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Esther wasn't very… interested in her soulmate. Undoubtedly, she had heard about how wonderful it was to find that one person, god, dryad, or whoever who would be ready to accept her as she was. To be the one who would be with you through thick and thin. Just write something on any part of your body, and like crazy, the being on whose body the same inscription appeared would appear.
There was a theory that the Moirai did this because people constantly chose the wrong partners, which caused many problems. Some said that one of the witches created such a curse precisely to make people create conflicts over "you're not my destined one." And others said that primordial Chaos itself arranged all this back during the creation of the world; everyone just started noticing it only recently.
The little star had many reasons not to seek her soulmate. First, she didn't feel that romantic spark at all. She'd heard that many people start dating someone before finding their match, but Esther somehow didn't want that. She was already several decades old, but she felt nothing close to that desire. Heracles and many mortals said it was normal—that either she was someone who could only love one person, or her destined one would be more of a friend than a partner since she apparently couldn't fall in love.
The second reason was that… the girl… wasn't very good at reading and writing. It sounds strange, but simply, her mother wasn't the most educated person. She could read and write a little, but with great difficulty and serious mistakes. Plus, she couldn't pass on knowledge to her daughter because she was always working in the fields. As a result, Heracles taught her everything, but even so, the demigoddess understood little.
And third, it was connected precisely to her brother. Although he was the one who talked about how important the bond was and how wonderful it was to have a soulmate, she clearly saw how strangely he looked at his own hand. How he would sometimes write something on it and then erase it, not waiting for an answer. Esther didn't know what had happened, but her gut told her that perhaps this was why Heracles didn't really like returning to Olympus.
So Esther made herself a promise to never seek her chosen one. She didn't need any problems connected to him or her. Therefore, the girl actively ignored the inscriptions that rarely, but sometimes, appeared on her hands.
As a child, the little star would look with interest at the beautifully written letters, but she couldn't really read them. When she grew up and learned a little, she only understood short phrases.
"Forgot"
"Remove"
"Can't"
And a couple of words might have been someone's names—Esther couldn't say for sure. The words, though quickly written, were so beautiful. Perhaps her soulmate was from a wealthy family? Or from a country under Athena's patronage? Although it didn't matter. The main thing was not to accidentally write anything on her body that her partner might notice.
The girl followed this plan for a very long time. A very long time. Until one day, sitting in one of the houses destroyed and abandoned by time, she started thinking. In her hands was a small piece of charcoal with which she wanted to draw something. Yes, the little star was certainly not the best artist, but she could probably make some caricatures.
The demigoddess was thinking about this, looking at her hand, on which words were quickly appearing. It seemed her soulmate was again remembering something using their body. A strange way, certainly, but probably not a bad one if her chosen one used it often.
Esther didn't even notice how she slowly moved the charcoal along her hand, examining the words. She only realized it when her partner froze mid-word and then quickly erased them.
"Hello" her partner wrote, after which the girl, realizing what she'd done, quickly erased her drawn line. She waited for some time, hoping that on the other side of the world, the person would think they'd imagined it and forget the situation. But apparently, they had other plans.
"Don't be afraid, I don't want to hurt you"
And some other word at the end that Esther couldn't make out. She hesitated a little, not knowing what to do, but thinking it over, she took the charcoal more comfortably in her hand and wrote one word on her arm.
"Can't"
After which, satisfied, the girl put the charcoal aside, believing she had made it perfectly clear to the other being that she didn't want to communicate with them. So she calmly put the charcoal away and left her temporary shelter, expecting her chosen one to understand the hint.
Well. Making mistakes, fortunately, was not forbidden.
Whoever it was, upon learning that they actually had a soulmate, actively tried to establish contact. They asked how the little star's day was going, what she was doing, what she loved, and sometimes told various stories that were actually interesting to read since they were from the distant past that Esther didn't know. But this couldn't go on forever!
"Stop"
She wrote with charcoal from a long-dead fire on her hand. The girl just couldn't take it anymore.
"Why?"
Appeared next to her crooked writing, beautiful and even words, one of which was unknown to the little star. She rolled her eyes in annoyance and, erasing her old inscription, made a new one.
"Because it's not allowed"
Her interlocutor's inscription disappeared, and after a minute, a new one appeared.
"Are they forbidding you to talk to me?"
Esther frowned, seeing that same strange word. She'd have to ask her brother about it sometime.
"No, I just don't want to"
"But why"
"Because I don't need a partner"
The girl answered clearly, settling more comfortably on the ground. Her interlocutor paused, and after a few minutes, erasing the inscription, wrote.
"If you don't want a partner" [unfamiliar word] "then would you mind if I were just your conversational partner?"
