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- Oct 2, 2011
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I wrote this two years ago, and just wanted to see if someone thinks it is a fun concept, and something to continue writing on. 
Comments as well as grammar issues are very appreciated!
Comments as well as grammar issues are very appreciated!
Mira's Dream
The little girl with the thick glasses woke up with a broad smile upon her face. Trembling with excitement she carefully listened for steps in the stairs. After what felt like an eternity, she could finally see candlelight flicker on the wall on the other side of the doorway. She threw herself back down in the mattress, pretending to be asleep. As her parents approached her bed and started to sing “happy birthday”, it was hard to fight the happiness in her heart. She felt invisible threads started to pull the corners of her mouth into a smile. She couldn’t hold back anymore.
"It's my birthday!"
Her parents confirmed this with a broader smile than what the one that already was on their lips. She swiftly stood up and started jumping up and down in her bed. With every jump the glasses did a heroic effort to stay put on her nose. She jumped out of the bed, landing on and latching herself to her mother. Her father put down the plate with the candles on the bed carefully to not spill the bowl of milk and cereal. He immediately regretted that decision though and he barely managed to save it, since his daughter soon launched herself on the bed again, making it tremble violently. She threw the milk and cereal into her mouth, because, as a routine on birthdays, it was breakfast first, presents secondly. Barely having swallowed the cereal she hopefully looked up from the bowl with a stylish milk mustache, wondering: “Presents now?” Her mother laughed and said: "Wait here for just a moment, Mira." Mira watched her parents as they went out the doorway. Of course she couldn't wait in bed. "wait here" could be mistaken for wait somewhere else in her room but in the bed. For example wait hanging halfway out the doorway with only her toes touching the floor of her room, watching where they were going. They disappeared for a few seconds into their own room down the corridor. A pile of presents was what first returned from her parents room. Stunned by the fancy colours of the wrappings, Mira slowly shaped her lips in a silent “wow”. She retreated to bed, and sat down as if she would have been sitting there all the time. As the presents, followed by her father entered the room Mira was as excited as a six year old possibly could be. Presents were being unwrapped, the next present being more expensive and grander than the other, and big smiles and giggles were exchanged between Mira and her parents.
She was euphoric, and when all the presents had been opened she thought there was nothing that could beat this experience.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!”
She hugged both of her parents, and as she struggled to reach them both, she noticed something behind them. A golden string lay stretched out over the floor. She released herself from her parents embrace, going around them to investigate the string. Filled with wonder her smile faded as she discovered it. She turned to her parents that nodded back at her, suggesting her to follow it. The smile came back on again, and trotting, she started to follow the string. It led down the stairs, through the great hall, through the entire dining room to the far door leading into the kitchen. The golden string led her across the kitchen floor to the pantry door where the string was attached to the handle. Silently, she walked over the kitchen floor to the door. Hesitatingly she stopped by the door. Before opening it she put her ear against the it, carefully listening. She didn’t know what she expected to find out through listening to the door but a small noise surely gave her a clue to what was inside. She threw the door open, and there on the floor, a small puppy was chasing its own tail. It continued doing this for a while as Mira silently stood and watched. When the puppy finally noticed that she stood there it charged towards her, wagging its tail frantically. They collapsed together on the kitchen floor, hugging and petting each other. Mira was happy. This was yet the best morning of her entire life. Her parents quietly appeared in the doorway, watching the two of them. They smiled worn smiles at them. because behind these smiles there was a sad truth to be told. Mira and Lele, as Mira already had named the dog, ran through the kitchen door out into the garden. Her parents stood and watched them play around from the grand windows of the dining room. A third man silently joined them. Miras parents noticed him but stood silent for a moment before Miras father spoke:
"Hewitt, how does it look?"
Hewitt thoughtfully bit his lip before answering.
"I'm so sorry, but I have to say a leading dog was the right choice."
Tears growed in the eyes of Miras Mother.
"I have searched all my books for any cure but I found none. I'm afraid Mira won't get better."
"But will it stop? Right now it is not that bad!"
"No, I don't think so. Whatever this is, it will make her vision worse and worse until, (Hewitt sighed) she is blind."
Miras mother suffocated a sob and turned her head to the garden and Mira again. She thought loud:
"When will we tell her? And how are we going to tell her?”
When were they going to tell her? And how were they supposed to tell her that this puppy was not only what she wanted, but something that she eventually would need. Hewitt, as a learned man of medicine, believed it was some type of virus that had infected her eyes, but he had no idea what to do about it. Unfortunately, It was not only Hewitt that was unable of finding a cure. Ever since the morning when Miras father noticed that Miras eyes had lost a tint of colour, her parents had tried everything. But wherever they went and whoever they turned to, no one was able to cure it. Eventually they realized that they would have to accept the fact that they had tried everything, and that she would have to live with it. It was painful to watch their little girl getting worse every day, knowing that there was nothing they could do for her to relieve her of her curse. They held it back as long as they could by switching to thicker and thicker glasses, but the colour of her eyes faded none the less, more and more for every day that went past. As Mira worsened, she started to walk into furniture and hit her toes against doorsteps. Most people would have been devestated with frustration after a while, but Mira was a person that didn’t think of tomorrows problems, and she pretended not be aware of her struggles. Therefore, when she hit her toe, she laughed out an "Ouch" and tried to shake the pain off her foot, instead of cursing and examine it. She also laughed away ruining a cake as she accidently grabbed the jar of salt, with an evident sign saying “Salt” on it, instead of the jar with sugar with a similar obvious message written on it. Many different happenings like the ones described made it very clear to her where this were going. To not be able to see at all is something pretty different from what Mira experienced now, and on the day, more than ten years later, a few days after she turned fifteen, when she went completely blind, was a day of agony.
Mira woke up with the strangest feeling of not being able to open her eyes. As she groped for something blocking her sight, and did not find anything, she started to breathe faster and faster, she felt the blood rushing to her head, and the panic began to fill her body. She let it out in the form of a loud cry. Her parents hurried to her room, asking what was wrong. They found her sitting in her bed, with tears pouring out of her open, lifeless eyes, which did no longer contain any colour. Without answering their worried queries she tried to look around. She could feel her eyes being open. She closed them hard and opened them again. With a constant flow of tears and a big lump in her throat she spoke:
‘I… cannot see.’
She breathed out hard and leaned her head to her knees. Her parents shared a solemn look and with tears growing in their eyes they sat down with her, embracing her for a long time.
The first day of blindness, Miras parents accompanied her at all times with an exception of bringing dinner. No one said much as they ate, in fact they did not speak much at all. There was not much to talk about. It was first by the evening Mira was alone. Her parents asked her if she wanted them to sleep in her room but Mira turned down their offer saying she was fine. And she was. It had been a huge shock to suddenly not be able to see at all, but now she at least had been able to calm herself. Mira didn’t sleep much that night. She sat up in bed, stroking Lele over his back over and over again, until her hand got numb, thinking about how her life would change now that she was blind. The next couple of days was hard on Mira. She was bored as she was forced to always be sitting stationary in the same spot. Her parents and Hewitt accompanied her most of the time and servants carried all meals of the day to her bed for her to eat there, and Lele lay by her feet at all times. She spent entire days like this, just sitting in her bed, petting her dog and thinking about everything that come to her mind. Her lost vision was something that she naturally thought about a lot. The first days she asked herself what she had ever done to deserve this, and how unfair it was, but, as days passed she grew wiser and regained a lot of her usual positive way of thinking. Something she realized that she really missed with being able to see was the stories that she used to fill her days reading. Now she had to accept that it was not possible anymore. But instead of getting lost in self-pity, she found a way around it by getting her family read the stories to her.
-How do my eyes look? Mira asked as Hewitt just finished reading her “The master thief”.
-To be honest they are a little bit intimidating. They are beautiful, but they are also grey and lifeless. Perhaps we could get you shaded glasses to cover them if you'd like to?
-Just my thought. I realized that you cannot mourn something forever and since this is not going to get better, I rather accept the fact that I am now blind, and thereby learn to live with it.
-Thats great Mira, you are very strong and wise person to say such a thing. But please, promise me to not give up hope about your eyes so easily. Perhaps it is not uncureable. Believe me, I will never stop searching for methods to make your eyes heal again. I cannot continue to read you… (Hewitt took a look at the cover of the book) …”The Master Thief” forever you know.
-Thanks Hewitt.
Something came to Miras mind.
-Huh… Wow, thanks Hewitt! she exclaimed.
-Hm?
-You just gave me a great idea! If I will have to be blind for a long time, I have not given up hope yet, believe me, I should find way to live with it. What if I could do exactly what the master thief did?
-Mira I wouldn't recommend beginning to steal stuff...
-No, of course not! What I'm talking about is that pitch-black cave that he lured the people hunting him into, remember?
-I think so. Do you want me to make your room as dark, or what?
-No, no, no. What I want is his ability to move around in the cave in the darkness without having to see where he put his feet. What if I could learn as well as him to move around, but move around my own room instead of a cave?
-I guess that would be possible.
-Of course it is! Scoot, Lele!
Before Lele had time to react, Mira raised, making him roll into the bed frame. Mira stood up facing the wall opposite to the door and Hewitt.
-Okey, now a wall should be... right here.
She groped the vacancy in front of her until her fingers met the wall.
-There we go! So, the window should be about there now.
She pointed to an unseen spot in the room. The window was not there.
-Almost, Hewitt said. a little more to the right. You are currently indicating me.
-Oh. Anyway if i continue along this wall I should... Woah!
Mira collided with her desk and fell over it and down onto the floor, bringing a pile of books with her in the fall. Hewitt couldn't stifle a laugh.
-Hey! Mira said, also laughing a little. I'm doing my best.
-Sorry, sorry. With this determination, I don't think shaded glasses will be an option to cover your eyes with. I will go and see if I can find something a little more fitting. Carry on Mira. Good luck!
-Thanks!
Mira dusted off her hands and located the wall again. With a deep exhale she continued.
-Here we go.
Mira firstly made her way around her room in a slow pace, and when she felt like she knew it pretty well, she continued groping for all the furniture. Mira was impatient adn therefore, after about twenty minutes, she tried walking the outline of her room without colliding with anything and without holding out her hands to try to feel the obstacles. It did not go very well, but she pressed on. Once again she walked around her room, trying to remember where everthing was, and after a while, she tried to make her way without holding out her hands again. This time, she felt that she had made progress.
It was really exciting to do this and about two hours passed without Mira even noticing. Now, she knew her room as good as the back of her hand. She easily located her bed and sat down. Lele placed his nose in her lap. This was pretty cool. She didn't sit there for long, she was far too excited. Without trouble navigating to the door she opened it and stepped out into the corridor. It felt like walking straight into a wall. The difference between the corridor and her own room was fascinating. Here, she had no clue about how the room looked. She started to explore in a similar way as she had done with her own room. Not ten minutes later she was found by her mother, as Mira very slowly and carefully felt for the steps in the stairs.
-What are you doing?
-I'm learning how to move around without needing to see! You brought food? Great! I'm starving.
Miras mother sat down beside her daughter on the step. Mira fumbled for and grabbed a piece of bread, nearly tipping the glass of milk over, from the plate that her mother had brought her.
-This is not all! I've decided to learn the entire castle! People won't be able to tell
the difference between a seeing person and me when I'm done!
The next day as she woke up, she could barely contain herself. Even before having breakfast, she proceeded to try to learn the corridor. Mira was just learning the distance between the door to her room and the first steps in the stairs as Hewitt interrupted in her deep concentration.
-Goodmorning!
Frightened, Mira hopped a pace backwards.
-Woah, Goodmorning!
-Sorry, to scare you like that.
-Umm, not at all, I wasn't scared.
-No? Anyway, I've got a surprise for you. Look at this!
Mira could tell by his expression that he was holding something for her to take a look at.
-Hewitt...
-Oh, I'm so sorry Mira, I forgot! It takes some time to get used to. Here feel it.
-What is it?
Mira hesitatingly stretched out her hands. She felt something light and smooth.
-This is a blindfold, a true masterpiece made by the royal tailor. I had it made instead of getting you glasses, I thought you would prefer this.
-I do!
-Great, just so that you know, It is made out of purple silk with the royal emblem embroidered in gold in the middle, looks incredibly classy. Try it on!
Mira put it on. It was really comfortable even though she could barely feel it upon her head.
-Tremendous! Absolutely stunning. Looks great!
-Thanks Hewitt. This is perfect!
-Now, go ahead and learn the rest of the castle! I know you can do it!
-Me too!
Mira continued to learn the corridor, and after only half an hour she moved on to the next room. She got braver and braver, starting to move around faster which sometimes resulted in some cuts and bruises. But she carried on. It would have been close to impossible to learn how to move around the castle freely if it wasn’t for Lele. She could rely on him to lead her around the rooms. What really become a struggle was all the pieces of furniture in the castle. It was those that really became Miras nemeses. As Lele happily scotched around them, Mira was walking straight into them. After many days of hard concentration and following Lele around she learned, room by room, how the castle was constructed, down to every single nook. She stored all the areas in her mind and visualized them, allowing her to move around without any effort. In only a few months she moved around freely under Leles guidance.
Time passed, and three years later, she knew the castle so well that people wouldn’t have believed she was blind if it wasn’t for her blindfold. She moved around as casual as any other person since the picture of the castle in her mind was as clear as any seeing persons own vision. Thanks to this clear vision of her own mind and not needing to use her eyes to focus on anything particular, she developed better hearing and an amazing memory. Not only did she remember every single room of the castle, she also stored entire fairytales that either her parents or Hewitt read her, something that had become a tradition since Mira couldn’t read herself, and retell the entire story after just hearing it once. Something so hopeless as her blindness had turned out to be something else but a disadvantage, something truly amazing.
“...and then, thanks to the birds, the boy finds his way home again.”
Hewitt exhaled.
“How do you do this?” He asked her after having listened to the retelling of a long story that she had had him read her the night before.
“As you read the story I imagine the places that the characters is in, then, by looking back at the pictures of the places in my head I remember the part of the story that was enacted there. It’s easy!”
Hewitt laughed kindly through his nose.
“You are amazing, you know that?”
“Yes, Hewitt, I know.” She raised from the study chair, stretched and yawned. “Well, it’s getting late, right? I’ll go to bed.”
“Hold on, Mira.”
“What?”
“Just wondering. Where did you get this book?”
“Umm…” Mira hesitated ”I found it in the library, where books are found, you know?”
Hewitt sighed.
“You are terrible liar, Mira. You found it in the marketplace, didn’t you?”
Mira didn’t answer.
“No? Then tell me this. How could you know what the book was named then? And roughly what it was about before I read it to you?”
“Well…”
“Mira! Please. You know what your parents and I think about you going to the marketplace alone!
“So what? I had been there tons of times before you even discovered that I was going there. I know the way leading to it and the marketplace itself as good as I know the castle! I have been there a hundred times for sure, and nothing has ever happened to me.” She paused a little. “Except for the chicken that one time”
“But it is different now! More and more people from Vaken walk the streets. Your father saved us from open war, but they are going to try to turn on us and break the peace, mark my words. If they would have the chance to kidnap the princess of Drom, they wouldn’t hesitate for a second!
“Pah! You are being paranoid, old man.”
“Old man, eh?” A smile haunted Hewitts lips. “Is that so?”
