When the stars went away
Short story of the time when stars were closer to the ground than sky
First published in Issue 1: Little Constellations of by .
Tara was taken to court for angering the stars.
They left for the sky as soon as she did the unthinkable. At first, she didn’t tell anyone it was her. But her younger brother snitched when he saw the King’s notice of ten coins for any information about the departure. He was lapping up his fourth glass of the thick lassi in the corner. The parents were standing in the middle of the room beside her, fidgeting at the attention of whole council.
It had been a week since people had to lock themselves in their home as soon as the Sun left. The moon refused to shine brighter. The air had turned chilly. And the stars were going further away as the ministers argued on the best possible solution.
If this continued, the night life would come to a stop. Already, people were selling lamps at ten times their usual price. Hoarding had begun, and so had the crimes at night.
It was all giving a headache to the King who was wrapped up in too many shawls under his robes.
The wronged little star refused to speak, too shaken up after losing a part of him.
Only his parents were present in the court. Their anger made them burn brighter, scaring away the guards beside their elevated seats.
“Were you the one who broke him?” The King sneezed at the end of his question.
“Yes, my King.” Tara hung her head in shame. Star’s mother let out a sob and the ministers flinched at the flash.
“Can you tell us why?”
“I had sneezed.” The little girl said in such a low voice that everyone had to lean in to hear except her parents who squeezed their eyes shut at the horror of what their child had done.
“Can you repeat that?” The King wiped off his running nose with an embroidered handkerchief.
“I had sneezed!” She repeated in a louder voice. Star’s father huffed, and the ministers shielded their eyes this time.
The king’s brows furrowed, till he saw her gaze fixed on the cloth on his hand.
“But they are hard! How would you even use them?” The King did not mean to ask the questions aloud. And he realized his mistake when the little girl answered quickly, prompting another flow from Star’s mother.
“I thought they were soft.”
“And do you now realize your mistake?”
“Yes, they are squishy but not soft.” She bobbed her head up and down with excitement. Her nose was red for three days after using the star’s corner.
Star’s father stood up at her answer, prompting Tara’s father to hide her behind her back.
The King held up his hand to stop the senior Star, “No, Tara. You do not harm the stars.”
“But he told me it was okay! He had heard that it would grow back soon!”
All eyes went to the Star parents, growing smaller by the second. The father shook his head, muttering about his son’s stupidity. The mother turned white. They left without a word.
Little Tara and her family were sent back with only one punishment. They had to return the coins. The parents found it fair to take it from their son’s hoard as a lesson on greed.
The problem was solved. The stars would return now that they knew it was their own child’s fault.
They didn’t.
They told the humans they were happy in the sky. They would not go farther away. They would shine in the night. And they would even let some of their own work to guide the humans at sea.
The humans couldn’t do anything.
The children started calling the star “Tara” whenever she passed by to tease her. The broken star was also ridiculed till the point he went away, leaving behind his magic with a trail of white light.
Tara saw it happen and only wished for a better life for both of them. The magic worked. And their problems were solved.
The grandmothers told the story to the eager kids as the time went on.
Soon, people forgot that stars were ever closer to the ground than they are to the sky.
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Till the next one,
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