Callum couldn't sleep. There were nights where his mind just wouldn't be silent. It wasn't the cold, no, he was bundled up in a blanket. He wasn't hungry, he had two servings at dinner. He sighed as he slid out of bed, careful not to wake Ezran. He opened the shutters that concealed him from the outside world. He stared up at the stars, they looked so carefree, all they had to worry about was continuing to twinkle until the sun rose.
Maybe a walk would make him feel tired.
He leaned out the window and grabbed onto the vine that crept up to his window from the gardens below. Carefully, he climbed down careful not to disturb the guards or anyone else that rested that night.
He breathed a sigh of relief when his feet reached the ground. He snuck out, he had done this before. He evaded the patrolling guards and soon was consumed by the darkness of the forest; he had made this journey many times before, so the mysteries of the night no longer made him fearful.
He pushed through the brush to a hill that many people knew in the daytime, it was where children had picknicks on top of the hill or in winter they'd sled down it. But Callum knew the hill as the best place to watch the stars.
He sat at the top, leaned back and watched the stars overhead. "So uh, Ezran stole the jelly tarts from the dessert table again," he divulged, the great thing about stars is that they would never tell a soul the secrets and wishes that they heard. Callum chuckled at the memory of bait and Ezran sneaking past the house cleaners that served them dinner to swipe the jelly tarts. "In all honestly I miss my mom," he admitted, "if she's up there with or if she's a star could you tell her I miss her." He looked up for a single sign that the stars heard, or his mother would answer but like always the stars were silent.
He sighed, what was he expecting? That his mother would appear in the clouds and give him some well needed advice? He had read fictional books where the dead would come back to life but in reality, the dead never came back no matter what sacrificial ritual or plot played out. The dead were never coming back.
He sat up a rubbed his eyes. It had to be a trick of the light. It couldn't be. Somehow a star was growing. It became larger. That or it was coming towards him. He yelped as a ball of light zoomed over his head and crashed into the trees. He stood up. By all rights he should run to the castle for help, but he had a knack for running to the trouble. He stumbled down the hill and stood at the edge of a crater. He had to shield his eyes from the dimming light.
In the center was a child. It glowed a gentle silver. Astounded, Callum had stared at what he had discovered. It wasn't human. The creature had begun to grow, and it soon stood up from the crater. An elegant grey dress adorned the elf's figure, an elf that looked no older than Callum. He was frozen.
He rubbed this eyes hoping this wasn't a dream. It was an elf. The elf's skin was a silvery grey. Silver diamonds decorated the elf's brow and cheeks as silver dust coated the elf's delicate face. It was a girl. Her horns twisted like branches of a bramble. The elf tilted her head in curiosity, then a look of confusion crossed her features. "You, who are? We doing here, what are? You, what are?" The elf's melodious voice rang.
Callum blinked twice he could barely understand what she said. You who are? You what are? We doing here, what are?
Who are you? What are you? What are we doing here?
Callum realized she spoke in riddles, a twisted language.
"I'm Callum, I'm a human and I don't know you sort of just fell out of the sky." He answered. She tited her head the other way. "What's you name?" he asked.
"My true name said in the common tongue cannot be, the star of the sea, I am, Maristella I in your tongue am." She replied.
"Your name is Maristella?" Callum asked. She nodded. The elf was hurting his brain. The way she spoke was twisted and confusing, like a riddle, but it was poetic. If people spoke like this all the time, then maybe fewer necessary words would be said.
She nodded, "I know not what I am doing here. All I know, sent to guide the master of magic, was I, wield all primal sources, the elf that can, who, know what and where I not." She explained as she began to pace around. A light glowed in Maristella's hands, the light shot out of her hands and into the sky.
"My kin must know that, safe, am I, remember my purpose, travelling using starlight can mess with the head and sooner or later I will. Yes," she smiled. Her cheeks flushed red as her stomach growled.
"you're hungry," Callum said, Maristella nodded as Callum looked around for any berries. "Don't go anywhere I'll be right back," he said as he ran into the forest, back to the castle. He had just met an elf, what kind he did not know. He thought all elves stayed in Xadia, well... unless specified. He quickly scurried into the kitchen and grabbed some left over bread, he hoped Maristella could eat it.
He sprinted back to the the hill to find Maristella crouched on top of it petting forest animals that approached her. "Come the animals have told me that my kin will not, on the other side of the world in xadie, they are, much I have to remember, there is." She said as she stood up to face him, "For mine alone, now my quest is." Callum handed her the bread which she took a bite out of. "Thankyou, been very kind, you have." She thanked.
"It's no problem, but what kind of elf are you?" Callum asked.
"Touched by the primal element of the stars, my kin and I are, startouch elf, I am." She explained.
"Hey! The suns coming up!" Callum pointed out as the first rays of light peaked over the horizon.
"As my power, the night ends and the stars fade as does, rest until the stars rise the incoming night, I must, if rest, you meet me here you may be able to assist me with my task but for now I must." Maristella walked into the forest.
"Wait!" Callum called out.
"Thankyou for your kindness but you should return to your hearth, see you, will I when the stars rise again." Echoed Maristella's words as the light blinded Callum's vision