Hewitt put on a flamboyant voice:
“Hey, man! Isn’t that the princess of Drom over there?”
Mira smiled reluctantly. She knew where this were going. Hewitt switched character and voice into someone with a ridiculously high pitched voice:
“It is, isn’t it!”
“You know what would be fun?” the other voice said again.
“No, what?
“If we bought her a grand ice cream! She would never expect that to happen!”
“What a great idea! And we’ll do nothing else! We’ll just say “Here you go. Enjoy! Have a good day. And, oh! Say hi to your parents from us! Also...”
Mira interrupted.
“Hewitt stop it! I get it, okey?”
“Will you stop going to the marketplace then?”
“Meh, I’ll consider it.”
“Mira, what I really wish is that you should be careful, okey?
“I understand, uncle, I will. Now, goodnight!”
“Goodnight Mira.”
She did never consider not going to the marketplace. It was her source of new experiences. Her sanctuary. She enjoyed the murmur of the traders, the varying smells of everything from fresh cheese to the most mesmerizing perfumes and the many items to examine and feel and be told stories about. She had been told about lamps that was able to summon genies, flying rugs, amulets to protect her from evil, urns with dust of ancient gods, all in the marketplace. She was not giving up the idea of visiting it once in a while.
Mira had actually never thought about that it may be dangerous to be alone in places such as the marketplace. Unfortunately, the scent of danger around it only made Mira long more for going there again. She thought that, even if it may be dangerous, she thought that she would be able to take care of herself. She trusted herself to be able to outrun many people, since she was surprisingly swift. Additionally, she had the darkness on her side. Most people may find it hard to make their way in the dark without tripping or getting lost, but since it didn’t matter to Mira whether the road was lit or not, she felt safe in the darkness.
She made up her mind as soon as soon as she got out of the study: For the first time, she would go there by night! She got back to her room intending to wait there for some time before getting out. Mira lay on the floor and reached in under the middle section of her bed, pulling out her black and grey (at least the man who sold her it had told her so) hooded cloak that she had bought on the market almost a year earlier. She hoped for it to be dark enough to remain unseen in the night. Also, if the guards were to see her, they would probably not recognize her. She tried it on and discovered that it fit her like a glove. With light feet she leaped up and balanced on the bed frame, imagining to be the main character from "The Master Thief". For a long time she had had a desire for an adventure of her own, and she thought that this might be the beginning of it. Elated by the sensation of doing something this exciting, she sat by the window, facing the darkening skies outside. She had started to forget what a few things looked like, but she could never forget the look of the night sky. She decided that it probably would be safest to equip the cloak when she had managed to get to the marketplace as she might be mistaken for an intruder if she wore it in the castle vicinity, and thereby also treated like one. After what she thought was about an hour, she took the cloak off and put it in a satchel, raised from the (fönsterbräda) and tiptoed to the door. She grabbed the handle and slowly pushed it down, hoping that the usual cracking noise wouldn't be heard. Steady now... The door seemed to cooperate... But it didn't when Mira loosened her grip from the handle it squeaked high as it adjusted itself to its standard position. Mira held her breath. Standing in the corridor, holding up the door with her left hand, she listened carefully for any movement. Nothing. Mira exhaled, (ställde dörren på glänt) and proceeded, sneaking down the stairs. With swift and silent steps she skipped through the great hall to the door leading out. She put her shoulder against it and pushed. Slowly the heavy door swung open. Fresh air welcomed Mira out of the castle. Suddenly, she felt a sting of hesitation. Was this really a good thing to do? Perhaps it was pretty foolish to go out alone. But, hey. As she had told her uncle nothing had ever happened, and in addition to that, if something were to happen that night, why would it happen to her? She made up her mind and took a step out into the night. Still careful not to make any noise she made her way towards the gate leading out from the courtyard. The wind carried a voice to her ears. Mira froze. She had forgotten about the guards stationed by the gate. Another sting of hesitation. The guards was there to protect her and family, but now, they were enemies, preventing her to go out. She considered going back in, but she couldn't. This whole experience was way too exciting! She couldn't turn back now! She sneaked to the wall and proceeded along it till she was beside the gate. She could both hear and smell the guards clearly now. She couldn't risk sneaking past them. Instead, she carefully bent down and picked up a small rock. She threw it to the other side of the gate and pressed herself to the wall again. The stone bounced a couple of times against the bricks, but the guards heard nothing. She picked up another rock and threw it. The stone bounced with a clicking noise over the bricks, suddenly launching itself a little bit upwards, towards a small pedestal, with a flowerpot on it. The impact from the stone made the pot shift a little, and soon it fell to the ground with a loud cracking sound. The guards reacted. They charged through the gate and towards the pot. Mira took her chance. Taking advantage of the noise from the guards heavy steps she crouched and hurried out through the gate, and down the road as silently as she could. When she couldn't hear the guards anymore she straightened and took a deep breath. She had made it! She felt very alive and guilty at the same time, but the success of getting out eliminated the guilt with ease. As she walked the well-known road down to the marketplace in a leisurely pace, she clasped her arms behind her back in the same fashion as she remembered her father used to do when he walked the town. For Mira, it was an expression of tranquility and urbanity. She felt relieved. As she got closer to the marketplace she unbuttoned the satchel and got the cloak out. Careful not to lose orientation of the road, she veered off it and entered a thicket. She pulled the cloak over her clothes and adjusted the blindfold. Breathing out, she returned to the road. As she stepped out of the thicket, she heard a pair of boots spinning around swiftly in the gravel of the road.
"Who's there?" a startled voice exclaimed.
Damn. In her excitement she had grown uncautious. She had forgot to listen after steps on the road. She heard two more pair of boots joining the pair that had spun around. The first pair took a few steps off the road in her direction. She stayed still. Another voice spoke:
"Easy now, Carl. Are you scared?"
"Of course not! But there is someone in that thicket!"
"It is probably just a stupid dog or something. Come on. Let's get back to the castle."
"But..."
"Listen, Check it out if you wish, but we won't be waiting for you to share the mead."
"Okey then."
The guard rejoined his companions on the road. As the steps faded away, Mira got back on the road and continued towards the marketplace. Something about the guards made her uneasy, but she couldn't think of what it was. She arrived to the marketplace. The feeling of adventure that always occurred when she got there struck her stronger than usual. It was completely empty. The absence of all the people who used to be there made the experience even cooler. The traders had retreated to their homes and to the pubs which was now flowing with music, murmur and a scent of beer and sweat. Mira didn't know what she had expected from going to the marketplace at such a late hour. The entire adventure had been going there. Now, when she was there she didn't know what to do. She considered going home, but that felt like going all that way for nothing. She snuck up to the door of the closest pub, feeling the atmosphere inside. She imagined that it is this it is like to be entirely free. Wonderful, exciting and dangerous at the same time. Thats it! She would enter the bar and order something and then go home. It was a mission worthy an adventurer as herself. She readied herself by taking a couple of deep breaths, and adjusting her hood over her head. She exhaled hard and took a step into the doorway… and didn’t know what to do next. The pub went silent within four seconds. She could feel how a dozen pair of eyes impaled her where she stood.
“H-hi!” she stuttered in a high pitch with a mix of fear and euphoria.
Another second passed, then she ran around the corner, stopping, listening for persuaders. Nothing. Laughing and a little out of breath, she leaned toward the wall, sliding down to a sitting position. She tittered to herself. What a strange thing to do! What did the people inside the bar think of her? Glad and a little surprised by herself and how things had turned out she decided that she was done for tonight. Time to head home. She raised from the wall and brushed off the back her cloak. A voice reached her from inside the alley she sat in.
-You there! Stop!
Damn, probably a couple of guards. Mira didn't want her parents or anyone to know that she had been there tonight. She had to get away. Without thinking twice she ran straight out into the marketplace, making for the alley on the other side of the marketplace where she knew there was plenty of good places to hide in. She could hear that there was two guards close behind her, and she could also hear that they were slightly slower than herself. She was outrunning them! As soon as she would enter the alley, the darkness would protect her with its veil and… "Bump." She ran into something large and soft. The object recoiled and pushed her to the ground. It was a belly.
"Well, well. What do we have here? an old and worn voice said.
Mira crawled backwards, but the man in front of her grabbed her and lifted her up on her feet. The two guards that had persuaded her, now catched up, a little out of breath.
"Oh, hi Bob. Good thing you were here! This one almost slipped away!"
A hand pulled the hood of her cloak off her head. A surprised gasp followed.
"Princess! I'm so sorry! I didn't realize it was you!"
"Let me go!"
"I'm sorry, miss. I can't do that as I have sworn to protect your family. You are not allowed here!"
"I go where I want!"
"I'm sorry but I have no choice but to take you into custody until morning. Your
fathers orders!"
A heavy hand fell on Miras shoulder, shoving her forward.
“If you come along without struggling, we’ll sneak you into the castle without your parents ever knowing that you were here.”
Mira didn’t believe that they wouldn’t tell her parents, but the chance that they didn’t was better than nothing. She had no choice but to follow them. With a sigh, she walked along with them.
“Step into the carriage and we’ll be home momentarily.”
As she raised her leg to step into the transport, she heard a noise. With one foot on the carrige she stopped and listened. Before she could locate where it came from, something hit her hard from the side, knocking her off her feet. Before she fell to the ground, arms caught her and carried her with speed away from the carriage.
"Hey!" one of the guards exclaimed.
She could hear them starting to run after her, but their steps quickly faded
as whatever had captured her was moving very fast. Its feet sounded like a drum roll towards the pavings below. For a moment she was as stunned and terrified by the surprise of this assault that she couldn't think clearly, and just lay limp like a ragdoll in the assailants arms. Soon, she screamed for help and struggled to break free but found that her arms and legs was locked down in an iron grip. As she draw for breath to scream even louder than before, a large piece of cloth was inserted in her mouth, muffling her completely. Mira was scared but was careful not to panic as she knew that it would just make things worse. Instead, she tried to concentrate and recognize where she and her kidnapper was going, but realized that she had lost orientation of the marketplace already. She had no idea where she was.
When her kidnapper finally slowed down, Mira wasn't even scared anymore. She was angry. They turned around a corner and through an open doorway. She was dumped on a cold and hard wooden floor. She barely touched it before she ripped the cloth away from her mouth, starting to scream and flail her arms.
"Calm down, or I'll have to tie you." a calm but determined voice said.
"Help! Come on! Whats the matter with you? Help! Here!" she screamed as if her rescuers was just around the corner.
Two hands, one on each shoulder pulled her to the ground, making her sit down.
She gave a little yelp with surprise.
"Please, lady. Shut up! Not that they will be able to hear you anyway; we lost them long ago."
Mira had realized that as well. She tried to calm herself and put on an urban voice to convince herself, and in the best scenario, her kidnapper that she had things under control.
"What are you going to do to me?" she was still unintentionally screaming.
"Schhhh!"
"What are you going to do to me?" She managed to keep her voice more calm this time.
"I’m going to take you back to the castle. As soon as we can be sure you will be out of danger that is."
“Back to the castle? But… why would you take me away from the carriage then?”
“To save you, of course!”
"What was there to save me from? The guards was taking me back home!"
"Sure they did. Those “guards” was really up no good, believe me."
"Oh okey, so you are?"
"I would think that preventing a kidnapping, is better than actually performing one."
"Prevented one? Let me remind you that it was you that kidnapped me just a few minutes ago."
"Nope. What I did was that I dragged you away from a couple of bandits that would surely have sold you to Vaken as a hostage for an admirable sum.
“They were not bandits! They were guards!”
“Would a guard wear those rags? Or would they smell like that?”
"That…” Mira was all fired up, but managed to calm herslef. “...is actually true. You don’t smell much better yourself, though. How do I know that you are not just trying decieve me?"
"You don't. But for your information, if you wish to believe me, I'm Castle Guardsman Valery, at your service."
""At your service." Okey then, since I am your ruler I command you to let me go!"
"I can't do that since..."
"Ugh, I know. My father ordered that I was not allowed by the marketplace."
"Exactly."
"But tell me, if you are a castle guard, what were you doing in the marketplace at this hour?"
"I was about to ask you that question, since you led me there."
"What? Led you there?" Mira thought hard. "Oh my..."
"Hmm?"
"You were the third Guard!"
"I would rather call myself number one, but I guess you are referring to me and my patrol, when we stood by the thicket? In that case I could settle for third."
-That was what was bathering me! Only two pair of feet left, but you, you never left with them, which means... Oh, this is awkward.
-For you that is.
-You were standing there all the time?
-Yup.
-Even when i snuck out?
-Yes.
-And you didn't stop me?
-I guess I didn't.
-Because...?
-I was curious. I wanted to see what you were up to.
-But as a guard you were obliged to stop me, right?
-Firstly, I'm actually not a guard yet. I'm taking the oath tomorrow. And secondly, I never let you out of my sight. I had things under control.
“Ha! “Under control”. That is what book characters always say before hell breaks loose upon them.”
“But I did have it under control, didn’t I? I dragged you away before anything could happen.”
“I guess you did.”
“But this is not all over yet. You should get comfortable. We’ll have to wait here for a while.”
A long silence followed. The moon slowly dragged itself over the sky outside. A few people walked past the building they sat in, but no one entered or discovered them. It was a little chilly, but Mira didn’t want him to know she was freezing a little. She wanted to make a picture of a calm and settled person. The guardsman stood relaxed, leaned to the doorway in a cool fashion. Mira wondered if he wanted to give her a specific picture of him as well. Whether he wanted that or not, Mira never found out, but it worked none the less. Suddenly the silence didn’t feel comfortable anymore, so Mira broke it:
-I’m Mira by the way. she said and held out her hand in a introducing manner.
-Hah, you think I didn’t knew that?
-Of course not! But you know, being courteous? Introducing ourselves? You shake hands and tells eachother your names? Sound familiar?
-Oh, of course! It’s just… I’m just another guard.
He took her hand anyway. It was very hot compared to hers.
-Valery, but most just call me Val.
He as well noticed that she was cold compared to himself, and therefore they both held on to each others hands, in some way intrigued by their difference. Their handshake lasted for a second too long. They both noticed and let go as if the other was infected. Val cleared his throat.
-Let’s get back to the castle, they have probably started worry about you now.
Miras parents was talking to the captain of the guard, a big muscular, grown man, who obviously was in a tight spot, when Mira, with Val close behind her, appeared in the gate to the courtyard. Miras mother saw her first. As the queen of the land, she felt obliged to stay calm and contained, which revealed itself to be a great problem for her in this moment. With a mix of joy, anger and painted-on dignity, she stumbled towards her.
“This is going to be interesting.” Mira whispered to Val.
Miras mother hugged her. It was clear that it was a hug of relief and happiness, but on the same time it was a lot of anger mixed into it, resulting in the hug being tightened really hard. All the air in Mira was squeezed out of her.
“Mira! Where have you been? We have been looking for you for… How long have we been looking for her honey?”
Miras father cathed up.
“Actually, we discovered you were gone just a few minutes ago. I just thought you were a little sleepy and...”
“Exactly! And I have been so worried! How could you make your mother suffer like this?”
Mira inhaled.
“But I’m here now, right? So... no harm done?”
“Quite the opposite! Why did you sneak out in the middle of the night? Have you lost your mind?”
“I…”
“Oh, don’t tell me. It will only upset me more! Come here!”
