Milena and the Crow

[JoanOfArc 4604]

Milena and the Crow

Written by Father Dima Carrion, FSSCT

Edited by Lady Elisabeth Carrion, Baroness of Woldzmir [@Axelu]

Illustrated by Lady Victoria Kaphro [@venclair]

 

 

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To Milena, my dear sister,

 

As you grow up in this ever-changing world, you shall come to know more of the invisible; pure ideas and concepts that men who spend years studying the natural world may never be able to explain to you. I write this story for you that you may learn a secret about the invisible that even your elders may never learn. May the Lord grant you a long life of repentance and one of peace my bestfriend.

 

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Milena Ipera, a small charming Raevir girl who was closer to nine than eight, laid reclined in her chair on the far side of her room by the window on a sunday afternoon. She let out a small huff as she recalled the past few days. “How boring a day this is! I lie and wait for adventures but nothing happens! How long must I wait!” she bemoaned. Her troubles kept up, much to her displeasure, for every day that week, she stared outside her window and reclined in her same boring chair.

 

After the monotonous week was over, a period of levity overcame her. When she was staring out her window, a crow flew down from the heavens and began to peck at it. Milena jumped in excitement and yelled to the crow, “Oh a crow! Finally, a riveting time shall be had!” She opened the window and the crow landed on the window sill.

 

“Goodmorning,” the crow cawed in salutations, “I am Crow.” Crow was not a very good looking crow. He looked malnourished and had what could only be described as an uneasy aura around him. Milena, not concerned by Crow’s demeanor and content with her friend’s look, responded with, “Hello! Mr. Crow, I am Milena Ipera!  It is good to meet you, why did you peck at my window?

 

Crow twisted and turned, pacing on the sill. “I am alone,” Crow confessed, “I have seen the other birds and they are not kind and are rude. I saw you up here alone so I thought I would come and see if you are not kind and are rude.” The poor girl was taken back by this. She felt very much alone herself and empathically told him, “Of course I am not rude! I am very much a kind person. If you are alone, why don’t you come here every day and talk with me!”

 

That was the routine for a month. Every day, Crow would peck on Milena’s window in the morning and every day, Milena would open the window for Crow and he would land on her shoulder to talk. She learned all sorts of things about him. She learned of his favorite food, his favorite books, and his favorite activities. She learned about how he loves to fly over her manor and caw to the other crows. She learned how he just loves even the excited feeling he gets before he sees her. They spoke and spoke and spoke; they both really enjoyed each other!

 

As their friendship grew, Crow began to reveal more about himself to her. She came to learn he was a slob! He refused to clean his nest despite it having been months since the last time he cleaned it. In fact, his appearance made all the more sense after hearing that! He never cleaned himself and stunk. It would not be so bad if his cawing did not seem to get more loud and more obnoxious the more she listened to him. 

 

After listening to his story about how he stole some cheese from a cheesemaker, Milena Ipera had enough. “He is a slob and an obnoxious little crow! Oh how I loathe him!” the girl screamed. The next day she woke up, Milena pretended she could not hear him peck on the window. He pecked and cawed, but she did not get out of her bed to come to meet him. The day after that, Crow came back to peck on the window and caw, but this time Milena had closed the curtains so he could not see inside. He at last gave in after a week and stopped coming to the window.

 

Milena returned to her old life, waiting for fun by her window. The boringness of life crept right back into her routine. She huffed and sighed, deciding ultimately to head outside to meet more friends. The girl left her manor and went through the tunnel to the courtyard to find many new faces. The courtyard had an array of different flowers and  colorful banners hanging around to signify the different houses of the Empire. In the middle stood a statue dedicated and made in the likeness of Emperor Peter III. But within the courtyard held many different birds. There were: cardinals, parrots, finches, sparrows, owls, and hummingbirds to just name a few.

 

Before Milena could even walk up to speak to any of the birds, a peacock stepped away from her group of fellow peacocks to meet her.  “Hello girl,” the peacock said, “Lady Peacock. What may your name be?” Milena responded with, “I am Milena Ipera. I wanted to know if you wanted to be friends?” Lady Peacock thought to herself and then nodded. A smile overcame the girl’s face as she made her new friend. They chatted for twenty minutes talking about clothes and jewelry on the bench by the statue. Lady Peacock spoke in such a refined and classy manner unlike Crow did, but after their conversation began to die down, Lady Peacock said her goodbyes and went back to her friends.

 

“How dull the moment she left me is!” Milena Ipera thought to herself. She glanced at the group of peacocks and heard them speak and garble. She moved her head closer to spy on what they were talking about; and what the peacocks were speaking about was her! They were gossiping to each other how silly Milena looked and how she was not as colourful as they were! Tears began to roll down the girl’s face as she bolted from the courtyard and towards the tunnel she took.

