Captain Sneaky (2)

Long streaks of high peaks, mountainous peaks that speak of a legend of How the Moon and the Stars came to be—The Legend of Asalah.

One day in the times when the sky was close to the ground, a spinster went out to pound rice. Before she began her work, she took off the beads from around her neck and the comb from her hair, and hung them on the sky, which at that time looked like a coral rock.

Then she began working, and each time that she raised her pestle into the air it struck the sky. For some time she pounded the rice, and then she raised the pestle so high that it struck the sky very hard.

Immediately the sky began to rise, and it went up so far that she lost her ornaments. Never did they come down, for the comb became the moon and the beads are the stars that are scattered about.

The woman was known to be the Goddess of the Moon.

For she was known to be the purest, the tribesmen named her Asalah and began worshipping her each time the Moon became round and bright.

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It was a folktale I glimpsed in the memories of Argus.

And that very same Goddess is now in front of me, taking her bath.

Or so I thought...

"Why did I even gave that sound some attention?"

In my eyes, a beautiful young lady is spouting some gibberish amidst a picturesque scene.

Contrary to her alluring appearance, her shouts accompanied a sound that screamed ugly.

You might want to look but you will eventually cover your ears and turn your heads in disappointment once you saw her.

The young lady in front of me was none other than the Saman herself.

"That stupid father of mine is really an idiot!"

All the grandiose was shattered like broken pieces of a vase, as I heard that very same woman loudly cursing at her father.

At any point in time, men of culture from different ages would agree at one thing:

You don't want to see a beautiful lady cursing or speaking foul, acting more barbaric than a man himself. Especially if the one she's cursing is her father.

Would that make any sense?

Women are expected to act femininely as gracious as possibly.

Well, traditionally speaking... She is truly a woman who deserves to live in the modern-day.

I bet she would like it there.

"I don't know why I even thought of her as the Goddess Asalah." I shook my head in great disappointment as I hid unto the sides of the tall bamboo grass.

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In the cold clear water, the rivers flowed like neat threads of woven silks.

A young pretty lady is bathing under the shine of morning sun, drenched in the river's waters.

What a sight!

A young pretty lady...

and a young man...

It should have been painted in a canvas but the view will start to crumble when you start to notice that a young man is peeping—hiding behind the tall bamboo grass.

The silence continued as the two busied themselves with their own business.

The young woman, deep In thought,

The young man deep in his sight.

And the silence was suddenly broken when an incident occurred.

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"Ack!" I fell behind the grass from which I was hiding.

That was too stupid from mine.

Looks like my feet slid from the rock that is sandwiched by the ground.

"Damn I slipped," I muttered alone and quickly as I hastily hid again beneath the bamboo grass while massaging the soles of my feet.

"Who's there?!" The woman whom I had been peeping loudly shouted.

It's the Saman herself, in her naked glory!

Revealing her ample bosom and glistening brownish skin.

She was the epitome of what native beauty is and why we are called the land of exotic beauty.

"Who's there?! Show yourself?!" Saman, Talia loudly yelled, repeating her words, now with an added hint of threatening tone.

She waited for someone to respond but received nothing but the annoying chirping of the birds.

Of course! "I should keep my mouth tightly shut!"

Who is foolish that he would reveal himself in this kind of situation?

And according to Argus's memories...

Nobody aside from the Datu and the Saman's relatives is allowed to witness the Saman's full naked glory.

The punishment...

Is Death!

Death by beheading! I would not want to be beheaded for the second time!

Thinking of that made my hairs rise without my permission. I shuddered by that thought and moved back immediately.

My heart is racing, rapidly thumping like a crazy drummer is beating my heart.

And when I successfully moved away hundreds of km away from that river, I heaved a sigh of relief.

"Phew! that was close!"

I did not expect that the Saman was here.

"Is this space enough for me not to get caught?"

"What if she sends a guard to go search the place?"

Thinking with that line of thought, I decided to never look back and go somewhere else.

"I should probably leave now."

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Meanwhile, the abandoned beautiful young lady—Saman, Talia, is left behind with a doubt.

"Strange... I definitely heard a voice just now." The Saman whispered alone with the chirps of the bird as if to answer and report that someone did really had been here, not too long ago.

Thinking at this point the Saman wondered: "Is the spirits of our ancestors visiting me?"

Followed by another scary thought: "Goddess of the Moon Asalah was told in the legends that she bathes in here... Maybe I disturbed her dwelling place?"

And the Saman quickly wrapped herself with a dry cloth and hastily left the river.

Who would have thought that this haughty Saman actually had something to be scared of?

In Talia's head, it never crossed her that the culprit is actually Miguel himself!

And that culprit is nowhere to be found.

Because the culprit is now headed to the Alipin's Grounds.

And that was just the first adventure Miguel will make through the day...