Mira and her mother went to the castle door. A thick stream of scolding and upset questions followed them and died away as they went inside.
Val, the captain of the guard and the king watched as they closed the door, then they turned to each other. The captain was relieved to be able to point the attention in some other direction than himself and started questioning Val:
“Where did you find her?”
Val stiffeled. He could feel the kings and the captains eyes resting upon him. The kings presence was heavy with authority and he wanted to make a good impression.
“Down the road from the castle. She snuck away to the village not knowing I followed and watched her. She aproached the Duckling Inn and… well I’m not sure what she did there. She just stood in the entrance for a moment and then ran away.”
“What for?”
“I actually have no idea. She went into the alley just next to the inn, and I were about to follow her there when she darted out, heading for the other side of the marketplace. Two men hunted her down and a third stepped into her way just before she reached the other side. She went with them willingly as she belived they were castle guards and was about to step into a carriage. I stopped her before she could do that though. Anyway, the men were bandits, and I think they were going to sell her to vaken.”
Val muffled a deep inhale. out of nervosity, he had not made a single pause throughout the story and was now out of breath.
“That we cannot know. We must not think that they would want to start a war again just because it was we who stopped it.”
“Indeed.” the king said “How did you manage to save her?”
“I surprised them when they were busy making her step into the carriage. I ran in from the side and carried her away. They had no time to react.”
“Didn’t they try to catch you?”
“They did, sir, but I’m swift and pretty light on my feet.”
“And strong, I would have to assume. Carrying another person while running away from three grown men is an impressive feat. I like your way of acting, in fact, this whole happening have made me thinking. We shall see to it so that your skill come to good use. What do you say, Valery, about becoming a royal guard?”
“Sir?”
“I think that would be a good idea since you seem to know how to handle her. Other times I had the guards fetch her from the marketplace, she’s always struggles and make a big scene of everything. But when she came her with you, she was all calm. My idea is that you shall follow her at all times and stop her if she is up to no good.”
“Sir it would be an honour, sir. Good thinking sir! Thank you sir!”
The king held up a hand.
“Stop saying sir so much and you’ll have yourself a promotion. Good luck with Mira! Also, I know. I’m pretty bright.”
The king departed grubbling “I’m pretty bright” to himself.
The captains chin hung by his knees. Val was afraid that he was going to beat him out of jealousy for the promotion. The captain exhaled heavily and turned his head to look at Val.
“Woah. Congratulations! Thats the fastest promotion I’ve seen around here. I thought it was I that was going to be needed there eventually!”
“Sir, listen, I’m sorry I took your position, I…”
“Don’t be sorry lad! I wouldn’t be mad even if it was a good position to be in! I’m proud of you!
“I’m glad you aren’t angry, but Isn’t that a pretty good position to be in?”
“Well, if you are thinking in money, It’s great! I believe your salary will triple. But if you think in your duties… Oh my goodness. I feel sorry for you already. You’ll be bored to death.”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you think I mean? You have to follow her everywhere! Down to the market, browsing stuff all day long, trying dresses, watch as she combs her hair, watch her eat her food, the list is endless! I bet she will force you to carry all the stuff she buys in the marketplace as well. Good luck with that, lad!”
“Thanks…”
“Listen, if you wanna take a break sometime, find me and we’ll have some mead, okey?”
“Sure, I will! Thanks!”
“See you around, royal guard.”
He saluted, Val replicated, the captain turned around and went away.
Val stood there for a moment, trying to understand what just happened. He breathed out, adjusted his shirt and entered the castle.
‘Reporting for duty, sir.’
‘Sigh, really? That guy?’ Mira exclaimed as Val entered the room.
“I bet I would laugh at you if I could see you.”
‘Come on! We have so much to do!’
The captain had been right. It was truly a pain to follow Mira around all day.
First off was the walk to the marketplace which took forever. As soon as Mira heard or smelled something, she wanted to stop and check it out. They stopped by every single little sprout that grew beside the road. Sometimes Val didn’t have time to take a step forward before they stopped again. Mira had never had time to stop and look before, as she always used to either leave the castle anonymously or in formal matters. But with Val on her side, there remained few of the old restrictions. Upon arriving to the marketplace, Val was already tired. As they roamed the marketplace he was on a constant hunt on places to sit while Mira inspected the endless numbers of various items. Val was certain that on the end of that day they had been to every single stall in the entire marketplace. In addition to that, they had been walking around random streets in the city for more than two hours straight, since Mira had never been there before. For Val, the minutes passed at the speed of snails pausing for a picnic. Mira, on the other hand, didn’t notice the time fly away. She was so excited that she finally was able to browse the stores and roam the streets without having to worry about guards or have a hot cloak upon her head. The day had started as a disaster, sitting in an unknown building somewhere in the city, with a man that possibly would have wanted to kidnap her. Now she was on the marketplace, the place she dreamed of some nights, without any noticeable restrictions. Val has proved himself to be a blessing, not a curse. When Val thought that he could see the sun beginning to set he felt incredibly relieved. Now he could begin hustle her back to the castle. This took some time as well, but when they finally got back to the castle, they entered the library and relaxed a little. Val sat down, exhausted, in the grandest library chair. Mira didn’t. She stood, rocking back and forth on her feet. She was still excited about the day.
‘Is it evening already? I thought it was only about midday! Aren’t you hungry?’
‘We had dinner already, remember? Those disgusting little grey paper balls or whatever they were. I can’t understand how you could find them appetizing! They looked awful!’
‘Yeah, I don’t judge from looks, obviously. she said, waving her hand in front of her blind fold. ‘Which is lucky for you!’
‘Shut up! You don’t even know how I look.’
‘And, boy am I glad for that.’
‘Stop it!’
‘Sorry, sorry, I’ll try to behave. I’m just heavily influenced by the master thief. He always does this ironic talking if someone were to catch him, which anyone rarely does, and he is just generally awesome. Have you ever read it?’
‘What? The book about the thief? No. We had only one book in the house when we grew up, and it wasn’t even written in an understandable language. All I understood was that it was partly about some guy called Chris, or something like that.’
‘Really? I have an entire bookshelf of books I’ve read! I just assumed that most people read a lot when they were little.
‘Can you read?’
‘Of course I can! Or, well, not anymore, but I still listen to the stories others read me and try to memorize them.’
She got up and browsed the closest bookshelf, stroking her hand along the backsides of the book, trying to find the texture of the printed letters.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I’m searching for “The Master Thief”. You’ve got to borrow it! It is truly a masterpiece.’
‘Oh, that won’t be necessary, can’t you just tell me how it goes instead?’
‘It is much better being read than told, trust me I’ve experienced both. Ah there we go!’
She pulled out a heavy book from the bookshelf and held it out towards Val, who got nervous only by seeing the thickness of it.
‘Nah, I couldn’t take it, I would just happen to ruin it.’
‘It’s ok, I know you won’t! Also, I have a copy if anything would happen to it.’
She handed him the book. He just held on to it for a moment, not knowing what to do next.
‘Great. Thanks.’
‘Not a problem. Well? Aren’t you gonna take a look?’
‘Sure… but I think I’ll save it for when I come home. It is pretty late already, and I guess, and hope, that you have no more ideas for tonight.’
‘Fair enough. Well, I should get ready for bed. See you tomorrow!’
Mira walked out the library door and turned left to the stairs leading upstairs.
‘Bye!’
Val left the library with the book in a tight grip with both of his hands. He looked at the it. The thickness, and weight was an overwhelming feeling of burden. He opened it and noticed the tiny, tiny prints. With a sigh he slammed the book shut again, locked it under his arm and proceeded out of the castle. On his way home, he remembered the captains promise of mead.
He entered the little guardshut. It was filled with grown men, laughing and conversating eagerly with each other. The scent of mead hang heavy in the air, contributing to a cheerful setting. People armwrestled, threw darts on the wall, or sang loud sings together. The entire bunch seemed like unpleasant drunks. Val looked around for the captain by the bar, expecting him to be in the center of all the attention in there. He didn’t want to look like a fool in front of all those people by searching around for the captain. Instead, he cleared his throat and tried to talk to the bartender over the general bawling in the room:
‘Where is the captain?’
The bartender answered him by indicating the corner of the room. There the captain sat all alone, with a peaceful smile upon his lips while staring out upon some invisible spot somewhere in the roof. Firstly when Val sat down on the other side of his table, he noticed that he was there.
‘Hey, lad! I honestly didn’t expect to see you after the first day of work! I thought you were a little tougher than that!’
‘You were right, sir, that is not an easy job.’
‘Don’t “sir” me, lad, you make me feel alien.’
‘Thanks, si… I mean… Erm, sorry, I actually never learned your name.’
‘Gorm.’ He stretched his hand out. Val took it. His hand felt as it were made out of wood.
‘I’m Val.’
‘So, Val, tell me, how was the first day of work?’
‘As you said: Horrible! There is so many things that she wish to do! It makes me crazy, but still, it feels
‘What do you have there? A book?’
Val handed over the book. Gorm inspected it and quoted:
‘“Once upon a time, In a forest far far away, there was this little boy, the thief.” Sounds interesting! Where did you get this?’
‘That is the worst part. On top of all those duties during daytime, I get homework to do. She really wanted me to read this book. How am I supposed to make that? I don’t even know how to read!’
‘So… You fancy her already? I am not even surprised.’
‘What? No, no. Didn’t you listen to what I said? I don’t fancy her, she is driving me crazy!’
‘That’s how it begin. Don’t worry, she probably likes you too since it was so important to her for you to read that book. She might not know it yet, but it is there. But if you wouldn’t like her. why do you wish to be able to read this book so badly?’
‘I… umm… Don’t want to disappoint her. I could lose my job!’
‘Do you honestly think so?’
‘Yes, I mean… No… It’s just,. I know that if you tell someone that you like a girl after a so short period of time, everyone in their right mind would laugh at you. You are not supposed to fall in love so easily. It is embarrassing, but that is just how I work. So go ahead, tell everybody, make the announcement to your men, I don’t care.’
Gorm rose from his chair, holding up his hands in an attention seeking way.
‘Hey, everybody, listen up!’
Everything stopped in the guards hut. All eyes were pointed at the captain and Val.
‘Gorm, schhh, I didn’t think you would actually...’
‘This guy is in love with the princess!’
A silence fell over the room. It felt like it lasted for an hour. Then a cascade of manly voices resounded throughout the room:
‘Aaaw’
Val, who had his face burrowed in his arms, looked up, surprised. Several of the men lifted their cups in an encouraging manner towards Val:
‘It’s tough out there.’
‘Fight on, man!’
‘You’ll get her attention eventually!’
Val was stunned. He had expected laughs and humiliation, but instead he got this.
‘What?’ he asked himself.
‘I have taught them to be supportive rather than contributing to bad group pressure. Additionally, most of them has someone they love too.’
‘That was not expected.’
‘Listen to me, Val. Many times in life, you think that you are alone in the entire world with something. Often, you are too afraid or ashamed or proud to seek help, or share your secrets with someone. Truth is, that more people than you believe is struggling in the same way you are, and through asking others for guidance, you may help each other to find exactly what you are searching for.’
‘Wow. That is a interesting way to look at it.’
‘I just think it is really important to keep your mind open. Different situations can force you to tap into a special character, but that doesn’t mean you have to be that way. Just because I’m a guardsman it doesn’t necessarily mean that I have to be violent and cruel. I really like philosophy and art, and I’m careful not to hide that for the people that is closest to me.’
‘But how is this helping me? I can still not read the book.’
‘What I want to tell you is, that you shouldn’t be afraid to show others who you really are. You don’t have to pretend to be able to read in order to make the princess like you. If she for some reason shouldn’t be able to oversee that, she is not worthy your love anyway.’
‘Huh, I guess.’
‘Well, It is getting late, and I believe you are to get up early to care for the princess in the morning, aren’t you?’
‘You’re right, goodnight, Gorm! And thanks!’
‘Goodnight.’
The following morning Val made his way up from the city to the castle with the books in his hands. The captains words the night before had made him think. Perhaps he really did like the princess more than he himself wanted to believe. The whole conversation with the captain had made the entire thing of revealing for Mira that he couldn’t read much bigger. What if she couldn’t approve of that? Then she would be unworthy for his love, which would be a big bummer. He continued to imagine all the worst possible scenarios, but when he got to something like, “She’ll probably get me executed!”, he shoke his head and told himself that he was being stupid and that it was going to be fine. He was let into the castle where he waited for her in the great hall to return from her breakfast. His hands began to sweat around the cover of the book. It suddenly felt very heavy and hot. He was surprised by himself, how he managed to make this into such a big deal. There she was. She called out his name:
‘Val?’
For some reason, Val didn’t know what to reply, so he just remained silent, waiting for her to approach him. But she didn’t. Didn’t she notice that he was there? Instead of getting closer she turned around, calling back into the room she came from:
‘Are you sure Val had arrived yet?’
He called himself stupid silently. Of course she hadn’t seen him.
‘Mira, here! He called out, his voice cracking. “Of course” he thought for himself.
‘Ah there you are! Good morning!’
‘Good morning.’
He waited for her to get closer before he continued:
‘I have to tell you something, Mira.’
‘Yes?’
He hesitated. He couldn’t read. He couldn’t read. That was what he was telling her.
‘I am a little early.’
‘Umm… Yes you are. Why would you say that?’
‘Never mind, no reason. What is in store for today?’
‘Oh! Did you read the book?’
Val felt like if a cold finger toyed with his spine.
‘Yeah, just a little though.’
‘Did you like it? What part?’
Her voice was really excited. It was noticeable that it was important for her that he liked it. Val panicked. He tried to remember what the little piece that the captain had quoted:
‘“Once upon a time, In a forest far far away, there was this little boy, the thief.”’
‘Oh the very first part! Well how did you like it?’
‘I think it was… Neat. Really! The text, the pictures, it was all very… neat.’
Mira was a little confused.
‘Neat? Is that all?’
‘Uhu.’
‘I don’t remember there being a picture at that first page. I actually don’t remember there being any pictures at all. Oh well, It was a really long time ago I read it myself and...’
Val interrupted. He was glad that she couldn’t see his face go crimson red.
‘Forget what I said. I couldn’t read it.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I didn’t read that part “Once upon a time, In a forest far far away, there was this little boy, the thief.”, I can’t read. A friend read it for me.’
‘Really? Oh.’
‘Yes. I don’t care what you think but I never got the chance to learn how to read when I was little. i tried looking in “The Master Thief” to understand something yesterday, but I couldn’t grasp a bit.’
‘Why didn’t you say so yesterday?’
‘I was embarrassed.’
‘Don’t be! I’m so sorry, Val, but...’
‘What?’
‘I can’t have someone that cannot read around me like that.’
Val sighed deeply. This was exactly what he had feared. He turned to the door without a word.
‘So, I guess I will have to teach you.’
Val froze. His heart stopped. He turned around to face Mira again.
‘Would you like to learn how to read?’
He was left speechless.
‘Well?’
‘Yes… of course! Thank you!’
‘Don’t thank me yet. I have no idea if I will be able to teach you. I have never tried it before.’
‘I’m sure you will be great.’
Mira blushed. She never knew how to handle compliments.
‘That will have to wait until the evening though. We are going to the marketplace!’
‘Oh no.’
‘But first, come with me. I thought we could bring Lele today.’
‘Lele?’
‘You’ll see.’
