Heirs of The Starlight Kingdom

Chapter 5: The Mother Tree

No one had touched the royal garden in twenty years.

It was called the Garden of Silence now. After the magic left, every tree in it had died. Every flower had turned to dust. Queen Elara used to walk there as a little girl and pretend the dead branches were still alive.

Now it was alive.

"Stay behind me," Caelum said, but Elara was already pushing past him, down the stone steps, her bare feet not caring about the cold.

The guards had formed a circle around the thing that had fallen from the sky. It was not a star. Not anymore.

It was a tree.

Its trunk was silver-white, like moonlight made solid. Its leaves were translucent blue, and they chimed like tiny bells when the wind touched them. It had grown in less than a minute, and it was still growing. And on its lowest branch, two fruits hung side by side, glowing.

One fruit glowed gold. The other glowed a soft, deep violet, like dusk.

"What is it?" Maela whispered, afraid to get closer.

Aldric was on his knees again, his old hands in the dirt. He was crying openly now, but he was smiling.

"It is the Mother Tree. The First Tree. The book says it was planted by the first Queen when she was pregnant with Auren and Noctis. It grows only for twins of royal starlight blood. Its fruits... its fruits are their first cradles. Their first gifts."

Elara reached the tree. The moment her hand touched the silver bark, the whole tree shivered and leaned toward her, as if recognizing her.

A warmth shot up her arm and straight into her womb.

The two babies kicked at once, and both fruits pulsed in time with the kicks. Gold and violet.

"Oh," Elara gasped, her eyes filling with tears. She laughed. "Oh, they like it."

Caelum came up behind her, his sword finally lowered. He placed his hand next to hers on the trunk.

The tree sang. There is no other way to describe it. A low, beautiful note that made everyone’s chest vibrate.

"My King," Lord Varric said quietly from the top of the steps. All his anger from before was gone. He looked old and tired and full of awe. "I have served three kings. I saw your father die believing this kingdom was dead. I... I was wrong this morning. Forgive me, my Queen."

Elara turned to him and smiled softly. "You were afraid for the kingdom, Lord Varric. A good lord should be afraid sometimes. Come. Come and see. It is not an abomination."

Varric walked down slowly. The other lords followed.

They all stared at the two glowing fruits.

"Which one is which?" Caelum asked Aldric. "Gold and violet? Light and Shadow?"

Aldric shook his head. "I do not know. The books never said. Gold could be light. Violet could be shadow. But..."

"But what?" Elara asked, suddenly protective.

"But in the oldest language, violet is not the color of evil. It is the color of the sky just before the stars come out. It is the color of magic itself. Perhaps... perhaps we have been wrong about shadow all along."

Before anyone could answer, the violet fruit twitched.

Then it cracked.

"Maela!" Caelum shouted.

"No! Wait!" Aldric held up a hand. "Look!"

The fruit was not breaking. It was opening, like a flower. Petals of pure light peeled back, and inside, floating in the air, was a tiny, perfect silver rattle. It was shaped like a crescent moon, and tiny runes danced around it.

At the same time, the golden fruit opened. Inside it was a tiny golden sun, warm to the touch, that floated as well.

The two little lights floated down, as if guided, and gently rested against Elara's belly. The gold sun on the left, where the strong heartbeat was. The violet moon on the right, where the softer heartbeat was.

The babies kicked again, happy.

"They are choosing," Maela whispered, her hands over her mouth. "Oh, my Queen, they are choosing their own gifts!"

Elara was crying freely now. "Hello, my little sun. Hello, my little moon."

Caelum put his arms around her from behind, his chin on her shoulder, his own eyes wet. For a warrior king who had not cried since his father’s funeral, he was crying now.

"My son and my daughter?" he whispered. "Or my two sons?"

As if answering him, the wind blew through the Mother Tree, and two whispers fell like leaves.

Not words. Feelings.

From the gold side: Courage. Warmth. Protector.

From the violet side: Dreams. Secrets. Keeper.

Aldric heard them and his blind eyes went wide.

"Keeper and Protector," he breathed. "Not Light and Shadow. Protector and Keeper! One to protect the kingdom with light, and one to keep the secrets of the stars! Oh, we were so foolish! We thought shadow meant darkness, but it means mystery! It means the hidden magic!"

In the Dark Forest, miles away, the Starless woman felt the Mother Tree awaken. She felt the two gifts being chosen. She screamed, and the black trees around her withered from the sound.

"No! He is supposed to be mine! The violet one is mine! The shadow is mine!"

She slammed her hand on the black glass, and the glass cracked further. More hands were coming out now. Dozens.

"Fine," she hissed, her beautiful face twisting into something monstrous, full of sharp teeth and empty stars. "If I cannot have you in the womb, little moon, I will have you at the altar. The Altar of First Light requires the child to be outside the mother to be named. For one hour, between birth and naming, he will be nameless. And a nameless child can be claimed by anyone."

She smiled, and the forest went completely silent.

"One hour. That is all I need."

Back in the garden, Elara shivered suddenly, though she was warm.

"What is it?" Caelum asked instantly.

"I do not know," she said, holding her belly. "For a second, I felt cold again. Just for a second. Like someone said my baby's name, but I could not hear it."

Aldric, who had been listening, looked up at the sky. The crescent moon was high now. It would be full in two months. Two months until her due date.

"My King, my Queen," he said urgently. "We must not wait for the birth. We must consecrate the Altar now. We must make it ready. Because when they come, they will come fast. And I fear... I fear you will not have two months. The Mother Tree only fruits when birth is near."

Maela's head snapped up. "What? How near?"

Aldric looked at Elara's glowing belly, at the two heartbeats that were beating a little faster now.

"Days," he whispered. "Perhaps a week. The Heirs are in a hurry to be born."

Elara and Caelum looked at each other, hands on the silver bark, two little lights floating around them.

Days.

Their world had been dying for a thousand years.

In a few days, two new worlds would be born.