BELLRAM V01 - Ambivalence of Light and Shadow I

BP001-P19 - Pralines 04

The promised staircase came into view. With that, they had probably reached about the middle of the house.

Opposite the stairs, to their left in the wall, was a double door larger than any door so far. You could not miss it. It was huge. The carriage from below could pass through with the horses as well as luggage on the roof. The door was also one of the few doors that had its own design and the design of this door was unrivalled. Across the entire width was a picture of the estate carved into the dark wood. What could be seen was the view Meia had missed while dreaming. It was the view from the driveway up the hill to the main house.

Turning into the stairs, Meia kept turning her head to look at the door for longer. The image was not a normal panorama. It stretched across the day and at the same time across the year from left to right. The sun and a white full moon were both visible. The sun was rising on the left and the mons was descending on the right. Meia now also saw that the roof of the house seemed to have a small glass dome and was not completely flat as she had actually assumed.

The maid noticed that Meia was about to break her neck and stopped her so that she could inspect the door at her leisure.

On closer inspection, Meia could see that there were little things hidden everywhere in the carving, like animals in the meadow or silhouettes in the windows. Meia could even make out individual flowers. The double door had been created with so much attention to detail that she could even see the shadows of the folds in the curtains of the windows. The door was a masterpiece. Any other word would not do it justice. It looked as if someone had carved his soul out of his body to make it. It looked as if someone had spent weeks on it. And all that just for a door. Next to the statue of the fountain, it was probably the greatest work of art on this estate. Meia at least did not know what else could come along that could surpass it.

"This door was installed only a month ago," the maid explained suddenly. "Mr Monet had it made as a commission by an artist friend. Respectively, the man is now an art collector. Creating this work was an exception he made for Mr Monet. I was told that in the end it took more than a thousand hours of work. Incidentally, the idea for the motif came from Mr Monet himself. He also authored the text in the clouds."

Thanks to the hint, Meia discovered that there was something written at the top of the door:
'Ducked in early colours, adorned in first shine, a bird in the morning longs for spring.
Blinded by summer's glare, troubled by nature's dance, a fox, scenting his lunch, stalks in earth's garb.
Driven by the aria of heaven, but inhibited by the melody of autumn, for a deer begins the last piece of the evening.
Faded by silent winter night and heedless of their late world, the False Roses strive for what is beyond their reach - the light above them that gives them shade.'

~They seem to take their vines theme very serious here.~ But perhaps this impression arose from the fact that Meia always paid attention to it.

Mr Monet's pin also had such vines. Perhaps the cross with the vines was a variation of the Monet emblem for Mr Monet? The standard cross would be for the family and the one with the vines for Mr Monet. That would not be entirely far-fetched. Meia knew of at least one family that had such a practice. If the vines were the more personal part of the emblem, then it would also be understandable that they were everywhere here. It was something like a declaration of ownership. When Meia thought of her father, he too would also have the Arvis emblem slapped on everything, if it would not cost extra. With the emblem, it was harder to steal things, or as in their case, to seize them.

As Meia looked at the animals more closely, a slight shudder came over her. The expression of the animals changed the effect of the whole work. At first it was a beautiful landscape with a house, but it turned out to be quite macabre. All the animals were afraid. They looked around and seemed worried. The deer in particular seemed as if it feared for its life. Maybe it was afraid of the fox? He was not too far away and seemed to be heading in that direction. He was also the only animal in a reasonably good mood. After all, he seemed to be only annoyed by the weather. But did a fox even eat deer? Meia did not know.