language to her expressions, we found everything about her worth remembering.
We watched her until we heard the sound of the morning bell and quietly started to get ready for a shower. The new girl however had a completely different reaction to the bell.
"What is that Moon forsaken sound?" were her first words to us. She than looked at us for an answer.
So she was aware of our existence.
"It's the morning bell, you are supposed to wake up after hearing it," Dhara said helpfully. She was being oddly quiet today.
"That was the morning bell? It's louder than a Dragon beast's roar!" she remarked.
"Yes, we know but it does its job. Everybody wakes up on time even if they don't want to," this time it was me who commented.
"As if this place wasn't bad enough already! No closet space, shared bathroom, and now some obnoxious wake up call too?" she huffed out again.
How dare she say that?
I assure you this place was more than perfect. The closet is way bigger than the small basket I used to keep my clothes in and what's wrong with sharing bathrooms?
All the houses in my village had one bathroom. The neighboring Chekhov's had 17 members and they managed just fine with a shared bathroom. We are just three people here!
I don't have even to worry about earning money to buy the next meal here. Everything is being given to me for me free! This place is a dream.
I didn't actually say all that if you're wondering. No! I just glared at her and left to take a shower. Let her wrestle with the closet. Hmph!
Today I exited the library quite late.
I stayed in pondering about the strange burning sensation on my palm.
So I stayed reading any book I can find on the topic while the sensation on my palm slowly faded away.
I walk back to the castle while asking myself questions that I know I didn't know the answer to.
Just as I was about to enter the peach castle, I noticed movements around the second-floor window!
Wait a minute. That was my room.
OH MY GOD! someone was breaking into my room!
With the realization, I sprinted as fast as I can towards the castle and up the stairs. Who was the bastard who broke into my room? or is it a bastardess? Is that a word?
No! Izzy. focus! there is a thief in your room.
Dear unknown Deity who blessed me, if it's really a thief, don't let him or her steal my stuff, I don't have much anyway.
They can steal the new girl's stuff, maybe then her stuff will fit in the closet.
"No, Izzy! Don't wish bad for someone else! " I quietly scold myself as I ran.
I was out of breath when I reached my room. The door was closed. So I took out a heavy book from my bag and quietly opened the door praying to Sol it doesn't make the rusty sound it usually does.
And Yes! for the first time Sol actually listened to me and the door opened without a sound.
I tiptoed in holding the book tightly, ready to use it as weapon. I didn't have to do that however because the thief noticed me immediately and jerked upwards from where he was crouching down. Wait, was he hovering over the new girl?
Gods, was he going to attack her?
Not on my watch.
So I ran towards him with the book held high and screaming war cry.
He also screamed, this time I was sure it was a He from his slightly deep voice. He ran towards the window. but unfortunately on his way tripped on one of the new girl's half-opened suitcases. He fell face-first onto the floor and made a small yelp, probably from pain.
I couldn't help the laughter that escaped my mouth. Thief these days were really clumsy, huh?
GLOSSARY
*The tale of Princess Kaguya: A Japanese folklore from the Heian period. Kaguya was found by an old woodcutter inside a bamboo on the night of a full-moon. In some version of the story, she was sent from the moon as a punishment and in some version, it was as a safety measure. But all the versions surely relate her to the moon very strongly. Thus she often alludes to the concept of illusion, façade or trance.
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