chpter 7 : silent war

It had been eerily quiet at the Master Zeddy's Hut after the banquet. The elderly did not know what had happened but the life of the Hut - the young 'uns - were not there.

They were not chatting merrily outside while doing chores in the presence of Master Zeddy's infamous little niece, Amy. Nor was the strong youth found grooming horses while humming a toneless tune and his lovely companion giggling beside him.

The absence of the youths were not only affected at the notorious Hut but more importantly, the Palace.
The Pharaoh hasn't been seen eversince that night he caught a marvel sight.

Some villagers said that it was his envy & shock that had made him paralysed to the spot, seeing Amy with another man.
Though the statement seemed logical - it fit all the pieces in the mysterious puzzle! - it made even more tongues waggle.

What are the Pharoah's intentions, if envying another woman when scandalously engaged to another?
Would the man seen with Master Zeddy's niece be executed?
How could a woman deny the Pharoah, anyway? was what majority of the women wondered anyway.










A girl in tattered rags was found in the cleaning chambers with a boy speaking to her in a calming tone.
"Anna..." the boy said, patting her back soothingly.
"& I had forgiven him! For everything! What have I done for this sin? Why hasn't he explain - let alone apologize profusely - about that scene if he knew that I had seen him? What had I seen?" Anna sobbed & burst into tears again.
"Maybe it is I. Maybe it is I who he does not long for. Maybe it is her. Aren't I desirable?" Anna sobbed after a moment's silence. She laughed a hollow laugh with bitterness.

"There, there." the boy spoke up. "You are very desirable." he said huskily & chanced to envelope her in his arms.
Anna had thought of the gesture as a brotherly hug & hugged him back, crying into his chest.

"Thank you..." Anna sighed. "Thank you for being here for me, James."

Silence. James looked down to find a sight of Anna, sleeping peacefully like an angel in his arms.
He sighed. When was she ever going to look at her the way he does her?








A similar scenario was happening at the top of the Hills - a girl was sobbing while a boy sat beside her, even if he thought that the fight amongst their friends had begun on her (drunken) account.
"I didn't mean to, Adam!" she sobbed, repeating her apologies for the millionth time.
He kept quiet, stonily watching the ripples on the water's surface appear as he threw a pebble across the sacred lake.

"I know you loathe me - in fact, I can read your thoughts: What am I doing here in the presence of her?" she wailed.

Adam did not know what to do - or say. He knew she meant well but he could not forgive her that easily. What she had done was simply... Indefensible.
He envisioned the flashback to the night of the banquet, everything was going well until the Pharaoh danced with his fiancee. That was when Amy had drunken herself with the strongest - & most expensive - wine.

Then was he dragged into her emotional shambles - what not with her tipsy being falling into his arms the minute she caught eye of the Pharaoh, who was searching frantically for her.
Adam knew that at that moment, a monster of a strife had been created.

Not only was Anna disappointed at him but so was his family - his mother & sister.
He saw the look of despondency in his sister's eyes & did not miss his mother shaking her head with sadness.

He knew that they were upset merely at the thought of Anna.

'Anna...' he thought.
He was most outraged with Amy, mainly because of the silent war he was having against Anna.

The first person he saw when Amy's unexpected move was done was Anna. She was standing there, her eyes watery & filled with numerous obvious emotions - hurt, anger, dejection, betrayal.
Before he could call her out, to explain the radical misinterpretation, she ran away to the balcony.

& then, it was his turn to experience her mixed emotions as he witnessed the sight of her running into James' arms.

He could still hear his bitter thoughts creeping to his brain the night he took in the scene - 'What is she doing? How could she?'
Just as he realized the thoughts, he felt guilt invading his thoughts - 'I have not been pure of innocence, either.'

Yet, he could not help but to hold a grudge against James - what was she doing in his arms? Was it not him who was the only one deep in her heart?

"You are selfish, Adam." he heard Amy's voice say.
"Excuse me?" he said for the first time that day. "I am the selfish one? & if I am the selfish one, what are you? The one who cares & does not do idiotic things?"

Before he waited for Amy's response, he got up & walk away.

The only thing he heard her yell was, "What about Abby?"











A tall, slim girl was standing at the peak of the Hills, looking down thoughtfully at the lake, where her brother was walking away from her closest friend, Amy. The wind was playing with Abby's silk robe & her sleek, long black hair.
Thoughts were flowing inside her head, feeling as if a dam was leaking & suddenly, it burst, the questions leaking in.

She felt sorry for her other closest friend, Anna. What she witnessed - Anna viewing Amy in Adam's arms - was unbearable, the thought of her brother hugging another woman in front, yet, another woman!
It was vile, cruel. But she knew. She knew how Anna felt when it was her turn to catch the sight of Anna in James' arms.

