A Story of the Stars

By: Weslle Posted on: August 31, 2008

The sounds of footsteps echoed outside my room: my father coming, as always, to wish my sister and I a goodnight. As if on cue, the bells of the Clock tower rang softly in the distance; echoing off the valley walls.

"You two better be in bed, or you'll be spending some extra time in the citrus groves tomorrow!" Grinning like a madman my father swung himself through our doorway.

"Father, sing us to sleep?" pleaded my sister beside me, "Please, please!"

She could have asked our dad anything with her bright smile and big, green eyes, and he would have happily obliged. But singing? You practically had to gag my father to stop him from singing on some occasions! Flames intermediately lit up my father's face...guilty pleasure revealed in his eyes. It was time for his favorite leisure.

"Of course, my darlin'." Chuckled my father. "What would ya two like to hear?"

Glancing around the room, I caught sight of the painted mural on the wall: a young couple approaching a warm, inviting Cyrene; the moon and the stars shining above. My mother had painted it, years ago.

"How 'bout the stars, dad?"

Wrinkles form around his eyes in a look of uncharacteristic hesitation. "Ah yes...the mysteries of the night sky...you two wouldn't be interested in that."

I laughed as a look of sincere disappointment came across in my sister's expression. My father seemed to be merely teasing.

"Well alright, fine. I think I've just the song...I learned it years ago from a Ty Beirdd bard. Quite the odd character, but a fascinating story..."

My father softly clears his throat, and closes his eyes as he begins to recall lyrics learned years before. With a voice as beautiful as the spring wind, my father began to sing:

"Arise in the night,

Pinpoints of light.

But whence these beings come;

Their origins hidden from sight?

Arise in the night,

Pinpoints of light.

Servants of Ourania,

Or kin of Sol so bright?

Well I'll tell you a story

Of a race...that reached ultimate glory.

Unicorns of old,

Proteus told

To serve the Elder

Against the Triumvirate mold.

Fighting bravely,

Unicorns are pure, you see

As a Priest's angel...

Martyrs to be.

Shielding their allies,

Their sacred magic exercised.

But enemy lines bring

Cacophonous cries.

The Unicorns stagger,

Falling together.

Proteus' soldiers go to rest,

But his allies weather.

He still laments,

His Divine sentients.

Sacrificed to win the war,

Call home the firmaments.

His Divine eyes wander,

And He begins to wonder.

To idolize His servants,

To gift them forever?

With unfathomable skill,

He forges with His will,

Eternal homes in the sky.

For His Unicorns to fill.

Celestial bodies appear,

Their numerous luminosities rear,

Like the Sun thousandth asunder.

Glistening, silver tears.

And that is the story,

Of the birth of the Stars so saintly.

Arise in the night,

Pinpoints of light.

Heroes to guide endlessly,

Those who will also fight."

As my father finishes singing, he turns his eyes from the painted mural expectantly to my sister, and is rewarded with the sight of her gentle, sleeping movements. Grinning with him, I sit up to whisper.

"So...those are truly Unicorns up there?"

"Oh yes. Always watching and guiding those lost in the night."

"But there are so many stars. All of them are Unicorns?"

My father paused than softly sighed, "Well there are legends of warriors who have been said to become stars upon their deaths."

"Really! Do ya know who?"

"Men and women...adventurers like your mother; deemed as Righteous and Holy as Proteus' Unicorns."

"Mother...could be a star?"

I look at my father, whose eyes betray no emotion. I immediately regret my question as my father stands from the bed and walks to the window. Gazing nonspecifically into the night sky, my father's smile returns for the shortest of moments before he turns back towards me. A single tear glistens on his cheek.

"Goodnight, son."