15 June, 2013 - Arthur and the window-girl learn more about each other in the Attic room, at the Russo house on Elm Street while the family sleep

“Hey again you,” the otherworldly girl said. Her translucent image smiled back at Arthur from across the room, and from within the oculus window.

“Hi Leelu” Arthur responded, wringing his hands together more nervously than the last time.

“You came back,” Leelu said, deeply pleased to see him. Her reflection bobbed, seemingly in mid-air.

Leelu had the most engrossing skin, which was as black and lustrous as beetles wings in the sun. Liquorice, Melanite, Obsidian, Midnight. She was more beautiful than anyone he’d ever seen in his whole short life.

“You didn’t finish your story from last time,” She reminded him. Leelu smiled and twirled around, her long black hair whipping through the air in accordance with the laws of some other dimension. Her eyes were black too, but kind, deep and all-knowing. Though he could not see anything below where he would imagine her belly button might be, she wore a gown of some sort, which twinkled like the stars.

“Why do you care about my boring story?” Arthur asked genuinely curious.

“We don’t have Nin-ten-dough-wee where I live,” she said, trying to recall the exact sounds of the words he’d used to describe his game. “We don’t really have much in the way of fun.”

“Where are you from?” Arthur asked, making sure to stay within the confines of the circle so that the girl in the glass would not disappear again.

She laughed at the question.

“Well it’s sort of like a kingdom here. There are a lot of mountains, and fires, and trees and other boring stuff. We have to stay here though coz my dad is kinda important, but really strict.”

“My dad is strict too, because he doesn’t want me to get God mad,” he said rolling his eyes.

She laughed loudly. “Why are dad’s like that? So annoying. Everyone is so serious here - they forget to like, I dunno…have a life or whatever.”

They both laughed at this, because it was true and they were both unable to control the world of adults.

“Have you ever heard of Super Mario Brothers?” He enquired thoughtfully.

“No, I am not familiar with these brothers. Are they heroes in your world?”

Arthur laughed innocently. Leelu crossed her arms in mock annoyance.

“Na,” he said, “it’s a game where this little guy with a moustache has to save the princess of Mushroom Kingdom from the evil King of the Koopas, a monster named Bowser. And if you finish the game, Mario saves the princess, defeats Bowser and that’s sort of it.”

“And what is this Princess’s name?”

“She’s called Princess Peach.”

At this she turned up her nose and curled her upper lip. This, she thought, was a stupid name for a princess. Someone of high office should have a name befitting their title.

“A princess, named after mortal-stone-fruit?” she asked sarcastically. “That need-be saved by a little moustachioed man? She does not sound very brave for a princess.”

“I guess not,” he admitted. “Well in the newer games, she gets to be a hero too, and you can play her character.”

“Hmm,” she said considering this notion. “And what of the other brother – Is he a coward?”

“Luigi? Well, he’s a little less brave than Mario. But he steps up when his brother needs him.”

“In my Kingdom, a princess is as fierce a warrior as any prince, or two-type. We never need saving, especially not by men with unfashionable facial hair.”

“What’s the name of your Kingdom?” He asked with genuine interest.

Leelu stopped speaking suddenly. She knew she could not speak the name of her kingdom to an outsider. In a way, she had already said too much to Arthur. She had trusted him from the first time they’d met, for reasons beyond her youthful comprehension. But to reveal the name of her Kingdom would be a catastrophe not even her father would be able to undo.

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“I’m not really allowed to say,” she said - the inky darkness of her eyes filling with a sudden sadness.

“That’s ok. We can give it a code-name that only you and me know.

“That’s a perfect idea,” she beamed back at him. “What do you propose Arthur?”

“How about…” he said, his eyes landing, after a time, where his feet currently stood, upon the pentacle at the centre of the room.

“How about Star Kingdom.”

“I love it Arthur. It’s a beautiful name,” she tried the name out. “Star Kingdom. It’s great, though we can’t see the stars in my kingdom, but we send warriors to harvest their brilliance to light our halls.”

Arthur was suddenly embarrassed for reasons he could not fathom. Maybe it was the way she looked into him. Without knowing quite why, he had an insatiable urge to change the topic of conversation as quickly as he could.

“Umm…so…You know what I love more than Nintendo?” His voice cracked slightly as he asked this.

“No, tell me what do you love more than your games?”

