# Wandering Stars Author: Paynalton Canonical source: Language: en Original publication: The steel bars sink into the heat of the furnace, revealing their hidden nature. Beneath that incandescent orange, the metal becomes a scorching water that the knight carefully takes with tongs.

A fairy watches from the beam that supports the ceiling as the knight hammers the steel, stretching and bending it upon itself, adding a black powder between each bend.

-Do you have that yellow powder already? -shouts the knight.
-I left it there, to your right - answers the fairy, pointing with her small hand to a small brown scratch.
-Thank you, this will be the last of the day -

The fairy resumes the broom she had in her hands and continues sweeping the powder from her small improvised laboratory on that wood. Bottles and flasks made from the delicate silk of a dragonfly's wing contain the potions that the fairy is creating in order to give them their magical properties to the swords the knight forges in the workshop.



From the time the sun dazzles in the mornings until it has hidden itself, both work to fulfill the debt they have incurred.

At night the furnace closes, and the laboratory is lit only by the bright liquids contained in the bottles. Fairy and knight spend a while talking as they look at the stars, and then each goes to rest.

The fairy goes through a window and takes shelter inside a small purple glass box that adorns the bedroom of a girl. The knight walks every night to the old lighthouse where he lies down and waits for the song of the sea that sometimes reaches his ears riding on the backs of the waves that crash against the cliffs.

Sometimes the knight cannot hear the song, perhaps because the capricious wind carries it elsewhere, perhaps because the Queen of the Sea has also needed rest.

How can he give the Queen some of the peace that she is granted every night? How can he let her know that he is there, by the lighthouse, waiting for the moment to see her again? On these matters the knight fell asleep.

In his dream, a coven formed by many of his acquaintances surrounded him. A strange room that turned out to be familiar. Suddenly a woman who he had never seen, or perhaps had known but never seen in that way, appeared and placed a kiss on his lips that filled his heart with joy.

The world collapses around him but the knight feels the joy of that sweet kiss, but deep down he hears the song of the Queen of the Sea calling him. The knight doesn't know what to do, he wishes that kiss would never end but he wishes to go before the Queen. He unsheathes his sword and faces the demons that arise from his heart and that want to drag him to where his soul becomes mediocre, filthy, wicked, a place where men are no longer knights and women are no longer ladies.

A slight touch on the back of his hand scares him and makes him wake up screaming. In the midst of the darkness he searches for his sword without success, for weeks it has been resting beside his armor in the town's workshop.

He looks around and finds a girl, curled up next to him, who looks at him frightened. The knight realizes he had been sleeping and his reaction had scared the little girl.

-I'm sorry, are you okay?-

The girl nods silently and smiles at the knight. Round features, long black hair tied in a ponytail, as well as a penetrating but gentle gaze endowed that girl with an unusual charm and peculiar beauty.

-You were sweating and moving a lot, I think you were having nightmares... Who is the "Queen of the Sea"?-

The knight blushed, how many things had he said while sleeping? He thought about leaving, but the inquisitive look of that girl forced him to open his heart, so without realizing it he found himself telling her about his story from the moment he left the dark forest where he met the fairy, telling her part of his nightmare, at least that part a girl could listen to.

The girl's eyes blazed with stories, and sometimes she lost herself in the tales, imagining herself as part of those stories. Lost in the form of a gull watching the knight and the queen together in the middle of the sea, the knight was surprised by her.

-And now that I think about it... what is a girl like you doing at this hour of the night in this place?-
-I couldn't sleep, so I came to let go a balloon- she answered.

Then the knight noticed that the girl was carrying a bag whose opening revealed some rolls of paper and some thin sticks.

-But I think it's too late for that, if the fairy finds out that I'm not in bed she will worry-
-So you are the one who houses the fairy in her room?-
-Yes, since she arrived in town during a storm I opened the window for her to take shelter, then she discovered a purple crystal jewelry box that my father gave me a long time ago. She has an unusual fascination for purple and asked me permission to sleep in it-

The knight held back a laugh.

- -She has created a room inside that little box. She says that being there makes her happy, that it makes the world look purple and people look purple, although later she has to leave it and realize that it's not actually the case-

The girl stood up with the help of the knight who assisted her in lifting her bag.

-Well, I have to go back home, Sir Knight, thank you for your stories, I think with them I will have good dreams-

-Thank you for waking me from my nightmares, whenever you want you can find me in the workshop or here by the lighthouse-

-I'll definitely come... and next time I'll teach you how to make a paper balloon that flies all the way to where the Queen of the Sea is-

The girl smiled and ran off toward town.

-Wait... and what is your name? -shouted the knight before the girl disappeared among the houses, thinking she might not hear it.

-Paozelieth! -it was heard weakly among the streets.

The knight smiled satisfied and lay back down again. The singing had stopped, but he would be there, waiting until dawn.

--

The Sea Queen perched on the coral, wondering if all of this made sense. Perhaps that human had already forgotten her the moment he touched land, perhaps her song did not reach him during the nights, perhaps she was just singing to the void, with no one else but the gulls to listen.

Looking up at the sky, he began to sing, but his voice was interrupted almost immediately by the surprise of what his eyes were seeing.

What he had taken for a group of stars was moving, and approaching her. Those stars didn't have a silver glow, but instead shimmered with a golden light like the sun. As they drew closer, he realized they were small paper balloons filled with heated air from the warmth of a white candle, glowing until the distance, lighting up the yellow paper.

It was something the queen had never seen before, but in some way, deep in her heart, she knew the knight was behind it.

That night, she sang the sweetest notes as the fleet of balloons disappeared into the horizon.

On the cliff, the knight listened to his song while placing his hand on Paozelieth's shoulder, whose eyes kept shining under the light of the stars.

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