Museum of Stars- A Zodiac Story

Chapter 15: The Boulder of Burdens is Lifted

Capricorn's Point of View

I grinned as I watched Aquarius disappear into the walls of the house.

I was always amazed of that boy, how he was so emotionless but still managed to express his enthusiasm. It does sound a bit sarcastic, however, but I knew it wasn't. I stared through the glass windows of the house, seeing Libra from the inside.

She was trying to smile, of course she was. But she was sad, I know, and it's my own fault she had to go through all this.

Pisces was comforting her, sending her words of encouragement. Gemini was trying to cheer her up as well. I could see a smile form on her lips and soon enough, she was laughing with the two girls.

Aries and Sagittarius were back inside the house, and the moment they stepped in, Virgo scolded them, mostly directed to Aries, about why they walked out so suddenly. Scorpio was sighing beside her and shaking his head.

Aquarius was teaching Cancer how to do origami for some reason, and the boy caught up so quickly that the two of them were able to create more than just cranes and sailboats.

Taurus and Leo were doing makeovers on each other again, wearing yellow and red headdresses that I think were just sewn by the two of them.

All of them are amazing in their own ways, I don't understand why we needed our items, even if they were to strengthen and control our powers. What's done is done, though. We already started collecting the items, now isn't the time to stop.

The Air Signs were rather tired out since the last teleportation, so I decided to go to Spain on an airplane, following what Aquarius had concluded about Master's letter. And we must make sure we don't stay there for so long.

~~~

"Do we even know which museum to search in?" Aries asked, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Of course not," I said. "We only decided to go there because there are some aviation museums in Spain."

"But which aviation museum?"

"Aries is right, actually," Taurus said, laughing. "We don't know which museum to search in if we just go in Spain blindly, you know what I mean."

"Okay, I understand now. Where can we gather information about Spain and its aviation museums?" I asked.

Aquarius shot his hand in the air. "Internet."

"Internet?" Gemini asked, saying the word one syllable at a time. "What's that?" she turned to Aquarius, who shrugged.

"It's useful," he replied.

"Yes, Mary Claire did mention to you that the neighbors use the internet all the time, didn't she?" Cancer said. I nodded.

"But what is it?" I asked, confused as well. Scorpio stared at me. You don't know what internet is? Are you crazy? Was what I read in his expression. I smirked and raised an eyebrow at him.

"I have no idea what it is but none of us have any- what did they call it? – gadgets to connect to the internet anyways," Cancer said, gazing at all of us in turn.

"We sound like foreign stars in a new milky way," Leo shook her head and sighed. "I utterly dislike sounding foreign."

"Whatever, Frenchy," Aries groaned.

"I appreciate the nickname, but I'd appreciate it more if you used Sparkle," Leo said sharply.

"Anyway, back to the topic. Since we have our jobs again today, except for Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius, we can ask our managers about aviation museums in Spain," I said. "Moreover, none of us know what the internet is," I added, shooting a sympathetic gaze at Aquarius.

~~~

"Mary Claire, have you been to Spain?" Taurus asked, tapping the elder's shoulder. The chimes rang as I opened the door to the café. The others were already there, earlier than I arrived. I had some matters to deal with. Waking up, for one thing.

"Why, yes! Yes, I have," the elder replied. "A rather energetic place. If I were to describe it by a color, it would be yellow."

A customer went in and I started talking to him. "Good morning, Sir-" the man cut me off.

"I want the girl to serve me, please."

I was taken aback by how the man didn't even say 'excuse me', but I nodded and called for Taurus, who took my spot after looking a bit embarrassed. After she took the man's order and reported to MC, Taurus approached me. I just finished cleaning the table for an earlier customer, who arrived earlier than I did.

"I'm so sorry for that, Capricorn," she said. "I gave him a free bag of cookies before we left for Paris, like I did to every customer. I think he thought I would do it again."

"It's no problem, Taurus," I reassured. I didn't blame her or the man, though. Frowning is my resting face. Nobody would like being served by someone like me, good act or not. "No worries," I said again, smiling this time.

"Aha! You smiled! Something's wrong, right?" Taurus asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "So when I smile, you think I'm going through something bad?" I asked in turn. Taurus flinched, "Oh, no! Uh... I meant, you smiled like that. Your eyes curve in the edges downward, and they're glossy as well so... I just thought something was wrong." She grabbed my wrist and we slowly walked to reach an alley.

I lowered my voice. "Actually..." I started telling her everything. What I did to Libra, how the guilt consumed me, how I couldn't be expected to take charge, how I was getting detached from the group because of what happened. I was pressured to lead the group even though nobody told me. The only thing I didn't say was my curse, but that was for a different time.

When I finished, Taurus smiled and pat my shoulder. "You know, Capricorn, I don't understand what you're going through, but I'll help any way I can. Thank you for telling me, I know it took guts. I'll treat you to some starshakes."

I realized for the first time how valuable it was to talk to someone about what was bothering me, and it felt like a huge boulder had been lifted up from my shoulders.