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Second Day of the First Month in the Year that I changed my Mind about the Names of the Constellations the Ceilings in the Twentieth and Twenty-First North-Eastern Halls collapsed
Another Year has started within the House. I find counting the years helps know what the House will be giving. The great Tides come at regular times, and so I must mark each year in turn. While it is still early in the year (it is only the second day), I have decided to name this year after something I have intended to do for a while. I will come up with new names for the constellations.
The Year That I Named the Constellations is not so long ago, and yet I have learned more about the World by perusing the Statues. And so I could do a better job today.
I am going to spread the new names out throughout the year. Today I have renamed one constellation. It used to be the Two Cranes, but now I have decided that they look more like Ibises. It is important for my descriptions of the House to be true and accurate, and I believe this will make them more so.
The Constellation I am most excited to rename is the Rose, though I am saving it for last.
Fourth Day of the First Month in the Year that I changed my Mind about the Names of the Constellations the Ceilings in the Twentieth and Twenty-First North-Eastern Halls collapsed
Today I am due to visit the Dead once more. I believe the House cares for everyone within it, and so by visiting the Dead I also show my care for the House. In the same way that I do not think I should have a favourite Statue, I do not think the House should have a favourite inhabitant. Nevertheless if it did have a favourite it would be me. How else should I explain that despite roaming so far, and enduring so many Seasons and so much Weather, I am alive and the Dead are not?
I have decided to take a different Path today. I have gathered food to leave as offerings, and normally I would pass through the Twentieth North-Eastern Hall to then visit the Dead. But when I tried to go that way, I heard a groaning and then a sharp crack as I approached the Door. When the House is so clear in its warning I would be a great Fool to ignore it. It is another way the House shows its Love.
On this new path there is a Statue I have not seen before. I have decided to call it A Woman, Reclining, With Flowers. The Statue is of a woman with a young face and wavy hair. She is lying down on a raised stone table, and her eyes are closed. She is wearing a dress. Her hands are clasped on her chest and she is holding a bouquet of flowers that I do not recognise. She looks peaceful, but her hands are holding on tightly.
It is not possible to tell whether she is sleeping or dead, but she has awoken a faint memory in me. It is proper to bring flowers for the Dead. Fresh flowers, that is, and not dead flowers, even though that sounds more appropriate in some ways.
“House,” I said, when I reached this conclusion, which was as I placed my offering of food before the Biscuit-Box Man, “I am ashamed. I have tried to care for the Dead, and honour them, but I have not brought any of them flowers. But I did not know to look for flowers, and now I do not know where there are any. Please do not think poorly of me for not knowing.”
Then, upon deeper thought, I realised I could ask the Other whether he knew of where I might find flowers; or, more likely, he could bring some to me. The Other does not generally direct me to areas of the House which I do not know of, but he has ways of finding things which I cannot. Yes, I decided to Myself, I would speak to the Other. I informed the House of this, and then continued on my way.
Fifth Day of the First Month in the Year that I changed my Mind about the Names of the Constellations the Ceilings in the Twentieth and Twenty-First North-Eastern Halls collapsed
The Other is not easy to find outside of our regular meeting times. I searched from Door to Alcove to Hall to Vestibule with no luck at all. Sometimes I wonder whether he knows of a secret Passage or Room which he retreats to – a sort of smaller House within the House.
The Other is not important, though, or not as important as the House and the House’s favour. I was reminded again of this plain fact when I walked to the Drowned Halls to search for the Other and instead was greeted with a most wonderful sight.
A tide, stranger than most, must have brought them in, for before me I could see the water covered in great flat round leaves. Scattered in with them were flowers, presumably part of the same plants. The flowers are white and large. A single flower is enough decoration for one of the Dead, so there is no need to make a bouquet. There are enough flowers down here that I do not see how I could ever run out, and they must surely grow back. They must have been brought here by the House to solve my predicament, and so I cannot see the House taking them away for so long as they are needed still.
The World, or I should call it the House instead, is full of wondrous things and there are always new sights to be seen. How wonderful, for me, to live in such a Glorious Place!
I decided to bring one water lily – that is the name of the flower – to each of the Dead. I hope one day, when I join them, someone will bring flowers for me. The House can make it happen, of that I am sure.
Seventh Day of the First Month in the Year that the Ceilings in the Twentieth and Twenty-First North-Eastern Halls collapsed
Today I was reminded of the Virtue that is Humility. I made to pass through the Twentieth North-Eastern Hall because there is a Statue there which I have not visited in a while, and which I wanted to look upon again. The Statue is of a Hunted Boar, its eyes wide and its mouth frothing. A broken-off spear protrudes from its back. As I approached, the Ceiling groaned once more, and so I paused; a moment later, with a great crash, the Ceiling came down! I could neither see nor hear nor think, it was so loud and there was so much dust!
By the time I came to my Senses, the damage was done. I must think on what the House meant to tell me by doing this. I have also changed the name of the Year. The thought of something happening that is more shocking and more worthy of remembrance is hard to bear.
Ninth Day of the First Month in the Year that the Ceilings in the Twentieth and Twenty-First North-Eastern Halls collapsed
The House is Constant, but it is not Unchanging. And therefore I had thought that changing the names I had given to the Constellations was a sensible thought. However, I believe I have divined the meaning of the House’s actions in bringing down the Ceiling onto a Statue I greatly enjoyed viewing. It was a warning, to guide me onto the proper Path. Did I not change the very Year upon this frightful event occurring? What I must take away is that the House does not approve of this being the Year that I Changed my Mind about the Names of the Constellations; it does not approve of the Constellations being renamed at all!
I am fortunate indeed that the House has gently corrected my ways. My own Efforts to render Service to the House have played some part in this, I expect, and so in caring for the Dead I have avoided joining Them yet. I will bring another flower to each of them, and visit the Statue of the Collapsing Pillar afterwards to think about the falling Ceiling again.
Oh, what a Joy it is to be cradled safely in the Arms of the House!