The moon so bright it lingers on,
so that we can dance to a song,
let us pretend, it never stops.

After finishing the meal the two ladies did their best explaining the castle.

“There are many, many rooms. Too many, if I’m to be honest. We hardly use any of them. But they still get dirty and still need to be cleaned,” Stella said.

“The castle is a lot larger than you expect. So don’t forget to eat yourself a hearty meal before you begin your duties,” Danica added.

“With only five of us, it’s a bit hard to clean every single room. Well, now we have you too, so I guess its six of us. Anyway, sometimes you’ll be walking along the castle and then bam! A new corridor you’ve never seen before, with hundreds more rooms that haven’t been touched in a hundred years. I’m pretty sure there are more secret pathways if you cared to look. But I don’t care to look. I’m not cleaning them up,” Stella said winking at me.

“Um. So there are five…?” I chimed up.

“Oh, yes, there are five of us, not including his lordship and the prince,” Danica said. “Hardly anything for a castle this size,” she sighed. “But nothing we can do about it.”

“You’ve met Astin of course, and me and Danica,” Stella said, holding up three of her fingers. “Astin has always been more of a guard than a cleaner. He wouldn’t know how to use a broom if you gave one to him. Could probably fight with it though. Speaking of fight, we will have to teach you a bit on how to defend yourself.”

“Defend… myself?” I said meekly. From what?

“But, there will be time for that, don’t worry. Just make sure you don’t go outside or wonder the castle by yourself yet alright? Hm… I guess you haven’t met the twins yet! Astra and Astron,” Stella said holding up five fingers now. “They’re a little bit like Astin. They take getting used to.”

“They won’t give you any trouble mind you,” Danica said. “If anybody does, you give me a call. Old Danica will set them straight.”

“The twins are a fair bit older than you are. Feel free to ask them for help. Don’t feel intimated by anyone. I know Astin can be a bit scary, but you know, don’t feel like you can’t talk to him either.”

“Hardly ever any help those twins,” Danica sighed with a shake of her head. “Always doing something else, haven’t got time to help out old Danica in the kitchen. Can’t be bothered to cut some vegetables or pick up a mop.”

“Astra is usually tending to the garden. Astron you can usually find tending to the woolly beasts, outside. They’re easy to find once you know where to look, but yes, hardly doing actual chores,” Stella said.

“Um… woolly beasts?”

“Ah, yes. They’re big softies is what they are! I can show you on the morrow if you like!” Stella said with a chuckle. “For the most part, you will be helping us clean around the castle. If you prefer to help with the food, feel free to do that. Though, to be honest I probably need the most help with all the cleaning. Danica can take care of herself.”

Danica laughed. “I suppose these old bones have much life in them yet. Speaking off, it’s nearly time to start prepping for the next meal.”

“Um,” I started nervously.

“Yes?” Danica said encouragingly.

“How, do you know the time?” I finished embarrassed. “I mean, its dark outside all the time and you don’t have a clock. I haven’t seen one since I’ve come here.”

Though it was always dim in Eventide, some parts of the day were lighter than others. But the clock tower was always present letting us know the time and the hour with its loud bell. I never realised I would miss it. The world felt silent without it.

“Huh. Never really thought about it,” Stella said.

“We feel the time in ourselves,” Danica said kindly. “We just know.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Aw, I guess you can’t huh? Don’t look so sad. Maybe we have a clock somewhere? I’m not sure. I’ll take a look. Any other questions?” Stella said looking at my face.

“Um. No? I think?”

“Alright then. That’s that. I don’t think I want to bore or overwhelm you with too much on your first day. So I guess we can start cleaning up your room properly for now.”

Danica stood up and took away our bowls. Stella and I made our way up the stairs to clean the room.

“I hope you like it here I really do,” Stella said. “Don’t feel like you have to push yourself too hard or anything. If you get tired, you tell me and get yourself some rest alright? One of us will come to wake you up until you get used to it. Or until we find a clock,” she winked. “Don’t get your hopes up though. I honestly don’t know if we have one.”

“Oh… okay,” I said.

Stella stopped a few doors before my room and opened the door. It was a closet filled with all sorts of cleaning supplies. She handed me a broom and a dustpan and took for herself a duster and a bucket with and cloth.

Soon we were in my room cleaning away. I swept the floor, but the dust layers never seemed to diminish.

“So, tomorrow I guess I’ll take you to the Night Garden,” Stella said as she removed the grime from the windows. Soft moonlight began to flood in the room, making it a lot brighter than it was before.

“The Night Garden?” I said stopping my sweeping.

“Yeah, the Night Garden. It’s wonderful up there. You’ll love it. It’s on top of the castle. It takes, well… a bit of manoeuvring shall we say, to get up to it, and a bit of climbing. Stairs I mean, not walls or anything. We have all sorts of fruit and flowers growing up there. We keep our moonlight butterflies there too. They make silk for us. Astra looks after them, and takes care of turning the silk into something usable for the rest of us.

“Butterflies? Oh.” I had never seen butterflies before. Not in real life. Only ever in pictures.

“Ah, you’ll see plenty of them up there,” Stella chuckled. “Trust me. Now, are you done with the floor?”

“Ah, no,” I said with a blush and continued sweeping.

We continued cleaning the room and chatting a little until everything was clean. I wouldn’t say it was spotless, but it was relatively clean. Then we went down for more food, before we headed to bed.