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Magiano laughs a little and shakes his head The gold bands in his braids clink musically "Lucent has already returned to Beldain with her queen Perhaps it is my turn now"

Lucent Across the oceans, Queen Maeve had decreed her eventual successor to be her niece, the newborn daughter of her brother Augustine Thus, finally, she was free to wed Lucent, returning the Windwalker to the birth nation that had exiled her for so long

"I’ve always been a wanderer," Magiano adds in the silence "I grow restless here in the palace, even a such fine company" He pauses, and his so There are adventures waiting for hter But I don’t try to persuade him to stay I knoho alone in the gardens at sunset, perched on the roofs atat the piers at dawn "The others--Raffaele, Sergio--they ant to see you before you leave," I say instead

Magiano nods "Don’t worry I’ll say my proper farewells" He reaches out and lays his hand on ine Adelina could have ruled like you, in a different life" He studies limpse of my sister "Adelina would want to see you carry this torch You will be a good queen"

I lower my head "I’m afraid," I admit "There is still so much broken, and so io at your side You have Raffaele as your adviser That’s quite a foriano puts his hand down and turns his eyes up to the sky It is a habit now that my eyes instinctively turn skyward, too, to where the first stars have begun to appear "I’ht sky turns When she appears on the other side of the world, I will be there, and when she returns here, so will I" Magiano sain, Violetta"

I smile back at him, then step forward and wrap htly "Until you return, then," I whisper

"Until I return"

Then we iano alone to prepare for his journey, his boots already turned in the direction where Adelina’s constellation will appear in the sky I hope, when he coht see each other once again

The tale is told by royalty and vagabonds alike, nobles and peasants, hunters and far The tale comes from every corner of the world, but no matter where it is told, it is always the saht, in the woods or on the plains or along the shores The sound of a lute drifts in the evening air Overhead are the stars of a clear sky, a sheet of light so bright that he reaches up, trying to touch them He stops and descends froht, when the newest constellation in the sky blinks into existence

If you are very quiet and do not look away, you low steadily brighter It brightens until it overwhelhtens until it seeone, and in its place is a girl

Her hair and lashes are painted a shifting silver, and a scar crosses one side of her face She is dressed in Sealand silks and a necklace of sapphire Some say that, once upon a time, she had a prince, a father, a society of friends Others say that she was once a wicked queen, a worker of illusions, a girl who brought darkness across the lands Still others say that she once had a sister, and that she loved her dearly Perhaps all of these are true

She walks to the boy, tilts her head up at him, and smiles He bends down to kiss her Then he helps her onto the horse, and she rides aith hier be seen

These are only rumors, of course, and make little more than a story to tell around the fire But it is told And thus they live on

--"The Midnight Star," a folktale