Opalina (prime)/Vignette: Sweeping Shadows and Secrets
Title: Sweeping Shadows and Secrets
Author: Opalina Jalcon
Sweeping Shadows and Secrets
The sun had barely crested the horizon when Opalina made her way back to Casivit’s mansion, the path all too familiar by now. Mornings were spent here, helping Brixt, after long nights lost in the dim corridors of the forbidden library. The contrast couldn’t be sharper—dusty tomes of forgotten knowledge by night, and by day, the cluttered, shadowy halls of Casivit’s mansion.
Opalina had first arrived as part of Pennysel’s plan, slipping past the bribed guard at the gate to check on her friend Brixt. At first, Casivit’s sprawling estate had been more ominous than she had imagined—overrun with grime, cobwebs, and a suffocating sense of neglect. But in Brixt, she had found someone who, despite his scholarly nature, was determined to make the best of his strange situation. Casivit, the enigmatic Featherbear and town protector, had accepted Brixt as his companion—a fact that gnawed at Pennysel and had set her on a path of anger and defiance. But Brixt, perhaps with more hope than sense, had taken to cleaning Casivit’s mansion in the hopes of gaining the recluse’s favor.
Each day, Opalina found him in a new room, sweeping, scrubbing, dusting. Today was no different. As she walked into the room on the second floor, she found Brixt once again hunched over a pile of books and artifacts, his small hands working tirelessly to dust each one. The room, once cluttered and chaotic, was slowly beginning to reveal its secrets. An old, half-covered statue stood in in the center of the room, and strange instruments, long buried beneath layers of dust, gleamed under the morning light as Brixt polished them.
“Opalina, over here!” Brixt’s voice echoed across the large room, and she couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm. He may have been locked away in this mansion, but he had thrown himself into the task with determination. It was as though each stroke of the broom or wipe of the cloth was a step toward winning his place here—or at least, so he hoped.
She made her way over to him, her own hands already ready to help. “What’s on the agenda today?” she asked, scanning the room. Every corner still held mysteries yet to be uncovered.
“Dusting, as always,” Brixt grinned. “But there’s more to it than that. Every day, I feel like I’m getting closer to… something.” He trailed off, his voice thoughtful. “Casivit hasn’t thrown me out, has he? That’s something, isn’t it?”
Opalina nodded. “It is. He’s still letting you clean, which means he’s still watching. But whether that’s a good thing or not, we’ll have to see.”
Together, they worked in silence for a time, dusting and tidying up the second floor. The mansion was massive, each room revealing new oddities—old paintings, strange trinkets, and even mechanical devices that only added to the air of mystery that surrounded Casivit and his reclusive ways. As they moved from room to room, Opalina couldn’t help but wonder what lay deeper within the mansion, and what secrets Casivit was truly hiding.
Each day, Opalina returned, determined not to let Brixt be alone in this. Pennysel’s frustration with the town, her anger at losing her friend, weighed heavily on Opalina’s mind. And yet, as she and Brixt worked side by side, Opalina couldn’t help but admire his persistence. He had transformed the once-forlorn rooms, revealing their former beauty beneath the grime. But still, she wondered—was Brixt really gaining Casivit’s trust? Was he earning a place in this house, or was he merely being tolerated, the next in a long line of victims to vanish without a trace?
There had been rumors, of course—rumors of those who had entered Casivit’s mansion and never left. Brixt’s fate was far from certain. But each day he was still alive was a small victory, a sign that perhaps Casivit’s judgment wasn’t as harsh as it seemed. Or perhaps, Opalina mused, Casivit simply hadn’t made his decision yet.
For now, Opalina would continue to return, her mornings filled with dust and grime, her nights spent in the pursuit of forbidden knowledge. The mansion held its secrets tightly, but Opalina was determined to uncover them, one room, one artifact, one sweeping stroke at a time. And as long as Brixt was here, she would be too—his quiet companion in this strange and dangerous endeavor.