Val followed Mira up the stairs. He noticed how perfectly she walked, even though she was blind. She stopped at the first door to the left, signalling Val to be silent by putting a finger in front of her mouth. Val nodded which he then realized was completely unnecessary. Mira opened the door as silent as she could, but as it was halfway opened, something hit the floor with a loud noise. Val flinched. What was that? Mira got to her knees.
‘Lele!’ Mira exclaimed.
A dog jumped her, tipping her over into a sitting position. She petted and hugged the dog with great passion. The dog answered by burrowing it’s head in her lap. Suddenly it did a sneezing noise and turned to Val. Its tongue dropped outside its jaw, and the tail began to wag frenetically.
It charged and jumped towards Val, who now stood in a defensive position with his arms covering his head. He tipped him over as well. When the instant fear had subsided, he lowered his arms, looking at the dog, who looked back at him, still mouth wide open with the tongue hanging out. Mira was laughing a little from where she sat. Val petted it a little insecurely on the side of its throat. It seemed to like that and buried its head in his lap in a similar way he had done with Mira.
‘I think he likes me!’
‘Please, don’t get too excited, Lele loves everything that move.’
‘You’ve never told me you had a dog!’
‘Well, we haven’t known each other for a very long time, have we? Besides, I wanted to see if you were surprised. And you were.’
‘True. it would be nice to get to know each other more though. I guess we’ll spending a lot of time together anyway, right?’
‘That just sounded like you are being punished for something horrible.’
‘Sorry, truth is, that I could really use some rest today. The entire day yesterday was pretty challenging.’
‘Weakling! But I guess we don’t have to go today, what do you want to do?’
‘Well, getting to know eachother better could be a good start?’
‘I’ll start: I’m Mira, I’m blind and I have a dog. that’s about it.’
‘Okey.... Well then, my turn I guess.
As Val started telling her his story they went down to the library. They got seated and got a cup of hot chocolate.
‘That’s amazing. I guess, that I could tell you a little more about myself aswell.’
‘Great!’ Finally!’
‘I haven’t always been blind. There was actually a pretty long and painful way to become as it is now. It started when I was very little, my eyes never worked out the way they should. I was forced to wear glasses from the day I learned how to walk. It was hard for me to play as a normal little girl since my vision problem was dragging me down. But I fought it the best I could and tried not to care about the pain it was sometimes causing me. I have always been taught to stay positive, that they would be able to find a cure for my eyes, but… they never did. And by now I’ve pretty much given up hope.’
‘Don’t give up, I’m sure...’
‘Stop it!’ Mira stood up from her chair. ‘That’s what they all say. “Don’t give up, Stay positive.” Bla bla bla.’
There was a brief silence. Val didn’t know what to say. Mira spoke again:
‘It is not only bad though.’
‘No?’
‘I can still see in a way. I learn the rooms I am in the most and gets a picture of them that I would describe is close to seeing. Also I tried something new about a week ago, but if I am to tell you that, you’ll have to promise to not think that I’m mad, okey?’
‘Sure. You are pretty freaky already, I’m sure this won’t be too much.’
‘Hey!’ she said laughing.
‘Sorry. Okey, I promise.’
She stood up and browsed the bookshelf she had pulled “The Master Thief” out of.
‘As I was saying, some time ago, I got this book, “The Poor Builder”.
She pulled out a book and handed it to Val.
‘Don’t worry. Hewitt told me it has pictures in it.’
‘Indeed, and beautiful ones!’
‘It is about a Poor man with the great passion and skill of building and decorate buildings. He buildt himself a house, and made such a good work that people started talking about it, spreading the word everywhere. He got more and more jobs at renovating peoples houses, and evntually, the king of the land himself asked for his service. Anyway, when Í had finished listening to it, I began thinking: What if I was able to create as wonderful things as the ones described in the book. So I tried:’
It was that day, about a week ago, that Mira discovered that she had a very special ability. She discovered that she had the power to create whatever she wanted with the slightest little thought. This, as she considered it, almost magical ability was hidden to all but her. She started to explore her new power by adding a few details to her own room, that she now had a very clear vision of, as she still lay in bed. She hadn’t really thought about it before, but when she first began to learn the rooms of the castle she imagined all the rooms grey and flat, which, with a second thought, was really boring. She fumbled in the air, suddenly pretending to grasp a fine pencil. She sat up in her bed and pointed the pencil towards the wall with the lone window viewing the sea. Moving the pencil in patterns in the air, Mira imagined to paint the wall. Firstly she added a little colour upon the before grey wall. She tried a variety of different colours, starting out with a deep purple. Beautiful, but not quite right for some reason. Different nuances of green were up next, none of them entirely satisfying her. She tried a dark red colour, which felt like a step in the right direction, but not quite right since it was far to close to the colour of blood. She tried the last colour she could remember seeing, the orange nuance of the sky as the sun was setting. As she made the colour of the wall turn, she remembered that last evening that she was able to see. It was a clear memory. She remembered kneeling by the window, looking across the still and blank bay, resting her eyes on the calm, autumn-orange forest with the sun resting just beyond it. The picture in her mind was of an odd perspective. She was watching herself by the window from behind, as if she was an entire other person that now watched her former self, a closed chapter of her life. She felt a tear itching and growing behind her blindfold. She repressed the picture and returned to the present with the now perfectly coloured wall in front of her. Upon the orange wall she added leaves and trees, with nuances of brown that fitted nicely with the rest of the wall. She turned to the remaining walls, painting them in similar fashion as the first wall. She tilted her head backwards, facing the ceiling. As a dancer, she imagined, she spun around several times, indicating the ceiling with her pencil. As she did so a beautiful sun of gold and yellow was created in the center, spreading beams of light across the rest of the ceiling. After finishing painting the entire room she tried to furnish it. She changed the colour of the bed, the door, the table along with the stool, the bookshelf and the books in it from grey and dull, to many different colours, matching the rest of the layout of the room. Not only did she change the colour of the furniture, but she also added new items. A vase of flowers was conjured upon her table, a chandelier, flashing into existence, now hang from the ceiling. On the wall opposite to the the window she added a grand frame, just above her bed. She left the frame without any picture for now, meaning to return to fill it in later because now, she wanted to take a good look at her renewed room. Amazed of her own creation she sat down on a chair… and fell straight through it.
‘Oops.’
Still sitting awkwardly on the floor she removed the imaginary chair. From now on she would try to not create any interactable items. After a short moment she swiftly got to her feet. She could barely contain herself. She charged through the door into the next room, the corridor that was connected to her room, painting the walls with amazing shades of blue and adding a pattern to the rug that she could feel under her feet and giving it a wonderful purple colour as she made for the stairs, adding a new grey colour for every step in it. In the same movement which she placed her foot on the last step, she turned around and proudly examined the fifty shades of grey that now adorned the stairs.
Eventually she ended up renewing the entire castle. And that was not the end of it. When she finished the inside of the castle, she turned to the outside. Sitting in various windows around the castle, she watched as her mind populated the vacant void that was outside the castle walls.
In her mind she created great castles of unimaginable proportions, the most beautiful clothes that she wore with pride and advanced sculptures with enough detail to fill a book trying to describe them. She became an artist of her own world.
‘Wow’ Val was silent for a moment, letting the entire story sink in.
‘So… Do you think I’m crazy?’
‘No! Not at all! I’m just a little bummed out that I won’t be able to see it. But that sounds amazing! I wish I could do that! But how does it work? You shouldn’t be able to see anything at all!’
‘Well, it’s not exactly “seeing” I guess, but I can still enjoy the detail of certain things and… look it is really hard to explain. I remember seeing was slightly better, but it is better than nothing.’
‘I think it sounds better than anything! You know, I have this returning dream of a big bowl filled over the top with candy and other delicious things, but the moment I’m about to take a piece out of it, I wake up. It is so frustrating, but you, you could just create the bowl and walk right to it! what you do is like living in a dream!’
Mira got an idea.
‘Hey, Val, take the rest of the day off, will you? I won’t be going outside the castle anyway.’
Val hesitated.
‘Did I say something stupid?’
‘Not at all! I just… need some time alone. Now go. See you tomorrow!’
‘Well then, see you tomorrow!’
Val rose from his chair and went out the door. he felt terrible. What did he do? She did say that it was not something he said, but perhaps she did just say that to be nice. The thought nawed him all the way home, but as he come home and realized that he had avoided going to the marketplace, the day felt like a pretty big success. He went to sleep not knowing he had planted the seed of an idea that would change his own, Miras and a many others lifes.
Mira remained in her chair after he had left.. A quote from Val wouldn’t get out of her mind. “Living in a dream.” A dream. What if, you were able to control yourself in a dream? Mira had been told a story about people who had done exactly that. It was a hard thing to achieve though, since it required much concentration and patience. Mira had always wanted to try it for herself, but there was a few problems that prevented her from doing so. She had heard that, in order to be able to enter a dream where you can control yourself, you should examine your hands deeply. Since there are so much things you can do with your hands, and because of their complexity, it was hard for the brain to picture them. Therefore, in dreams, your hands never look quite alright. They differ in shape and number of fingers and other weird alterations. What you have to do upon entering the dream is that you must focus on your hands, in a similar manner as you did when you were awake, and try to see what is wrong with them. If you are able to discover alterations in your hands, you can persuade yourself into realizing that the place you are in, is only a dream. And when you have realized that it is a dream, and that nothing there is real, you may imagine new things that you want to do, the most usual thing being to be able to fly, and then just do it.
Of course, for Mira this was a problem. As she wasn’t able to closely examine her hands or any other object (clocks could help too, she recalled), she soon gave up the hope of ever control herself in a dream. But now, something had changed. She had been able to summon own images of rooms and objects, that she could closely imagine if she wished too. She held up her hands in front of her face. She focused on them for a long time, making small movements with each finger, one at a time. She clasped and unclasped them, stroke the back of one hand with the other, and many similiar things, over and over again. She forgot about time and space for a period of time, thinking of nothing else but her hands. The warmth, the softness, the noise from rubbing the fingers against each other. It felt like she discovered an entirely new part of herself. Never before had she been able to feel so exact movements in her fingers or picture them clearer. This was the closest thing to seeing something she had ever done in a long time. She could have been left sitting there in the library chair for several hours if it wouldn’t have been for her mother, opening the door gently, asking:
‘Would you like supper, dear?’
As they walked through the rooms leading to the dining room, Mira didn’t for a moment stop fiddling with her hands. It was like if she was in a trance. By the table she forgot all about eating something. She just kept on feeling, stroking and adored her hands.
‘Is something wrong, Mira?’ Miras father asked.
Mira swiftly closed her gaping mouth and pulled in air through her nose.
‘Not at all, not at all.’
‘Aren’t you hungry?’
‘Yes! Or, no. Not really. Perhaps. I don’t know.’
‘I... do not know how I should interpret that.’
‘Sorry. Never mind. I’m just very tired, that’s all.’
‘Understandable. Sitting still inside all day can really make you drowsy. Why didn’t you go to the marketplace today?’
‘I… We got stuck in a conversation and stuff and… I thought of something. Listen, I don’t mean to be rude, but I think I should go to bed now. I could really use some sleep.’
‘But you haven’t eaten anything yet!’ her mother exclaimed.
‘I know, I just don’t feel very hungry.’
Mira was hungry, but she felt such an urge to go to sleep, that she didn’t want to waste another moment by the table. She raised from her chair, ready to leave.
‘Goodnight, mom. Goodnight, dad.’
‘Goodnight I guess.’ her father said, a little confused about her behavior. ‘Sweet dreams!’
‘Yes dad’, Mira thought, ‘that is exactly what I hope for too.’
Mira headed for her room, feeling like she was on top of the world. She sang an unknown tune to herself as she snapped her fingers and danced forward. She was very excited, which she from her own experience knew wasn’t very good when you are going to sleep. She had been feeling the same way before every single birthday she could remember. Not many minutes passed as she was getting ready for bed. Anyway, all of those everyday-routines felt like a waste of time. As she finally lifted the covers of her bed and crept down and making herself comfortable, she was a little out of breath. Lele jumped onto the bed, spinning around two times, and lay down by her feet. Mira tried hard to fall asleep, but it was, as expected hard. She had to be patient. Sooner or later she had to fall asleep. Frustrated, she exclaimed:
‘Gosh, this takes time.’
Lele lifted his head, looking at her. Mira tried changing position. She ended up in some kind of soldiers salute with her hands stretched out over the covers. It wasn’t very relaxing. Lifting up her hands towards the ceiling, she felt how her arms slowly got heavier and colder as the blood rushed down her veins. She thought of a meditation technique she had learned from a very boring book that Hewitt had insisted reading for her. She only remembered that technique because she used it all the time to not get up and leave as he read the book to her, which led to that she got incredibly relaxed after a session of reading. You were supposed to close your eyes, to eliminate focus of anything that might disturb your concentration. Mira found that part pretty easy. Secondly, you were supposed to keep your back straight, and draw in air through your nose, and exhale it from your mouth. Also, trying to let your mind go blink, could really contribute to an increased relaxation. Mira found this part to be the hardest. She had so many interesting things to let her mind feast upon. Finally she managed to let go of those thoughts, and she began to slowly drift away, and eventually fall asleep.
Mira woke up annoyed. Nothing. She had dreamt of nothing. She remembered a dream she had had as a kid. That big bowl of sweets that she was just dying to get one piece of. She had expected it to be there when she dreamed her awesome, self-controlled dream. But instead, nothing at all. She lay still for a moment in silence. A few birds sang in the distance. Mira realized something.
‘Hang on.’ she said to herself.
Now sitting up, she listened harder for that birds song, trying to locate it. There was something wrong. A mild wind surprised her. Had she left the window before going to bed? She noticed that her feet wasn’t as hot as they used to be. Lele was gone. He was always lying there as she woke up, where had he gone? She felt the side of her bed with her hand, but withdrew it as she felt something strange. That was not fur. Neither was it the rug that covered her floor. She stretched out her hand again.
‘Grass?’
She brushed the back of her hand through it. Could this really be happening? Lifting the covers, she swung her legs out of her bed, and placed her feet upon the grass. Woah. She tried standing up, feeling a little unbalanced as she did so. She took a deep breath, feeling the fresh smell of grass and flowers as she did so. This was not real, alright. She had successfully entered her dream. A sudden thought occurred to her.
‘What if…?’
She took another even deeper breath than before. With trembling hands she reached for the knot at the back of her head, holding the blindfold in its place. She loosened it, lifted it over her head, and held it in a tight grip with both of her hands against her chest. She did nothing for a few seconds. Just enjoying the wind dancing over her eyes. A very rare feeling for Mira. She craned her neck upwards and opened her eyes. She saw. She saw an orange-blue sky. She saw stripes of sunlight beaming across it. She saw yellow and golden clouds. She followed the beam of lights and found the sun lying just above the horizon, far in the distance. She could feel her eyes tingling with tears growing in them. She let go of them by blinking, letting them pour down her cheeks. Everything was so beautiful. The sensation had made her forget to breath, so she drew for breath and examined her surroundings. She was standing atop of a hill, by the outline of a forest. The hill was covered with tall, dry grass, and with scattered flowers of varying colour. The trees in the forest was grand with a smooth surface, big strong branches reaching out, with grand and heavy, green leaves resting upon them. At the root of the hill she was standing on, a beach took over followed by an endless ocean. There was low mountains at her right and the forest met the beach on her left. Everything was still. Mira sat down in the grass and admired the view.