It was pathetic, she thought. How could she feel so alone? So... Vulnerable at the mere glimpse of Anna in James' hug.
She had only met him a few days ago. Why, a few days before, he was just a stranger from Anna's past.

'Bah! Why bother? Men.' she thought scathingly.

It wasn't fair - it was not justified that she & her friends were in a war that none of them had expected, let alone prepared for.










After a grueling hour of utter silence & sinking deep into thought, Anna decided to get out of the stale-smelling closet & enjoy a full meal, instead of measly servings of bread with wine.
She was praying, deep in her heart, that Adam would magically appear & kneel down on one knee & apologize for the misunderstanding moment he had had with Amy. Another (bigger) part of her prayed that she would be left alone & enjoy a meal in peace.

No luck, she had the misfortune to bump into the last - or at least, the second last - person she wanted to see.

"Anna! What a coincidence! I was wondering where all the li'il ones & hark & behold! Here you are, standing before me!" Madame Geraldine exclaimed, her arms flailing around with gusto.

Anna smiled awkwardly at the elderly. She loved her, truly, she did. But at that moment, she just longed to be alone.

"Where are the youths, I ask? I didn't see a single strand of you young 'uns after the ball." Madame Geraldine continued, not acknowledging Anna's awkwardness.
"Oh, well... We are very busy nowadays, ma'am." Anna muttered.
"Children these days. I'm glad to witness such devotion from the new generation!" Madame Geraldine gushed.

Anna merely nodded & without knowing, she felt herself loosened up as she talked to her favourite authority figure.

She was all smiles & laughs a few minutes later until she saw a tall, sultry boy was lurking behind.

Anna did not feel all smiles & laughs anymore as she noticed him.

"Adam, dear boy! If you were searching for Anna, she's just here!" Madame Geraldine said to her son, pointing out the obvious.
She moved to the side to make way for - what she thought - the two young lovers.

"Um, hello." Anna muttered softly.
Adam merely nodded acknowledgment toward her while shifting uncomfortably.

Awkward silence hung tersely between the two while Madame Geraldine was oblivious to the atmosphere, as she began a daydream of arranging her son's wedding.

"Well!" she said, coming back to reality. "I think the laundry has been dried enough. I'll leave you two alone, then."


As Madame Geraldine walked away, the two were still rooted to the spot, Anna staring at the ground while Adam cleared his throat a many numerous times.
The only thing the two were doing in common was the fact that they were wondering - who would speak up first?

"Why?" Anna asked quietly.
He risked a glance at her & quickly looked back down, afraid of falling down on his knees like a pathetic boy instead of a proud man that he knew he was.
"Why what?" he asked - to the ground.

"So many questions of mine do I wish to say. So many starting with that mere word. Lord, Adam! Look at me!" she said, flailing her arms to replace the fresh pack of tears behind her eyes.
Adam kept quiet & slowly rose his head, looking at her.

"Why were you doing that the other night? Why didn't you stop me from running? Why did you just walk away? Why do I deserve such cruelty from you? Why?" she said, her voice sounding more hoarse by the second as the tears were leaking out.

At the last sentence, Adam's eyes shot up & looked at her in the eye.

"If your questions begin with Why, then mine answers begin with questions. Why is it my fault? Have you not considered that it was Amy's doing for attention from the Pharaoh? Why must I stop you when you knew I was supposed to? & as for the last two questions, I did not walk away. I was walking behind of you, watching you. & how dare you say that it is I who is the cruel one? You are the cruel one! Were you not in James' arms?" he said & glared at her.

"I... I-I... He is just a friend to me!" Anna stuttered.
"Friend?" Adam scoffed & turned his head around to look away. For a second, Anna could have sworn she saw a hint of something in his eyes.
"What I saw in that boy's eyes were anything but friendship! What I saw was far from friendship! He was seeking more - more than friendship! & you said I was the cruel one. How could you not notice such things as these?" Adam said, his voice turning into a decrescendo.

& before she knew it, her eyes began to water, tear by tear streaking her pale skin.

With that, he walked away.












Without knowing, Abby & Amy were watching everything from the balcony of Amy's room.
Abby spun around like her brother & laid on the floor, staring at the spider at the corner of the room, spindling the glistering web.

Amy laid next to her friend & did the same, but staring at the ceiling instead.
"You know..." Amy said softly, her breathing accentuating her voice. "... It really isn't Anna's fault that she was with James. They had known each other since they were just toddlers.

Abby did not even bother trying to argue but still stared at the spider web silently, her breathing mute.

But it was Amy who turned around in concern, worried about her friend.
"Abby... I know how you feel. Really I do." she said softly.

Silence.

In all of Abby's life, she had never cried. When she was in Japan, a young woman - the fortunate ones to be a geisha, that is - must never cry in the presence of another.
It was not a geisha rule but it was a rule she personally made herself.

