Disclaimer: I'm just playing with Suzanne Collins' characters and her world. They're hers. Not mine.

Twinkle, Twinkle

"A long time ago, in this very country, there were people who built ships and others who flew them, that went all the way to the moon."

Madge sat on the lowest step of her back porch with her father, wiggling her feet out in front of her and staring up at the inky expanse above them. It was late, usually Madge would be in bed by now, but her father had let her stay up to watch the 'stars fall'.

They weren't really stars, just debris, he explained, but they sounded amazing to Madge no matter what they were.

"You may never see it again in your lifetime," he'd told her. A lifetime seemed like a very long time, to her five year old ears, to never see something as amazing as stars dropping from the sky again, but her father had much more lifetime to know that sort of thing, so he must be right.

He often took her out, showed her the constellations which changed with the seasons, told her the stories for each. Sagittarius that led the Argonauts to the Golden Fleece, Ariadne's crown, poor Andromeda chained to her rock…

"Does that star have a name?" Her stubby finger stretched toward a much more distant point of light.

He shook his head, "No, Pearl, but not all of them do. That doesn't make them any less amazing, though." Her father pointed to Sirius, "The dog star is the brightest star in the summer sky, but even it gets blotted out by the sun, when it rises, and some are so far away, they aren't there anymore. They're light takes many, many years to reach us after their death," he waved his hand across the diamond sprinkled heaven.

"But, then we can be following a dead star. It's not there and we're following it?"

He nodded. "Stars are a lot like people, Magdalene. Some guide us with their light even after they're gone."

Everything, he would often tell her, had a time and a place. The sun, which was also a star, had its time in the day, illuminating them so they could work. But the sun was bright, so close, that if it stayed too long, if they looked at it too long, it would burn them. When the sun disappeared and the sky no longer blazed with its light, the less brilliant stars could be seen again. They were distant, beautiful, and though they could only just break the darkness, they could guide a weary traveler. They could be a constant.

Madge thought of her mother, still wandering through life, still chasing her dead sister. Her Aunt Maysilee, she decided, was her mother's constant. Though where she was leading her was a mystery.

"Men walked on the moon once, their foot prints are probably still there." He put his finger to her nose, "And, why, my little pearl, is it important we know about those amazing people who did the impossible? About the stars in the sky?"

She wrinkled her little nose in thought, no matter how many times he asked, she always forgot the answer.

"Because…"

"Because it wasn't impossible," he finished. "We always need to remember that no matter how bleak a situation may seem, there is always hope, nothing is impossible."

Madge nodded. She would get the answer right next time.

"Why else?"

Her little mouth turned down, "Um, because they learned things? They learned things that helped people, made people's lives better, even though they didn't all-weren't all alive to see."

She smiled, she'd gotten that right, she knew it. Her father chuckled.

"Very true. We can't always know how far reaching our actions are. That's why we must always strive to be our very best, our kindest, even to those who aren't always their very best or their kindest to us." He smoothed her hair, "We may be one of many guiding lights to any number of people. We may do a great thing, or a very small thing, and never know the consequences of our actions."

Again, Madge nodded, her father was right, he often was.

"Look, it's starting."

Her eyes widened as the sky began streaking with lights smearing down the curve of the earth. It was beautiful, even if they weren't really stars.