“Buffy: The Vampire Slayer,” he offered quicker than he meant to. “You must have Buffy in your kingdom?”

“Is this another hero game?”

“Well no. It’s a television show.”

She looked at him, her head cocked to one side in the universal language of confusion.

“A Television is like a machine where you can see…like actors, acting on a screen. But there are lots of actors, doing lots of shows and you can pick the ones you like.”

“A box with actors inside? Is your kingdom a cruel place?”

“No. Well…the actors aren’t inside of the box. They are recorded on cameras and played back…well it’s hard to explain. Buffy is a story…like a play… about a girl, who is super strong and her friends go around killing vampires.”

“Oh!” She said. “She sounds like a gruesome warrior.”

“Na, she’s great. Buffy and her gang of friends live on top of this gateway to hell, called the Hell Mouth, and they pretty much guard the world from demons and people like that. And it’s not just one story…there’s like a new story every week, with the same characters in different situations.”

He could see that he was losing Leelu. The topic of Buffy would have to wait for another day when he could get his head around explaining what Buffy was, and what it meant to him.

“Do you have any favourite stories?” He asked hoping to get the conversation back on track.

Leelu thought for a minute about this. There were so many stories in her world worthy of this title. No one had ever asked her to pick one from the hundreds of stories that made up the pantheon of her experience.

“Well…I guess my favourite play, if one could so be chosen, is the Ode to a Flower Seized. It is not like your Buffy. The story is long, but there is only one of them. But while there is only the one tale, it is told in many ways and it changes over time depending on who tells it. The characters change, as do the places, the victims - everyone really. Sometimes the Flower falls in love with her kidnapper; sometimes she runs away; sometimes the gods help her; other times they assist in her kidnapping. It’s very funny most of the time,” she beamed.

“I mean. I am not actually allowed to watch stories like this at my age,” she said, looking away. “But sometimes my cousins tell me about the stories, because they say I should see how things used to be. Anyway, that story is quite entertaining and very ancient. It was conceived a long time ago to make people scared of Us, and then we took it on as our own and changed it.”

“Maybe one day I can watch it with you.”

“Oh yes - I’d love that. But we would both have to be older I think.” she twirled again.

“So, do you go to school?”

She looked at him for a second time, with an air of complete confusion.

“What’s that?”

“Well, It’s like where you go to learn things. It’s where you learn English, and Science, and Maths,” he said this last word like he had just chewed on a raw lemon peel.

“Well we don’t have shkool,” she said, trying this new word out for the first time. “But I do spend most of my days in training with my brother in many fields. We learn morality and ethics, combat and Philosophy …” she said, trying to capture the breadth of her duties in a few words.

“That sounds better than school…whatever Philophosy is.”He laughed.

For a moment she seemed to want to say something but stopped herself. Arthur fidgeted in place, wringing his hands together again. He wondered if he had said something wrong - he was always to blame when things got awkward. After a minute or so, in the long but not entirely uncomfortable silence, Leelu finally turned back to him and asked a question that was lingering in her mind since they’d met a week before.

“Arthur,” she asked looking at him. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

A redness somehow seemed to colour her dark cheeks, and the feathers which framed the borders of her face flared out, but settled back into their original positions quickly.

“You’re friend Ginie maybe?” She prodded.

At first Arthur was too embarrassed to give and answer. His mouth gaped open and hung there like the fool he felt. But then, his young mind rounded on a response that seemed to make sense to him.

“Well, I’m only 10,” he said. “I don’t really like any girls like that yet. But Mr Russo says that one day I’ll wake up and just like that. Someone special will catch my eye and my heart.” He was quoting directly and it showed in the look on Leelu’s face.

“Me too,” she lied.

“Plus anyway, Gin likes girls, not boys.”

“Oh yes - my brother likes boys and girls and is now betrothed to a two-type. My brother is so handsome, everyone wants him to be their husband,” she stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry. Arthur had no idea what a two-type was, or what betrothed meant, but he did not wish to be rude so he nodded broadly and smiled.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked, looking at the floor.

“Na…my dad said I can have one when I’m queen.”

“How long until that happens?” Arthur asked, too keenly.

She giggled as though Arthur was the only person in the whole cosmos who didn’t have the answer to this very obvious question.

“When my wings come in obviously,” she said cryptically.

“Can we be friends when you’re a queen?”

“Oh yes Arthur. I hope so.”