Whispers of the Midnight Pitha

**Whispers of the Midnight Pitha**

In a curious town settled by a streaming waterway, the fragrance of new pitha consumed the space as the residents arranged for the yearly winter celebration. This wasn't simply any celebration; it was the **Moonlight Pitha Feast**, where the townspeople celebrated under the full moon with sweet rice cakes, tunes, and chuckling. In any case, what many didn't know was that this occasion was confidential — a secret murmured just to the people who had faith in old stories and neglected guarantees.

At the core of this secret was **Amina**, a young lady with eyes as profound as the night sky and a grin that could light up the haziest corners. She was known for making the most delightful pithas in the town. Yet, Amina wasn't only known for her cooking. She had confidential, one that was concealed underneath layers of stories her grandma used to tell her as a kid.

"Never let your pitha cool under the full moon, my dear," her grandma had murmured one evening. "The spirits of the night will come to taste, and when they do, they will leave with something beyond a nibble."

Amina had consistently thought it was a basic notion, a fun loving admonition to hold youngsters back from escaping around evening time. In any case, where it counts, she felt there was other stuff going on. The celebration was drawing closer, and Amina chose to test the legend herself.

As the townspeople moved and ate, Amina got away into the forest with a plate of newly made pithas. She tracked down a little clearing, where the evening glow gleamed like silver residue on the ground. She painstakingly positioned the pithas in the middle and ventured back, watching from behind a tree.

The night hushed up, save for the delicate stirring of leaves and the far off murmur of the celebration. Minutes passed, and similarly as Amina was going to snicker at her own silliness, she saw a figure — a tall, shadowy figure venturing into the clearing.

**Raef** was his name, a man of secret who had just been seen a couple of times in the town. Some said he was a voyager; others murmured that he was more than human, an animal bound to the evening glow itself. Nobody knew reality, however what Amina saw that evening validated her intuitions. Raef drew nearer the pithas with an effortlessness that appeared to be practically otherworldly. He bowed alongside them, his hand floating over the fragile treats.

"Are you here to take my pithas, or is it something different you look for?" Amina's voice slice through the quiet, shudder yet firm.

Raef looked into, his eyes gleaming with a delicate, ethereal light. "Haven't arrived for the pithas," he said in a voice that repeated like the breeze through the trees. "I have been looking for you, Amina."

A chill ran down her spine. How could he know her name? "What is it that you expect from me?" she asked, venturing nearer, however, her heart dashed with dread and interest.

Raef grinned delicately, a grin that appeared to be both kind and miserable. "There is a revile attached to your family, that went down through the ages. Your grandma knew about it, yet she never let you know the full truth."

Amina's brain hustled back to the accounts her grandma used to tell, the alerts she believed were simple legends. "What revile?"

Raef stood and strolled towards her, his developments liquid and extraordinary. "Your family once made a guarantee to the moon spirits. They were to offer a piece of their gather to the evening glow consistently. Yet, one year, sometime in the past, that offering was neglected. From that point forward, your family's destiny has been attached to the moon. Every age, one of you is picked — decided to either reestablish the bond or be asserted by the spirits."

Amina's breath was trapped in her throat. "What's more, I'm the one picked this time?"

Raef gestured. "Be that as it may, you have a decision, Amina. You can satisfy the commitment and break the revile. Or..." His voice followed off, and he turned away, as though he was unable to bear to complete the sentence.

"For sure?" Amina squeezed.

"Or then again you can decide to remain with me. Abandon this world and join the spirits in the evening glow."

Amina's heartbeat. She had never trusted in the old stories, never figured her life would be moved by something besides the basic delights and battles of town life. Yet, she was right here, confronted with a choice that would make a huge difference.

"Why me?" she murmured.

Raef's eyes relaxed. "Since I have hung tight for you. I was once similar to you, Amina. Bound to the earth, until I picked the moon. Presently, I'm unimportant, caught between universes. In any case, you... you get the opportunity to break free."

Amina gazed toward the full moon, its silver light washing the clearing in a tranquil sparkle. She thought about her family, of the existence she had consistently known. However, she likewise felt a weird draw, a longing to know more, to comprehend the world past everything that she had been said.

"I can't leave my family," she at long last said, her voice consistent.

Raef's appearance didn't change, however, his eyes flickered with something like distress. "Then, at that point, satisfy the commitment. Offer the pithas to the evening glow, and the revile will be broken."

Amina ventured forward, her hands shaking as she got one of the pithas. She held it up to the moon, murmuring a quiet supplication. As the twilight contacted the pitha, it started to sparkle, and briefly, everything was still.

Then, with a whirlwind, Raef vanished, leaving just his voice helped as the night progressed. "I will continuously look after you, Amina. In the evening glow, I will be there."

The following morning, the town arose to find Amina remaining by the stream, her plate of pithas immaculate. She never discussed what happened that evening, yet from that point on, each year, she made a point to leave a plate of pithas under the full moon, satisfying the commitment her family had neglected.

What's more, in some cases, on the calmest of evenings, when the moon was at its fullest, Amina would turn upward and feel a presence watching over her — an affection concealed in the twilight, sitting tight for the day their ways would cross once more.

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**The End**

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