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Dimitri let out a quiet, heavy breath as he stared into the night sky. He counted and recounted every star, planet, and constellation he could see, recalling what Ashe and Annette were talking about at lunch that day:
Did you hear? The brightest star is going to be right above the monastery today! Ooh, the cathedral will look like a tree with a star on top!
Dimitri turned around to gaze at the conical roofs that crowned each structure that comprised the monastery. Sure enough, right above the cathedral, there was a star brighter than any the prince had ever seen before, whispering to him in a language beyond his comprehension.
“Dimitri!” A voice called out from the cathedral, startling the young man out of his trance. Dimitri tore his eyes away from the brilliant celestial body that transfixed him.
From the door came a tanned man cloaked in yellow, a direct contrast to Dimitri’s personal pale skin and blue attire. It was Claude, a noble from the east, but more importantly he was someone who Dimitri cared deeply about.
“Claude,” Dimitri smiled, relaxing his tensed shoulders from the spook. “What are you doing up so late?” “I could ask you the same thing, your princeliness,” Claude teased, walking into the cool night air to stand beside his companion. “But you know me. Couldn’t sleep, decided to stroll around and see what I could find, and here we are.”
Dimitri chuckled and nodded without another word. He turned his attention back to the star, leaning back on the stone balcony to ease his tired legs. Training all day every day with his peers and the professor was an honor and his privilege, but Dimitri’s body got sore just like anyone else’s.
Claude decided to keep talking. “I didn’t know you were one for stargazing,” he said, quieter this time. “Never thought a royal would have the time to get lost in the night sky. “I used to stargaze all the time when I was little,” Claude continued. “The stars and the moon were my closest friends when I had no one. Whenever things would get rough, the moon’s silver smile awaited me every night, no matter how bad things got.”
Dimitri listened quietly, his heart fluttering slightly every time Claude’s subtle accent danced across a word or phrase. He decided that now was as good a time as any, and he reached out, placing a cold hand over Claude’s beating heart.
“It’s still there for you, Claude,” Dimitri said softly, intimately, so Claude was the only person in the universe that could hear. “But now, the rest of us are here for you, too.” Dimitri laughed as Claude’s cheeks turned a subtle shade of pink. It would be rude for the prince to keep pestering his visitor, so he took his hand back and resumed his position against the balcony.
“Allow me to tell you a legend that my father would recount to me when I was young,” Dimitri said, his gaze shifting from his new friend in the sky to Claude’s oldest companion. “At birth, the Goddess bestows a star upon that new baby, binding a young soul to an old, wise entity. Legends called them Star Binds - the souls of those who died before their time begin to work for the Goddess as these mythical beings, guiding their mortal partner through life in silence.
“Once, there was a prince and a hero. The young prince tragically passed away in a freak accident when he was just thirteen, and as such, began his service as a Star Bind. The Goddess explained that there was a child without a star to whom he was bound, and the young prince assumed that position.
“Days went by, equating to weeks and then months on earth. This young hero never acknowledged his new bind, but one night, upon gazing at the night sky, he pondered the existence of these otherworldly guardians, and fell asleep with the thought.
“From then on, the prince and the hero formed a friendship that broke the barriers of time and space, but because the young prince was dead, the two could never be together in the hero’s waking hours.”
Claude had moved from standing against the balcony to sitting on top of it, and as he listened, he placed his warm hand on Dimitri’s shoulder.
“According to the legend, the two men went on a transforming journey together. War erupted on earth, thus throwing the hero into a mess of constant battles and uncertainty of when his last day would come. Every time he tried to talk to his royal friend in his dreams, his calls were all in vain, and it seemed like he would never find solace in escaping his war-torn world again. But then, five years later, a force knocked the hero onto his back, and he assumed this was finally the end of his tale.
“Then, the unthinkable happened: a man dressed in pitch-black armor emerged from the air itself. He was the spitting image of the prince that the hero had befriended before the war, except this illusion looked as war-torn as the land itself. What was once a polite young man with a kind smile and caring eyes became a giant with a beastly smile and a gash over his right eye. The hero was horrified; this was surely his end.
“‘You do not recognize me,’ the mysterious knight roared, a lance materializing in his hand.
“That voice. The hero sat up then, holding his hand out to the stranger. A shield embellished with the head of a stag appeared before him, providing a barrier between this attacker. “‘I know you,’ the hero whispered, tears forming in his eyes. It was the prince after all, having gone through his own turmoil to get here. For a moment, a small smile teased the corner of his mouth, before he collapsed on the ground and embraced the man he’d been watching over since that fateful day.”
Dimitri yawned and rested his head back, connecting with Claude’s chest. His eyes fluttered shut after his tale was complete.
“I like to believe that I have a star bind. Perhaps one day they’ll present themselves to me like the hero in the story.” Claude smiled warmly, his other hand sweeping across Dimitri’s golden locks. “Perhaps one day they will...perhaps one day they will, Dimitri.”