Prologue:
I was in a dream.
I was in countless dreams but somehow not in any of them. I floated somewhere above all of it.
They wanted to save the town, so they destroyed it.
She who had spoken her mind only once, was walking to the trusses.
He was dragging his feet against the stairs, he walked into the room, he took the book without opening it, he threw the book under the pillow and went to sleep.
She was reading the book’s paragraphs, the paragaph’s sentences, the sentence’s words, the word’s letters.
”Because I do not want to make mistakes,” she said.
He got a punch, and another, from the friend of the one he had hit.
Flags after flags were burned to ashes.
And in the middle of all this, there was a feeling of desperation. That this doesn’t make any sense. That we mix and separate.
That someone must hurry up and show us how to do it.
From Dina’s Chapter 1:
I sat on my bed and leaned into the corner. I tried my best to lose myself into embroidering Jemima’s veil. For some reason my breath was still oddly shallow, though I wasn’t out of breath. I shook my head and tried to focus all my attention on the needle’s movements, how it pierced the thin fabric from one side to the other, following the lightly drawn pattern.
But something wasn’t right. As I came to realize that better, my fingers started trembling, and it grew to a point where I was forced to give up and put my work aside. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe slower. It didn’t help. After a while I started to feel like I needed to get out.
I knew I still had time before the evening devotion. I slipped outside and headed towards the nearby river bend, which was still far from the church. I continued to walk along the river, towards the lake. If I had any luck, I could still get a glimpse of the swans that lived there.
I really wanted to spend a moment alone, looking at the white, pure birds. Usually I only needed to throw a couple of bread crumbs into the water, and the swans raced towards me in excitement.
Today, I hadn’t taken any bread with me, because some part of me only longed for a quiet presence. Luckily, I did spot the swans farther away across the lake. I sat by the shore under the trees, happy to just watch the birds. I took my shoes off and cooled my toes in the water. While the sunlight blinked and peeked from the gentle waves, my world seemed just as bright and pure.
– Libna must be too, I whispered to myself. – A pure little bird.
The beauty of nature was my bliss, and the swans like a reflection of my soul. I prayed.
From Semira’s Chapter 1:
I was in a dream again, and Dina was in it too. I saw her behind bars, in a tiny garden. Dina was looking at flowers, and she smiled the same way she had smiled for the swans. She looked happy. I was trying to open the heavy, rusty gate and call for her behind it, all in vain. Dina didn’t seem to see or hear me. I felt like she wasn’t aware of the bars either.
The next day I sat in the dining hall and saw Dina coming in. She waved at me cheerfully. I realized I was looking at her through a fork. It reminded me of the bars in the dream.
From Semira’s Chapter 2:
The next day Dina didn’t come to the mansion. No one said anything about it, so I knew Father Dreas knew where she was, but I was curious. She was probably sick, I figured. I knew Dina’s parents would both work late, so I thought I’d go to her house to keep her company, and I decided to go get some cookies and chocolate milk from home.
Luckily, I did. When I arrived, Dina was there. She was sitting on the stairs in front of the door.
– Dina! Why weren’t you at the mansion? I thought you were ill.
– Sorry, she said and smiled calmly when she stood up.
I let us in and asked her:
– So where were you today?
– I felt like going to the library.
– Library?
– Yes. I went there in the morning, and looked through everything until it clicked.
I scratched my head.
– It’s definitely not really like you to skip anything.
– I know… but today this was more important, I just felt it.
– Just felt what? And why the library?
Dina smiled patiently.
– Like I said. I just felt I had to go there.
She sat down to the kitchen table, and I went to take out the cookies and the chocolate milk, before I sat across from her.
– And I felt it had something to do with you, Dina said then, and pulled a book out of her bag.
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