CHAPTER 1
IN THE DARK OF THE NIGHT (SA KADILIMAN NG GABI)
The moon smiled upon from the heavens while her children, the stars, clamored upon the dark river, twinkling as if calling some unseen creature, some creature that mortal eyes are not meant to set upon, some mysterious creature of the night that hid in the recesses of the river Pasig. The wind whistled unto the brick and wooden rooftops of the houses in the city as if whispering unto every house – "hush hush! Slumber for the maiden is awakening." While the clankity-clank of the guardiya serano's boots echoed through the dusky streets of Maynila as his husky voice joined the rhythm of his boots – "Alas tres y'medya! Alas tres y medya!".
"But I do not want to go to sleep yet!" a beautiful young woman argued as she got up from the bed and fixed her white nightgown. Her crimson eyes showed no trace of sleepiness and her slender figure walked away from the bed towards the open window and as she peered into the darkness of the night and gazed into the moon and the stars, and the black chessboard like roof tops.
"Alas tres y medya na! (it is 3:30am!) A time for sleeping especially for innocent little virgins like you, hija ( girl). You should be at peace now, unless some very very naughty things are going through your head!"
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"I have been sleeping all afternoon, tita (auntie)."
"because you are a lazy senorita."
"No, because Consolacion will not let me do anything in this house!"
Thump thump thump! The room vibrated with the loud footsteps that came from the stairs. The door swung upon and lo and behold! It was Dona Viola.
"What is this entire ruckus about?! Anita, stop shouting in the middle of the night! and you, Shizuru! Diyos ko it iis almost morning and you are still up?!"
"Inay (mother), I cannot sleep kasi (because) I have been sleeping all afternoon."
"Hija, what is there to do in the night? Only the guwardiya sibil and some heinous perversions of nature prowl under this verspertine sky.
"Does that mean your little daughter is a perversion of nature, mama?" Shizuru asked as she sat down on her bed. Oh she was a sly woman, indeed. And from whom she acquired this slyness? None could tell. She was wiser and smarter than Don Viola, and was prettier than her dearest mama. "It came from your grandmother", his father told her and she believed this until she was eight years old and her visiting uncle from Japan destroyed this idea by telling her "You certainly came from your mother's side of the family Shizuru-chan". And at parties, from whose side she came from would be the greatest debate of all! "She came from our side!" "No! With her good looks she's obviously one of us!"
"Of course not! My unica hija is a perfect creation of God!" And Shizuru leaped from her bed and embraced her mother who was smaller in stature. So in the darkness of the room one might mistake the mother for the daughter and daughter for the mother for the wrinkles on the dona's face and youth and beauty of Shizuru could not the distinguished in the dimness. "What can I do to make my anak (offspring) slumber peacefully?" The Dona asked with a sooty voice as she led her daughter towards the bed and made her lie down while she stroked her daughter's dark brown locks.
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"Tell me a story mama."
"Once upon a time…" Dona Ichigo began. Her eyes stared down at the half lidded crimson ones below her and her fingers continued to caress Shizuru's hair with motherly love and care. "There lived an old couple in a small little hut, far, far away from the city of Edo –"
"Inay…"
"Yes, anak?" Dona Ichigo asked. She was a bit perplexed by her daughter's sudden intrusion. Does she want me to stop? She was the one that asked for a story anyway. Such a silly, silly little girl my Shizuru is. She thought to herself.
"Tell me a story from this country, not from Japan. I rarely hear any tales about this land"
Dona Ichigo smiled down at her daughter's curiosity. As a little girl, when she was still Ichigo Kamatari, a trader's daughter and not Dona Ichigo viola, a statesman's wife, she lived in the fishing village of Yoroido where even the land smelled of the sea. When she became an adolescent, her father took her to live in the Philippines. She never really understood why since they lived quite nicely in Yoroido. Later on, she concluded that her mother, a Filipina, missed her motherland and begged her husband to return there. Being the ever loving husband that he was, he agreed and so the mestizo family lived in the pearl of the orient for seven years. Needless to say, the Dona knew of the stories of the land for she lived there in a time when the Filipino's culture was untouched and unspoiled by the influence of the cruel Spanish colonizers, a time when the kwentong bayans (folktales) flourished, when old bards told the stories of the lands with pedantic prose and titillating poems and people gathered around with nganga (betel nut) in hand and mouth to listen to the bard's tales.
Her face turned stoic upon remembering the exact words and haunting voice of the enigmatic old woman that she heard the tale from. She began to mumble coherently:
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"When the moon peers from the heavens as she is awakened by the gentle sea breeze from her slumber, a pale and gorgeous figure with hair flowing like dark water arises, blossoms from the white waves and bubbles. This is Muse of the Pasig, This is the muse of the Pasig."
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She paused as she suddenly smelled the faint scent of betel nuts and remembered the smiling faces of brown men who kindly took her in without hesitation. And then she peered down to look at her daughter's beautiful face again. So deviously beautiful in every aspect and with crimson eyes still wide awake. She continued.
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"She would sail, the moon's reflection, now her golden boat, tracing the curves of the waves of the Pasig. She had no oar, for the wind was her servant and it guided her across familiar paths. With each movement she blessed the river so that in the morning it grew abundant with fish and it shimmered with the golden hue that her boat left upon her journey. Her beauty was immortal just as the river flowed forever. But she who was so beautiful and kind can also be so cruel and men who are foolish enough to deem themselves worthy of her would soon find themselves insane with love for her whose beauty is divine. For she would appear once in front of their eyes and vanish like thin air upon their approach."
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And when Dona Ichigo bent down her head to look at her daughter again, Shizuru was now lying on her side with head turned away from the Dona. 'At last she sleeps!' Dona Ichigo thought to herself and so with candle in hand, she stood up from the bed and silently tiptoed towards the door and with an almost inaudible voice called upon Anita to 'Come downstairs to make some kape (coffee)'. And Anita nodded and followed the Dona who was now climbing downstairs. The woods creaked as the two older women made their descent and now, Young Shizuru Viola was left in her own room, lying by her side with head facing the wall but with eyes still awake. With crimson eyes still wide awake and reddening even more as she thought of the Mutya ng Pasig (Muse of the River). Her gaze was upon the wall but her sight, oh her eyes and her mind traveled towards the Pasig as she zigzagged through the waves, following the tint of gold that faintly shimmered on the pitch black waters and she came nearer and nearer towards the golden boat and saw the pallid figure standing on it with grace, poise, and beauty unlike anything or anyone else. On the river, men, both young and old, drowning while shouting out praises for the lovely goddess who apathetically sailed away from their bloated carcasses that were full to bursting with dark water.
It was a sleepless night as she dreamt of vivid, haunting visions of beauty, death, and decay wide awake.
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*the guwardiya serano is a spanish soldier who patrols the city's/towns during the night and announces the time.