[RiddleRose]: 298.Gold Dust - NaNoWriMo '07.Chapter twenty one

Chapter twenty one.

Wren was bored with reading Animal Stories. They were good, but not really his thing. He suspected that they were written with children in mind. He put it carefully back in its manila folder, and slid it back into the panel. He took out another one, which looked much newer. This one was under a large title of Short Story Collection, and had the subtitle of The Girl Who Fell in Love with Orion.

Wren read it, then read it again. It was... a fairy tale of sorts, but one with almost a sad ending. It was bittersweet. He liked it, he read:

“There was once a girl who fell in love with the stars. She loved them all, and when she was young, she spent many hours lying on her back, gazing up at them. She loved the way they sparkled, and glittered. She loved the way the crescent moon made them seem even more mysterious. She loved the way they seemed to gaze back at her, twinkling cheerfully.

“The only time she did not like to look at the night sky was when the moon was brightest. At these times she hated the moon. She stayed inside, and turned her face away, for the moon was obscuring the view of the stars, and making them seem paltry, mere rhinestones, on a black satin cloth.

“What she liked best was when the moon was not there at all. Then the sky turned from satin to a deep velvety black, and the stars shone so brightly that it seemed they would burn away the distance between them, and become a vast fiery blanket. On those nights, clear, cold, and moonless, she could see the stars which are normally hidden. The ones so far away that you can only see them when you don't look directly at them. The ones that blend together, going on and on, until you can see that the sky isn't black at all, but really white, and merely appears black to untrained eyes.

“When she was young, her parents saw that she was fascinated by the stars, and taught her their names, and taught her how to see the big dipper, and Orion, and all the other constellations. They hoped that she would become an astronomer, and perhaps discover planets, galaxies, and become famous in her field. But the girl didn't care about that. She learned the names of the stars so that she could call them by their names, and listen, hoping they would answer.

“When she was a little older, old enough to be beautiful, she made herself a star gown, of blackest velvet, studded with tiny diamonds. She went outside almost every night in her gown, and called out the names of the constellations and the stars, hoping they would notice her.

“When she was a little older, in college, and studying mythology and astrology, she decided to travel. She went to Europe, Japan, and Egypt. Through the trip, every night she put on her star gown, went outside, and called out to the stars. She was homesick for New England, and when a pang hit her especially hard, she would call out to Orion, begging him to comfort her, and telling him she loved him. For while on that trip, she found that she did love Orion. He had always comforted her when she was sad, and now she found that she had fallen in love with him.

“All through her childhood, the girl had many acquaintances, and no close friends. She never went to parties, for she knew that she would have to leave early, to call out the names of the stars. She never had slumber parties, for the one time she had tried one, she had gone outside to talk to Orion, and to call out to the constellations, and when she had come back inside, the other girls had told her she was crazy, and told her that stars couldn't hear her. They said that stars were just flaming balls of gas and fire.

“The girl knew that this was what stars were made of, but it was not what stars were. She had burst into tears, and left the slumber party, running outside, and going, not home, but to the top of a hill, where there were no trees, she had reached up as high as she could, and had cried and cried, begging the stars to take her with them, to make her a constellation so that she could be with them forever.

“Orion had spoken to her then, and told her that she was human, and had to find her own way to the stars. He told her that if she could, she would be welcomed, and put in the sky as a constellation. He told her that not many were able to do this, but that those who did were always happy as constellations.

“That was not the only time Orion spoke to her. When her small sister was born, he exulted with her, as she twirled and laughed and yelled her happiness to him. When her mother died soon after, he comforted her as she screamed her grief to him. Whenever she needed him most, he spoke to her, calming and soothing her, reassuring her that if she could find a way to the stars, she would be welcomed.

“She loved him with all her soul, and she could not find a way to be with him. The only thing she wanted was to become a star, become a constellation, but she could find no way to do it.  She read the old myths, about Perseus, Andromeda, Hercules, Ursa Major, and Ursa Minor. She knew how they had done it. But each time, a god had helped them become a constellation. She would have no such divine aid. Orion had told her she must find her own way.

“So she went to college, despite having no real desire to. Her father wished it of her, and he was growing old and tired, aged beyond his years by her mother's early death. Her sister, in her first year of high school, was partying, and drinking, and bossing her father around. She went to college so that she could escape, and try to find a way to the stars.

“At college, she was an enigma. Her teachers could not understand her, though some tried, and some pretended to. Her fellow students did not understand her, and thought she was crazy, because still, every night, she went outside, and cried aloud to the stars, calling their names, and wearing her star gown.  Only on the nights of the full moon did she remain indoors, turning her face away, and searching for a way to be with what she loved.

