When we fell from Earth

The Rounding Perpendicularity

The water will drown, deep and hard,

But the shard, it will regard.

-Tenth Stanza from the RulersOFall prophecy of the return

It has been a month since they arrived to Arotheman, and Nour couldn't still wrap her head around the concept of being in another world. The others, however, seemed to have warmed up to the idea. Belimerando suggested that they should find things to do around the town while he waited for this Remy to answer him, and in turn explain to them what they were to do. In their first night in Belimerando's household, Nour couldn't sleep, even though the others did so, soundly. And on that night, she discovered that Gina snores while she slept.

On their next day, or more acutely, on their next night, Nour's heart almost stopped. Belimerando took them out to show them the town when the moons started to rise.

Arotheman had two moons orbiting it: A sea-blue moon called Bavidia, and a grass-green moon called Carpona. Nour's worst nightmares were the ones where she saw more than one moon in the sky, or when she saw the planets getting closer to her own planet.

The moons were so close they were so big, enormous. Nour's heart was beating in her throat as she saw the first moon, Bavidia, orbiting lazily above them, casting the world in its blue color. When she saw it first, she screamed so loud that everyone in the street turned to look at her, utterly ignoring the enormous moon. Belimerando then explained that this phenomenon, where the moons where so close to Arotheman, was called: The Rounding Perpendicularity. It's a phenomenon where the moons were halfway through their monthly rounds and where perpendicular on the planet. And Nour felt relieved when she knew that in Arotheman, a year existed of 6 months, and every month spanned for 6 weeks, and each week spanned for 10 days, which meant she will have her mini-heart attack that her nightmares are becoming reality only 6 times per year. Assuming they stayed that long enough on this planet.

On their third day, Belimerando had assigned them to different jobs. He said that he didn't want their money, and anything he gets them, be it clothes or food, he doesn't expect them to pay for it. "You are my guests, and it's my duty to see to your comfort." He said on their second night.

And now, standing as a cashier in a shop that sold fabric for dresses, Nour thought herself incompetent for the boring job. But it was a job whatsoever. Anything to keep her busy until they found a way out of this mess.

On her 60th day of working, she decided that she would walk home on her own. People were growing more accustomed to the presence of outsiders in their small town, and from what Nour suspected, she and her friends had achieved a task that wasn't as easy as they thought. The people here had a tightly knitted community that rarely let outsiders in. Tourists that would visit their lands were more than welcomed, but strangers working in their shops and taking care of their children? That was something. She assumed this had to do with the fact that Belimerando, who seemed like the most important man in the town, had taken them in and told the people that they were harmless.

Nour looked around the stores as she walked, trying to assign her friends to the places where they worked. Youssef worked at the spices shop with the old man; Zeina worked with the librarian; Laila in the apothecary; Yuto in the nursery; Mariam in the grocery store; Mohammed in the electronics store; Yasser in the bakery; Gina worked in a café; and Nadim worked in the stationary.

A woman carrying her child waved at Nour as she walked and Nour waved back. The woman owned a bakery that Nour had bought her breakfast from the other day, and they had become friends almost immediately, bonding over their unyielding love of poetry. The woman was reading a poem to her child and the moment Nour heard it she was mesmerized. She didn't remember the exact words, not really. But it talked of a land of peace, of days where people were safe from themselves. It talked of worlds of utopic nature and people with virtues unscathed.