The demigoddess froze and thought. She hadn't even considered that option. She had enough communication with her brother and a couple of mortals. Besides, what if her soulmate misunderstood everything and, well… fell in love with her? Then there would be many problems. But on the other hand, they were unlikely to ever meet, so they couldn't tell her everything.
The little star thought for a while, then wrote uncertainly.
"Okay. But don't expect more."
She wrote, then tossed the charcoal somewhere to the side. A second later, an answer appeared.
"As you wish."
Esther nodded at the emptiness and smiled awkwardly. She looked around for any witnesses, then flew away from her latest temporary shelter.
And this was, perhaps, one of the best decisions of her life!
Whoever her soulmate was, they were such a pleasant conversationalist! They began to tell her more about the past. Write interesting facts about the world. Show interest in how the girl's day was going, and much, much more. She wanted to discuss anything with this being, even if it was some kind of nonsense.
The only unpleasant thing was that her conversationalist sometimes used strange words whose meaning the demigoddess simply didn't understand or couldn't read properly. Perhaps she should have told her chosen one about this, but… She was too ashamed to admit the fact that she was very illiterate.
The little star had already had to reassure her soulmate that she wasn't a child because they had somehow decided that. Why they decided that was probably obvious—Esther took a very long time to respond to their messages, and perhaps whoever was on the other side thought their soulmate had only just appeared, but still, it was offensive!
So, when the girl saw Nyx, she couldn't help but write about it to her soulmate. The woman was so beautiful, so wonderful! If the demigoddess had the same vocabulary as her chosen one, she would definitely write a whole canvas of text all over her body. Although that probably wouldn't be very good, as her conversationalist would hardly be able to read it all.
But that wasn't the important thing. What was important was that her chosen one was actively interested in Nyx and what Esther had found out about her. For a moment, it even seemed to her that her conversationalist was also interested in the Night, so she asked them about it.
"Don't worry" unfamiliar word "I won't take the goddess from you"
After a few minutes of silence, the words appeared. Then the girl breathed a sigh of relief and again began actively discussing the goddess. She talked about how she'd found many old paintings of her. Scrolls with her stories from before the fall of the Titans. How she'd found a secluded spot in an abandoned house and built something like an altar for Nyx.
She also complained that her object of adoration was behaving stranger and stranger each day. She started looking around more often. Walking in open places on the surface, which meant watching her from the nearest hiding place, which was too far away.
And while complaining about this, a stupid and naive thought unexpectedly came to Esther. What if… What if her soulmate was Nyx? She froze when that idea came to her. It actually explained a lot. Her soulmate's beautiful handwriting. The strange words and stories from the distant past. A mortal could hardly know so much. And Nyx's behavior explained it too.
Thinking for a long time, the girl came up with what she thought was a brilliant plan. She would write something on her hand where it could be seen. And she would do it only when she saw Nyx again. Then the little star would be able to tell if she was her soulmate or not.
Quickly making a fire and waiting for it to die down, the demigoddess took the charcoal and flew towards the Crossroads, where Nyx could sometimes be found. Esther flew over the place for quite a while until she noticed the woman talking with Nemesis. Slightly nervous, Esther landed a little further into the forest and approached their meeting place on foot. She was still behind the trees, slightly covering her glowing hair with her hands.
Worried and nervous, the girl gripped the charcoal more comfortably in her hand and drew on her arm in large letters:
"HELLO"
And waited. The demigoddess pressed nervously against the tree, carefully watching Nyx's hand. She waited for several minutes.
Nothing.
The little star got a little more nervous and drew on her arm again, only slightly higher.
"HELLO"
And Esther again looked intently at Nyx. Nothing. Maybe the inscription would appear after a while? But no. The girl waited for a very long time, watching the hand of her object of adoration, but nothing happened. Unable to bear it, she sniffled, took off into the air, and flew back to her secluded corner.
The demigoddess decided to end her communication with her chosen one. It sounded stupid, but it was clear enough that their communication would lead to nothing good, especially now that the little star loved someone else. What if, after some time, her conversationalist on the other side of the world fell in love with her, and she couldn't reciprocate? Or if Nyx forbade her from communicating with them? If Esther, of course, managed to start dating her. And many, many other stupid reasons made in the heat of emotion.
An inscription appeared on her hand.
[Unfamiliar word] "Did something happen? I saw your" [another unfamiliar word] "only just now. Do you want to discuss Nyx again?"
"We need to stop communicating"
The little star wrote clearly and distinctly, then sat on the ground, pulled her knees to her chest, and burst into tears at the injustice of the higher powers' choice of soulmate for her.
***
Nyx, sighing heavily, put her brush down on the nightstand. Her chosen one had behaved strangely before, but now? Why did she decide to end their communication right now? Why did she write "hello" to her several times if she didn't want to tell her anything?