The little girl with the thick glasses woke up with a broad smile upon her face. Trembling with excitement she carefully listened for steps in the stairs. After what felt like an eternity, she could finally see candlelight flicker on the wall on the other side of the doorway. She threw herself back down in the mattress, pretending to be asleep. As her parents approached her bed and started to sing “happy birthday”, it was hard to fight the happiness in her heart. She felt invisible threads started to pull the corners of her mouth into a smile. She couldn’t hold back anymore.
"It's my birthday!"
Her parents confirmed this with a broader smile than what the one that already was on their lips. She swiftly stood up and started jumping up and down in her bed. With every jump the glasses did a heroic effort to stay put on her nose. She jumped out of the bed, landing on and latching herself to her mother. Her father put down the plate with the candles on the bed carefully to not spill the bowl of milk and cereal. He immediately regretted that decision though and he barely managed to save it, since his daughter soon launched herself on the bed again, making it tremble violently. She threw the milk and cereal into her mouth, because, as a routine on birthdays, it was breakfast first, presents secondly. Barely having swallowed the cereal she hopefully looked up from the bowl with a stylish milk mustache, wondering: “Presents now?” Her mother laughed and said: "Wait here for just a moment, Mira." Mira watched her parents as they went out the doorway. Of course she couldn't wait in bed. "wait here" could be mistaken for wait somewhere else in her room but in the bed. For example wait hanging halfway out the doorway with only her toes touching the floor of her room, watching where they were going. They disappeared for a few seconds into their own room down the corridor. A pile of presents was what first returned from her parents room. Stunned by the fancy colours of the wrappings, Mira slowly shaped her lips in a silent “wow”. She retreated to bed, and sat down as if she would have been sitting there all the time. As the presents, followed by her father entered the room Mira was as excited as a six year old possibly could be. Presents were being unwrapped, the next present being more expensive and grander than the other, and big smiles and giggles were exchanged between Mira and her parents.
She was euphoric, and when all the presents had been opened she thought there was nothing that could beat this experience.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!”
She hugged both of her parents, and as she struggled to reach them both, she noticed something behind them. A golden string lay stretched out over the floor. She released herself from her parents embrace, going around them to investigate the string. Filled with wonder her smile faded as she discovered it. She turned to her parents that nodded back at her, suggesting her to follow it. The smile came back on again, and trotting, she started to follow the string. It led down the stairs, through the great hall, through the entire dining room to the far door leading into the kitchen. The golden string led her across the kitchen floor to the pantry door where the string was attached to the handle. Silently, she walked over the kitchen floor to the door. Hesitatingly she stopped by the door. Before opening it she put her ear against the it, carefully listening. She didn’t know what she expected to find out through listening to the door but a small noise surely gave her a clue to what was inside. She threw the door open, and there on the floor, a small puppy was chasing its own tail. It continued doing this for a while as Mira silently stood and watched. When the puppy finally noticed that she stood there it charged towards her, wagging its tail frantically. They collapsed together on the kitchen floor, hugging and petting each other. Mira was happy. This was yet the best morning of her entire life. Her parents quietly appeared in the doorway, watching the two of them. They smiled worn smiles at them. because behind these smiles there was a sad truth to be told. Mira and Lele, as Mira already had named the dog, ran through the kitchen door out into the garden. Her parents stood and watched them play around from the grand windows of the dining room. A third man silently joined them. Miras parents noticed him but stood silent for a moment before Miras father spoke:
"Hewitt, how does it look?"
Hewitt thoughtfully bit his lip before answering.
"I'm so sorry, but I have to say a leading dog was the right choice."
Tears growed in the eyes of Miras Mother.
"I have searched all my books for any cure but I found none. I'm afraid Mira won't get better."
"But will it stop? Right now it is not that bad!"
"No, I don't think so. Whatever this is, it will make her vision worse and worse until, (Hewitt sighed) she is blind."
Miras mother suffocated a sob and turned her head to the garden and Mira again. She thought loud:
"When will we tell her? And how are we going to tell her?”
When were they going to tell her? And how were they supposed to tell her that this puppy was not only what she wanted, but something that she eventually would need. Hewitt, as a learned man of medicine, believed it was some type of virus that had infected her eyes, but he had no idea what to do about it. Unfortunately, It was not only Hewitt that was unable of finding a cure. Ever since the morning when Miras father noticed that Miras eyes had lost a tint of colour, her parents had tried everything. But wherever they went and whoever they turned to, no one was able to cure it. Eventually they realized that they would have to accept the fact that they had tried everything, and that she would have to live with it. It was painful to watch their little girl getting worse every day, knowing that there was nothing they could do for her to relieve her of her curse. They held it back as long as they could by switching to thicker and thicker glasses, but the colour of her eyes faded none the less, more and more for every day that went past. As Mira worsened, she started to walk into furniture and hit her toes against doorsteps. Most people would have been devestated with frustration after a while, but Mira was a person that didn’t think of tomorrows problems, and she pretended not be aware of her struggles. Therefore, when she hit her toe, she laughed out an "Ouch" and tried to shake the pain off her foot, instead of cursing and examine it. She also laughed away ruining a cake as she accidently grabbed the jar of salt, with an evident sign saying “Salt” on it, instead of the jar with sugar with a similar obvious message written on it. Many different happenings like the ones described made it very clear to her where this were going. To not be able to see at all is something pretty different from what Mira experienced now, and on the day, more than ten years later, a few days after she turned fifteen, when she went completely blind, was a day of agony.
Mira woke up with the strangest feeling of not being able to open her eyes. As she groped for something blocking her sight, and did not find anything, she started to breathe faster and faster, she felt the blood rushing to her head, and the panic began to fill her body. She let it out in the form of a loud cry. Her parents hurried to her room, asking what was wrong. They found her sitting in her bed, with tears pouring out of her open, lifeless eyes, which did no longer contain any colour. Without answering their worried queries she tried to look around. She could feel her eyes being open. She closed them hard and opened them again. With a constant flow of tears and a big lump in her throat she spoke:
‘I… cannot see.’
She breathed out hard and leaned her head to her knees. Her parents shared a solemn look and with tears growing in their eyes they sat down with her, embracing her for a long time.
The first day of blindness, Miras parents accompanied her at all times with an exception of bringing dinner. No one said much as they ate, in fact they did not speak much at all. There was not much to talk about. It was first by the evening Mira was alone. Her parents asked her if she wanted them to sleep in her room but Mira turned down their offer saying she was fine. And she was. It had been a huge shock to suddenly not be able to see at all, but now she at least had been able to calm herself. Mira didn’t sleep much that night. She sat up in bed, stroking Lele over his back over and over again, until her hand got numb, thinking about how her life would change now that she was blind. The next couple of days was hard on Mira. She was bored as she was forced to always be sitting stationary in the same spot. Her parents and Hewitt accompanied her most of the time and servants carried all meals of the day to her bed for her to eat there, and Lele lay by her feet at all times. She spent entire days like this, just sitting in her bed, petting her dog and thinking about everything that come to her mind. Her lost vision was something that she naturally thought about a lot. The first days she asked herself what she had ever done to deserve this, and how unfair it was, but, as days passed she grew wiser and regained a lot of her usual positive way of thinking. Something she realized that she really missed with being able to see was the stories that she used to fill her days reading. Now she had to accept that it was not possible anymore. But instead of getting lost in self-pity, she found a way around it by getting her family read the stories to her.
-How do my eyes look? Mira asked as Hewitt just finished reading her “The master thief”.
-To be honest they are a little bit intimidating. They are beautiful, but they are also grey and lifeless. Perhaps we could get you shaded glasses to cover them if you'd like to?
-Just my thought. I realized that you cannot mourn something forever and since this is not going to get better, I rather accept the fact that I am now blind, and thereby learn to live with it.
-Thats great Mira, you are very strong and wise person to say such a thing. But please, promise me to not give up hope about your eyes so easily. Perhaps it is not uncureable. Believe me, I will never stop searching for methods to make your eyes heal again. I cannot continue to read you… (Hewitt took a look at the cover of the book) …”The Master Thief” forever you know.
-Thanks Hewitt.
Something came to Miras mind.
-Huh… Wow, thanks Hewitt! she exclaimed.
-Hm?
-You just gave me a great idea! If I will have to be blind for a long time, I have not given up hope yet, believe me, I should find way to live with it. What if I could do exactly what the master thief did?
-Mira I wouldn't recommend beginning to steal stuff...
-No, of course not! What I'm talking about is that pitch-black cave that he lured the people hunting him into, remember?
-I think so. Do you want me to make your room as dark, or what?
-No, no, no. What I want is his ability to move around in the cave in the darkness without having to see where he put his feet. What if I could learn as well as him to move around, but move around my own room instead of a cave?
-I guess that would be possible.
-Of course it is! Scoot, Lele!
Before Lele had time to react, Mira raised, making him roll into the bed frame. Mira stood up facing the wall opposite to the door and Hewitt.
-Okey, now a wall should be... right here.
She groped the vacancy in front of her until her fingers met the wall.
-There we go! So, the window should be about there now.
She pointed to an unseen spot in the room. The window was not there.
-Almost, Hewitt said. a little more to the right. You are currently indicating me.
-Oh. Anyway if i continue along this wall I should... Woah!
Mira collided with her desk and fell over it and down onto the floor, bringing a pile of books with her in the fall. Hewitt couldn't stifle a laugh.
-Hey! Mira said, also laughing a little. I'm doing my best.
-Sorry, sorry. With this determination, I don't think shaded glasses will be an option to cover your eyes with. I will go and see if I can find something a little more fitting. Carry on Mira. Good luck!
-Thanks!
Mira dusted off her hands and located the wall again. With a deep exhale she continued.
-Here we go.
Mira firstly made her way around her room in a slow pace, and when she felt like she knew it pretty well, she continued groping for all the furniture. Mira was impatient adn therefore, after about twenty minutes, she tried walking the outline of her room without colliding with anything and without holding out her hands to try to feel the obstacles. It did not go very well, but she pressed on. Once again she walked around her room, trying to remember where everthing was, and after a while, she tried to make her way without holding out her hands again. This time, she felt that she had made progress.
It was really exciting to do this and about two hours passed without Mira even noticing. Now, she knew her room as good as the back of her hand. She easily located her bed and sat down. Lele placed his nose in her lap. This was pretty cool. She didn't sit there for long, she was far too excited. Without trouble navigating to the door she opened it and stepped out into the corridor. It felt like walking straight into a wall. The difference between the corridor and her own room was fascinating. Here, she had no clue about how the room looked. She started to explore in a similar way as she had done with her own room. Not ten minutes later she was found by her mother, as Mira very slowly and carefully felt for the steps in the stairs.
-What are you doing?
-I'm learning how to move around without needing to see! You brought food? Great! I'm starving.
Miras mother sat down beside her daughter on the step. Mira fumbled for and grabbed a piece of bread, nearly tipping the glass of milk over, from the plate that her mother had brought her.
-This is not all! I've decided to learn the entire castle! People won't be able to tell
the difference between a seeing person and me when I'm done!
The next day as she woke up, she could barely contain herself. Even before having breakfast, she proceeded to try to learn the corridor. Mira was just learning the distance between the door to her room and the first steps in the stairs as Hewitt interrupted in her deep concentration.
-Goodmorning!
Frightened, Mira hopped a pace backwards.
-Woah, Goodmorning!
-Sorry, to scare you like that.
-Umm, not at all, I wasn't scared.
-No? Anyway, I've got a surprise for you. Look at this!
Mira could tell by his expression that he was holding something for her to take a look at.
-Hewitt...
-Oh, I'm so sorry Mira, I forgot! It takes some time to get used to. Here feel it.
-What is it?
Mira hesitatingly stretched out her hands. She felt something light and smooth.
-This is a blindfold, a true masterpiece made by the royal tailor. I had it made instead of getting you glasses, I thought you would prefer this.
-I do!
-Great, just so that you know, It is made out of purple silk with the royal emblem embroidered in gold in the middle, looks incredibly classy. Try it on!
Mira put it on. It was really comfortable even though she could barely feel it upon her head.
-Tremendous! Absolutely stunning. Looks great!
-Thanks Hewitt. This is perfect!
-Now, go ahead and learn the rest of the castle! I know you can do it!
-Me too!
Mira continued to learn the corridor, and after only half an hour she moved on to the next room. She got braver and braver, starting to move around faster which sometimes resulted in some cuts and bruises. But she carried on. It would have been close to impossible to learn how to move around the castle freely if it wasn’t for Lele. She could rely on him to lead her around the rooms. What really become a struggle was all the pieces of furniture in the castle. It was those that really became Miras nemeses. As Lele happily scotched around them, Mira was walking straight into them. After many days of hard concentration and following Lele around she learned, room by room, how the castle was constructed, down to every single nook. She stored all the areas in her mind and visualized them, allowing her to move around without any effort. In only a few months she moved around freely under Leles guidance.
Time passed, and three years later, she knew the castle so well that people wouldn’t have believed she was blind if it wasn’t for her blindfold. She moved around as casual as any other person since the picture of the castle in her mind was as clear as any seeing persons own vision. Thanks to this clear vision of her own mind and not needing to use her eyes to focus on anything particular, she developed better hearing and an amazing memory. Not only did she remember every single room of the castle, she also stored entire fairytales that either her parents or Hewitt read her, something that had become a tradition since Mira couldn’t read herself, and retell the entire story after just hearing it once. Something so hopeless as her blindness had turned out to be something else but a disadvantage, something truly amazing.
“...and then, thanks to the birds, the boy finds his way home again.”
Hewitt exhaled.
“How do you do this?” He asked her after having listened to the retelling of a long story that she had had him read her the night before.
“As you read the story I imagine the places that the characters is in, then, by looking back at the pictures of the places in my head I remember the part of the story that was enacted there. It’s easy!”
Hewitt laughed kindly through his nose.
“You are amazing, you know that?”
“Yes, Hewitt, I know.” She raised from the study chair, stretched and yawned. “Well, it’s getting late, right? I’ll go to bed.”
“Hold on, Mira.”
“What?”
“Just wondering. Where did you get this book?”
“Umm…” Mira hesitated ”I found it in the library, where books are found, you know?”
Hewitt sighed.
“You are terrible liar, Mira. You found it in the marketplace, didn’t you?”
Mira didn’t answer.
“No? Then tell me this. How could you know what the book was named then? And roughly what it was about before I read it to you?”
“Well…”
“Mira! Please. You know what your parents and I think about you going to the marketplace alone!
“So what? I had been there tons of times before you even discovered that I was going there. I know the way leading to it and the marketplace itself as good as I know the castle! I have been there a hundred times for sure, and nothing has ever happened to me.” She paused a little. “Except for the chicken that one time”
“But it is different now! More and more people from Vaken walk the streets. Your father saved us from open war, but they are going to try to turn on us and break the peace, mark my words. If they would have the chance to kidnap the princess of Drom, they wouldn’t hesitate for a second!
“Pah! You are being paranoid, old man.”
“Old man, eh?” A smile haunted Hewitts lips. “Is that so?”
Hewitt put on a flamboyant voice:
“Hey, man! Isn’t that the princess of Drom over there?”