Crying, she told herself, was a sign of weakness.
& she, everyone knew, was not one to be weak.

Her mother, Madame Geraldine, was always worried with her peculiar behavior. As a young child, Abby did not shed a tear.
Not when she was separated with her brother & mother, not when she was departing for Japan until she had reached the fine age of sixteen, an age of a proper young maiden.

So at that moment, when she was lying next to her truest, dearest friend to ever live, Abby could not explain that burning feeling inside of her.
What was it, she wondered. It was a fire turning everything inside into ashes, she decided.

What did the fire represent? Pain? Heartbreak? Was that how heartbreak felt like?

Finally, Abby opened her mouth & said softly, so softly it was barely a whisper, "I know."

Amy smiled with relief - both for her friend's understanding & her friend's emotional (or even mental) condition.
But the wave of relief went away just as quick as it came when her friend did not return her smile.

With that, Abby got up & walked out of the door.
Amy could just feel the prick of tears edging at the corner of her eyes as she heard the door silently close & witnessed the final glistering weaving to the spider's beautiful, complete web.







The moon & sun rose & set that it seemed - to the youth cabal - so fast as a blink of an eye.
The adults still did know what had happened but they were not, as far as they were concerned, a dull-witted lot. They knew.
They knew that something had happened.

They just didn't know what.





"I saw 'em. Just a bunch of 'em." Mr. Hagard grunted as he carried a barrel of wine to the pantry.
"Who? Where?" Madame Zeddy - dear old Master Zeddy's notoriously nosy wife - asked eagerly, as her age was excited at the microscopic size of a gossip. Concerning troubled adolescent or not.
"Well," Mr Hagard said, not noticing either the weight of the what-seemed heavy barrel & the nosiness of the second-superior. "Just a fine lad - the lad who just moved here, yea? - with that friendly lass - the lass Geraldine's boy is quite fond of. They're At the foot of the Hills, near the lake."
"Well! How perfectly scandalous!" Madame Zeddy giggled with excitement.

Mr Hagard merely grunted & went to the pantry.




"Where is that boy, Adam? I haven't heard a word from him ever-since I left him alone with Abby. As if I was giving him the plague instead, by the way he avoided us all!" Madame Geraldine said with utter frustration.
"Your boy? Just saw 'im. Staring moodily near the tree alone." one of the maids said.
"If not Adam, then Abby. Where is that girl too? All the children seem to go wild after one little banquet." Madame Geraldine said.
"Abby... Wasn't with the lad. Was doing the same like her brother. Only sitting a foot away from her brother, staring at the sky." the maid replied.








"Adam?" Abby said softly, breaking the peaceful silence.
"Hm."
"How are you?"
Adam tore his gaze from the blank sky - no stars were shining at that night. Not even Venus, which was the planet of love & also the brightest star - & looked at his sister whimsically.
"How am I?" he echoed.
"Yes. How are you?"
"I'm fine." he automatically lied & stared back at the blank sky.

"Don't say you're fine, Adam. You are my brother - thought we were on different lands for nearly fourteen years, I know when you are lying. You run when you lie, Adam. Now tell me the truth. How are you?"
Adam silently thought of the question & finally replied, "No."

"How are you?" Adam asked as Abby fell silent for a few minutes.
"I'm... I'm... I could do better."
Adam smiled to himself - & since that banquet, this was his first smile which spread across his face which did not contain any tinge of bitterness or anger.

His sister, he remembered, could never get to the point. Always straying from it, actually.
Beating around the bush, was what the English said, he learnt as he met an English boy his age at the dock.

"I know." Adam said softly.
"That's what I don't understand. Are you angry at Anna? You were seen with another woman." Abby asked.
Adam was thrown off, flummoxed at the fact that his sister was defending for the person she should be loathing at the moment.
"I-I... That's not my fault! It was Amy's! That blasted tipsy Amy! Why is it my fault? What about Anna? She went straight to the arms of... Of him." he sputtered.
"Hey! James is a nice person!" Abby defended once more.

"Too nice." Adam said.

They were both glaring at each other, despising each other with a passionate hatred for a minute or two.
Finally, they both looked down, ashamed.

Never in their life had they hated each other. They always fought as children, they knew (their parents would never stop reminding them).
But they never hated each other.

All this because of a boy & a girl? Unbelievable, they both thought.

"I'm... I'm sorry." Abby apologized.
"So am I."

They stepped closer & hugged each other.
Finally - finally - Abby had cried.

Her heart with its pent-up emotions finally went free & morphed its form into tears, flowing freely down her face.
Adam, surprised, hugged her closer & patted his sister's back.

"Let it all out." he whispered into her hair.
& she did.