Waning Moon 01 - The Five Daughters of the Moon by Likitalo Leena

Author:Likitalo, Leena [Likitalo, Leena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780765395436
Amazon: 0765395436
Publisher: Tor.com
Published: 2017-07-25T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6: Alina

As soon as Nurse Nookes closes the door behind her, I open my eyes, as I have done on every single night since my name day. I will stay awake for as long as I can and longer. At some point, I might fall asleep. Though I’ve asked my sisters and even Nurse Nookes how to distinguish dreams from reality, I’m still unsure of what happens in my room after the lights go out, and I don’t dare to ask more questions, lest they start worrying even more about me.

Shadows live in the world beyond this one. As I’m the youngest, it’s impossible for me to see there. And yet, the shadows arrive mere moments later.

I lie very quiet under my down-feather duvet as they shift in the corners of the room, as their forms strengthen. The shadows are smaller here than in life. Diminished. I can’t yet name who has come to visit me tonight. Usually it’s birds, but sometimes animals I’ve never met in life.

Tonight I’m visited by a swan, an owl, and a hairy creature that stoops on two legs. It’s a monkey. No, it’s bigger. An ape. I nod a greeting to the animals, but I don’t dare to speak, lest someone may hear me and alert Nurse Nookes. I can still taste the sugary mixture she urged me to swallow before tugging me to bed. I spat it out when she had her back turned to me. I know she means well, everyone does, but I hate how her potions cloud my mind.

As always, my animal visitors play out scenes from their lives. Their shadows dance dark against the white wall opposite my bed. I watch each of their performances, stifling yawns, forcing my eyes to stay open.

The swan flies, flies to faraway lands, to nest and raise its hatchlings on the shores of a clear-watered lake.

The owl hunts. It swoops over glittering snowfields, toward the sounds it hears from under the snow banks. Then it dives, talons spread. Its beak pierces the ice-crusted snow. The scene ends in the owl’s victory. In a mouse’s death.

The ape leads a slow life. It clings to a tree and munches leaves of plants I don’t recognize. It scratches its friends, and they scratch it in return.

Though I can’t know for sure, I think these might be the best moments of the animals’ lives. It’s well possible that some of my visitors have shown me what they wished they’d done differently. In any case, be it memories or regrets, it’s my duty to watch, since if I don’t watch then I fear that no one else will do so.

After the ape retreats back into the corner, I nod again at the shadows. They nod back at me. It’s so hard not to yawn, to remain awake. Sometimes each animal has only one scene to play. Sometimes several. Sometimes they share with me what might be their nightmares. I don’t know for sure.

The shadows slip onto the wall together.

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