114. The Starfox
The Starfox
She was Asteria’s, made from fire and the burning heart of a star.
She was built from chaos and the sky and all things living and dead.
She was fire, but she was also the love and the secret of creation we shared with each other.
Asteria wanted so much to bring her with us.
A glowing starfox moving across the skies, showing us the way.
But I asked her, how would we explain her to Pallas and Perses?
What answer would we have to give them of her origin?
And Asteria was broken-hearted, but she understood.
It was time for the starfox to have a new home, for others to look after her instead of us.
So, to my youngest Oceanid sisters, who were still kind, whose competitive attributes had not overshadowed their soft nature, we gave the starfox as a gift.
I knew one thing about Oceanids: we cared for all things living, nurtured them well.
My littlest sister had turned her wide, luminous brown eyes to me and asked, But what about her mate?
Does she not need a friend? Asteria, whose heart was already in pieces, immediately went into the deep woods and returned a while later with a bright rose-and-azure-coloured starfox.
As we watched the two foxes play with each other, bright amber-and-rose embers sparking from their tails, we had held hands and tried to remember that here, in every ending, there was a soft, small beginning.
For everyone who cared to see it, it would serve them well.
Asteria and I made a promise to each other then.
We would not practise magic in front of our consorts.
No one must know of this secret power we held. This was for us, and only ourselves.