The woman certainly hadn't expected her daughters to decide to find her a partner. They saw perfectly well that their mother felt comfortable without a second half and silently accepted it. She, in turn, actively used her divine solitude, periodically deciding to meet interesting beings simply to satisfy her curiosity.
So she definitely hadn't expected that one day, while writing a note on her hand—Night periodically did this out of habit from the past, when parchment or animal hide was hard to find and she couldn't remember everything, but when they became abundant, the habit remained; but that wasn't the point.
The main thing was that, while writing her tasks on her hand, the goddess certainly hadn't expected to see on it a straight line left by charcoal. Today she definitely hadn't been near Asphodel or any other source of fire where she could have accidentally touched charcoal with her hand. And she certainly couldn't have written it herself, as she currently made her notes with black paint or ink, using only a brush.
The being on the other end apparently realized they'd been noticed, and quickly erased the line. Nyx wiped off her own notes and, taking her brush in hand, greeted the being her children had decided to pair her with. Surprisingly, he or she… simply wrote "can't" and then fell silent. Nyx was greatly surprised by this and decided to not write anything for a while to think about what had happened.
Thinking it over for a long time, she decided to write anything at all to see what her soulmate would respond to. The woman wrote about all sorts of things that came to mind, and yes, her chosen one answered. But not to discuss one of the topics Nyx had proposed, but to end their communication because… she didn't want a romantic relationship.
Well… The goddess didn't mind. She knew perfectly well that her daughters chose soulmates not only in a romantic sense, but also in the sense of friendship or even family. Perhaps her soulmate was from that category? So she simply suggested they be conversational partners, to which she received consent.
After that, they discussed many things, and during their conversations, Nyx made a few notes to herself.
First, her soulmate was very bad at reading and writing. At first, Nyx thought her conversationalist was deliberately ignoring some words because she didn't want to answer rather important questions, but no. She simply didn't know their meaning. The woman had to work a bit to understand which specific words she didn't comprehend and tried to use them much less often. Although… not always.
For example, sometimes she would insert words like:
"Sweetie"
"Dear"
"Beloved"
And so on. It was a bit childish, but the goddess hadn't done such silly things in a long time, so why not try now? Especially since her soulmate was unlikely to understand the meaning of these words.
Second, her soulmate was definitely not a child. To be honest, this was the most welcome news. It was generally difficult to extract any information about herself from her chosen one. She had only learned with great difficulty that her conversationalist was a girl, and it was very good that Nyx hadn't yet revealed her own gender. Simply because, apparently, her interlocutor had rather strange and somewhat otherworldly views on relationships.
That she wasn't a child, Nyx learned during one of their correspondences. As always, she was trying to choose the right words so as not to accidentally say something out of line, when her soulmate mentioned that some mortal was giving her strange looks. The woman first frowned, and after a few clarifications, looked outraged and angry. She even wrote how disgusting it was that some person could think THAT about a child and…
Her chosen one got very angry. She was so angry that the goddess might think she was a child. The girl wrote at length that she wasn't an ordinary person, that she was already many decades old, and that she wrote so poorly not because she was a stupid child. Nyx had difficulty calming her down and sincerely apologized to her.
Third, and this had appeared quite recently, her soulmate… was obsessed with her. Not with the personality that was just ordinary words on her hand, but with the very image of the goddess. Nyx didn't even know when the girl had managed to see her—perhaps at one of the meetings with her daughters, her chosen one had seen her, but that wasn't the point. After that meeting, she started constantly talking about her.
It was so strange to hear so much praise about herself. Usually she was described as something frightening, something not to be seen, but here! Literally a canvas of text about how extraordinary, kind, sweet she was, and much more. Sometimes her chosen one simply ran out of words, and her text would turn into:
"Incredible incredible incredible"
Nyx would only burn with embarrassment and delight at this. It was too cute, even if strange to many. Although she did have to explain herself a little to the girl because she was too interested in her obsession with herself.
Honestly, Nyx had considered arranging a personal meeting with her. She tried to catch her eye during her time on the surface and even set up something like traps, but nothing worked. The woman only saw a bright light in the distance that quickly disappeared, leaving her alone.
And today, while talking with Nemesis, she expected to see her admirer again, but there was nothing, and returning to Tartarus, she noticed her messages. Although, perhaps they arrived with a delay, as sometimes happened. After all, it was difficult to connect darkness itself with someone, even if it was destiny.
Apparently, she had something important to write if she decided to end their communication. Nyx sighed heavily again, beginning to massage her temples.
"Why is it so difficult…"
She murmured quietly, looking into the void and trying to figure out what to do next.