ESCORIDO, GILLIAN BSA-4 LIT 2 TTH 4:30-6:30

Kite of Stars
( Butchers Boy Perspective)

It was a bright morning when he first saw her.

A youthful fourteen year-old boy woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside his
window which was filled with droplets of fresh rainwater brought about by a brief downpour
earlier that day. Thinking that it was just any ordinary day, he got up, ate breakfast and dressed
for work. It had been only three months since he worked as a butchers boy, a job offered to
him by his fathers friend, who was a renowned butcher in the land.

Walking along the damp street en route to his workplace located in the middle of Plaza
Emperyal, a vicinity surrounded by different structures as well as marketplaces offering a lot of
varieties such as bread, jewelry, clothes and local produce in every corner, he was anticipating a
lot of customers as today was a busy day for the plaza. Upon arriving the butchers shop, he
proceeded to attend all the matters his master had tasked him to do.

A few hours later, during his break from work, he went out of the shop to rest on the
bench located outside where he usually stays when he doesnt have work. While observing and
appreciating young ladies of different beauty wandering around the Rotonda dul Vendedores,
the butchers boy saw a young man walking along the Rotunda. The young man, whose love for
stars was very much present in his choice of clothing, was Lorenzo du Vicenzio, the son of a
wealthy man who is famous for naming stars. He had met Lorenzu a couple of times along with
his father every time they visit the shop. The way his master talked so fondly about them, it is
as if the butchers boy had known the young son all his life.

Continuing his primary agenda, one young beauty clothed in a beautiful blue dress
caught his attention. The young lady was talking to people scattered around the area with
determination etched in her face. He wondered what the reason could have been to have such
an expression and his question was answered when the young lady approached and asked him
who the young man in the star-embroidered coat was.

"His name is Lorenzo du Vicenzio," the butcher's boy replied. "I know him because he
shops here with his father once every sen-night. My master saves some of the choicest cuts for
their family. They're rather famous, you know. Maestro Vicenzio, the father, names stars."

"Stars?" the young beauty asked. "And would you know why he walks with his eyes
closed? The son, I mean."
 "Well, Lorenzo certainly isn't blind," the butcher's boy replied. "I think he keeps his eyes
closed to preserve his vision for his stargazing at night. He mentioned he had some sort of
telescope he uses at night."

"How can I meet him?" she asked.

"You? What makes you think he will even see you? Listen," he whispered to her, "he
only has eyes for the stars."

"Then I'll make him see me," she whispered back. The butchers boy wondered how this
lady in front of him could make Lorenzu take notice of her when even he himself had not even
witnessed the young man open his eyes. The young lady then looked at him, and said, "Take me
to the best Kitemaker."

The butchers boy was captivated by her sheer determination. Who was he to refuse the
request of accompanying this stunning lady? Without any complaints, he removed his white
cap, bowed like a gentleman, gestured towards the street and led her to the house of the
famous Master Builder of aquilones, cometas, saranggola, and other artefactos voladores
located in Ciudad Meiora, Mr. Melchor Antevadez.

A lot of people were lining up to meet Melchor Antevadez. A few hours had passed and
it didnt seem like their turn would arrive soon. He peeked at the lady and saw how lost she was
in her thoughts. He wondered what she could have been thinking that made her so silent and
what she could have wanted from the kitemaker. Few minutes had passed and it suddenly
occurred to him that he was supposed to go back to the butchers shop hours ago. It was a
definite that he had already lost his job for his master was someone who does not forgive such
actions. It was not the lost of his job he was worried about but instead he worried about how
he would explain to his father how he lost his job just for the pleasure of accompanying a young
lady he recently met in the plaza. Other than worrying about the impending confrontation with
his father, he spent most of his time secretly glancing at the young ladys shoes wondering
whether she liked to paint her toes blue just like the aerialists he often fantasizes about.

It took them seven hours to finally meet the Master Builder. The butchers boy listened
to their conversation about how the young lady had wanted the artisan to build her a kite that
could fly high enough to become one with the stars. He thought that such request was
impossible and it was foolish of her to even ask of it. Thinking that the artisan would reject such
idea, he stopped listening and let his mind wander back to his fantasies.

He felt a nudge from the young lady beside him and was asked to remember what the
artisan was saying. After a few minutes of trying to keep track of the conversation, he felt tired
and was taken aback to see the moon shining brightly above the dark firmament. So he dozed
off while cradling his head in the crook if his arms. His dream about aerialists and their blue
toes was cut short when he was woken up by the young lady asking him to accompany her in
her journey to find all the materials for the kite. Not thinking much of it, he drowsily replied,
Of course. After all, this shouldn't take more time than I have to spare."

Before they parted ways, the young lady had asked the butchers boy to purchase some
supplies they needed for the trip. After giving him the list, she went on her way back to her
home while the butchers boy waited until she disappeared. It was then he remembered that
he never knew the name of the young lady. Looking at her diminishing figure, he shouted, I
forgot to ask you your name! May I know it? He waited and waited for her response. Thinking
that she didnt hear his question, he was surprised to hear the young ladys voice echoing in the
distance, Maria Isabella!

