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The city of Balthear was celebrating. From every building, joyous noise could be heard. Men and women drinking, dancing, singing, and generally being merry. In the dark of the night, candlelight shone from every window of every home. Although the whole town seemed to cheer in unison, there was one person leaning over a balcony, stunned into silence as golden eyes peered out into the void of space, speckled with thousands of tiny burning giants miniscule only by the distance they stood away.
Her ears ignored the calls from the party that reveled behind them, those that beckoned her back into the fray, one particular getting closer as they walked up behind her. Finally after seeing a swish of green from the corner of her eye, Sheerna jumped a little as it did, turning around to see the strange little peacock aaracockra she had come to know, who was now giving her a wry, birdy smile. She breathed a sigh of relief, hand to her chest.
"Are you alright? You acted as if I was Lord Irramenta for a moment there," he asked, voice filled with both amusement and concern.
Sheerna looked back at him, now relaxed again. "I'm fine, you just can move very quietly when you want too," she responded.
This caused the peafowl bard to pause and frown. "I was actively calling your name… " he said, which caused Sheerna to blush deeply. Had she been that distracted? How could she be so careless and let her guard down like that? She couldn't remember a time before when she would have done that…stupid…
"So," Pagoni said, leaning on the balcony railing next to her and pulling her from her thoughts, "What's got you so dreamy-eyed?" He looked up at her with a mix of curiosity and adoration. Funny that, he's the adorable one to me , she thought.
Sheerna pointed upwards at the spattering of thousands of twinkling lights in the sky. Pagoni followed her finger and smiled at them. There weren't as many as their could be, due to all of the lights in the town, but there was a good spackling none the less. Like an artist had taking a paint brush and smacked it against the side of the canvas to sprinkle the little dots everywhere. "I think this is the first time I've ever seen the stars," she admitted.
Pagoni balked at her in astonishment. "Really?" He squawked in surprise, "never in your life?!"
Sheerna nodded. "I've seen pictures of them from drawings and such. But because Balthear has been in a twilight realm for so long I have never seen them in person," she explains,"they're beautiful…. there are supposed to be… constellations up there, though right? But I don't see any…"
"ah that's because they don't really have lines collecting them like in the star maps," pagoni explained. Sheerna looked athim, eyes wide with embarrassment. Her face fins drooped and she blushed furiously before covering her face in her hands. Of course. How could she be so stupid. Why would there be lines?! As if he could read her mind, pagoni spoke up, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Oh dear don't feel embarrassed!" He insisted, "I always wondered why there weren't lines connecting the constellations together often when I was little, and I could see the stars all the time growing up!"
Sheerna looked up from her hands and gave him an amused look. How did he seem to know so well what to say to make her smile? Maybe he didn't, and he was just silly and charming naturally. Such a goofy bird man… "would you be willing to help me find some then?"
His smile widened, taking one of her hands in his (sheerna felt her heart flutter a little, damnit why was she acting like she was 13?!) And with the other pointed to the brightest star in the sky. "You see that one? That's Polaris, the North star. It makes up the tip of the beak of Zebnir the ibis sorcerer who turned a desert into a marshland, and if you follow the beak down, you find the body of Herringbone, the great crane warrior who-"
"wait wait wait I thought those are the bear constellations, the ones that Polaris is a part of?" She asked, very confused. Had they changed the names and stories in 400 years? Had the stars shifted?
"Oh, right silly me!" He responded with a chuckle, "my people have our own names and stories for the constellations…I will try to translate based on what I remember of other societies star charts, hold on…" with that he dug into his pocket and pulled out a little book about astrology and star charts. Sheerna crooked an eyebrow at the astrology label, "So between them is Drago, or quetzal as we call it. Over there, that large V shape is Taurus the bull or in my terms, the great peregrine Nevadin. And if you follow that point you can find the hunter orion, who is in arracockra society the half gaint Oakhammer, Nevadin's sworn enemy."
Sheerna tried to follow along but to her many of the stars just looked like a mess of dots. " How are you able to find these constellations so easily?" She asked,"practice?"
