Elegy for a Star

“I just want to talk,” Miren said as Mairaela stomped away down the hall.

“I have nothing to say to you,” the Summer Fey replied, “Nothing that would be appropriate for a public audience, anyway.”

“Have I done anything—me, personally—that offended you?” Miren asked, chasing after Mairaela. Mairaela had no intention of replying. She was furious at that Winter Fey! First she accosted Tess against a wall, lied about her name, showed off for her sparring, and now she was turning the whole team against her by bringing up their points so much that Mairaela looked like the mean one?!

When Mairaela didn’t reply, Miren caught her arm and pulled her around.

“I’m serious, Mairaela,” Miren said, “What have I done to you?”

“I know how the Winter Court is,” Mairaela spat, “It’s only a matter of time before you use us for your own gain, somehow, someway.”

Miren held her arms out innocently, “Don’t you think there’s a reason that I left the Court? I am so hated outside of its borders, and yet I chose life here, rather than there. Why do you think that is?”

“I don’t know,” Mairaela said with a shake of her head, “But I do know that it’s for some selfish reason or personal gain. I’ve never known a Froster to do anything otherwise.”

Miren let out a sigh, “What did my people ever do to you that your people did not do to us?”

“Other than wipe out two entire Courts?”

Miren frowned sympathetically, “It takes two to go to war.”

“You took our people and press ganged them into slavery,” Mairaela escalated.

“You tortured ours,” Miren replied, “Falling into the hands of Avourel Yllaven and the ministry of Hellebore is a nightmare each of our soldiers share.” Miren frowned, “As fucked as it is, at least we let yours sleep at night and eat three meals.”

Mairaela had heard rumors of the tortures. She never heard anything to deny them, either. She always thought it was worth it to do these things to monsters that would see their homes torched and torn down. Miren wasn’t a monster, though. She was just a person. The fact that Miren was winning this argument made Mairaela feel sick.

Mairaela gestured urgently toward Miren, “I can’t trust you. I can’t. I don’t want to be friends with you, Miren.”

Miren frowned, “I see.” She rubbed at her brow, careful not to disturb her immaculate hair, “Not friends. We’re stuck together, though. So let’s at least try to… tolerate one another?”

Mairaela let out a sigh and shrugged her shoulders, “We’ll see, Miren. We’ll see what happens when we get into the Void.”

Miren nodded her head, turned about, and began to walk off. Even just the click of her heels made Mairaela grind her teeth.

Afterward, since Tess and Gwen were off doing their own thing and Joyona was nowhere to be found, Mairaela decided to go to the chow hall for some dinner.

Once there, Mairaela immediately spotted Joyona at one of the tables. She hurried over and got the giant’s attention, “Hey!”

Joyona turned to look over her shoulder and nodded at Mairaela.

“I’m going to grab some food and be right back; don’t go anywhere!”

Joyona nodded once again.

Mairaela did as promised and went through the food lines. Today’s dinner was little more than stale bread, some cheese and sausage and a few cuts of carrots. Mairaela had gotten used to the state of the bread. It wasn’t her favorite of course, but it wasn’t causing her to lose her appetite anymore. She took her food and collected some mystery juice before she made her way back to Joyona.

Joyona was already done with her food, so Mairaela was glad that she asked the Evigkin to stick around. “Hey,” Mairaela said with a big smile, “I don’t mean to keep you. You can go if you want, but I was just hoping for some company while I ate.”

“I’ll stay,” Joyona replied simply.

Mairaela passed her a smile, “Thank you.”

It had been some time since Mairaela asked Joyona to attend the Corpsman’s Ball with her. The refusal had left Mairaela confused. She wasn’t used to being rejected, but she supposed that she wasn’t the Evigkin’s type. “That’s totally okay,” Mairaela told herself, “Not everyone has to be infatuated with me.” She could only laugh at the suggestion of anything else. Still, she wondered why it was such a disappointment to her; She was usually very understanding of that sort of thing. Maybe she liked Joyona more than she thought. Maybe she was misreading something.

As Mairaela dug into her food, the two sat in relative silence. With Mairaela’s mouth occupied and Joyona’s mouth rarely opening, it was difficult to keep a conversation going. So it came as quite the surprise when Joyona spoke up, “So what did Scirocca say?”

Mairaela had to finish chewing a carrot before she replied, “What do you mean?”

“You said you were going to ask her to the ball,” Joyona replied.

Mairaela thought for a moment. Oh, right, she had said that. She liked the winged librarian plenty, but for whatever reason she wasn’t particularly interested in going to a dance with her. She couldn’t even imagine how Scirocca would be at a ball.

“Oh,” Mairaela started, keeping from filling her mouth with more food for just a moment longer, “I…” Would Joyona accept the fact that Mairaela hadn’t asked? She thought for a moment if she should say that Scirocca had said no, but Mairaela wouldn’t lie to her friend. She wouldn’t be Miren. Ugh, when had she become so hateful?

Joyona frowned, looking around uncomfortably.

Mairaela replied, “I haven’t asked her.”

“Oh?” Joyona looked interested, “Why not?”

What should she say? Mairaela’s mind was spiraling a bit. She didn’t want to sound like she just brushed off Joyona’s suggestion, but she also didn’t want to say that she just didn’t want to go with Scirocca. That would sound so mean and shallow.

Mairaela spoke softly, “I just haven’t gotten around to asking her.”

“Oh,” Joyona replied, seemingly returning to her aloof demeanor, “You should do that.”

“I don’t think I want to,” Mairaela spoke back, taking a bite of sausage.

Joyona perked up, opening her mouth to speak, but Mairaela continued anyway, “I’ve been wanting to go with someone else.” Maybe Joyona would take the hint! Or maybe that was pressuring the Evigkin too much.

Joyona sank once more, closing her mouth and nodding her head.

Mairaela cursed herself. Of course Joyona wouldn’t like that. She already said no! The Fey needed to stop pushing and just accept the answer she’d been given. Mairaela frowned. Maybe she just needed to-...

“Would you go with me? If that doesn’t work out, I mean,” Joyona asked. Her face was red, her eyes were glancing off to the side. She was wringing her hands tightly. Mairaela could see nerves nearly getting the best of the giant.

“I think it just did.”