Star's Arc

Chapter 2 of 5

The magpies had saved Star in the market. Now Star followed Night bloom home, still hoping she would say the sky-god's name. She led them to a tall house of black glass and purple stone, three stories high. Star landed at her door, breath quick. "You know the god who gave my kind speech," Star said. "Tell me the name." Night bloom stopped in the doorway. She was the shadow weaver who had pulled Star from the angry crowd, the one who understood a gift that ran wild. But her calm face had gone hard. "No," she said. "A name is a door. I don't open doors for strangers." "I'm not a stranger. You helped me." "I helped you not get your wings tied." She folded her arms. "That's different from trusting you with something that gets people killed." She turned to go inside. Star's chest tightened. "Then let me prove it. Tell me what you need." Night bloom paused. She looked back over her shoulder. "There's a broken compass in the hall of iron relics. Shaped like a star, its face all cracked. It belonged to the last one who searched for your god." Her voice dropped. "Bring it to me. Then I'll believe you mean this." Star's stomach dropped. The hall of iron relics was the one place their curse turned deadly. "That hall could pull the walls down on me." "Yes," Night bloom said. "That's the point. Anyone can knock on my door. Only someone who truly needs the answer walks into that room." She waited, watching Star's eyes. Star thought of the market, the metal clawing at their feathers. Then Star thought of the sky-god, the feather that first gave their kind words. "I'll go," Star said. "But the magpies alone won't stop iron. You said so yourself." Something shifted in Night bloom's face. She stepped inside and returned holding a length of cloth, gold and smooth, coiled in her hands. "Wrap this around your wings and chest," she said. "It dampens the pull. Not all of it. Enough to buy you minutes." She held it out. "I don't give this to strangers either." Star took the gold wrap. It was cool and heavy against their feathers. "Why give it now?" "Because you didn't argue about the compass," Night bloom said. "You asked how to survive it. That's the first sign you might." She whistled, low and sharp. The magpies swept down from the roof and settled around Star, alert and ready. Star wound the gold cloth tight across their chest. The nervous tug in their feathers eased a little. Not gone. Quieter. "How long do the minutes last?" "I don't know," Night bloom said. "No one has carried it into that hall and come out." She stepped back through her door. "Bring me the compass, Star. Then we talk about your god." The door closed. Star faced the road with the magpies and the gold wrap. The name was no longer at a doorstep. It was inside the one room that could kill them.