Merlin's POV
Crazy Holly bolted out of the room and didn't return for another 25 minutes. I skimmed through the book I was reading while she was gone. Transerin was one of the oldest countries and their first king died praying for his kingdom to have wise and good rulers. Today Transerin is 98 years old and is on their 35th King but the part that took me out were the names of the cities: The capital is known as Anass and its sister city is called Abutt… 'PAHAHAHAHAHAH WHO NAMED THESE PLACES?!' Before I could find out any more Holly was back.
"Why is the capital called An-ass?" I giggled
"A-nass. It's A-nass, why did you pronounce it like that?"
I snorted. 'It will always be An-ass to me.' "And how is A-butt pronounced?"
"It's A-boot. WHAT is so funny about this? Anything else you would like to know?" Crazy Holly asked confused.
"Yes. What is that big white thing in the sky?"
I walked with a goofy smile and pointed at a giant floating circle that had three lines across it like a peace sign. It looked like the moon but at the same time it didn't.
"Oh it's our moon. Did you not have one where you come from?"
"No we have a moon, just not with lines on it." I responded still smiling.
"Our moon is called the Andimone and it blooms." Crazy Holly smiled back.
My face froze, I slowly pushed my head forward and asked her "Your moon what?"
"It blooms. The three lines are like closed petals and when the Irister forms it pushes the moon to open and it blooms like a beautiful iridescent flower."
"Oh my god." I was astonished to my ass. 'A FLOWER MOON??? I HAVE to find out everything about this place.' "How often does it bloom?"
"Every 10 years. The moon starts shining iridescent light at night and that is how we know it is about to bloom. It blooms for a whole week and it will bloom at the end of this month, the magors are saying."
"Magors?"
Crazy Holly noticed that I had no idea about anything and started explaining everything from the start. She told me that we lived on half a planet called Homa. It was like a ball ripped in half and people could only live on the dome, no one lived on the "ripped" as they called it.
And on the homa, there was a type of magic called blessings and curses. Magors regulate what prayers could come true by seeing your intentions. The prayers of commoners could only come true if a Magor prayed with them but for a noble it could come true without a Magor's presence. The kingdom had made a law that every noble needed to have a Magor living with them so the Magor could prevent bad prayer a.k.a "curses" from coming true.
"It can be dangerous if you pray without telling your Magor about it. The Magor living with us is called Vermold be sure to go to her first and tell her what you will pray for. These prayers are directly reported to the Toetower to make sure that nobles do not go on the wrong path. The toetower is where all head Magors live." 'Did someone really name her Vermold? AND WHY'S IT CALLED A TOETOWER!?!?!?'
"Right. Because while the King may be wise and just, the same can't be said for the nobles." I responded seriously while cackling in my head at all these names.
"Correct. And speaking of which the Homa has 15 countries, the Hoolagans from Mandrel are visiting Transerin to view the Andimone Blooming. This year we have the best viewing of the blooming so the kingdom will be having a festival."
Crazy Holly continued to fill me in on the culture and society in Transerin. She spent a full hour talking about SO. MANY. NOBLE. LADIES. Seriously, how many friends did this woman have? Well. I think I should be fine.
I change into a lighter coloured outfit and hop on the carriage and head to the Hoolagan's mansion. Their elder daughter sent invitations to help her adjust to Transerin while she is here.
I am welcomed by a gorgeous lady with her hair tied and decorated with flowers. She was wearing a long white robe with a beautiful pink pattern at the bottom.
"Hello, my name is Hay Hoolagan. I am so honoured to have young lady Valor as a guest in my tea party. I hope you can offer me your advice." She sounded so light and delicate, I couldn't believe my ears.
"Thank you for inviting me lady Hoolagan. I hope we can form a good friendship." I replied and we headed off to the tea table.
Apparently, Margaret is a trusted person and almost every lady goes to her for advice. I can't count the number of women who I spoke to.
I take a sip of my tea and listen to what lady Hoolagan is saying. So far she was talking about her country and its culture but now she started talking about the fashion style in Transerin.
"It is so wonderful seeing a different type of clothing. I think I will take a small frock for my niece back home."
"Oh I am so glad you like our dresses. You should make a pink and white dress for her." Another lady responded.
"Are you planning on wearing a frock dress as well lady Hoolagan?" I asked.
"Yes, what type of dress should I get? Is there something I must absolutely avoid?"
"OH. Two weeks ago lady Menvers wore a bright pink dress with so many bows and ruffles it was absolutely GAUDY. Nowadays, simplicity is in style." A lady at the table said and all the other ladies started talking about how awful it was.
I felt chills all over my back hearing those words and started feeling queasy. No matter what world, city or body I'm in, gossiping about someone you don't like or did something out of boundary will always be spoken of. I remembered what my friends said when I told them I was sick.
"Feli, did you see how thin and absolutely DRAB Merlin looked today? I don't think we can be friends with someone like her anymore." Feli spoke blandly while looking at her phone.
"Oh give it a few days and she'll be living at the hospital. Anyone can tell she won't be staying for long."
"God, I would NEVER show my face if I ended up getting sick. I don't know how she did it pfft-" They laughed in the empty classroom while I stood outside.
Maybe I heard wrong, maybe it was the medication making me hallucinate. After days of contemplating whether those words were reality or not I decided to call them to the hospital. But all I got in return was a phone call.
"Why do you want us to come to the hospital?" It was Felicia, she sounded how she did when she spoke to people she hated. I felt my throat choke up.
"I thought we were friends. But it looks like I was wrong." I responded quietly.
"You're right! So please stop talking to any of us. We have nothing to gain from you Merlin."
"Whatever."
"Thank you Merlin! You've always been so understanding. I couldn't have asked for a better stepping stone. Bye!"
I hadn't done anything wrong. They just didn't like me, and it hurt when they spoke that way about me. It took me a whole year of being mute and a lot of pain to understand that. I thought that if my family had left me, I would be fine if I had my friends. However, I was never a human being to any of them. None of their actions were genuine.
'I wonder how many people are genuine with Margaret.'
[Magors are pronounced with a hard g. This is my first novel so I hope you can be patient and kind with me. Criticism is welcome. Thank you for your time and reading :)]