“There was a boy who watched her. He tried, several times, to talk to her, to tell her he wanted to know her, but each time she was distant and polite. He was forced to watch her from afar, watch her as she cried to the heavens, watch her in her star gown. Sometimes, when she went to the hills outside of campus, he followed her, and watched as she twirled and danced, leaped, and shouted. He learned of her love for Orion as he watched her, but did not understand what she was trying to do.

“He sent her gifts, letters, tried to get her attention, but she never even seemed to recognize him. She did not tell him to go away, she merely was polite, and always a little distant. They were in several classes together, and they became acquaintances. She began to recognize him in hallways. He hoped, for the first time, that she might actually care for him.

“But the girl merely counted him as a kind person, and soon she became distant again, for she had begun to have an idea of how to get to the stars. Every night, she went to the hills, and every night the boy followed her, too shy to tell her he loved her. She tried and tried, practicing until she knew that she was right. She could go to the stars.

“It was Orion who had given her the idea. She knew that he was a hunter, a strong, tall youth, carrying what was sometimes a bow, and sometimes a slain hare. She had thought that if that was what he looked like when he was not a constellation, then he must have a way of changing between the two forms. This, she thought, could be her human form. She would be a beautiful girl in a star gown, and also a constellation.

“For a year she practiced becoming a constellation. She could not do it at all at first, and almost despaired. But she did not despair, and persevered. Clad only in her star gown, she climbed the hill each night, and tried to become a constellation. She carefully chose where she wanted her stars to be, one in her eye, five for her belt, and one for each of her feet. Only one of her hands would be seen, and it would have only one star, the brightest of them all. That would be the star that connected her to Orion. Her gown would be a sweep of stars, the Milky Way. 

“She would be reaching out with one hand to Orion, stretched across the sky towards him, and he would be responding, the one star in her hand also one star in his. She knew that this was how it would be. But it was hard. Becoming stars is a difficult process, for you must learn to split your consciousness many ways, so that each individual star can begin to be alive. The girl would have nine stars in her constellation, so she must split her mind nine ways.

“The first star was easy. It was the one in her hand, and it was the brightest. After only two months she could make that one shine at will. The one in her eye came next, and it was also bright. After five months she could hold both the star in her hand and the one in her eye for as long as she liked. The two in her feet she learned to do simultaneously, and they were dimmer, for now she had her mind in four parts, and it was a strain to hold them all at once.

“Of the five on her belt, two were bright, and three were faint, for she could not always keep them going all at once. For a year more, she practiced, becoming more and more able to contain the nine stars within her. She was not sure how she did it, but she did, and that was enough. Throughout this time, Orion never spoke to her. 

“Also throughout this time, the boy followed her and watched her, falling more and more in love every time she added a new star. He did not know what she was doing, or what her purpose was, but she was beautiful, and mysterious, and he was young and foolish and in love.

“At last, the day she had waited for came. Tonight she would make her attempt. It was a new moon, and the stars would be bright, for it was a clear day, and would be a clear night. She spent all day preparing herself.

“That night, she went to a new place. She went to a place in the hills where there were no trees, but where there was a calm still pool that reflected the stars. She donned her star gown, and waited for it to be pitch dark outside. 

“The boy had been detained that night, and had not seen that she had gone to a new place. He went to the hill where she usually was, and waited, thinking something was wrong. But she didn't come, and didn't come. Finally, he went to the top of the hill, and looked out among the valleys and streams. Far below him, he saw a glimmer of light. By it, he saw her, one hand reaching, as if to a person, a star glimmering and shining from her hand. He ran, quickly, but not quickly enough, to the place where she was. 

“He arrived as the last star began slowly to shine from her belt. He watched, not knowing what was happening, as she seemed to shimmer all over. The stars rose, and with them a faint outline of her body. Suddenly he saw what was happening. He ran forward, quickly, but not quickly enough. As she was almost free of her body, he reached her, and cried “Wait! Wait! Stay, please, I love you!”

“She paused, but said only, “I am sorry.”

“He reached for her, and clutched for her belt as she leaped free, but it slipped through his fingers, and her vacated body fell slowly and gracefully into the pool, where it drifted among the reflected stars. The boy wailed and screamed, but she could not hear him. 

“She was drifting upwards, widening and growing as she went. Ahead of her, she could see Orion, waiting patiently, smiling at her. She could hear the stars whispering their welcomes to her, as she reached her place. Her stars settled in to the black velvet of the sky, and she walked free of them, towards Orion. In his form as the hunter, he ran to her, as she to him, and as they met he lifted her up and whirled her around, as their laughter drifted through the night sky.

“Below, the boy watched them, silent now. He looked in his hand, and saw that he had captured a star off of her belt. He pressed it to his heart and it sank into him, filling him with light, and he knew that he could never be happy without her. With the help of the captured star, he stood by the bank of the pool where she still drifted, and rooted himself there. With the help of the star, he could do it.

“And soon there was nothing beside the pool but a tall hemlock tree, reaching for the stars.”