Mína a hviezdny kľúč, časť 8: Jazero malých odrazov

Mina and the Star Key, part 8: The Lake of Little Reflections

The Story Begins

One evening, Mina was playing by the wall in the hallway when she noticed a thin silver line between two boards. It was a tiny crack she had never seen before.

The girl with dark wavy hair took her little silver star key from her pocket. The key was cool, but then it gave a soft little shine.

“Door again?” Mina whispered.

Piko landed on her shoulder. His golden wings rustled softly.

“Maybe a door. Maybe just a door that looks like nothing,” he said.

Mina put the key into the tiny opening. Click. In the wall, a small, simple door opened. It was low and round. Behind it was soft blue light.

On the other side, a quiet lakeshore waited. The water was smooth like a big glass mirror. A thin moon shone above it, and the air smelled of damp sand.

Near the shore lay four small things. A grey round stone. A white feather. A green leaf with a long point. And a little pink shell.

Mina knelt down to look more closely. Then she looked into the water.

She blinked.

Under the stone in the lake, she could see the feather. Under the feather, the green leaf was rippling. The shell had the stone’s reflection, and the leaf was shining like a shell.

“The reflections are mixed up,” she said softly.

Piko floated a little higher and peered at the surface.

“The lake is very, very smooth today,” he muttered. “And when it is too smooth, it sometimes mixes up what belongs where.”

“How do we fix it?” Mina asked.

The little golden guide tilted his head.

“Look with your eyes and with your heart.”

That was all his help. Mina smiled. Piko sometimes knew a lot, but he only gave a little hint.

First she picked up the stone. It was nicely cool and smooth. She held it over the water, just a little way from the shore.

“The stone belongs with the stone,” she decided, and pointed to the grey reflection by the shell.

The water gave a tiny shiver. Small circles ran across it. Then everything went back the way it had been.

“Hm,” Mina said. “That was not it.”

She tried placing the shell near the stone’s reflection. The water only rippled quietly again.

Piko pointed his wings at the stone.

“Shape can whisper,” he said.

Mina put the shell back in the sand. She did not want to guess too fast. So she sat on her heels and watched for a while.

The leaf lay near a thin grass stem. Its end was long and pointed. Just there, in the water, a green point flashed, even though the leaf’s reflection was still somewhere else.

“Do you see it, Piko?” she whispered.

“I see a point. A very pointy point,” he nodded.

A few steps away, the shell lay in damp sand. Tiny grains held onto its ridges. In the lake, a pale pink curve shone in the same place.

Meanwhile, the wind touched the white feather. The feather trembled. And right by the shore, two tiny ripples appeared on the water, as if they also wanted to shake.

The stone was grey and round, and it lay by a little arch of pebbles. In the water, the same grey ring shone below that arch.

Mina opened her eyes wide.

“It is not about what is closest,” she said. “The lake shows what I am really looking at!”

Piko spun happily in the air.

“Oh. That is its rule.”

Now the girl did not look at everything at once. First she noticed the shape. Then the colour. Later the movement and the place near the shore.

When Things Start to Change

She looked at the green point of the leaf, then right at the green point in the water. Slowly, she pointed with her finger.

“This reflection is the leaf one.”

The surface gave a tiny little chime, as if a drop of light had fallen into it. The leaf’s reflection floated to the right place.

“One!” Mina said, happy.

At the feather, she made one small mistake for a moment. She thought the tiny ripples belonged to the shell, because the shell lay close to the wet sand. When she tried that, the lake only waved calmly.

Mina did not frown. This time she leaned just a little closer, stood firmly in her red boots on the dry shore, and waited.

Just then the wind blew again.

The feather trembled.

On the water, two tiny ripples trembled too.

“Oh! Movement,” she said. “The ripples belong to the feather.”

When she said it, the white reflection moved under the feather and stayed there quietly.

Only the stone and the shell were left. Mina looked at the grey arch on the shore. Then she looked at the pink shine in the wet sand. She did not rush. First she found the stone by its round shape and grey colour. In the end, she matched the shell to the soft pink curve.

At that moment, the lake became still and calm.

In the middle of the water, a tiny star shine suddenly appeared. It sparkled only for a moment, but it was bright and silver, just like Mina’s key.

“I know this light,” she whispered.

Piko landed on a grass stem, and his warm golden glow shone beside the little star.

“The lake remembers,” he said.

Mina looked at the tiny star reflection until it slowly faded away. It felt as if it was showing her a direction somewhere else. Not today. Maybe another time.

Now everything reflected the right way. The stone was a stone. The feather was a feather. The leaf was a leaf. And the shell had its own little pink sister in the water.

“All done,” Piko smiled.

“All done,” Mina repeated, pleased.

Then the pocket on her yellow cardigan gave a soft little shine. The star key came back into her hand, and she carefully put it back into her pocket.

Together they walked to the little hidden door. Mina looked back one more time. The lake was peaceful, and moonlight lay on the water like a thin silver ribbon.

The door closed quietly behind them. And in her pocket, the key waited warmly for the next evening.