Wings of Starlight

by Allison Saft

“It’s not worth mentioning.” He flexed his fingers as if working out a cramp, then took a single step back from her.

“How do you find me, then?” Her face burned, and her heart fluttered. How infuriating, she thought, that a single look from him was all it took to fluster her. “Impertinent, for one.”

In those times, there were dream-talent fairies who gathered up the dreams like shorn fleece and brought them back to their homes. All through the night, they spun dreams into thread on their spinning wheels. Come morning, they gathered up their thread and wove it through the branches of the young Pixie Dust Tree so that the children’s hopes and wishes protected and nourished the tree as it grew.

“If memory serves, queens aren’t born from just any star, but a star that a child has wished upon.

“I’m not sure how long it will take. It took a few days for her to make it the first time.” “I don’t mind,” he said. “I’ll wait for you.”

“Clarion.” He said her name like a plea. “Weighed against your life, they are nothing to me. I would make that trade every time.”

“I have never been to the Mainland myself, but I have heard extensive reports about it. Humans love their children from the moment they are born. They raise them in the hopes that they will be better than their parents ever were.” Elvina’s fingers lingered on Clarion’s chin. “When I saw you rise from that star, I think I understood something of what mothers must feel.

“You will have all your subjects to love you. And even if I am not beside you, you will still have me. There will never be a star brighter. I will always love you.”