Varsa stared at him in disbelief. Once he was out of sight, she picked up the end of her braid and threw it angrily over her shoulder. Rubbing her cheek, she ignored the pain and rushed inside. Though the walk from the bar to her house was short, it took longer than she wanted due to the bumbling prince.

"Varsa?! Come quick!" Her mugral called from the far room.

Sliding to a stop, Varsa's heart leapt to her mouth. Her mother held Latvis in her arms. She locked eyes with Varsa and shook her head. Varsa slid to the other side of his bed and did her best to calm her emotions.

"Mugral?" Varsa's voice cracked. Her mother shook her head as she moved Latvis's hair out of his eyes. "But we gave him the medicine?"

"I-" her mother covered her face. "He didn't get it in time..." She whispered. 

"Varsa?" Latvis gasped out. His breaths came in sharp, quick succession. He reached out his tiny arms to her. Varsa scooped him from her mother and held his burning body close to her. "Did... did you do anything–" he sucked in as much air as he could, "--cool today?"

Varsa let out a choked chuckle. Ever since they were kids, he would ask her that every day when she came home. His outlook on life never dimmed. He found the magic in the mundane. Varsa had always admired him for that.

"Yeah, buddy." She sniffled, her eyes burned with tears she refused to let fall. "I got to look the King in his eyes today." She smiled as his eyes widened.

"Varsa-"

"Shh, Latvis, you have to conserve your strength, okay?"

"I am scared." His voice shook, his chest rose and fell rapidly.

Varsa looked around the room, and pulled the covering off the window. The moon light streaked through the dirty glass. Stars shown in the clear night sky. They danced across the inky velvet.

"Hey, look at that." She adjusted him so he could see outside. "Utar is putting on a show." She took a deep breath. "He's welcoming you home with a wondrous ballet, just for you. Utar knows how much you appreciate His stars."

"He does?"

"Mmhm." Varsa's voice was soft, running her hand through his damp hair. "He told me tonight, when I was out, that he was going to let you put your own constellation up when you get there."

"M-my own?" He furrowed his brows as he sucked in more air. "I know what I am going to call it."

"What is that, my love?"

"I am going to name it after you, Varsa." He smiled, his eyes grew heavy.

Varsa placed him back in their mugral's arms. They both held him close as his breathing quieted down and his body went limp. The only noise in the room was her mother's cries of anguish.

Varsa let a sob escape her lips as she held her family close to her. Anger boiled in her blood. He didn't have to die. Her brother could still be here, alive and thriving. Her eyes trailed up to her thin mother. She never wore her hair in a braid, it was always in her face, hiding her behind a long curtain of wiry blackness. If her brother, who was once so strong and full of life didn't make it, her mother wouldn't either.

Varsa set her jaw as she pulled away from Latvis and her mugral. She stepped outside and let out a scream of all her pinned-up emotion as she fell to her knees. The wind blew cold kisses across her wet cheeks.

The only way she could protect what was left of her family was to get their freedom. There was nowhere they could run. Her mugral wasn't strong enough and the world was going to always be against them. She glared up at the stars.

"Take good care of them, Latvis..." She whispered. "I will take care of mom, I promise. You just spend the rest of eternity shepherding the stars with Utar and causing mischief wherever you go. Give the Thalores a run for their drakma."

Nodding, she stood up and went back inside. She stepped into the far room and refused to look over at her crying mother and her brother's dead body. He was alive and free, dancing in the stars. Instead, she threw the bag her mother had packed open. Varsa removed her mother and brother's clothes and took out the food. She repacked them into the chest.

"Diagi? Child, what are you doing?" Her mother's voice cracked as she gently laid his body down on his bed.

"Mugral, we can't keep living like this. I am going to get our freedom. I am not going to lose you to their cruelty too." Her voice cracked, shoving the tears away from her face. She refused to keep going like they were. Varsa pulled the bag onto her shoulder as her mother stood.

"Diagi, wait."

"I am going, mugral."

"No..." Her voice was small and quiet. "No, you misunderstand. I-" She moved to the chest and pulled everything they owned out of it.

Lifting the bottom plank of wood out of the chest, she revealed a hidden compartment full of cobwebs and fabric. Her mugral pulled the fabric out, revealing a suit. She kept her eyes down, unable to meet Varsa's. 

"Take this. It will protect you." She shoved it into Varsa's hands, shaking. "It was my mugral's. She was strong, like you."

Her mother ran a hand down Varsa's braid with a small smile. Varsa remembered her mother had always braided her hair when she was younger. She would never let her leave the house if her hair wasn't braided. It was the way of the Tek'arc, a tradition that had been stolen by humans.

"Put it on, love."

Varsa smiled and went into the main room. It was empty, deprived of the joy she once held for it. With a deep breath, she quickly stripped out of her torn, ragged clothes and pulled the suit on.

The smooth fabric hugged her muscles and curves. She trailed her eyes down the silver lines that stuck out, slightly, from the rest of the suit and connected into triangles. The midnight-blue color made her white freckles and purple undertones stand out even more than they normally did.

She looked closer at the clothes and saw a tiny hexagon pattern interwoven into the suit. She furrowed her brows as she walked back into the far room. Though it was extremely light, Varsa could tell the fabric was strong and wouldn't easily rip or tear.

Her mother held the backpack out to her and gave her a sad smile. Tears streamed down her puffy cheeks as she held her daughter close. Varsa wrapped her arms around her mother and didn't let go until she did.

"You stay safe, my diagi, my warrior."

Varsa nodded and left the hut. She didn't look back as she trudged through the slums. If she looked back her mind would convince her to stay, and that was something she couldn't do. If she did this, it might pave the road for others as well.

She stopped at the castle steps. The sun had yet to raise its head over the mountain peaks, though the sky was turning into a bluish pink hue, and the stars were being ushered to bed by her brother. She sat down and leaned against the pillar, watching her brother work his way across the night sky, ushering in the new day as her eyelids grew heavy.