Mira smiled reluctantly. She knew where this were going. Hewitt switched character and voice into someone with a ridiculously high pitched voice:
“It is, isn’t it!”
“You know what would be fun?” the other voice said again.
“No, what?
“If we bought her a grand ice cream! She would never expect that to happen!”
“What a great idea! And we’ll do nothing else! We’ll just say “Here you go. Enjoy! Have a good day. And, oh! Say hi to your parents from us! Also...”
Mira interrupted.
“Hewitt stop it! I get it, okey?”
“Will you stop going to the marketplace then?”
“Meh, I’ll consider it.”
“Mira, what I really wish is that you should be careful, okey?
“I understand, uncle, I will. Now, goodnight!”
“Goodnight Mira.”
She did never consider not going to the marketplace. It was her source of new experiences. Her sanctuary. She enjoyed the murmur of the traders, the varying smells of everything from fresh cheese to the most mesmerizing perfumes and the many items to examine and feel and be told stories about. She had been told about lamps that was able to summon genies, flying rugs, amulets to protect her from evil, urns with dust of ancient gods, all in the marketplace. She was not giving up the idea of visiting it once in a while.
Mira had actually never thought about that it may be dangerous to be alone in places such as the marketplace. Unfortunately, the scent of danger around it only made Mira long more for going there again. She thought that, even if it may be dangerous, she thought that she would be able to take care of herself. She trusted herself to be able to outrun many people, since she was surprisingly swift. Additionally, she had the darkness on her side. Most people may find it hard to make their way in the dark without tripping or getting lost, but since it didn’t matter to Mira whether the road was lit or not, she felt safe in the darkness.
She made up her mind as soon as soon as she got out of the study: For the first time, she would go there by night! She got back to her room intending to wait there for some time before getting out. Mira lay on the floor and reached in under the middle section of her bed, pulling out her black and grey (at least the man who sold her it had told her so) hooded cloak that she had bought on the market almost a year earlier. She hoped for it to be dark enough to remain unseen in the night. Also, if the guards were to see her, they would probably not recognize her. She tried it on and discovered that it fit her like a glove. With light feet she leaped up and balanced on the bed frame, imagining to be the main character from "The Master Thief". For a long time she had had a desire for an adventure of her own, and she thought that this might be the beginning of it. Elated by the sensation of doing something this exciting, she sat by the window, facing the darkening skies outside. She had started to forget what a few things looked like, but she could never forget the look of the night sky. She decided that it probably would be safest to equip the cloak when she had managed to get to the marketplace as she might be mistaken for an intruder if she wore it in the castle vicinity, and thereby also treated like one. After what she thought was about an hour, she took the cloak off and put it in a satchel, raised from the (fönsterbräda) and tiptoed to the door. She grabbed the handle and slowly pushed it down, hoping that the usual cracking noise wouldn't be heard. Steady now... The door seemed to cooperate... But it didn't when Mira loosened her grip from the handle it squeaked high as it adjusted itself to its standard position. Mira held her breath. Standing in the corridor, holding up the door with her left hand, she listened carefully for any movement. Nothing. Mira exhaled, (ställde dörren på glänt) and proceeded, sneaking down the stairs. With swift and silent steps she skipped through the great hall to the door leading out. She put her shoulder against it and pushed. Slowly the heavy door swung open. Fresh air welcomed Mira out of the castle. Suddenly, she felt a sting of hesitation. Was this really a good thing to do? Perhaps it was pretty foolish to go out alone. But, hey. As she had told her uncle nothing had ever happened, and in addition to that, if something were to happen that night, why would it happen to her? She made up her mind and took a step out into the night. Still careful not to make any noise she made her way towards the gate leading out from the courtyard. The wind carried a voice to her ears. Mira froze. She had forgotten about the guards stationed by the gate. Another sting of hesitation. The guards was there to protect her and family, but now, they were enemies, preventing her to go out. She considered going back in, but she couldn't. This whole experience was way too exciting! She couldn't turn back now! She sneaked to the wall and proceeded along it till she was beside the gate. She could both hear and smell the guards clearly now. She couldn't risk sneaking past them. Instead, she carefully bent down and picked up a small rock. She threw it to the other side of the gate and pressed herself to the wall again. The stone bounced a couple of times against the bricks, but the guards heard nothing. She picked up another rock and threw it. The stone bounced with a clicking noise over the bricks, suddenly launching itself a little bit upwards, towards a small pedestal, with a flowerpot on it. The impact from the stone made the pot shift a little, and soon it fell to the ground with a loud cracking sound. The guards reacted. They charged through the gate and towards the pot. Mira took her chance. Taking advantage of the noise from the guards heavy steps she crouched and hurried out through the gate, and down the road as silently as she could. When she couldn't hear the guards anymore she straightened and took a deep breath. She had made it! She felt very alive and guilty at the same time, but the success of getting out eliminated the guilt with ease. As she walked the well-known road down to the marketplace in a leisurely pace, she clasped her arms behind her back in the same fashion as she remembered her father used to do when he walked the town. For Mira, it was an expression of tranquility and urbanity. She felt relieved. As she got closer to the marketplace she unbuttoned the satchel and got the cloak out. Careful not to lose orientation of the road, she veered off it and entered a thicket. She pulled the cloak over her clothes and adjusted the blindfold. Breathing out, she returned to the road. As she stepped out of the thicket, she heard a pair of boots spinning around swiftly in the gravel of the road.
"Who's there?" a startled voice exclaimed.
Damn. In her excitement she had grown uncautious. She had forgot to listen after steps on the road. She heard two more pair of boots joining the pair that had spun around. The first pair took a few steps off the road in her direction. She stayed still. Another voice spoke:
"Easy now, Carl. Are you scared?"
"Of course not! But there is someone in that thicket!"
"It is probably just a stupid dog or something. Come on. Let's get back to the castle."
"But..."
"Listen, Check it out if you wish, but we won't be waiting for you to share the mead."
"Okey then."
The guard rejoined his companions on the road. As the steps faded away, Mira got back on the road and continued towards the marketplace. Something about the guards made her uneasy, but she couldn't think of what it was. She arrived to the marketplace. The feeling of adventure that always occurred when she got there struck her stronger than usual. It was completely empty. The absence of all the people who used to be there made the experience even cooler. The traders had retreated to their homes and to the pubs which was now flowing with music, murmur and a scent of beer and sweat. Mira didn't know what she had expected from going to the marketplace at such a late hour. The entire adventure had been going there. Now, when she was there she didn't know what to do. She considered going home, but that felt like going all that way for nothing. She snuck up to the door of the closest pub, feeling the atmosphere inside. She imagined that it is this it is like to be entirely free. Wonderful, exciting and dangerous at the same time. Thats it! She would enter the bar and order something and then go home. It was a mission worthy an adventurer as herself. She readied herself by taking a couple of deep breaths, and adjusting her hood over her head. She exhaled hard and took a step into the doorway… and didn’t know what to do next. The pub went silent within four seconds. She could feel how a dozen pair of eyes impaled her where she stood.
“H-hi!” she stuttered in a high pitch with a mix of fear and euphoria.
Another second passed, then she ran around the corner, stopping, listening for persuaders. Nothing. Laughing and a little out of breath, she leaned toward the wall, sliding down to a sitting position. She tittered to herself. What a strange thing to do! What did the people inside the bar think of her? Glad and a little surprised by herself and how things had turned out she decided that she was done for tonight. Time to head home. She raised from the wall and brushed off the back her cloak. A voice reached her from inside the alley she sat in.
-You there! Stop!
Damn, probably a couple of guards. Mira didn't want her parents or anyone to know that she had been there tonight. She had to get away. Without thinking twice she ran straight out into the marketplace, making for the alley on the other side of the marketplace where she knew there was plenty of good places to hide in. She could hear that there was two guards close behind her, and she could also hear that they were slightly slower than herself. She was outrunning them! As soon as she would enter the alley, the darkness would protect her with its veil and… "Bump." She ran into something large and soft. The object recoiled and pushed her to the ground. It was a belly.
"Well, well. What do we have here? an old and worn voice said.
Mira crawled backwards, but the man in front of her grabbed her and lifted her up on her feet. The two guards that had persuaded her, now catched up, a little out of breath.
"Oh, hi Bob. Good thing you were here! This one almost slipped away!"
A hand pulled the hood of her cloak off her head. A surprised gasp followed.
"Princess! I'm so sorry! I didn't realize it was you!"
"Let me go!"
"I'm sorry, miss. I can't do that as I have sworn to protect your family. You are not allowed here!"
"I go where I want!"
"I'm sorry but I have no choice but to take you into custody until morning. Your
fathers orders!"
A heavy hand fell on Miras shoulder, shoving her forward.
“If you come along without struggling, we’ll sneak you into the castle without your parents ever knowing that you were here.”
Mira didn’t believe that they wouldn’t tell her parents, but the chance that they didn’t was better than nothing. She had no choice but to follow them. With a sigh, she walked along with them.
“Step into the carriage and we’ll be home momentarily.”
As she raised her leg to step into the transport, she heard a noise. With one foot on the carrige she stopped and listened. Before she could locate where it came from, something hit her hard from the side, knocking her off her feet. Before she fell to the ground, arms caught her and carried her with speed away from the carriage.
"Hey!" one of the guards exclaimed.
She could hear them starting to run after her, but their steps quickly faded
as whatever had captured her was moving very fast. Its feet sounded like a drum roll towards the pavings below. For a moment she was as stunned and terrified by the surprise of this assault that she couldn't think clearly, and just lay limp like a ragdoll in the assailants arms. Soon, she screamed for help and struggled to break free but found that her arms and legs was locked down in an iron grip. As she draw for breath to scream even louder than before, a large piece of cloth was inserted in her mouth, muffling her completely. Mira was scared but was careful not to panic as she knew that it would just make things worse. Instead, she tried to concentrate and recognize where she and her kidnapper was going, but realized that she had lost orientation of the marketplace already. She had no idea where she was.
When her kidnapper finally slowed down, Mira wasn't even scared anymore. She was angry. They turned around a corner and through an open doorway. She was dumped on a cold and hard wooden floor. She barely touched it before she ripped the cloth away from her mouth, starting to scream and flail her arms.
"Calm down, or I'll have to tie you." a calm but determined voice said.
"Help! Come on! Whats the matter with you? Help! Here!" she screamed as if her rescuers was just around the corner.
Two hands, one on each shoulder pulled her to the ground, making her sit down.
She gave a little yelp with surprise.
"Please, lady. Shut up! Not that they will be able to hear you anyway; we lost them long ago."
Mira had realized that as well. She tried to calm herself and put on an urban voice to convince herself, and in the best scenario, her kidnapper that she had things under control.
"What are you going to do to me?" she was still unintentionally screaming.
"Schhhh!"
"What are you going to do to me?" She managed to keep her voice more calm this time.
"I’m going to take you back to the castle. As soon as we can be sure you will be out of danger that is."
“Back to the castle? But… why would you take me away from the carriage then?”
“To save you, of course!”
"What was there to save me from? The guards was taking me back home!"
"Sure they did. Those “guards” was really up no good, believe me."
"Oh okey, so you are?"
"I would think that preventing a kidnapping, is better than actually performing one."
"Prevented one? Let me remind you that it was you that kidnapped me just a few minutes ago."
"Nope. What I did was that I dragged you away from a couple of bandits that would surely have sold you to Vaken as a hostage for an admirable sum.
“They were not bandits! They were guards!”
“Would a guard wear those rags? Or would they smell like that?”
"That…” Mira was all fired up, but managed to calm herslef. “...is actually true. You don’t smell much better yourself, though. How do I know that you are not just trying decieve me?"
"You don't. But for your information, if you wish to believe me, I'm Castle Guardsman Valery, at your service."
""At your service." Okey then, since I am your ruler I command you to let me go!"
"I can't do that since..."
"Ugh, I know. My father ordered that I was not allowed by the marketplace."
"Exactly."
"But tell me, if you are a castle guard, what were you doing in the marketplace at this hour?"
"I was about to ask you that question, since you led me there."
"What? Led you there?" Mira thought hard. "Oh my..."
"Hmm?"
"You were the third Guard!"
"I would rather call myself number one, but I guess you are referring to me and my patrol, when we stood by the thicket? In that case I could settle for third."
-That was what was bathering me! Only two pair of feet left, but you, you never left with them, which means... Oh, this is awkward.
-For you that is.
-You were standing there all the time?
-Yup.
-Even when i snuck out?
-Yes.
-And you didn't stop me?
-I guess I didn't.
-Because...?
-I was curious. I wanted to see what you were up to.
-But as a guard you were obliged to stop me, right?
-Firstly, I'm actually not a guard yet. I'm taking the oath tomorrow. And secondly, I never let you out of my sight. I had things under control.
“Ha! “Under control”. That is what book characters always say before hell breaks loose upon them.”
“But I did have it under control, didn’t I? I dragged you away before anything could happen.”
“I guess you did.”
“But this is not all over yet. You should get comfortable. We’ll have to wait here for a while.”
A long silence followed. The moon slowly dragged itself over the sky outside. A few people walked past the building they sat in, but no one entered or discovered them. It was a little chilly, but Mira didn’t want him to know she was freezing a little. She wanted to make a picture of a calm and settled person. The guardsman stood relaxed, leaned to the doorway in a cool fashion. Mira wondered if he wanted to give her a specific picture of him as well. Whether he wanted that or not, Mira never found out, but it worked none the less. Suddenly the silence didn’t feel comfortable anymore, so Mira broke it:
-I’m Mira by the way. she said and held out her hand in a introducing manner.
-Hah, you think I didn’t knew that?
-Of course not! But you know, being courteous? Introducing ourselves? You shake hands and tells eachother your names? Sound familiar?
-Oh, of course! It’s just… I’m just another guard.
He took her hand anyway. It was very hot compared to hers.
-Valery, but most just call me Val.
He as well noticed that she was cold compared to himself, and therefore they both held on to each others hands, in some way intrigued by their difference. Their handshake lasted for a second too long. They both noticed and let go as if the other was infected. Val cleared his throat.
-Let’s get back to the castle, they have probably started worry about you now.
Miras parents was talking to the captain of the guard, a big muscular, grown man, who obviously was in a tight spot, when Mira, with Val close behind her, appeared in the gate to the courtyard. Miras mother saw her first. As the queen of the land, she felt obliged to stay calm and contained, which revealed itself to be a great problem for her in this moment. With a mix of joy, anger and painted-on dignity, she stumbled towards her.
“This is going to be interesting.” Mira whispered to Val.
Miras mother hugged her. It was clear that it was a hug of relief and happiness, but on the same time it was a lot of anger mixed into it, resulting in the hug being tightened really hard. All the air in Mira was squeezed out of her.
“Mira! Where have you been? We have been looking for you for… How long have we been looking for her honey?”
Miras father cathed up.
“Actually, we discovered you were gone just a few minutes ago. I just thought you were a little sleepy and...”
“Exactly! And I have been so worried! How could you make your mother suffer like this?”
Mira inhaled.
“But I’m here now, right? So... no harm done?”
“Quite the opposite! Why did you sneak out in the middle of the night? Have you lost your mind?”
“I…”
“Oh, don’t tell me. It will only upset me more! Come here!”
Mira and her mother went to the castle door. A thick stream of scolding and upset questions followed them and died away as they went inside.