"A bit? But aaracockra also have a bit of a knack for reading the stars… it just…comes to us," he explained, "Aaracockra were a migratory race a long time ago, some still are, and we've always just… known them well. Many believe it's the work of one of our gods, Viator. He protects travelers on long journeys. Some believe he moved the stars into place and gifted us with the ability to understand them." Pagoni stared up at the heavens with a thoughtful look before turning to her. "how about you? Do you have any stories from your people to tell?"
Sheerna froze. In truth she had never really known her parents or her true heritage. She had been forcibly adopted and raised by the vampire lord himself, molded into a weapon for him as a young child. There was no time for cultural lessons, even about that of the vampire's. Only abuse, manipulation, training, and endless terror. She shuddered as she thought about it, subconsciously gripping Pagoni's hand harder.
"Sheerna! Sheerna are you alright?!" He exclaimed, snapping her out of it. His eyes were full of concern as he tried to read her haunted expression. She stammered trying to come up with an explanation, an excuse, something to avoid talking about what she had just thought about. As if he had read her mind he spoke again. "Would you like to ah… learn about your star sign?" he offered, lifting the book.
"Ah… Sure…," she said swallowing and moving a bit closer to him, to both look at the book better but also subconsciously for more comfort, "do you ah…do you believe in astrology too?"
"Not really but it is interesting to learn about and fun when it lines up with reality!" He said in a jovial tone, flipping through pages, "so if you don't know astrological signs are based on the stars that should have been present in the sky the day you were born. I was hatched June 13th so I'm a Gemini, because that's when that constellation is most present in the night sky. Though in arracockra culture that one is called Mes and Phemos the gay lovers…not a pair of brothers…"
Sheerna gave a small laugh at the awkward cultural difference. "So what is that supposed to say about you?" She asked.
"according to the book, I'm supposed to be playful and curious, a social butterfly. I apparently am regularly juggling hobbies, careers, friend groups… " he turned to her with wry grin, "Don't know how I'm supposed to be capable of that when I can't even juggle balls!"
That got a chuckle out of her. "Alright what's mine say about me? I was hatched March 13th," she said. At least that's what Lord Irramenta told her. It could be a lie. Though she supposed if astrology was just for fun anyways it didn't matter.
"Oh so you would be pisces! The fish constellation!"
" What's that in aaracockra culture? " She asked.
Pagoni gave her an awkward look. "well… still pisces but this time a fishing net, not two fish…" he explained, "sometimes cultures overlap a little." She shrugged in response. It didn't bother her too much. Again it's all for fun. "So according to here it says they are highly creative and imaginative, full of compassion and have a kind and loving nature… and have a lot of empathy for others."
Sheerna smiled but her heart sank a little. It felt good, like he was complementing her directly. At the same time she was reminded of all the horrible things she had done in the past. The people she had hurt, tortured, even killed for the sake of her lord. Even though she felt terrible about it could she really call herself loving, compassionate, and empathetic?
As if on cue pagoni came in to sweep the bad thoughts away. "It also says here they are beautiful, graceful, powerful, cunning, and all around amazing and that I should feel lucky to have you in my life~" he finished with a wink.
She chuckled a bit giving him a gentle shove. "You made that last part up!!" She accused teasingly.
"So what if it's not in the book! It's true!" He insisted sticking his tongue out before polding her hand again and leaning against her. They both stared up at the twinkling lights in silence, their hands intertwined. In that moment they could barely even register the party going on inside the castle. It was as if the rest of the world melted away. "You know," pagoni finally said, "the city lights are still obscuring some of the stars…but you can see them in all their glory out in the wilderness…I will be headed out very soon…would you like to come with me and see them together? I can tell you all the stories of the constellations…we can see the ones that are only present in the southern hemisphere too!"
She felt a smile rise to her face at the thought, a warm sensation inside of her. Not only of finally leaving this place, but at imagining being with this little blue bird man when she did. His company was so comforting. It…it made her feel welcome? Safe? Secure? None of those were quite enough to describe what she felt around him, but whatever that was she needed more of it. "I would love that, please," she responded in a warm quiet voice.
Pagoni smiled brightly. "Your wish is my command, my dear," with a wink and a bow he finished that sentence with a kiss to her hand, causing her to chuckle again.