Chapter Text
The air was very refreshing that evening. That's good. Trifo needed that.
-Hello. I'm so sorry for my recent inactivity. - she greeted Nature in a whisper. The girl had recently neglected her Connection. It's always like that before the Celebration. As a leader, she has a lot of responsibilities: making sure that the field is correctly prepared, supporting nervous parents, ensuring that every kid makes the right mask. Don't get her wrong, Trifo loves her function and the way she can help her family. But if she can be honest, it's just sometimes a little stressful.
But now she was here.
Trifo came to the river and gently put her feet in the water. She looked around at everyone surrounding her. The young woman smiled at the colorful and beautiful bugs flying around. She looked down at cold drops of water traveling on her legs. Trifo gently patted the head of some bulrush. The girl joined a concert sang by crickets, wind, river and many other artists by humming her own melody.
After some time she finally took a huge breath of air and tilted her head upwards.
The stars seemed to shine way brighter than usual.
-Oh! Don't be so dramatic! - Trifo laughed. - I wasn't gone for that long.
As an answer, high above appeared a shooting star that reflected beautifully in her eyes. The sky was once again demanding the attention of a mortal, who lived on a planet down below.
And that human decided to play along.
First, Trifo wished for safe travel to the star that had just fallen.
Then she looked for the Sisters. They are the four brightest points in the sky. Those stars help lost folks find their way home. Their deep tenderness and love keep watch at night. Trifo thanked them with a shy smile and moved on. Next, to her delight, the human found the Children. They aren't usually that visible, but today there were no clouds, so she could look at them closely. Well, maybe not as closely as she could with the cocooner, but that was something nothenless.
Then she started to follow with her eyes other stars. They are big sources of power that were made from the essence of dead star creatures. Now they serve as food and a place to rest for the ones that are still alive.
"Circle of life" Trifo smiled to herself. She started to whisper the names that humans gave those stars, while thinking about all the space animals - those dead and alive. They deserved a personal greeting, right? After some time Trifo realized that the task that she chose was far beyond her abilities, so she just called it a day and laid on the grass. Individual greetings weren't that important anyway. The stars got the idea.
As she was resting her head on the ground, Trifo once again started to study the sky. This time around she focused on the constellations. She knew their names by heart. Everyone from her community knew their names by heart. After all, humans know other humans.
Throughout the entire history of human existence, there have been some nobel individuals. They had risen to their greatness with a good heart and intelligence. They could help others like no one else, thanks to their understanding and problem solving abilities. And most importantly they LOVED. They loved so much and so beautifully that nature decided to keep that love above all the humans and for them to see. FOREVER.
Each of the constellations was once a human, like Trifo. Now they are in the sky - the greatest price there is.
Or is it?
Trifo abruptly sat up.
Now when she thought about it...
She was a current leader of her tribe and the job was EXHAUSTING. She LOVED it - the honest smiles of the children, the exciting conversation with teenagers, the relaxing presence of the adults, inspiring stories of the elders, everyone being there... and she would not change it for anything in the world. but again - it sometimes could be a little too much.
And she always could count on her family to support her.
But what about the constellations?
They had much, much more responsibilities. They took care of a chunk of cosmos! Is it hard to keep all the stars in the correct place? Do they have to look after all the creatures living there? She couldn't imagine it being an easy job.
Maybe they rely on the Sisters Stars? Although they have other responsibilities too. They can't help everyone all the time.
She looked at the constellation called Romi, represented by a butterfly. Trifo heard her story as a young child and as she got older Romi became a role model for her. On Earth the constellation was a girl who became a leader of the tribe really young. It is said that on the first day of her filling that function hundreds of butterflies had visited the village. People were mesmerized by them and it only helped the cheerful atmosphere of the celebration. As Romi was getting her title, everyone was dancing, talking and laughing.
The next day instead of butterflies there was fire.
It came so suddenly and only left destruction and tears behind.
However Romi, despite her lack of experience, was a perfect leader. Her bravery and quick-thinking saved a lot of people (according to some stories she even got her hands burned during one of
rescue operation).
After the fire the tribe had nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat. It was a really hard time for everyone, but they survived. In the following months Romi did everything she could to help. She was selfless in big and small things. She was ready to give what's hers to the ones suffering.
Now she is in the skies... with even more responsibilities?