While walking on the path towards his house, the butchers boy thought about the
absurdity of how a young lady could have wanted to take such measures in exchange for the
acknowledgment of a man she hasnt even met. Doubts formed in his mind about the journey
but there was something about Maria Isabellas charm that he couldnt turn down such offer.
By the time he arrived home, he had already made up his mind to join the lovely girl in her
crazy yet exciting adventure.

The next day, wearing a warm tunic with an Ajimaat around his neck, he met Maria
Isabella on the Portun du Transgresiones, a manor whose field is grazed by horses, cows and
sheep. He grinned at her and said, Im ready to go.

"What did you tell your kinfolk?" Maria Isabella asked him, as carefully helping her
mount a sturdy horse. "That I would be back in a month or so," he replied.

They began their journey to find all the items on Melchor Antevadez's impossible list at
PurAnan, and then trekked to Katakios and Viri'Ato.

They traveled north to the lands of Bontoc and Cabarroquis and sailed eastwards to
Palao'an and the Islas du'l Calami'an. They ventured westwards to the dark lands of Siqui'jor
and Jomal'jig.

They visited the fabled cities of the south: Diya al Tandag, Diya al Din, and Diya al Bajao.
By the time they arrived at the last fabled city, the butchers boy had wanted to give up the
journey and go back home. He tried to persuade Maria Isabella but she would not have it. The
butchers boy, having known Maria Isabella for years, cannot imagine leaving the damsel alone
with such impossible task. And so, he finally decided to continue accompanying Maria Isabella
in her journey to find such impossible things.
 They entered the marbled underworld of the Sea Lords of Rumblon and braved the Lair
of the M'Arinduque.

After their third year of travel, Maria Isabella and the butchers boy ran out of money.
He searched around the land and met someone who taught him how to cut up a cow. He
learned and mastered the art of butchering and became a well-known butcher gaining a lot of
customers including those in the upper class. He worked for months and saved up the money
he had earned along with Maria Isabella to purchase and complete the impossible list. They had
acquired more money than the amount they began with and had learned different means of
making money such as managing a caravan,, running a plantation, raising horses, reciting the
entire annals of six cultures from memory, prepare medicine for all sorts of ailments, worries,
and anxieties and many other means.

During their seventh year of the journey, a frightful storm destroyed their caravan which
contained all their found things. They almost lost everything. It was the first time that the
butchers boy saw Maria Isabella cry and his heart broke at the sight of it. It was at that
moment that he realized that her happiness is what he wishes for the most. He took her hand,
held it close to him and they began all over again. He fought danger and learned when to run
from it. They encountered scoundrels and sinverguenzza and learned to bargain with them.
They were attacked and they learned how to defend themselves.

After finally completing the impossible list, they headed back to Ciudad Meiora and
proceeded to Portun du Transgresiones. . The butcher's boy looked at Maria Isabella, lovingly
smiling at her and said, "Well, here we are at last."

She nodded, raising a weary arm to her forehead and making the sign of homecoming.

"Do you feel like you've wasted your life?" she asked him, as the caravan bearing
everything they had amassed lumbered into the city.

"Nothing is ever wasted," the butcher's boy told her, thinking back on the years he had
spent with the woman beside her, whom he had learned to love over the years.

They went to the house of Melchor Antevadez where they met a young man named
Reuel Antevadez, the new Maestro du Cosas Ingravidas, who informed them of the death of the
artisan years ago. He had also informed the couple that his great-grandfather had left a design
for Maria Isabella. He opened the yellow parchment containing the design of the impossible
kite and started to construct it with the help of the butchers boy.

When it was finished, it was not at all as how the butchers boy imagined it to be. He
remembered how he had once thought that such kite was impossible and yet here it was now,
in front of him. After helping Maria Isabella strap in, he stood back and looked at the woman he
had grown old with, full of longing and admiration. Seeing her strapped in the kite reminded
him that it was now the time for him to let her go.

"This is certainly no time for tears," Maria Isabella reprimanded him gently, as she
gestured for him to release the kite. "No, there is time for everything," the butcher's boy
whispered to himself as he pushed and pulled at the ropes and strings, pulley and levers and
gears of the impossible kite.

"Goodbye, goodbye!" she shouted down to him as the star kite began its ascent to the
sky. "Goodbye, goodbye," he whispered, as his heart finally broke into a thousand mismatched
pieces, each one small, hard, and sharp. The tears of the butcher's boy flowed freely down his
face as he watched her rise -- the extraordinary old woman he had always loved strapped to the
frame of an impossible kite.

He watched her from down below, sighing and reflecting on how life was truly absurd
for letting him meet a woman and go through all those troubles with her, the heaviness of
losing someone you love, the cruelty of continuously hoping that she may learn to love you
more than she does him, and the unyielding pain of not being loved back by the one residing in
your heart. And his heart burned more realizing that the woman he had fallen for never even
knew his name.

By the time she disappeared in his eyes, the butchers boy walked back home with tears
continuously flowing down his face. He reminisced the moments he had with Maria Isabella,
whose face, though aged but remained as beautiful as the first time he saw her, was forever
engraved into his mind.