Val, the captain of the guard and the king watched as they closed the door, then they turned to each other. The captain was relieved to be able to point the attention in some other direction than himself and started questioning Val:
“Where did you find her?”
Val stiffeled. He could feel the kings and the captains eyes resting upon him. The kings presence was heavy with authority and he wanted to make a good impression.
“Down the road from the castle. She snuck away to the village not knowing I followed and watched her. She aproached the Duckling Inn and… well I’m not sure what she did there. She just stood in the entrance for a moment and then ran away.”
“What for?”
“I actually have no idea. She went into the alley just next to the inn, and I were about to follow her there when she darted out, heading for the other side of the marketplace. Two men hunted her down and a third stepped into her way just before she reached the other side. She went with them willingly as she belived they were castle guards and was about to step into a carriage. I stopped her before she could do that though. Anyway, the men were bandits, and I think they were going to sell her to vaken.”
Val muffled a deep inhale. out of nervosity, he had not made a single pause throughout the story and was now out of breath.
“That we cannot know. We must not think that they would want to start a war again just because it was we who stopped it.”
“Indeed.” the king said “How did you manage to save her?”
“I surprised them when they were busy making her step into the carriage. I ran in from the side and carried her away. They had no time to react.”
“Didn’t they try to catch you?”
“They did, sir, but I’m swift and pretty light on my feet.”
“And strong, I would have to assume. Carrying another person while running away from three grown men is an impressive feat. I like your way of acting, in fact, this whole happening have made me thinking. We shall see to it so that your skill come to good use. What do you say, Valery, about becoming a royal guard?”
“Sir?”
“I think that would be a good idea since you seem to know how to handle her. Other times I had the guards fetch her from the marketplace, she’s always struggles and make a big scene of everything. But when she came her with you, she was all calm. My idea is that you shall follow her at all times and stop her if she is up to no good.”
“Sir it would be an honour, sir. Good thinking sir! Thank you sir!”
The king held up a hand.
“Stop saying sir so much and you’ll have yourself a promotion. Good luck with Mira! Also, I know. I’m pretty bright.”
The king departed grubbling “I’m pretty bright” to himself.
The captains chin hung by his knees. Val was afraid that he was going to beat him out of jealousy for the promotion. The captain exhaled heavily and turned his head to look at Val.
“Woah. Congratulations! Thats the fastest promotion I’ve seen around here. I thought it was I that was going to be needed there eventually!”
“Sir, listen, I’m sorry I took your position, I…”
“Don’t be sorry lad! I wouldn’t be mad even if it was a good position to be in! I’m proud of you!
“I’m glad you aren’t angry, but Isn’t that a pretty good position to be in?”
“Well, if you are thinking in money, It’s great! I believe your salary will triple. But if you think in your duties… Oh my goodness. I feel sorry for you already. You’ll be bored to death.”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you think I mean? You have to follow her everywhere! Down to the market, browsing stuff all day long, trying dresses, watch as she combs her hair, watch her eat her food, the list is endless! I bet she will force you to carry all the stuff she buys in the marketplace as well. Good luck with that, lad!”
“Thanks…”
“Listen, if you wanna take a break sometime, find me and we’ll have some mead, okey?”
“Sure, I will! Thanks!”
“See you around, royal guard.”
He saluted, Val replicated, the captain turned around and went away.
Val stood there for a moment, trying to understand what just happened. He breathed out, adjusted his shirt and entered the castle.
‘Reporting for duty, sir.’
‘Sigh, really? That guy?’ Mira exclaimed as Val entered the room.
“I bet I would laugh at you if I could see you.”
‘Come on! We have so much to do!’
The captain had been right. It was truly a pain to follow Mira around all day.
First off was the walk to the marketplace which took forever. As soon as Mira heard or smelled something, she wanted to stop and check it out. They stopped by every single little sprout that grew beside the road. Sometimes Val didn’t have time to take a step forward before they stopped again. Mira had never had time to stop and look before, as she always used to either leave the castle anonymously or in formal matters. But with Val on her side, there remained few of the old restrictions. Upon arriving to the marketplace, Val was already tired. As they roamed the marketplace he was on a constant hunt on places to sit while Mira inspected the endless numbers of various items. Val was certain that on the end of that day they had been to every single stall in the entire marketplace. In addition to that, they had been walking around random streets in the city for more than two hours straight, since Mira had never been there before. For Val, the minutes passed at the speed of snails pausing for a picnic. Mira, on the other hand, didn’t notice the time fly away. She was so excited that she finally was able to browse the stores and roam the streets without having to worry about guards or have a hot cloak upon her head. The day had started as a disaster, sitting in an unknown building somewhere in the city, with a man that possibly would have wanted to kidnap her. Now she was on the marketplace, the place she dreamed of some nights, without any noticeable restrictions. Val has proved himself to be a blessing, not a curse. When Val thought that he could see the sun beginning to set he felt incredibly relieved. Now he could begin hustle her back to the castle. This took some time as well, but when they finally got back to the castle, they entered the library and relaxed a little. Val sat down, exhausted, in the grandest library chair. Mira didn’t. She stood, rocking back and forth on her feet. She was still excited about the day.
‘Is it evening already? I thought it was only about midday! Aren’t you hungry?’
‘We had dinner already, remember? Those disgusting little grey paper balls or whatever they were. I can’t understand how you could find them appetizing! They looked awful!’
‘Yeah, I don’t judge from looks, obviously. she said, waving her hand in front of her blind fold. ‘Which is lucky for you!’
‘Shut up! You don’t even know how I look.’
‘And, boy am I glad for that.’
‘Stop it!’
‘Sorry, sorry, I’ll try to behave. I’m just heavily influenced by the master thief. He always does this ironic talking if someone were to catch him, which anyone rarely does, and he is just generally awesome. Have you ever read it?’
‘What? The book about the thief? No. We had only one book in the house when we grew up, and it wasn’t even written in an understandable language. All I understood was that it was partly about some guy called Chris, or something like that.’
‘Really? I have an entire bookshelf of books I’ve read! I just assumed that most people read a lot when they were little.
‘Can you read?’
‘Of course I can! Or, well, not anymore, but I still listen to the stories others read me and try to memorize them.’
She got up and browsed the closest bookshelf, stroking her hand along the backsides of the book, trying to find the texture of the printed letters.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I’m searching for “The Master Thief”. You’ve got to borrow it! It is truly a masterpiece.’
‘Oh, that won’t be necessary, can’t you just tell me how it goes instead?’
‘It is much better being read than told, trust me I’ve experienced both. Ah there we go!’
She pulled out a heavy book from the bookshelf and held it out towards Val, who got nervous only by seeing the thickness of it.
‘Nah, I couldn’t take it, I would just happen to ruin it.’
‘It’s ok, I know you won’t! Also, I have a copy if anything would happen to it.’
She handed him the book. He just held on to it for a moment, not knowing what to do next.
‘Great. Thanks.’
‘Not a problem. Well? Aren’t you gonna take a look?’
‘Sure… but I think I’ll save it for when I come home. It is pretty late already, and I guess, and hope, that you have no more ideas for tonight.’
‘Fair enough. Well, I should get ready for bed. See you tomorrow!’
Mira walked out the library door and turned left to the stairs leading upstairs.
‘Bye!’
Val left the library with the book in a tight grip with both of his hands. He looked at the it. The thickness, and weight was an overwhelming feeling of burden. He opened it and noticed the tiny, tiny prints. With a sigh he slammed the book shut again, locked it under his arm and proceeded out of the castle. On his way home, he remembered the captains promise of mead.
He entered the little guardshut. It was filled with grown men, laughing and conversating eagerly with each other. The scent of mead hang heavy in the air, contributing to a cheerful setting. People armwrestled, threw darts on the wall, or sang loud sings together. The entire bunch seemed like unpleasant drunks. Val looked around for the captain by the bar, expecting him to be in the center of all the attention in there. He didn’t want to look like a fool in front of all those people by searching around for the captain. Instead, he cleared his throat and tried to talk to the bartender over the general bawling in the room:
‘Where is the captain?’
The bartender answered him by indicating the corner of the room. There the captain sat all alone, with a peaceful smile upon his lips while staring out upon some invisible spot somewhere in the roof. Firstly when Val sat down on the other side of his table, he noticed that he was there.
‘Hey, lad! I honestly didn’t expect to see you after the first day of work! I thought you were a little tougher than that!’
‘You were right, sir, that is not an easy job.’
‘Don’t “sir” me, lad, you make me feel alien.’
‘Thanks, si… I mean… Erm, sorry, I actually never learned your name.’
‘Gorm.’ He stretched his hand out. Val took it. His hand felt as it were made out of wood.
‘I’m Val.’
‘So, Val, tell me, how was the first day of work?’
‘As you said: Horrible! There is so many things that she wish to do! It makes me crazy, but still, it feels
‘What do you have there? A book?’
Val handed over the book. Gorm inspected it and quoted:
‘“Once upon a time, In a forest far far away, there was this little boy, the thief.” Sounds interesting! Where did you get this?’
‘That is the worst part. On top of all those duties during daytime, I get homework to do. She really wanted me to read this book. How am I supposed to make that? I don’t even know how to read!’
‘So… You fancy her already? I am not even surprised.’
‘What? No, no. Didn’t you listen to what I said? I don’t fancy her, she is driving me crazy!’
‘That’s how it begin. Don’t worry, she probably likes you too since it was so important to her for you to read that book. She might not know it yet, but it is there. But if you wouldn’t like her. why do you wish to be able to read this book so badly?’
‘I… umm… Don’t want to disappoint her. I could lose my job!’
‘Do you honestly think so?’
‘Yes, I mean… No… It’s just,. I know that if you tell someone that you like a girl after a so short period of time, everyone in their right mind would laugh at you. You are not supposed to fall in love so easily. It is embarrassing, but that is just how I work. So go ahead, tell everybody, make the announcement to your men, I don’t care.’
Gorm rose from his chair, holding up his hands in an attention seeking way.
‘Hey, everybody, listen up!’
Everything stopped in the guards hut. All eyes were pointed at the captain and Val.
‘Gorm, schhh, I didn’t think you would actually...’
‘This guy is in love with the princess!’
A silence fell over the room. It felt like it lasted for an hour. Then a cascade of manly voices resounded throughout the room:
‘Aaaw’
Val, who had his face burrowed in his arms, looked up, surprised. Several of the men lifted their cups in an encouraging manner towards Val:
‘It’s tough out there.’
‘Fight on, man!’
‘You’ll get her attention eventually!’
Val was stunned. He had expected laughs and humiliation, but instead he got this.
‘What?’ he asked himself.
‘I have taught them to be supportive rather than contributing to bad group pressure. Additionally, most of them has someone they love too.’
‘That was not expected.’
‘Listen to me, Val. Many times in life, you think that you are alone in the entire world with something. Often, you are too afraid or ashamed or proud to seek help, or share your secrets with someone. Truth is, that more people than you believe is struggling in the same way you are, and through asking others for guidance, you may help each other to find exactly what you are searching for.’
‘Wow. That is a interesting way to look at it.’
‘I just think it is really important to keep your mind open. Different situations can force you to tap into a special character, but that doesn’t mean you have to be that way. Just because I’m a guardsman it doesn’t necessarily mean that I have to be violent and cruel. I really like philosophy and art, and I’m careful not to hide that for the people that is closest to me.’
‘But how is this helping me? I can still not read the book.’
‘What I want to tell you is, that you shouldn’t be afraid to show others who you really are. You don’t have to pretend to be able to read in order to make the princess like you. If she for some reason shouldn’t be able to oversee that, she is not worthy your love anyway.’
‘Huh, I guess.’
‘Well, It is getting late, and I believe you are to get up early to care for the princess in the morning, aren’t you?’
‘You’re right, goodnight, Gorm! And thanks!’
‘Goodnight.’
The following morning Val made his way up from the city to the castle with the books in his hands. The captains words the night before had made him think. Perhaps he really did like the princess more than he himself wanted to believe. The whole conversation with the captain had made the entire thing of revealing for Mira that he couldn’t read much bigger. What if she couldn’t approve of that? Then she would be unworthy for his love, which would be a big bummer. He continued to imagine all the worst possible scenarios, but when he got to something like, “She’ll probably get me executed!”, he shoke his head and told himself that he was being stupid and that it was going to be fine. He was let into the castle where he waited for her in the great hall to return from her breakfast. His hands began to sweat around the cover of the book. It suddenly felt very heavy and hot. He was surprised by himself, how he managed to make this into such a big deal. There she was. She called out his name:
‘Val?’
For some reason, Val didn’t know what to reply, so he just remained silent, waiting for her to approach him. But she didn’t. Didn’t she notice that he was there? Instead of getting closer she turned around, calling back into the room she came from:
‘Are you sure Val had arrived yet?’
He called himself stupid silently. Of course she hadn’t seen him.
‘Mira, here! He called out, his voice cracking. “Of course” he thought for himself.
‘Ah there you are! Good morning!’
‘Good morning.’
He waited for her to get closer before he continued:
‘I have to tell you something, Mira.’
‘Yes?’
He hesitated. He couldn’t read. He couldn’t read. That was what he was telling her.
‘I am a little early.’
‘Umm… Yes you are. Why would you say that?’
‘Never mind, no reason. What is in store for today?’
‘Oh! Did you read the book?’
Val felt like if a cold finger toyed with his spine.
‘Yeah, just a little though.’
‘Did you like it? What part?’
Her voice was really excited. It was noticeable that it was important for her that he liked it. Val panicked. He tried to remember what the little piece that the captain had quoted:
‘“Once upon a time, In a forest far far away, there was this little boy, the thief.”’
‘Oh the very first part! Well how did you like it?’
‘I think it was… Neat. Really! The text, the pictures, it was all very… neat.’
Mira was a little confused.
‘Neat? Is that all?’
‘Uhu.’
‘I don’t remember there being a picture at that first page. I actually don’t remember there being any pictures at all. Oh well, It was a really long time ago I read it myself and...’
Val interrupted. He was glad that she couldn’t see his face go crimson red.
‘Forget what I said. I couldn’t read it.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I didn’t read that part “Once upon a time, In a forest far far away, there was this little boy, the thief.”, I can’t read. A friend read it for me.’
‘Really? Oh.’
‘Yes. I don’t care what you think but I never got the chance to learn how to read when I was little. i tried looking in “The Master Thief” to understand something yesterday, but I couldn’t grasp a bit.’
‘Why didn’t you say so yesterday?’
‘I was embarrassed.’
‘Don’t be! I’m so sorry, Val, but...’
‘What?’
‘I can’t have someone that cannot read around me like that.’
Val sighed deeply. This was exactly what he had feared. He turned to the door without a word.
‘So, I guess I will have to teach you.’
Val froze. His heart stopped. He turned around to face Mira again.
‘Would you like to learn how to read?’
He was left speechless.
‘Well?’
‘Yes… of course! Thank you!’
‘Don’t thank me yet. I have no idea if I will be able to teach you. I have never tried it before.’
‘I’m sure you will be great.’
Mira blushed. She never knew how to handle compliments.
‘That will have to wait until the evening though. We are going to the marketplace!’
‘Oh no.’
‘But first, come with me. I thought we could bring Lele today.’
‘Lele?’
‘You’ll see.’
