A Paradise Lost

Moonlight

Queen Raya went inside her bedroom and cried. She couldn’t believe that her childhood sweetheart, Bayani would chose a foreign woman he barely knew over her. They knew each other since they were five years old. They grew up together. They even shared almost the same interest. They studied together except that Queen Raya had more intense training compared with Bayani since she was destined to be a queen. They fought side by side during their combat and swords training. They sometimes fought with each other. Undeniably, Queen Raya could equal Bayani’s strength in fighting both in combat and sword. She was also the best spear thrower in their island. The only difference was that Queen Raya wouldn’t fight during a war while Bayani was the one who was always to be in the first line of defense. Even though, Queen Raya wouldn’t fight during a battle, she was still the best fighter in their island despite of being a woman. She could fight and defend her island whenever it was necessary. She would only do so if the first line of defense would fall during a battle.

Queen Raya summoned Kaalam, one of her wisest advisor. Kaalam attended to her summon.

“How are you, Kaalam?”

“I’m good, my queen.”

“That’s good to know. You know that you are one of my most trusted advisor. Do you think I can still trust you with the simple task I’ll be giving you?”

“Of course, my queen.”

“I want you to investigate about Moonlight. I want you to know about her life and where she came from. And please, I want you to be very discreet. Please do not tell anyone not even your family that I am investigating about her. Do you understand me, Kaalam?”

“Yes, my queen.”

“You may go now and start your investigation.”

“Is there anything else that I can do for you, my queen?”

“No, that will be all for now. Thank you.”

Kaalam left to start his investigation about Moonlight.

This was the thing that Queen Raya liked about Kaalam. He obeyed orders without questioning. No wonder, he was the most trusted advisor since the time of her father’s reign.

Queen Raya wanted to know where Moonlight came from and why Bayani was enchanted with her.

Kaalam reported to Queen Raya after a week. She was glad to see him. She didn’t expect him to come up so fast with a result of his investigation about Moonlight.

“I’m glad to see you, Kaalam. I assume you have good news for me.”

“Yes, my queen. I already have information about Moonlight’s life.”

“That’s impressively quick. Please tell me about her.”

“Moonlight is the daughter of a beautiful Syrian princess and a Chinese merchant. They fell in love with each other and hid their relationship in public. The Syrian princess got pregnant. Her father, the Syrian King was so furious upon finding out that his daughter got pregnant with a lowly silk merchant. He wanted to kill his daughter. He couldn’t accept that his one and only daughter and the sole heir of his throne got impregnated by a worthless silk merchant. He hid his daughter in the public eyes until she gave birth to her daughter. The king wanted to throw his granddaughter to the sea but his daughter insisted to give the baby to his father. So the king paid one of his servants to secretly give his granddaughter to the Chinese merchant and put them to the earliest voyage that would take them to another country. The king of Syria ordered a persona non grata to the Chinese merchant. That means he could no longer come back to Syria. He married his daughter off to the prince of Saudi Arabia and brought his daughter’s secret to his grave.”

“That was very quick but yet so detailed. No wonder, Moonlight is so beautiful. She is the daughter of a Syrian princess. I’m curious, how did you gather all this information so quickly?”

“I asked Moonlight’s father directly.”

“You are so clever! How sure are you that he didn’t lie to you?”

“Looking at Moonlight’s beautiful round face, you can really tell that she is a daughter of a princess. I even thought that she was a princess in a land so far away who got lost in our island.”

“I also thought so. Thank you for the information you gave me today. Please take this token of my appreciation to you for another job well done.”

Queen Raya handed a hoop earring bedeck with stars and moon made of diamonds, sapphire, rubies, and emerald.

“Thank you my queen. I promise that I will never tell a soul about all the missions you asked me to do and that I will bring all your secrets together with me in my grave.”

“Thank you, Kaalam.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you now?”

“I am already 65 years old, my queen.”

“Wow. How many years have you been serving our family as the most trusted advisor?”

“I literally started serving your family ever since I was 5 years old. Your grandfather adopted me when my parents died. I grew up together with your father. If you’ll do the math, I have served this kingdom for 60 years.”

“That was the longest service I’ve ever heard from anyone. I don’t think the hoop earing will suffice for your loyalty. I should have given you more.”

“No, my queen. Your family has already given me more than enough. Your grandparents treated me as their son when I lost my parents. This is the main reason why I never stopped serving your family. I will serve your family as long as I live.”

“Thank you. I hope you will not be offended. I don’t want to kick you out from service. I wanted to keep you as my most trusted advisor as long as you want to but you are already so old. We don’t know what the future will hold for us.”

“What do you mean, my queen?”

“I want you to look for four young and wise men that will possibly take over your place as future advisors in case something bad will happen to you. Please check their backgrounds thoroughly to make sure that they are trustworthy.”

“I understand, my queen.”

“I want you to train them and teach them everything that they needed to know. I will not be giving you much task as of the moment. I want you to focus on training these four wise men who will become our future advisor. I want you to equip them with all the things they needed for their jobs.”

“Yes, my queen.”

“Thank you, Kaalam. I know that I can always trust you. You are now dismiss.”

“Thank you, my queen.”

Queen Raya invited Moonlight to the palace to play her harp. She wanted to know as to what Bayani saw in her that he did not see in her.

Queen Raya observed Moonlight as she played her harp. She noticed that she had a stern expression and she never smiled at all. She was still beautiful even though she never smiled at all. Her beautiful round face was also very radiant. Her name Moonlight, suited her very well.

Queen Raya was so jealous with Moonlight’s beauty. She tried to stop herself from throwing the golden cup she was drinking on towards her head otherwise she would be labeled as the most cruel queen in the history of Camotes Island who killed a harp player because of insecurity.

Queen Raya dismissed Moonlight and gave her a miniature golden harp.