The Backyard

Moniri doesn't waste any time and heads out to the backyard first thing in the morning, right behind her room. She didn’t say good morning to anyone; she just put on her gloves, told Lutil that she was going outside and not to follow her, and ran out of the room.

There was nothing special about that little garden. Aside from being empty, it looked abandoned, with fairly tall weeds. Moniri stood there looking at the place for a moment. She was thinking about how she could make use of this space, and if she wanted to use it, she’d have to fix it up first.

I don’t need to bring anything other than a chair. But what should I do with this place? The weeds need to be cleared, and—

Then an idea came to her. She would clear the area of the tall weeds and thorns and, by bringing in stones, create a flower bed. There, she would try to grow flowers. She would see if she could choose which flowers or plants would grow and how big they would get.

Now she had a clearer plan, and she was quite happy about it. But she had to hurry. She had a lot of work ahead of her and little time to spare that day.

She took off her gloves and placed them on the windowsill. She rolled up her sleeves and got to work. She had a little experience with this kind of work from her years at the orphanage. This seemed like a piece of cake to her.

She began pulling up weeds with her bare hands, but when she touched a blade of grass, a scene appeared out of nowhere once again. She saw children running, with anxious maids chasing after them. She didn’t see their faces; she didn’t have time. In another scene, a little dog was digging to hide a bone. Each of these memories showed people she didn’t know.

Moniri was taken aback.

Does this happen to plants, too? How am I supposed to do this now?

She kept going, trying to ignore the scenes she was seeing, the sunny days and rainy nights, the people passing by, the flowers blooming and wilting.

Her hands were covered in dirt, but she didn’t care. She could easily spot the thorns and avoid them. What she couldn’t stand was the heat and the sweat dripping down her face.

~~~~~~

It was getting late, and she had to go back to her room so no one would suspect anything. She hadn’t managed to finish weeding, but she had made good progress. She grabbed her gloves and went to the bathroom to wash her hands. Lutyl was waiting for her with a towel and began to fill her in on what had happened while she was gone.

“Young Master Almond came to see you, but he went back to his room when he didn’t find you.”

“He must have been too busy to wait for me. My parents?”

“They were disappointed that you wouldn’t all be eating together, but they asked the cook to have breakfast ready for you when you return.”

Moniri smiled with hidden sadness. She didn’t want to miss breakfast and spending time with the rest of the family, but she had no choice. Now she had one goal: to understand and control her powers. The only thing she didn’t know was that, as time went on, those powers were growing stronger and stronger.

She achieved the ability to see memories with a single touch by wearing gloves, and although it was uncomfortable to wear them all the time, she couldn’t find a better solution. Next came the blooming of flowers. This ability didn’t seem like anything special to her, but she didn’t want to be caught off guard by it when she didn’t even fully understand how it worked. She was determined, as far as she could, to control her powers so she could feel at peace with herself.

In an attempt to take her mind off things, she turned to Lutil and said:

“Lutil, please run me a bath. I need to clean myself up.”

Lutil went straight to the bathroom, leaving Moniri in the living room. But she wasn’t left alone for long.

There was a knock at the door, and when Moniri motioned for the person behind it to come in, the door opened and Almond’s head popped in. He looked around, and as soon as his eyes fell on Moniri, he smiled broadly.

“Moniri, you’re finally back! Where have you been?”

Almond had moved up beside her. He sat down on the couch in her room and motioned for her to sit down too.

“Just… out…”

Moniri said, looking away. She felt that her gaze might betray that she was lying, unaware that this gesture had made Almond suspicious.

“Are you… hiding something from me?”

Moniri hesitated to answer. But before she could, Lutil came out of the bathroom.

“Young lady, you’re ready to bathe.”

She walked into the bathroom without looking back. It was the chance she’d been waiting for to escape.

~~~~~~~

However, she wasn’t able to get away as she had thought. When she finished her shower and came out, to her great surprise, Almond was sitting in the same spot on the couch where she had left him, waiting for her.

“Now we can talk. Please, answer my question.”

“What question?”

Moniri decided to play dumb. It was the only solution she could think of at that moment.

“Are you hiding something from me?”

Almond asked without hesitation, his calm demeanor concealing a hint of cunning and curiosity about her answer. And he waited patiently for her reply, which Moniri was still mulling over. She couldn’t decide whether to tell him the truth or not.

But he already knows about my powers. On the other hand, I don’t want to get him into trouble. He doesn’t like to lie.

“I’m hiding something, but I don’t know if I should tell you yet.”

She finally told him.

“Does it have to do with your powers?”

Moniri nodded, and Almond fell silent.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me. You can tell me whenever you’re ready.”

“Thank you, Almond!”

“However, I’d like to help you and be there for you. Whatever it is, I’m confident I can handle it pretty well.”

That put Moniri at ease. She trusted her older brother, and with his reassuring words, she’d now made up her mind. She’d tell him about her plan to try to control her powers, and together they’d make it work.

“Alright! From now on, in the mornings—”

She was interrupted by the knock and the opening of the door, and the two children jumped.