Elegy for a Star

It’d been a week since Lady Morro’s Day. The festival had concluded with Admaris’ crowning as the honorary Valkyrie of Lady Morro. Despite his injuries, he still managed to win his next fights. Tess was certain that Joyona would have beaten him, but she missed her second fight entirely, disqualifying her. That one angered Tess. She was angry at Admaris, even if she knew that was unfair. He hadn’t done anything wrong, but it was difficult to blame anyone else for Gwen’s mental state.

She hadn’t seen Gwen since that day. She could only assume that she’d been in holding or under an isolated probation. She hoped that she was still in Kravana, at least. She hoped that fight wasn’t the last she saw of her friend. The thought that she might never see Gwendolyn again gave Tess a nauseous feeling.

“Tess.”

Tess looked to her side to see Esma leaning over toward her desk. “Want to see the cutest little critter ever?” She asked.

She was waiting for her Sorcery and Ritualism class to begin. The classroom was an odd one to sit in. There was a near-constant tingle on the skin of the anti-sorcery field emanating from the crystal by the teacher’s desk. Professor Dorn would turn it on and off with a touch of their hand. Tess liked Professor Dorn well enough. They were kind, soft-spoken and timid, but they were knowledgeable and helpful when a student needed assistance. Even though Tess had struggled with much of the practical aspects of Dorn’s lessons, they had been extremely patient.

On that same note, Esma was someone that Tess had begun to get along with. She was an interesting woman, with tan skin and moss-green hair. Small twigs and leaves seemed to sprout from within her hair at a slow pace, and occasionally flowers would blossom around her ears or temple. Her arms and shoulders were no different. Some areas it even looked like her skin turned to bark. The first time Tess saw her, couldn’t keep her eyes off of her. She was attractive, yes, but it was mostly because she was so unusual. She wasn’t Fey, but she lived in the Summer Court. In fact, Tess didn’t know what she was.

She knew what she did, though. Esma belonged to a group known as Thornseers. These sorts of Wyrden drew their power from their blood which, in some ancient time, had been mixed with the blood of the goddess Cenerine; deity of nature. Esma explained how—something about another god cutting her and her blood spilling—but Tess couldn’t remember the exact details. She didn’t understand all of Esma’s capabilities, though, except that she was especially good with animals and knew a lot of sorcery involving natural elements.

“Tess,” Esma said again. Tess shook her head a moment. “No? You don’t?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I was off in my own little world. What did you say?”

“I asked if you wanted to see the cutest, most sweetest, most adorablest being you’ve ever laid your eyes on,” Esma squealed quietly.

“Sure,” Tess replied with a soft smile.

Esma pushed aside a couple leaves on her arm and revealed a tiny rat, covered in gray fur with a bright pink tail. Its nose wiggled rapidly as it sniffed around Esma’s arm. Tess never thought that she would like rats, of all things, but this one was really cute. Tess smiled and whispered, “Hey, little guy.”

“She’s a she,” Esma corrected.

“Hey, little gal,” Tess replied with a chuckle, “Where’d you find her?”

“Out in the gardens,” Esma replied, “I’m going to bring her down to Hastenburgh and build her a nice little home this Rijen.”

“That’s two months away,” Tess whispered, “What are you going to do until then?

Esma gave the rat a little scratch on the top of the head, “She’ll live with me.”

Professor Dorn approached the front of the class and collected the attention of the students, “Umm.. hi, class. We’re, uh.. Today, we’re going to discuss sorcerous aids. If that’s okay.”

They always seem to check with the class before presenting a lesson. Some of the students respected them less for it, but Tess found it endearing.

“Umm.. Let’s start with Star Vials,” Dorn started.

A student objected, “Everyone knows about Vials, professor, and most of us are blood Wyrden anyway.”

Ugh, Morena. She was a shapeshifter, her blood flowing from the jungle Cadamma, a terribly dangerous place. She was always so rude. It was clear that she finely tuned her body to near perfection. That was, at least, for people that enjoyed fair-skinned, black-haired women with curves in all of the right places. She hardly wore anything, too. Not that Tess minded that part, but it was just of note that Morena knew how pretty she was, and was confident enough to flaunt it.

How Tess would like to wear something skimpier below the waist. She didn’t have many options in that regard without letting her secret out, though.

Tess raised her hand in defense of the professor, “Actually, I don’t know what Star Vials are.” It wasn’t entirely true. Tess knew a little bit about them. They house the power of stars, making sorcery a little easier to perform.

Dorn nodded and said to Morena, “We should have, umm.. Everyone should get on the same page before we, uhh.. Before we continue on to the advanced informa-...”

“She’s not even a Wyrden!” Morena replied sharply.

That stung. It didn’t take long for Esma to lash back, “Shut the fuck up, Morena!”

Morena continued, “I don’t even understand why she’s in this class!” Morena went on a tirade, throwing her hands into the air. Suddenly, she looked furious and was running her mouth, but not a sound could be heard.

Dorn had cast a silence spell over the classroom. This was their typical go-to whenever something like this broke out.

Tess rolled her eyes at Morena. What was with this twelve-year-old drama queen?

Once everyone seemed to calm down, Dorn dropped the spell and cleared their throat, “We will go over Star Vials.” They looked to Morena and added, “Briefly.”

They turned to the class, though gave Tess a glance since it was she that likely needed more information than most.

“Um.. well, in their simplest form, Star Vials enhance the performance of star Wyrden. While at the Sea of Stars, only a few days’ travel from here, one could find falling stars and well, uh… trap their power within the vial,” Dorn continued.

“Umm, opening a vial during a casting effort empowers the spell, both making it easier to perform and with a, um… a stronger effect,” Dorn added.

Morena’s hand raised urgently.

“Um.. yes, Morena?”

“Aren’t they prone to exploding, though?” The Shapeshifter asked with a smirk on her face.

Dorn nodded their head, “Uhh.. well, yes, there is a possibility. Using a Star Vial too often can make it unstable. An, um.. an unstable Star Vial may detonate, releasing its powerful fury into the surrounding environment, uh.. Which is very bad.” They explained, “This is why Star Vials are not allowed in certain towns, but, um… Wyrden will typically keep them in a magical holding pocket, uh, well… during a visit to those towns, I suppose.

“Each Wyrden with a Star Vial latched to their soul will see a constellation appear upon the, um… the vial. This will represent your sorcerous gift, uh.. That is, I mean, your magical specialty.”

“I bet Tess won’t even get one on her vial, it’ll just say ‘You’re Not Even a Wyrden, Dumbass,’” Morena whispered, just loud enough for Tess to hear.

“What a fucking child,” Tess thought, rocking her head back with a sigh.