Shakespeare meets Clement Clarke Moore, and a few more, on this night before Midwinter?
Shang-Li peered past her reflection to search the inky sky. Nothing.
“There she goes again.” The whispering wasn’t soft in the Great Hall behind her.
“Hush, Sadira, or you shall be sent to bed.” Pergi’s voice held all the haughtiness of an eight-year old bossing the only person she could.
Sadira’s squeak came right on cue, “Noooo! It’s Midwinter’s Eve. No one has to sleep until midnight.”
“Mother said we must behave to stay up,” Pergi said, her last words followed by muffled chewing.
Shang-Li turned from the window to see the elder princess holding a brightly decorated sugar cookie between her thumb and forefinger. She munched precisely while looking down at her younger sister. Sadira squirmed in the wing chair, pouting behind her golden strands, clutching a silken doll in one hand and a crumbled cookie in the other.
“Why do we have to be so quiet?” The younger girl sounded like an unhappy mouse. “Tamlyn says they dance and play games all night until the bell strikes.”
“We are the royal family,” Pergi said between bites. “We cannot behave like servants.”
Sadira grimaced and wiggled of her head. “They have more fun.”
Her sister glared, and Sadira rammed the rest of the cookie into her mouth, crunching with emphasis. She turned her head toward the main table, where the adults and better snacks were. Her cousin Beranger stuffed a sticky roll in his pudgy mouth and returned her rueful gaze. At thirteen, he was deemed old enough to leave the children’s corner this year. A faint tapping sounded. His sister, Jonette, drummed her fingers, staring at her uncle. The king took a long gulp from his goblet, then stood up. Jonette went with him to the chess table. Queen Claennis continued making stifled conversation with Lady Linniue. Her husband slouched low, chin dug into his chest, emitting a wheezing rumble. Lady Muriele ignored everyone, moving only to take an occasional sip of tea behind her black veil.
“Mistress Shang-Li,” Sadira said. “How do you celebrate Midwinter’s Eve in Meiwen?”
“In my Mountain, we eat lots of good food, sing, and put on musical performances.”
“Oooh, what kind of performances?”
“Whatever the gautous—girl trainees—come up with. They form groups, write plays and music, then perform them.”
“Is there enough time for everyone?”
“We take as long as it takes, sometimes until morning.”
Sadira’s eyes widened. “That sounds wonderful. You must miss it?”
The Wise Woman’s lips tugged in memory. “I haven’t celebrated in the Mountain for a long time. Travel takes me away.”
The girl nodded her yellow head. “That’s why you’re sad.”
Shang-Li regarded her with a raised eyebrow.
“Every year you look out the window, so serious, like you’re looking for something.”
Shang-Li pursed her lips and glanced out into the night again.
“I know!” Sadira bobbed up. “We can come up with our own play!”
“Shh,” Pergi said. “That’s nonsense, and there’s only the two of us.”
Sadira rolled her eyes. “Well, at least we can tell stories. I bet you have lots of stories, Mistress.”
“Nanny tells bedtime stories. Ask her.”
They all stared at the woman snoozing in a chair nearby, wrapped in a thick shawl.
“Betta always tells the same stories, anyway,” Sadira said in a low voice. “We’ve never heard one from you.”
“I’m not here for stories.”
“Tell us about one of the plays in your Mountain.”
She shook her head. “Too long ago.”
“What’s the last Midwinter’s Eve you do remember?”
“Last year, when you talk to Beranger instead of me. I miss him.”
The girl stuck out her lower lip further and looked at her sister. Pergi had risen on her tiptoes, stretching to see the chessboard. Sadira slipped out of her seat and stalked over to the window. She pressed her face to the pane and squinted.
“What are you looking at?” Shang-Li asked.
“Whatever you are,” she said.
“Nothing’s there.”
“Then why do you keep looking?” Her round eyes fixed on Shang-Li.
The Wise Woman sighed. “I tell you one story, and you be quiet?”
Sadira sent her hair flopping as she nodded.
“Once I was on a ship, from Celupa to Palaloban, one of the Manlai islands.”
“Why were you going there?” Sadira asked.
“No interrupting, or I don’t tell story. Yes?”
“Yes, mistress.”
The Wise Woman exhaled and said, “There was a bad storm. It blew us off-course. Ship Master and crew shouted and worked, trying to save the ship. Finally, we gave up and sealed ourselves below deck. We felt the storm, blowing and sloshing. For so many days, we lost count. We ran low on drink and food, and every moment we expected to die. We could not tell day or night, so we slept a lot.
