STARS
Warm summer winds tugged at Tilda's unruly curls and bowed the heads of wildflowers surrounding her. Those flowers weren't picking themselves, and she had to get it done before the sun went down. Not much time left.
She hummed while she snipped stem after stem. Twenty-one tingle blossoms, those were the last ingredients she needed for the spell. Tonight she was going to cast the most amazing spell that ever was and prove to those ruddy kids at the academy she was just as good as them, even if she was younger. Better even. Tonight she was casting a spell she'd made all on her own.
With the last flower picked, Tilda scurried up the hillside, the long grasses swishing round her as she went. She lived by herself in Nock's Glenn in a little cottage made by some such relative from who knew when. Tilda burst through the door. The little blue Spark that lived with her lit the one-room house.
"Hey Bluey, I found 'em. Gonna do it tonight. It's a perfectly clear night too!"
She plopped the flowers on the table that also served as her dining table, her desk, and most importantly her brewing area. No need for her floppy over-sized hat anymore what with night coming—she tossed her hat on the bed.
Bluey hiss-popped at her happily and the tips of its flames glowed purple.
"Don't worry, I'll bring you out in the lantern so you can see it too." She grabbed a twig from a pocket in her robes. It was an extra dry one, Bluey's favorite. She tossed the stick its way and the little spark chomped away on it.
Tilda pulled out her magic mixing pot and dumped in water she'd gathered from the Unicorn's River. "Can you heat this?" she asked Bluey as she danced around the chair to her bed. She'd hidden a special branch in there that Bluey couldn't eat. It was a starbranch, the tree it came from grew from where a fallen star landed.
When Tilda turned around, the branch tucked into her sleeve, Bluey hopped over to the little crook under the pot made just for it. The water quickly boiled.
First she dropped in the twig. The water swirled with the colors of the rainbow. Then she tossed in each of the tingle blossoms. Last, she grabbed a handful of sugar because everything was better with sugar.
"Mix and brew, mix and brew, see just what you can do," she sang as she stirred with a large wooden spoon. Bluey hummed along as best it could.
Slowly the mixture turned to a sparkling midnight liquid. "Looks good to me. All right, you ready to jump in the lantern?"
Bluey popped a yes.
But where was that thing?
Tilda spun round and round her messy little cottage. It wasn't by the haphazard pile of dishes in the sink. She'd have to get to those eventually. Neither was it by her table or her bed still unmade. The only other place it could be was under her bed.
She sighed and crawled underneath, trying her best not to disturb the cobwebs of her resident spiders.
With Bluey in the mixing pot, the home was dark and shadowy, and now she could barely see a thing. Tilda reached into her belt pouch for her trusty little opal stone.
Focusing on the smooth stone, she whispered, "Illuminate."
Bright white light spread from the stone, pushing the darkness of the underbed into sad scattered shadows. There in the corner, her lantern lay on its side, neglected. She swiped it, put away the stone, and shimmied back out from under her bed.
"Rotten thing, how'd it get down there anyway?" Tilda muttered as she walked back to Bluey.
"Okay, ready for real this time."
She opened the glass door of the lantern. Bluey sprang into the lantern, a smile stretching across its flames. It'd been a while since she brought Bluey out with her. She really should do it more often. She clipped the lantern to her belt, made sure it was secure with a tug, and grinned.
"Let's light the night sky. Yeah?" Excited bubbles filled her stomach so full she was bound to burst soon.
Tilda grabbed the magic pot and carried it grandma-style to the door. She kicked the bottom corner of the door twice and it bounced open. So glad she invented the hands free way to open a door when she was ten. Such a simple invention. The spell she was doing tonight would be the biggest one she'd made in her life, and if she succeed, she'd never be doubted again by anyone. Twelve was a hard enough age already.
She had the perfect spot picked out. A few paces from her house the ground dipped away into a valley. The academy where everyone else lived throughout the year was at the bottom of the valley. They'd have one heck of a view.
Carefully, Tilda set the magic pot down. She took a step back and raised her hands to the pot.
"Little stars, rise on up to the skies above, shoot across the heavens!" Tilda's hands glowed green with her magic. The liquid in the pot pulsed green three times.
Then all at once her concoction erupted from the pot like a volcano and flew to the darkening skies.
Shooting stars in all shades of green flew across the sky, chiming as they went. They'd fade eventually, but for now, it was amazing. Tilda grabbed the lantern and held Bluey up to see.
"Not bad, huh?" She giggled. It transitioned into a full body laugh that made her fall to the ground holding her sides while awkwardly holding onto the lantern. When her giggles finally stopped, she reveled in the light-show she'd created.
She did it. She made a spell no one else had ever done. She created stars.
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