The Fate of Strangers
Chapter 1- Nameless
The girl sat on the well, watching her legs dangle over the water. They swayed back and forth, back and forth, going to the constant beating of her heart. Bud-dump bud-dump. As if maybe she could create life if she tried hard enough just by swinging her legs. But under her, the water was still-peaceful and cool in the midst of this chaos. If only life were really like this, she thought. If only the only thing we had to do was to just be and float through fate like leaves. But she knew that was asking too much-it's like asking the sky to turn blue because blue's your favorite color. You hope and pray to all the gods that tomorrow's skies will be dyed, but when you look up in the morning, the sky will still be there the way others know it, still gold and yellow and pale orange the way it always is. A stupid, impossible thing to ask for, but knowing this makes you want it even more.
Suddenly, she heard someone coming up behind her, felt their footsteps coming closer. "I don't mean to be rude," the girl said as she swung her legs over the well's edge and turned to look at the trespasser. "but I want t-" she stopped mid sentence and stared. Standing before her was Princess Moana, the lost princess of the Underground Kingdom who had just returned to them the day before. The girl had just been appointed her servant that morning. "P-princesa! I-I didn't know you were b-behind me!" She was stuttering as she hurried off the well, almost falling as she bowed into a curtsy. But the princess only smiled and giggled under her breath, incase her servant thought it was rude. "It's still strange, how everyone calls me Princesa or Moana instead of the name my mother gave me. But I guess I just have to get used to that, don't I?" The girl forgot her manners for a second and looked up at the princess. Her face was still smiling like the way only children do(She is just a child, the girl thought, even if she's been gone for so long.) without embarrassment or a hidden meaning. She couldn't stop herself from smiling back. If only everyone could smile that way . . . "You don't have to curtsy for me.' Her voice interrupted her thoughts. "That's another thing that feels strange, but unlike names, that's something I can actually control. Anyway, I've been looking for you since this morning." The princess's smile faded into curiosity. "Everything's been so hectic lately and the meeting today ended so quickly, that I almost forgot to ask you what your name was. I mean, we should know each other's names if we're going to be spending time together, right? But then, I guess you already know mine."
The girl looked back down at the beaten ground. Though the princess had picked up her smile again, the girl's was lost without any hope of finding it. A name, she thought. Why does she ask me for the one thing I can't give her? The one thing I couldn't find in those long memories that seem to be stuck together in a picture book. The one missing page that could make it all make sense, or the one page that makes the rest of the story meaningless stuck in between the folds. The thing I can't remember. She looks up at the princess with so many names and back down at herself who had none.
"I'm sorry princesa, but I cannot tell you something I don't know." Her voice was a quiver that the wind blowing around them distorted and ripped apart into something unrecognizable. "My mother gave me one, I do know that, but what was, I cannot tell you or myself. I'm sorry."
She knew this had to be it. The princess will be mad at her and will want to replace her with someone who could answer such a simple question as "What's your name?" For some reason, this made the girl's heart want to break. In the short time they had talked both this day and the day before, the girl had come to love Princess Moana like a sister. The thought that these strangely comforting smiles and care free moments would end before they really had a chance to begin made her sick to her stomach.
Moana didn't speak for a long time, but when she did, it was nothing like the girl had expected. "Then why don't you make one?" The girl's heart almost stopped. Was she serious? Was this all she had to say? Of course she had tried to pick a name, but she just couldn't stick to one. One day, she'd ask her master to call her Naomi and the next day to call her Marisol and so on until he finally fired her for all of this "nonsense." She had come here to the well crying the day she met him . . . "I can't. I've already tried to find a name for myself, but I only made more confusion. Can't you name me? My other masters have, but I never liked any of them well enough to keep since the names still reminded me of them." The princess sat on the ground next to her servant and began to think. "Well . . . . how about. . . ." The princess only frowned and closed her eyes. After a few minutes, her eyes suddenly snapped open and the familiar smile crossed her face "What about Estrella?" The girl smiled too at the name. It had been her mother's name when she was a girl but had been discarded when she ran away from her family. "Estrella." She tasted it on her tongue and tossed it into the air. "I love it. Thank you, princesa."
Moana got up to leave, gathering her skirts off the ground. "I hope you're not just saying that because I'm a princess, or we'll never get along. And you don't have to call me princesa like everyone else does-Moana will do much better." She began to walk off towards the castle but when she didn't hear footsteps behind her, she turned back around. The girl-Estralla now-was sitting in the same place by the well, her feet hanging over its edge while she looked down into the watery abyss. "Um . . .Estralla, are you coming?" the girl looked back up at her and smiled as she nodded her head. "Yes pri-Moana. I'm coming. I just need to . . . see something. I'll come when I'm done." Moana just shrugged and walked off. Whatever it is, I hope it doesn't take too long, she thought. Otherwise, Father will think that she's trying to ignore me. Behind her, the girl was staring into the water again. Waiting. Please come, she thought. Please, please come. She knew that if he didn't come, something bad had happened to him and she hoped with all her heart that he would come. Please. Suddenly, the water quivered under her feet and changed colors. And just like that, there he was. Her prince.
This is my first story so please don't flame. If you do, I'll get my vicious yorkie to come after you. He knows where you live.