Stargazer

Chapter 19

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, wondering if he was feeling any pain at first, but then realized he had a smile on his face as he began to juggle the balls. We let out a laugh as well and the children turned from the food and began to laugh and clap.

One young girl around six or seven, came forward from her parents blanket where they sat and walked up to Griffith. Her springy, dark curls haloed her face making her look like an angelic beauty. She laughed and held up her hands. I watched in horror as Griffith threw a ball of fire at the child! I stood and yelled in instinct as I threw my own hands up to try to protect the girl. But before my eyes, there was the girl, still with a pink lipped grin spread across her chubby cheeks, and she held the fire in her palms, changing its colors. It went from the burning orange, to blue, then pink, then green. Then she lifted her arm, about to throw it back to Griffith and he shouted, stopping her.

“Ah ah ah! What did we say about throwing near the tents, Beckah? You can throw it back in the fire.” He scolded her and she turned and threw the fireball back in as Griffith did the same with his own.

It was inspiring to see such a young child handle her magic with ease that sparked interest in learning more about my own. It was now growing dark and the moons were up. The stars were out as well, but more difficult to see with the bright full moonlight we had tonight.

I turned towards Dru, “I’m ready to see her now.” He had been watching the children playing and shot his glance at me in momentary confusion.

“Who, Makawlah?” He asked.

“Yes, I’m ready to learn more about my own magic. I need to know now.” He nodded in understanding and stood from the fire.

“I’ll go with you,” he said, pulling me up by my hand. “I think I know where we can find her.” As we walked along the line of huts, I saw a glance of the horse corrals in the distance and thought of the poor bauble bird that had taken us through the desert and wondered if he was okay.

“Dru, the bauble bird, is he okay?” I felt vulnerable revealing my weak character for caring about some dumb animal, but I knew Dru revered animal’s differently than most people I was used to at the academy.

“You do care!” He teased me. “You’ll be pleased to hear that he’s looking even better than when I first met him. He’s fattened up and his feathers are longer. He eats non stop! They have these giant water beetles here that curl up into balls and hide under rocks in the sand near shore, and they’re Chicken’s favorite! They even roast them up and eat them themselves.”

“Oh yuck!” I gagged and stuck my tongue out.

“What? They taste kind of like roasted pork.” he winked.

“Don’t tell me you actually ate one!?” I exclaimed in horrified disgust.

“Of course I did! I was hungry and it smelled fantastic. You’ll be trying one before we leave, trust me!” He gave me a joking squeeze, and I accepted the strong warmth of his arms, admitting in my head that it felt good just to be hugged.

We found a small group of ladies sipping their drinks by a fire near where the healer’s hut had been that I had woken up in. I immediately recognized Jackivah and Makawlah, almost identical sitting beside one another, besides Makwlah face tattoos that seemed to almost glow in the fire light.

“Makawlah,” I walked up to her slowly, feeling as if I were interrupting. But she regarded me warmly, regardless of how rude I had been toward her. “I just wanted to apologize for earlier today, I had a lot going through my mind to process, and although I still have a lot of questions and uncertainties, I believe you.” She raised her eyebrows and her green eyes lit up.

“Aha! I knew you would!” Makawlah exclaimed in her scratchy witch voice. “Come here, child.” I hadn’t been called a child in a long while but I followed her arm anyway that gently led me to the stump they were using as a seat and placed me between them both. I looked across the fire where Dru had taken a seat at another log and was handed a drink by Mia and another young woman. A sudden pang of jealousy took me by surprise and caused my heart to race.

Makawlah took another swig from her jug and her breath gave off a burning smell. “Don’t worry about earlier today,” she breathed on me. "But I have a feeling you already know you have a special connection with...the stars? " She waved a hand up towards the inky black sky where most of them could be seen between portholes of vision in the clouds. I nodded and gazed up at them, lovingly.

"Yes. I've always felt a connection to the stars and moons. I had great interest in them from a young age and studied everything I could find about astronomy and astrology; a little girl in the Guild library trying to read a book bigger than her, if you can picture it." Makawla gave a warm laugh and handed me her jug for a swig. I took it and felt the burn of whatever liquid and it gave me extra courage so that I felt like I could say anything to her in that moment, even with Jackivah quietly listening.

"But," I continued to open up. "I've always felt a bit of a disconnect. As if there was always something that made me a bit sad about them, something I never could figure out why."

"Yes, of course you were!” Makawlah acknowledged and took my hand once again, without asking, and began to read me. I allowed it, being that a part of me needed to know everything she could tell me. As her hand glowed purple and spread to my hand causing my skin to glow as well, she nodded as if she were agreeing with someone, but noone was speaking. Then she finally let go and completed her original statement.

“How do I explain this? Everything around us has energy. Not just people and animals, but the grass too and also, the stars.” She pointed up and smiled at me. “And even though not every one of those things may be considered ‘alive’, the energy surrounding the object is. The life force energy, or Ba'aku, as the Altawny call it, can hold onto and retain memories or energies of life around it.”

I shook my head unsure if I was grasping at what she was saying correctly.”Wait, so you’re saying the stars can hold memories?”

She nodded back, “and more. They can show you anything they are willing to, including the future, if they wish.” A sudden memory danced in my head, a flashback, of the dove taking over my thoughts the night of the planned assassination of the Prince. “You just have to know how to ask them for assistance. They may not always listen, but there’s a chance.”

I suddenly noticed Dru looking at me from across the fire, his face aglow with the reflecting flames licking at the dark. In turn, my face felt aglow, but not from the warmth of the fire. He was surrounded with young women looking to entertain him, and I found his attention on me, instead. I turned back to Makawlah with the thoughts of Dru distracting my mind.

“I had a premonition once.” I looked down at the drink she had poured me in a small cattle horn cup. “It was of Dru before I was supposed to assassinate him. The reason I did not.”

“The importance of it must have been real!” She gasped out. “The celestial bodies came to you! And they would never lie to someone who can harness their ba’aku! You are a piece of them, part of their energy! ” I looked up to the sky in reaction. Was it possible that I could possess their energy? Makawlah continued, “the reason you sensed their sadness was because you didn’t possess the knowledge to speak to them, to become part of them. But we can change that,” she winked at me.