Elegy for a Star

“There you are,” came a sensuous voice from behind Tess.

She jerked upright, released from her reverie of all of those unexpected moments the night before. She wondered what Gwen was up to right now. She nearly slipped back into her daydream before she recalled that someone had just spoken to her.

She’d been waiting in the hallway outside of a room labeled “Echoshaping.” The iron door was locked tight, with no other details about what could be behind it, except a placard beside the label that said, “Knock once and wait.” Tess knocked half an hour ago.

Tess turned around to see a beautiful woman in a white, hooded robe. The only peachy skin showing was that of her face. Her arms were blanketed in her flowing robes and her hands were covered in white gloves. Her feet couldn’t be seen beyond the end of her dress. Under the shade of the hood, it appeared that she had blonde hair, but Tess couldn’t say for certain.

“Madame Pava?” Tess asked. The woman stood just a hair taller than Mairaela, if Tess had to guess.

Darkly painted, red-colored eyes sparkled with amusement. Behind a sheer, black veil, Tess saw a small, petite mouth curl at one edge.

“You’re Tess,” Pava’s words were soft, delicate and enthralling. There was something about her voice that made Tess want to listen, no matter what she was talking about.

Tess could only nod.

“And you’re giftless,” Pava added.

Tess felt like it was a bit of a label, but she could only nod her head, “Yes, ma’am.”

Pava leaned in closely, inspecting Tess’ face, eyes, mouth. She didn’t indicate that she found anything particularly good or bad. Something drew Tess’ attention to Pava’s hair, shifting oddly with her movement. A small sparkle of eyes shimmered within Pava’s hair.

“What-...” Tess started, before a yellow snake struck from beneath Pava’s hood. Tess lurched backward, watching the serpent’s jaws snap just in front of her, before she collapsed onto the ground. “What was that?!”

Pava removed her hood, displaying a tangle of yellow snakes for her hair. “These are my friends.” Pava brought a hand up, caressing one of the snakes, which curled itself around her wrist affectionately. “My friends despise the gifted. Did you know that the serpent is unrepresented by any constellation? Almost every single creature has a tie to one of the constellations, but crows?  Snakes? They have nothing,” Pava caressed a few of the scaly ropes that slithered atop her head, “The spiders have their whole constellation in the Spinnerets. Salamanders have a fire moon. But snakes… even dragons hate them, seeing them as a lesser, unevolved form. These poor creatures have been spat out of the stars like trash, never again given a home in the heavens.”

“They hate the gifted,” Tess repeated, “And that one attacked me.” Tess’ eyes widened, “Does that mean?”

“That you came too close?” Pava asked, “Yes.”

Tess gave Pava an incredulous look that turned quite sour. Hadn’t she been the one to approach Tess? She rose to her feet and brushed herself off, coming up to be face to face with the Madame. She avoided being too face-to-face, however. “If you don’t mind,” Pava said, stepping past Tess to press a key into the door she’d been waiting at. With a turn of the key, the heavy door slowly began to swing open.

Within was a rocky cave that bore no similarity to the rest of the castle. She wondered if she had traveled within the mountain now. She knew that the castle was built on the mountain, but did it have its roots within it? It was difficult to see, to keep up with Madame Pava, especially once the door shut behind them. Her eyes were slow to adjust, and all she could hear was Madame Pava stepping away from her.

“Madame?” Tess spoke aloud, hearing no response. Ahead of her, a flame was lit, illuminating her destination just a few paces ahead.

When Tess came to it, she saw a small desk with an assortment of powders and herbs. Mushrooms were growing along the walls and a spiderweb was forming in one of the rocky crevices above. All-in-all, Tess felt overdressed and wondered if she should’ve brought leathers, rather than common clothes.

On the far end of the room was a tunnel that led off into darkness.

“What is echoshaping?” Tess asked. 

Madame Pava seemed busy with a red ledger, but responded, “An echoshaper looks through the ripples of your soul.”