Val followed Mira up the stairs. He noticed how perfectly she walked, even though she was blind. She stopped at the first door to the left, signalling Val to be silent by putting a finger in front of her mouth. Val nodded which he then realized was completely unnecessary. Mira opened the door as silent as she could, but as it was halfway opened, something hit the floor with a loud noise. Val flinched. What was that? Mira got to her knees.
‘Lele!’ Mira exclaimed.
A dog jumped her, tipping her over into a sitting position. She petted and hugged the dog with great passion. The dog answered by burrowing it’s head in her lap. Suddenly it did a sneezing noise and turned to Val. Its tongue dropped outside its jaw, and the tail began to wag frenetically.
It charged and jumped towards Val, who now stood in a defensive position with his arms covering his head. He tipped him over as well. When the instant fear had subsided, he lowered his arms, looking at the dog, who looked back at him, still mouth wide open with the tongue hanging out. Mira was laughing a little from where she sat. Val petted it a little insecurely on the side of its throat. It seemed to like that and buried its head in his lap in a similar way he had done with Mira.
‘I think he likes me!’
‘Please, don’t get too excited, Lele loves everything that move.’
‘You’ve never told me you had a dog!’
‘Well, we haven’t known each other for a very long time, have we? Besides, I wanted to see if you were surprised. And you were.’
‘True. it would be nice to get to know each other more though. I guess we’ll spending a lot of time together anyway, right?’
‘That just sounded like you are being punished for something horrible.’
‘Sorry, truth is, that I could really use some rest today. The entire day yesterday was pretty challenging.’
‘Weakling! But I guess we don’t have to go today, what do you want to do?’
‘Well, getting to know eachother better could be a good start?’
‘I’ll start: I’m Mira, I’m blind and I have a dog. that’s about it.’
‘Okey.... Well then, my turn I guess.
As Val started telling her his story they went down to the library. They got seated and got a cup of hot chocolate.
‘That’s amazing. I guess, that I could tell you a little more about myself aswell.’
‘Great!’ Finally!’
‘I haven’t always been blind. There was actually a pretty long and painful way to become as it is now. It started when I was very little, my eyes never worked out the way they should. I was forced to wear glasses from the day I learned how to walk. It was hard for me to play as a normal little girl since my vision problem was dragging me down. But I fought it the best I could and tried not to care about the pain it was sometimes causing me. I have always been taught to stay positive, that they would be able to find a cure for my eyes, but… they never did. And by now I’ve pretty much given up hope.’
‘Don’t give up, I’m sure...’
‘Stop it!’ Mira stood up from her chair. ‘That’s what they all say. “Don’t give up, Stay positive.” Bla bla bla.’
There was a brief silence. Val didn’t know what to say. Mira spoke again:
‘It is not only bad though.’
‘No?’
‘I can still see in a way. I learn the rooms I am in the most and gets a picture of them that I would describe is close to seeing. Also I tried something new about a week ago, but if I am to tell you that, you’ll have to promise to not think that I’m mad, okey?’
‘Sure. You are pretty freaky already, I’m sure this won’t be too much.’
‘Hey!’ she said laughing.
‘Sorry. Okey, I promise.’
She stood up and browsed the bookshelf she had pulled “The Master Thief” out of.
‘As I was saying, some time ago, I got this book, “The Poor Builder”.
She pulled out a book and handed it to Val.
‘Don’t worry. Hewitt told me it has pictures in it.’
‘Indeed, and beautiful ones!’
‘It is about a Poor man with the great passion and skill of building and decorate buildings. He buildt himself a house, and made such a good work that people started talking about it, spreading the word everywhere. He got more and more jobs at renovating peoples houses, and evntually, the king of the land himself asked for his service. Anyway, when Í had finished listening to it, I began thinking: What if I was able to create as wonderful things as the ones described in the book. So I tried:’
It was that day, about a week ago, that Mira discovered that she had a very special ability. She discovered that she had the power to create whatever she wanted with the slightest little thought. This, as she considered it, almost magical ability was hidden to all but her. She started to explore her new power by adding a few details to her own room, that she now had a very clear vision of, as she still lay in bed. She hadn’t really thought about it before, but when she first began to learn the rooms of the castle she imagined all the rooms grey and flat, which, with a second thought, was really boring. She fumbled in the air, suddenly pretending to grasp a fine pencil. She sat up in her bed and pointed the pencil towards the wall with the lone window viewing the sea. Moving the pencil in patterns in the air, Mira imagined to paint the wall. Firstly she added a little colour upon the before grey wall. She tried a variety of different colours, starting out with a deep purple. Beautiful, but not quite right for some reason. Different nuances of green were up next, none of them entirely satisfying her. She tried a dark red colour, which felt like a step in the right direction, but not quite right since it was far to close to the colour of blood. She tried the last colour she could remember seeing, the orange nuance of the sky as the sun was setting. As she made the colour of the wall turn, she remembered that last evening that she was able to see. It was a clear memory. She remembered kneeling by the window, looking across the still and blank bay, resting her eyes on the calm, autumn-orange forest with the sun resting just beyond it. The picture in her mind was of an odd perspective. She was watching herself by the window from behind, as if she was an entire other person that now watched her former self, a closed chapter of her life. She felt a tear itching and growing behind her blindfold. She repressed the picture and returned to the present with the now perfectly coloured wall in front of her. Upon the orange wall she added leaves and trees, with nuances of brown that fitted nicely with the rest of the wall. She turned to the remaining walls, painting them in similar fashion as the first wall. She tilted her head backwards, facing the ceiling. As a dancer, she imagined, she spun around several times, indicating the ceiling with her pencil. As she did so a beautiful sun of gold and yellow was created in the center, spreading beams of light across the rest of the ceiling. After finishing painting the entire room she tried to furnish it. She changed the colour of the bed, the door, the table along with the stool, the bookshelf and the books in it from grey and dull, to many different colours, matching the rest of the layout of the room. Not only did she change the colour of the furniture, but she also added new items. A vase of flowers was conjured upon her table, a chandelier, flashing into existence, now hang from the ceiling. On the wall opposite to the the window she added a grand frame, just above her bed. She left the frame without any picture for now, meaning to return to fill it in later because now, she wanted to take a good look at her renewed room. Amazed of her own creation she sat down on a chair… and fell straight through it.
‘Oops.’
Still sitting awkwardly on the floor she removed the imaginary chair. From now on she would try to not create any interactable items. After a short moment she swiftly got to her feet. She could barely contain herself. She charged through the door into the next room, the corridor that was connected to her room, painting the walls with amazing shades of blue and adding a pattern to the rug that she could feel under her feet and giving it a wonderful purple colour as she made for the stairs, adding a new grey colour for every step in it. In the same movement which she placed her foot on the last step, she turned around and proudly examined the fifty shades of grey that now adorned the stairs.
Eventually she ended up renewing the entire castle. And that was not the end of it. When she finished the inside of the castle, she turned to the outside. Sitting in various windows around the castle, she watched as her mind populated the vacant void that was outside the castle walls.
In her mind she created great castles of unimaginable proportions, the most beautiful clothes that she wore with pride and advanced sculptures with enough detail to fill a book trying to describe them. She became an artist of her own world.
‘Wow’ Val was silent for a moment, letting the entire story sink in.
‘So… Do you think I’m crazy?’
‘No! Not at all! I’m just a little bummed out that I won’t be able to see it. But that sounds amazing! I wish I could do that! But how does it work? You shouldn’t be able to see anything at all!’
‘Well, it’s not exactly “seeing” I guess, but I can still enjoy the detail of certain things and… look it is really hard to explain. I remember seeing was slightly better, but it is better than nothing.’
‘I think it sounds better than anything! You know, I have this returning dream of a big bowl filled over the top with candy and other delicious things, but the moment I’m about to take a piece out of it, I wake up. It is so frustrating, but you, you could just create the bowl and walk right to it! what you do is like living in a dream!’
Mira got an idea.
‘Hey, Val, take the rest of the day off, will you? I won’t be going outside the castle anyway.’
Val hesitated.
‘Did I say something stupid?’
‘Not at all! I just… need some time alone. Now go. See you tomorrow!’
‘Well then, see you tomorrow!’
Val rose from his chair and went out the door. he felt terrible. What did he do? She did say that it was not something he said, but perhaps she did just say that to be nice. The thought nawed him all the way home, but as he come home and realized that he had avoided going to the marketplace, the day felt like a pretty big success. He went to sleep not knowing he had planted the seed of an idea that would change his own, Miras and a many others lifes.
Mira remained in her chair after he had left.. A quote from Val wouldn’t get out of her mind. “Living in a dream.” A dream. What if, you were able to control yourself in a dream? Mira had been told a story about people who had done exactly that. It was a hard thing to achieve though, since it required much concentration and patience. Mira had always wanted to try it for herself, but there was a few problems that prevented her from doing so. She had heard that, in order to be able to enter a dream where you can control yourself, you should examine your hands deeply. Since there are so much things you can do with your hands, and because of their complexity, it was hard for the brain to picture them. Therefore, in dreams, your hands never look quite alright. They differ in shape and number of fingers and other weird alterations. What you have to do upon entering the dream is that you must focus on your hands, in a similar manner as you did when you were awake, and try to see what is wrong with them. If you are able to discover alterations in your hands, you can persuade yourself into realizing that the place you are in, is only a dream. And when you have realized that it is a dream, and that nothing there is real, you may imagine new things that you want to do, the most usual thing being to be able to fly, and then just do it.
Of course, for Mira this was a problem. As she wasn’t able to closely examine her hands or any other object (clocks could help too, she recalled), she soon gave up the hope of ever control herself in a dream. But now, something had changed. She had been able to summon own images of rooms and objects, that she could closely imagine if she wished too. She held up her hands in front of her face. She focused on them for a long time, making small movements with each finger, one at a time. She clasped and unclasped them, stroke the back of one hand with the other, and many similiar things, over and over again. She forgot about time and space for a period of time, thinking of nothing else but her hands. The warmth, the softness, the noise from rubbing the fingers against each other. It felt like she discovered an entirely new part of herself. Never before had she been able to feel so exact movements in her fingers or picture them clearer. This was the closest thing to seeing something she had ever done in a long time. She could have been left sitting there in the library chair for several hours if it wouldn’t have been for her mother, opening the door gently, asking:
‘Would you like supper, dear?’
As they walked through the rooms leading to the dining room, Mira didn’t for a moment stop fiddling with her hands. It was like if she was in a trance. By the table she forgot all about eating something. She just kept on feeling, stroking and adored her hands.
‘Is something wrong, Mira?’ Miras father asked.
Mira swiftly closed her gaping mouth and pulled in air through her nose.
‘Not at all, not at all.’
‘Aren’t you hungry?’
‘Yes! Or, no. Not really. Perhaps. I don’t know.’
‘I... do not know how I should interpret that.’
‘Sorry. Never mind. I’m just very tired, that’s all.’
‘Understandable. Sitting still inside all day can really make you drowsy. Why didn’t you go to the marketplace today?’
‘I… We got stuck in a conversation and stuff and… I thought of something. Listen, I don’t mean to be rude, but I think I should go to bed now. I could really use some sleep.’
‘But you haven’t eaten anything yet!’ her mother exclaimed.
‘I know, I just don’t feel very hungry.’
Mira was hungry, but she felt such an urge to go to sleep, that she didn’t want to waste another moment by the table. She raised from her chair, ready to leave.
‘Goodnight, mom. Goodnight, dad.’
‘Goodnight I guess.’ her father said, a little confused about her behavior. ‘Sweet dreams!’
‘Yes dad’, Mira thought, ‘that is exactly what I hope for too.’
Mira headed for her room, feeling like she was on top of the world. She sang an unknown tune to herself as she snapped her fingers and danced forward. She was very excited, which she from her own experience knew wasn’t very good when you are going to sleep. She had been feeling the same way before every single birthday she could remember. Not many minutes passed as she was getting ready for bed. Anyway, all of those everyday-routines felt like a waste of time. As she finally lifted the covers of her bed and crept down and making herself comfortable, she was a little out of breath. Lele jumped onto the bed, spinning around two times, and lay down by her feet. Mira tried hard to fall asleep, but it was, as expected hard. She had to be patient. Sooner or later she had to fall asleep. Frustrated, she exclaimed:
‘Gosh, this takes time.’
Lele lifted his head, looking at her. Mira tried changing position. She ended up in some kind of soldiers salute with her hands stretched out over the covers. It wasn’t very relaxing. Lifting up her hands towards the ceiling, she felt how her arms slowly got heavier and colder as the blood rushed down her veins. She thought of a meditation technique she had learned from a very boring book that Hewitt had insisted reading for her. She only remembered that technique because she used it all the time to not get up and leave as he read the book to her, which led to that she got incredibly relaxed after a session of reading. You were supposed to close your eyes, to eliminate focus of anything that might disturb your concentration. Mira found that part pretty easy. Secondly, you were supposed to keep your back straight, and draw in air through your nose, and exhale it from your mouth. Also, trying to let your mind go blink, could really contribute to an increased relaxation. Mira found this part to be the hardest. She had so many interesting things to let her mind feast upon. Finally she managed to let go of those thoughts, and she began to slowly drift away, and eventually fall asleep.
Mira woke up annoyed. Nothing. She had dreamt of nothing. She remembered a dream she had had as a kid. That big bowl of sweets that she was just dying to get one piece of. She had expected it to be there when she dreamed her awesome, self-controlled dream. But instead, nothing at all. She lay still for a moment in silence. A few birds sang in the distance. Mira realized something.
‘Hang on.’ she said to herself.
Now sitting up, she listened harder for that birds song, trying to locate it. There was something wrong. A mild wind surprised her. Had she left the window before going to bed? She noticed that her feet wasn’t as hot as they used to be. Lele was gone. He was always lying there as she woke up, where had he gone? She felt the side of her bed with her hand, but withdrew it as she felt something strange. That was not fur. Neither was it the rug that covered her floor. She stretched out her hand again.
‘Grass?’
She brushed the back of her hand through it. Could this really be happening? Lifting the covers, she swung her legs out of her bed, and placed her feet upon the grass. Woah. She tried standing up, feeling a little unbalanced as she did so. She took a deep breath, feeling the fresh smell of grass and flowers as she did so. This was not real, alright. She had successfully entered her dream. A sudden thought occurred to her.
‘What if…?’
She took another even deeper breath than before. With trembling hands she reached for the knot at the back of her head, holding the blindfold in its place. She loosened it, lifted it over her head, and held it in a tight grip with both of her hands against her chest. She did nothing for a few seconds. Just enjoying the wind dancing over her eyes. A very rare feeling for Mira. She craned her neck upwards and opened her eyes. She saw. She saw an orange-blue sky. She saw stripes of sunlight beaming across it. She saw yellow and golden clouds. She followed the beam of lights and found the sun lying just above the horizon, far in the distance. She could feel her eyes tingling with tears growing in them. She let go of them by blinking, letting them pour down her cheeks. Everything was so beautiful. The sensation had made her forget to breath, so she drew for breath and examined her surroundings. She was standing atop of a hill, by the outline of a forest. The hill was covered with tall, dry grass, and with scattered flowers of varying colour. The trees in the forest was grand with a smooth surface, big strong branches reaching out, with grand and heavy, green leaves resting upon them. At the root of the hill she was standing on, a beach took over followed by an endless ocean. There was low mountains at her right and the forest met the beach on her left. Everything was still. Mira sat down in the grass and admired the view.
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