Prologue
The Bright One was beside itself with excitement. The one the Fading Ones called Azura was barely a hundred years old, barely born by their standards, and here it was being permitted to patrol the shores of the timeless sea all by itself. Well, for a time, anyway. Azura's minder, Acamar, had been called away from the shore for a moment, and would return soon. The Bright One did not allow this to diminish its joy.
It was the duty of those chosen to patrol the shores to aid the souls of those who washed up in their journeys. Most were simply shown the way to the place where they would be sorted. Followers of one god or another were sent to wherever they received judgment and then sent further on to whatever afterlife they had earned. Those who adhered to beliefs of rebirth were sent to another place, in order to be properly reborn. Azura loved to watch the mortal worlds. It loved to see the stories of their short lives unfold. Many Stars payed no mind to mortals. They considered them too short-lived to be worth much notice. But Azura felt that the sheer amount of life these tiny creatures packed into their short existences was incredible and worthy of admiration. The Fading Ones who knew Azura thought it to be just a fancy of youth, but one that they might as well put to use, and so Azura was sent to Acamar to learn to mind the shore. Azura hoped one day to join the Sentinels, but was more than happy to guide souls for now.
Four souls drifted toward the shore. Azura knew their faces, for it had watched them in their lives and in their deaths. Azura had been devastated to see them die. So bold and full of purpose, all of them had been. One was still a child by the standards of his kind. A young boy, who had lived in poverty, but had not let that stop him from dreaming of a better future. Two others were barely grown from childhood, a male and a female. Both had known the young boy, and looked after him at times. Both fought for the freedom of the oppressed. The young man had died in the fight for freedom. The poor girl had given her life to save the man she loved, though he had not loved her in return. Azura had wept for days over them. The last was a man grown, and though in his own way responsible for the deaths of the others, was no less a noble soul. He had only sought to maintain the order of the law. The law was everything to him. It was the sum of all that was right and just, and he sought to protect it to keep his world from chaos. He would have made a great Sentinel, had he been born a star. In the end, though, he was torn apart by two laws, both profound and both true, and so he had taken his own life.
"Gavroche. Enjolras. Eponine. Javert." The Star whispered the names with reverence. All had been cut short, all had had so much more life in them to live. It was unfair. Why could they not have been given another chance? As soon as the thought occurred to Azura, it realized that perhaps they could. It was against the rules. Souls were to be guided to the places they were sorted. Azura was not much more than a glorified direction giver, but the Bright One was not to step outside of those bounds. It was the responsibility of others to decide what was done with them. But no one else was here.
Surely no one could be more worthy of another chance at life? And who would ever know, but Azura itself? It would be cautious. It would cast them into a part of the timeless sea far separated from whence they had come. And it would watch over them. For deep in its core, Azura knew it loved these mortals. Love was not for Stars. Love was a mortal thing. Stars were above such sentiment. So said the Fading Ones. But, as for many of the things the Fading Ones said, Azura did not care. And so the Bright One cast them back into the timeless sea to be reborn.