Tess raised an eyebrow. That made no sense. She hoped Pava knew that made no sense. She decided not to voice her concern, however. “What are the ripples that a soul makes?” She asked.

“Lives once lived. Lives yet to be lived.” Pava replied, closing the ledger and turning around to face Tess, “Your soul goes through a journey much longer than yours. We’re going to look through it to find if a gift has, or ever will, exist in your soul.”

“And then what?” Tess asked, “You ‘shape’ it?”

“We fold it, yes,” Pava replied.

Tess scratched behind her ear, “And that means?”

“Nothing, to you,” Pava responded, letting out a bit of a sigh, “Listen, you do understand that this isn’t a class, right? I have no obligation to teach you anything.”

“What do you mean?” Tess asked. Captain Maupoissant had said she was signing them all up for classes.

“This is a therapy,” Pava replied, “If it were a class, it would be beyond remedial. You are behind on even the basic requirements for the Corps, and yet you are here. This is a therapy for the giftless, one last attempt at being useful.”

“We don’t need this uptight Yysh cultist,” Miri groaned, “They’re all fucking crazy.” She could feel Miri throwing a tantrum in her mind, “She wouldn’t know ‘useful’ if ‘useful’ shaved those disgusting noodles off her head!” Tess could recall enough about the Yysh. Believers of a secretive Snake-God. They adopt serpentlike traits, but generally keep their beliefs to themselves.

“Alright, then when does the therapy start?” Tess asked, trying to not hiss like one of the Madame’s snakes, “As far as I can tell, I’m no closer to getting a gift.”

Pava must’ve heard the vitriol in Tess’ voice. Her eyes narrowed and she gestured to the side, guiding Tess toward that dark tunnel. “Let’s go see the echoshaper, then.”

“You aren’t the echoshaper?” Tess asked, feeling a sudden anxiety.

She followed Pava’s direction and stepped into the dark tunnel, hearing the woman approach behind her. As her eyes adjusted, she saw a dank passage, with water dripping through webs atop the cave ceiling. There were a few areas in the tunnel that Tess had to crouch, climb or squeeze through in order to make it to the point where the cave opened up wide. A large chamber came to greet Tess, lit by a few luminescent crystals jutting out of the walls. The cave turned into carved stone steps that carried Tess and Pava down to a hexagonal platform. At the center was a stone slab, raised to waist height.

“Lie down,” Pava instructed, and Tess followed the order. The stone was chilling to the touch and it took Tess some time to adjust to the temperature before she could lie down comfortably, even through her clothing.

Lying there on the stone, Tess looked at the ceiling and only saw shadows. None of them moved, though she constantly checked, expecting to find something horrible up there.

“Yeah,” Miri hummed, “This was a bad idea.”

There was a sting in Tess’ neck, and she twisted to see Pava with a needle; a small droplet of blood on the end of it.

“Relax,” Pava said, and by the time the word was over, Tess realized she couldn’t move a muscle. Pava reached out and adjusted Tess’ head to look directly upward, “The first time is always the worst.”

“This was a really fucking bad idea,” Miri snapped, her voice growing dim and muted. “Tess? Tess! Fuck, oh fuck,” her voice began to fade to complete silence, “Fuck, Tess, stay with m-... don’t-...”

Her mind was empty, her body numb. She could barely breathe. Tess couldn’t tell how much time passed in that state, but eventually something came into her field of vision.

Atop the ceiling, crawling upside down, was the largest spider Tess had ever seen. It was larger than her dormitory room by a considerable amount. Suspended on a thick line of web, it began to slide down toward Tess, closer and closer. As it approached, Tess noticed its face: an eyeless human, with eight red jewels spanning its brow and forehead.

Tess couldn’t hear a thing, but she could feel Miri slamming at the barriers of her mind, trying to break through.

It didn’t happen. Tess tried to scream, but not a sound escaped her lips.