«Kora.» Clementine lilted, jumping off the windowsill and into her sister’s arms. «Will you tell me about the stars?»
«If that is what you wish, then yes.» Kora stepped to the window and heaved herself and Clementine onto the windowsill. Together they dangled their feet over the dark, misty lake beneath. «Which star do you want to know of tonight?» She could not help but let her voice crack at the end of her words.
«Which one is that?» Clementine exclaimed, shaking her long brown curls out of her face as she pointed to the brightest shining star in the sky above.
Kora’s gaze lay on the star, and a heavy weight toppled onto her chest. «That there,» She paused to take a deep inhale of air, «That is the star of grief.» Her voice came across as a choked sound. «Some name it Solaria.» Kora carefully ran her fingers through her little sister’s hair.
«It is a very pretty star.» Clementine leant backwards, «What are stars made of?»
«It is said that nobody quite knows. Some say it will for evermore be unexplained what created our skies. Professor Yearwood reckons the stars in our skies are channelled by magic. I think I believe him. I think everything in our world is a creation of magic. Even you, Clem. You are magic, and do not ever forget it.» Kora slipped back off the windowsill and brought Clem over to her moss-green bed, tucking her in beneath the covers.
«You must get some rest for tomorrow, the skies will be ablaze with the brightest of constellations, and I wish not for you to miss out on the experience.» Kora leant forward and pressed a kiss onto Clementine’s forehead, «I love you, you know that, right?»
Yet Clementine had already fallen into the depths of sleep, and no answer came, nor did Kora think it ever would.
She returned to the windowsill, gazing down at the misty water. She imagined an adventure waiting just outside the home. The weight on her chest amplified. Kora had long known that she felt a prison in her own home.
Only fifteen Moons had she witnessed, and yet she knew she could not spend another within Aminadav.
Her eyes lingered on Clementine. Her heart was screaming many tongues, though they seemed indiscernible, as if the words had been torn from another millennium before.
She longed for so much more than had ever been known to her, she had wished upon all the stars to have the courage to chase her destiny. In the distance, her eyes locked upon something.
A golden hue flickered, illuminating a frail figure across the lake. In a blink, the gold disappeared. Yet the light did not fade, it glowed in shades of earthy greens, casting luminescence across the trees of the forest. Until eventually, it had grown so close that Kora felt as though, if she reached far enough, her hand would meet the glistening figure.
She surged forwards when she tried, held up by nothing more than an invisible matter. Still, Kora felt the warmth of a hand in hers, and she knew it was pure magic.
Kora hoisted herself back into the room. Once her feet were on the floor once more, she reached for her backpack. In a disarray, she picked out items which belonged to her, haphazardly stuffing them into the sack. She did not allow herself to look at Clementine, for fear of not daring to leave after all.
Magic was real, she had sensed it. So close, yet so far.
The last thing she took from her belongings was a worn notebook with a dark green cover, scraps of journal pages poking out of the seams. They were words she had found scattered in hidden places, tales of which she knew nothing and yet craved to solve.
An opportunity had opened, she knew. And she had to take it.
She had to strive for her own destiny.
She was at the window, ready to climb out and pad across the treetops before reaching ground. Except she could not move, she felt frozen to her place as her eyes lingered on Clementine.
What was she doing, her heart screamed into her soul. She could not simply leave her own family behind. Her sister was just in the same room, her parents not far away.
Kora swallowed a choked sob.
She withdrew the journal scraps from her half-filled notebook. Then she placed it upon the foot of Clementine’s bed.
As tears swept down her face and it got harder to swallow her sobs, Kora slipped out of the window. She reached upwards with her arms to swing herself onto the nearby tree. She used the hidden walkways, which had been created Moons before by mortals long gone.
Her heart gracefully tore into slivers of itself when she reached the mossy ground upon which the village was built.
The golden aura flooded Kora’s sight once more, and she trailed after it in blurry pursuit as it led her far into the depths of the forest.
When she came out on the other end, she found herself in a place she had never seen before. As the sun rose over the horizon, Kora knew she had likely made a mistake in taking her leave. Nevertheless, she could not force her heart to feel regret, because for the first time in her youth, she felt as if she were holding her future in the palm of her hands.
And that was all she had ever longed for.
Even so, every time she thought back on her abandoned life, she wondered whether or not that worn notebook was still being used. And she hoped more than anything that Clementine had not lost her fascination with the stars in the skies.
For then she could imagine that whenever she gazed at the constellations, perhaps Clementine was seeing the same celestial image and that made her feel much less lonely.
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