 

Her first new friend had broken her trust and it was too much already. Milena fell to the ground in the tunnel, sobbing. “Why cannot I have one good friend!” she bemoaned. As she did so, a beautiful and pure dove came to her. The dove asked in a soft tone, “Dear child, why do you think you do not have a friend?” The words she spoke were calming to the girl’s ears. “You had a friend, but you turned him away, do you not remember?” The soothing nature of the dove’s voice turned into one of extreme irritation. “A friend? Oh yes, I had a friend once; one who stunk and was an absolute slob! Every time he spoke he sounded as if scratching a chalkboard! Why couldn’t Lady Peacock just be my friend? She is so beautiful and so elegant!” 

 

The dove tutted and hopped on the girl’s lap and began to speak, “I will let you in on a little secret I learned, small child. To be refined and elegant is not a glimpse into one’s heart, but to be a slob and unclean is. The peacock you spoke to hides her filth, while your friend does not hide his filth.” A few pigeons passed through the tunnel with both chirping at each other’s jokes. “But I do not want a friend with filth,” the girl sobbed on, “I want a genuine friend who cares for me and who thinks of me!” 

 

“Ha! You wanted a genuine friend? I will let you in on another secret; if a friend is vulnerable enough to open up to you about being a slob, it means they do not hide who they are to you.” The dove said with a sense of maturity in her voice. 

 

The words struck Milena rather deep. She had been rather awful to Crow. While he was obnoxious and stunk, he was kind and loving to her. He was her true friend and she left him. The tears went from tears coming from others rejection of her from others to tears coming from her rejection of her friend. “I see you understand now. But do not fret, dear child, for I see your friend perched on the fence within the courtyard.” Milena peered towards the outer courtyard and saw Crow. 

 

“But what if he doesn't want me back?” the girl questioned the all-knowing dove. 

 

“If they are your friend, you will never need to ask that question.” the dove responded.

 

Milena Ipera wiped away her tears and moved the dove off her lap. She decided she needed to apologize, and even if he did not want to be her friend, she wanted him to forgive her. She left the dove behind in the tunnel and walked up to the beginning of the courtyard. She rehearsed several lines in her head about how she was sorry about being so rude. Although she wished to remain frozen in place forever, she eventually (and shamefully) went to Crow.

 

All the lines she rehearsed in her head left her as Crow flew onto her shoulder. He cawed and cawed about how much he missed her. “I was wrong to ignore you,” she finally found the courage to speak after a minute of Crow’s cawing, “I understand you are-- you were my friend, my only genuine friend, and I hope you can forgive me.” 

 

“You do not need to apologize friend! I am your friend and always will be!” Crow cawed to Milena as they caught up on the week as the dove watched from above. 

 

---

[Axelu 4333]

The Baroness of Woldzmir lauded her son's work before her circle of confidants. 

 

"They take after me, I suppose..."

[venclair 713]

Victoria Clementine read through the fable once more, grinning toothily at her own piece of work. The child had spent that day taking a gander in the city, peering skywards for a crow to study. Her observations were made from a murder of crows covering the winter trees like deformed leaves of darkest ink, fidgeting and puffing out their wings whilst they watched the streets.  

[Lhindir_ 3691]

The Lord Woldzmir reads through this childish tale, an amused smile across pallid face.

[rukio 8924]

Anna Katerina smiles as she reads the childish tale, proud of her beloved husband's work!  

[Nectorist 12869]

Franz picks up a copy of his son-in-law's work, pleased to see Father Dima pick up the quill as he had so many years ago. He reads the story of Milena and the Crow at least once a week to his youngest son as he tucks him into bed at night.

[Eryane 3698]

Milena cozies up next to the fire late in the evening, with a little grin adorning her features the entirety of the night after having read the book her brother wrote for her. She made certain to read over the book not once, but twice, and part of her considered if she'd read it a third. "This is the best Tuvmas present, Dima," she reminds her brother on the morn. 

[thesmellypocket 1859]

Pius of Sutica, FSSCT, is much consoled in his illness by his brother's beautiful tale.

[Hephaestus 1326]

"Tale as old as time…" One Barrow recited to his tongue such a rite, word and tire to worn voice likened then only to he himself, the Right Honourable Vladislav Barrow, MHC, of whom spared the fleeting image of a gentle few curls to chivalrous lip, at either respective corner of such phantom limb. Dimples folded over and outwards, those desolate lips, so dank they appeared to have run in cracks along arid outlines. "The cavalries of melancholia, I only suppose, will take a stance in the lady's hair; to the favour of making sweet sixteen."

 

"'Lo, you are all too pure – dearest Milena, sister. I only take to wonder, in my most foolish, selfish of reveries; would Mother take to the offering of such goodwill too, to myself?"

[Iudaes 1095]

Manfried Cardinal St. Julia offers his compliments to Father Dima on his great success with this wonderfully written tale, saving it a special place on his bookshelf for future reading.