When Stars Fall (NaNoWriMo22)

Chapter 27

Two carriages meet, side by side, in the middle of an abandoned road. Two very similar carriages with very unsimilar woman in each. Their black stallions neigh and snort impatiently at their recent masters. Somewhere out in faraway villages there will be missing family members, I'm sure of it. One woman rolls her eyes are the other finally arrives. "You're late, Illumia." Illumia sighs at her sister's advert scolding.

"Am I late or are you early, Eleste?" Illumia dangles an arm out her carriage window. "It seems one of us is eager to get this unpleasantness over and done with." Eleste's jaw ticks without Illumia's notice. "And? Have you heard of our traitorous sister?" Illumia grins, tilting her head back to bathe in the sun. She holds no remorse to what she must do with Nirvana. In fact, she has not thought about it too deeply at all. To her, Nirvana has long since been dead. "No," Eleste says through her teeth, "I have not."

It is different for Eleste. She has been in constant panic over Nirvana. This situation for her has been utterly worrisome. The decision hasn't been too easy to come to terms with. After Nirvana had insistently refused to meet with her sisters, Eleste knew what would proceed. They all did. It was worse for Eleste and she was not the one with death nearly knocking at her door. "Then we know what we must do," Illumia meets Eleste's heated gaze, "don't we sister?"

"I don't think we must, Illumia," Eleste crosses her arms defiantly.

"Oh, don't tell me!" Illumia cackles. "Have you suddenly grown empathetic? Or do you still believe our sister to be loyal to us?" Eleste silently fumes. Her sister's mocking is intolerable! Her mind is on many things all at once. Dealing with Illumia's childlike tendencies is already reaching her limits. "Do be quiet, Illumia!" Illumia immediately falls silent. Her eyes wide in surprise at such a sudden change in her sister. She cannot remember the last time Eleste had yelled at her so. She had forgotten how frightening she can be. Like now, Eleste has a thunderous expression on her face. Her eyes are narrowed and hardened. Her hand grips the carriage door tightly.

"Nirvana has binded her alliance with that prince." Eleste's eyes turns to slits. "History has not been kind to those who have bound an oath to another living person. It'll go against her and him soon enough. We'll just stand by and wait. She'll be dead soon enough."

Good god. Illumia's eyes widens further. All her life, she's only ever saw a sister. Eleste protected them and held them closer than anyone else. But now...she sees someone else in her sister's face. Someone she had forgotten.

Different from Nirvana, Eleste had always been the quiet sister. On the outside, she kept a calm composure. But something else slithers underneath the surface. Some anger? Some poison? Illumia does not know, but now she can see that she has been wrong about which sister has greater mania. The battle waging in her sister now proves that.

"What will happen to her now, Eleste?"

What a question! In reality, Illumia wanted to ask, 'What will happen to us now?'. This is a lesson she will not soon forget. Neither will Eleste. For she has been quiet for quite a few minutes now. Memories of the bloodshed from centuries before have begun to resurface. An eye twitches as she remembers the screams of horror and war. "The bind is corrupt," Eleste whispers, "It will only remind them of what the other wants. It'll plague their minds, tempt them constantly until they give in." Similar to the way her own memories are plaguing her own mind. "And when they do, because they will, the bind will kill them."

Poor prince. He has no idea what he has brought upon himself. He does not know the trickery that Nirvana has unknowingly brought to them both. A row of clouds slowly starts to form way above them. A storm is rolling in, it looks like. A very bad one.

"What shall we do if the bind won't kill her? You wish to intervene then?" Eleste's eye twitches once more. Her inner struggle is waging a war now. She could intervene now. She could end it all with a single wave of her hand. She could do what those before her had done; what those before her had passed down with her. And, for one second, a great sadness flickered in her eyes. One could feel sorry for her if it wasn't for her willing nature for bloodshed.

"We will intervene when we need to," Eleste declares. "If the binding has miraculously kept them within their oaths, then we will do what we must. I wager that we will not have to do anything. Nirvana has always been a loose cannon and the princes, even more so."

Illumia warily eyes her. Does she trust Eleste to do her duty? Yes, she surely does. Does she trust Eleste to not do to her that they will do to Nirvana? No, she surely does not. Illumia has begun to think that maybe this game that her and her sisters came up with was not such a good idea. That and that her only saving grace would be detaining the Star for herself. She had never had a whole Star for herself. She can only imagine what power would be bestowed upon her if she didn't have to share. Oh, what a mess.