“One time I woke up, and it was still. I went on deck. Clear skies and the ship grounded on a beach. No one was around, so I went to look for them. I came to a town. It was busy, but I do not see ship men. Inside a building, a group of children were practicing. I thought they might be Meiwenese because it was Midwinter’s Eve—”
“Oooh, really?”
“Hush, Sadira.” Pergi had come back. She stared hopefully at Shang-Li’s stern face.
The Wise Woman finally resumed. “They were not Meiwenese and looked strange—too plain and… flat. A boy with no hair and a dog with a scarf came in with a tree. The other children laughed because the tree was very small. Another boy took the dog’s scarf and hugged it while he said something I couldn’t hear. After that, they sang together with their heads back and mouths so wide I could see their uvulas.
“A dusty boy with black hair left with a drum. I followed him. We walked out of town. The landscape became dry and quiet. There was nothing but sand until we saw three camels, loaded with colorful bags and riders. The boy ran to them, his drum rattling around his neck. So fast, I couldn’t keep up. They disappeared over a dune.” She stopped talking, barely seeing the princesses’ bursting faces.
Pergi whispered, “Did you lose them, Fu-Ma?”
The Wise Woman turned to her without seeing. Then she nodded. “But there was a shining star. I went toward it and found a hut. Only the camels stood outside, empty. When I got closer, I heard vibrations. The doorway glowed. I thought it was from the star, but it looked brighter inside. I… wanted to see, but couldn’t move. In front of the light were outlines—cow, donkey, sheep—don’t know why they were in the house. The men in robes knelt on the ground. The boy stood closest to the door. He stared without blinking and played his drum, very well for a long time.”
This time she paused longer, and the girls dared not breathe.
Shang-Li said, “When boy stopped playing, he turned around and came out. I asked him what it was. He walked past me like a sleepwalker. I chased him and grabbed his arm. He screamed so loud that I saw his uvula again.
“He said, ‘Who are you?’ I told him I was a Wise Woman. His eyes grew bigger and said, ‘There are no Wise Women here.’ I said that I was from afar, and he backed away. “You are in the wrong story, mistress,’ he said. I replied, ‘My Master tells me that all stories converge, if they are true. What is this one?’ He stared and said, ‘The King.’
“‘Which king?’
“‘The King.’
“Then I heard music in the sky. I knew the song. I rushed toward it, looking up, wanting to join in. They were coming into view, bright but not like the star. I opened my mouth…”
After a while, they heard Bardolf’s rattling snore and Sigebard’s grunt of frustration.
Sadira said, “What happened?”
The Meiwenese woman rolled her shoulders and said with a direct gaze, “Ship Master shook me awake, telling me we were at Palaloban, just in time for Midwinter’s Eve.”
The girls gawked, then blinked.
“It was a dream?” Sadira sounded like she’d been cheated.
Shang-Li tipped her head. The princesses frowned at her for long seconds until Pergi’s forehead furrowed.
“What is an uvula?”
“You don’t know that word?” the Wise Woman said. “It’s very common. We use it in our word games.”
“I’ve never heard of it,” Pergi said.
Shang-Li sniffed and muttered, “Education these days.” Louder, she said, “It’s a piece hanging at the back of your mouth, like icicle.”
Pergi frowned harder. Sadira’s mouth began contorting, like she was twisting her tongue inside. “Bher is ‘t?” the little princess mumbled.
“You have to open your mouth very wide to see it,” Shang-Li said.
“Can you see it, Pergi?” Sadira presented her gaping maw at her sister.
Pergi grimace as she peered. Then her eyebrows rose. “Oh, yes,” she said.
“I want to see it,” Sadira demanded.
“You’ll need a looking glass,” Pergi said.
“Show me yours.”
“Certainly not.”
Sadira whined, and Pergi shushed. Then the younger girl glanced at the darkened window and skipped over. She enlarged her mouth again and leaned in to examine her reflection. Pergi went over and surreptitiously did the same.
Shang-Li’s mind returned to her sea journey.
Following the ship master up to the deck, she had asked him, “How did you find it?”
“I thought we were goners, just like being in the mist.” He shook his head. “Never seen anything like it before. I just followed it.”
Outside she felt the gloom of night, but it wasn’t dark. Stark in the sky, a light shone so radiant that it clearly showed the mass of land at the horizon.
A star—the same one in her dream.
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