Trifo felt ashamed for even thinking that being a constellation might not be such a great price as it is said, but... she could not help it. That's what every kid wants to be. That's what every adult secretly hopes to be. That's what every elder dreams about. They all know they need to work for it and they do... Trifo does it too, trying to be the best version of herself. And she is not going to stop. She knows she is not good enough to be a constellation,but honestly now that thought is comforting. She is already a bit tired here, on Earth. How could she be a leader of a chunk of cosmos, for all eternity?
But maybe it's not like that at all.
She smiled at Romi one last time and she looked down. As she was getting a closer look of the pound and trying to Connect with it, she heard footsteps approaching. She abruptly span around and saw her friend, Wuru, running towards her.
- What are you doing? Has something happened? - she shouted. Trifo waited as Wuru finally got to her. They put their hands on their knees and were breathing heavily. She waited.
- You are not going to believe it... but we need to run towards the village. - Wuru wheezed out. Then they took her hand and started to sprint.
Trifo's bare foot were taking her through well-beaten path. It felt like she was moving through it faster than ever in her life. Yet somehow her brain was running even quicker. It was coming up with so many worst case scenarios. As soon as Trifo realized it, she let go of X's hand and sprinted even faster. This was not time for panicking.
★★★★★★
She was expecting a lot of things, as she was entering the village.
She didn't hear any screams or cries yet, so that canceled half of her assumption. When she was squeezing through the last buildings surrounding the main square, she saw almost everyone there. They weren’t panicking. Her tribe seemed more concerned or even curious. People were running around and talking loudly. They were focused on something that was in the middle. Something that Trifo couldn't yet see. However when she entered the square, everyone's head turned towards her.
Oh.
They were expecting her to go into the middle.
Great.
It can't be anything dangerous. Otherwise it would just stand there, surrounded by people.
Right?
She wasn't a coward. She placed her first step.
Everyone else moved to the side. Leaving a bare path leading to the middle.
Then she saw it...
Or them?
There was a person sitting on one of the tables. They definitely weren't human, but they were one of the most beautiful beings she had seen in her short life. Their whole silhouette was emanating power. Their skin looked like many little stars that Trifo just so carefully studied. It was shining and glittering all the time. It was also a little bit orange. The color reminded her of the setting sun. Or the fire burning in the middle of the night. Its beauty is so mesmoraising, that you could forget how dangerous it can be.
They were dressed in robes that didn't really differentiate from the ones that Trifo put on this morning. However there was this butterfly covering their chest. It probably was just a top, but it looked so real. Trifo couldn't be sure.
Finally, she dared to look at their face. Features were gentle and soft, like that person couldn't call themself an adult yet. However that glint in their eyes stated otherwise.
Then she focused on their lips. They were more orange than anything else on her body. They were definitely catching atension. Their shine made Trifo's own mouth turn into a smile. She wanted to see those lips telling a story, saying a joke, laughing, yawing, being stained by paint or food... anything really. Trifo squinted her eyes as she spotted the little cracks on the lips' skin. The ones that could only be caused by thet person biting on them. Had they gotten stressed a lot? Trifo hoped not.
The lips started to open. As soon as the girl realized that, she looked away with scarlet painting her cheeks.
- You're the leader... Trifo, right? - their voice finally brought her to reality. She was talking with someone (that wasn't even human) on behalf of her tribe. She couldn't get distracted so easily for the stars' sake.
She gently nodded her head.
- Do you remember the thing that you said during the Connection before? - As the question filled her ears she felt her stomach drop. What? What did they mean by that? She felt everyone's curious gaze turn towards her.
- I am sorry if I upset you. Had I said anything...
- No, no, no! - that person interrupted her. - It's not like that. What I mean is that you are right. I'm tired and I just need a break. So I thought why not just ask the…
And then it hit her. The power. The glitter and orange skin. The butterfly. It all made sense now. The person sitting in front of her was one of the constellations, her role model, Romi. Trifo felt her jaw dropping a little. She blinked a few times to get rid of the feeling that the whole world stopped.
- Do you have more of this? - Romi asked, waving a bottle in her hand.
Great. Just great. There was a constellation sitting in the middle of the village and asking for a drink. Sure, Trifo felt excited at the prospect of meeting her idol, but she also wanted to pinch the bridge of her nose and shake her head. She might not get a long sleep tonight.