Rien
"I've been waiting for you. Now, I'll come to meet you!"
The first life-form of planet Gliese-832c.
As that world's first being, she had been waiting for other friends before deciding to seek them out herself, and sets off on an adventure to a new world.
The main skills she honed while waiting for friends are playing the piano and dancing under the moonlight. Also, Rien was born at the "border" of the planet, and a characteristic of hers is having two personas of day and night.
She has odd eyes as if to illustrate that characteristic, and when she sings the "lullaby" the Rien of Night manifests. To fully understand Rien and her dual charms of day and night, one must spend a full day with Rien.
Rien
- The Girl of the Border’s Story -
“I’ve been waiting for you. Now I’ll come to meet you!”
The vast desert -
It may seem like there's nothing here except for sand, but this place has more interesting things than you might think.
First, a single tree.
My only friend, who allows me to rest in the desert in daylight. It casts a shadow just large enough for one person to escape under, but that's plenty.
After the tree, a piano.
One of the few things on this planet that makes a sound. When the keys begin to sound off, even the fiercely howling dust storms pause to listen to the music.
If so, there must be someone who rests, leaning against the tree, and plays the piano, right?
That's me, Rien.
The first being of this place, planet Gliese-832c. And I have been waiting for friends, here in this place.
* * *
"Is there anyone out there who would listen to my song?"
I play the piano every day waiting for the friends I'll meet someday, but today a chilling thought has my hands hesitant.
'Singing by myself, playing the piano by myself... Waiting alone like this, what if this never ends?'
On days like this, I get anxious and so the night never comes, and I can't sleep. This emptiness feels like it might last forever.
Maybe it's because of these feelings. These past few months, the day-night cycle of Gliese-832c has been fluctuating.
But the fortunate thing is, I've lived for quite a while as the first being.
One thing I’ve learned while waiting for such a long time is, loneliness and doubt have a rhythm too, and if I wait, they pass as if nothing ever happened.
At some point, I came up with a method to endure this wait, to hold on to the dream of that day when I will meet my friends.
I put to sleep the anxiety that keeps me up by singing a lullaby for myself, and for the friends who must be somewhere.
Shall we stay here for just a little longer
Yes, it's a dream that will be forgotten
Still, close your eyes
I'll put you to your last sleep-
I finish the song and my mind is at peace.
When I feel that I can finally let the day go and welcome the night, Gliese-832c's sun sets and its moon rises.
"It’s not like you’re a kid. How can you fear being alone?"
As the Rien of Day hides, and the Rien of Night unveils herself.
* * *
I'm the first being of planet Gliese-832c, or so Rien of Day must have told you already.
But to be precise, I was born on the "border" of the planet.
Day and night coexist on Gliese-832c. Born on the border of such a planet, I came to have two personas, day and night.
"Yawn- Doesn't she get sore if she's only moving her fingers."
She and I make guesses about each other like this, from the marks left on our body. Stretching, I climb down from the piano stool as if to slide.
The chilly night of the desert.
When night falls, I stretch the body that had been stiff all day long, little by little. And then I start to move, in earnest.
♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
A dance performed to the orbit of the moon. On this whole planet, the moon is the only thing that watches me dance.
'Will I ever meet a friend to dance with me.'
Ever since I opened my eyes on this planet, I've been waiting for another friend. If I exist, surely you must also. When will the other friends arrive.
It hadn't been long after I started moving to the desert's hazy moonlight. The night begins to lift, and I see glimpses of daylight coming. My body begins to hesitate and stiffen to this.
I'd realized already that this place had started to change recently- But I have never seen such a fast transition to daytime.
"What's happening? The day had lasted longer these past few days, and if this keeps happening that girl...."
In our world, it's not a joyful thing to have more time. It means that you have to endure that much longer of a wait.
If the day gets longer, that girl would have to spend more time alone, so I was hoping to spend as long of a night as possible tonight....
These days, as the line between day and night has begun to fluctuate, it seems like there is a fracture forming on this planet.
Just as I’m about to grow anxious at this unpredictable flow of time, a sight comes before my eyes, one that I had never seen despite having been born and grown up on this planet.
It’s a time at the boundary, where day and night coincide. A time of dawn and twilight.
* * *
My surprise at this new sight lasts only briefly. When I pull myself together and look around, I see a hallway of blue light, surrounded by a dust storm.
When I approach carefully and look in, I hear a song being sung by someone on the other side.
♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
For the first time ever, I hear another voice that isn't mine. I grow excited at the thought of meeting someone else at last.
'At last, are they coming?'
I gaze into the hallway for a long time, filled with anticipation. But the song only grows faint. As I’m about to feel desperate, a thought crosses my mind.
'I can go meet them. I don't have to keep waiting at the same spot.'
No one's coming to find me, I'm going to find them.
I’d never had that thought before.
'Let's go find them. The friends I had yearned for so long - I'm gonna go meet them.'
The song I sang every day. The dance I danced through the night. As I take my first steps to meet friends to be with, I think to myself.
'Right. The first exists so that the second and third may also.'
I decide to put an end to this waiting with my own hands. And just like that, I take my first steps into a new world.