Citizen 1403 Vela

„Are you sure you can find your way home yourself?“, one of the navy soldiers asked, a bright white coated furred rex, one that Vela had not yet seen. Beside him she almost felt a little underwhelming, despite her delphic spots that lit up her otherwise dark coat. Yet she lacked all of the imposing authority that the soldier seemed to bathe in with just his stance alone. Compared to him, she was still small, despite being one of the older ones in her class.

With a smile, Vela nodded. „Of course. But thank you kindly for your help, sir.“ For a few moments the soldier seemed to hesitate, then smiled.

“Alright. You take care, kid.“ With that, he turned around and walked off, back to the ship where he had come from. Vela looked after him for just a moment, then looked up at the sky, where spars shone among the darkness, seemingly trying to glitter with her delphic spots to fight for attention.

For a few moments she just watched the sky, her eyes darting from one star to the next. While she was still young, she had spent much of her time studying the stars and knew them by heart. A special interest of hers, really. One that helped her ever since she could think and discern them enough, to figure out what ways to take, what stars to follow.

Now, she turned around, away from the shore, where the soldiers had set up camp close to their ships. And with that, she turned away from a potentially solid night of sleep. 

She did not have a home. Not in the usual sense, anyway. Velas home were the things nobody could see as such, the embrace of the wind and leaves the blanket she curled around with, the forest her house and the stars shining above her her ceiling. With no family to speak of, her only company was the books she had collected. At first off the streets, then, when she had found some coin, properly bought. 

And with them, she had studied the stars. The stars that now shined her way, illuminated the night around her better than any candle could, any flame. As Vela walked, her gaze was trained on the stars, the north star shining brightly among its peers. They had always shown her the way. Perhaps that was what her delphic marks had prophesized at her birth, the connection she would hold with the stars. The way she‘d find her way in the darkest of nights if only one star shone brighter than the sinister black void above all their heads.

The posian islands were quiet at this time, most Rexal and animals already having gone to sleep. And so it was easy for her to slip into the forest unnoticed by any of the concerned adults. She didn‘t need their concern - it was the last thing she wanted.

Sometimes they would come to her and ask her if she needed help. She‘d always tell them that no, she needed nothing, that she could find her own way home. Rarely did an adult look through her lies. And it was better that way. Vela never liked having to explain herself - especially not to those that she looked up to.

“If I followed that star over there“, she mumbled to herself, her gaze traveling from the north star to a bright one that was part of the lion constellation, „I‘d be back with the guard.“  An amusing thought. One she didn‘t have for the first time. Often she wondered, if she was just a bit bigger and stronger… perhaps she could actually follow that star. Walk to the barracks of the navy, sign up and become one of them. Have secured meals, a bed. Sometimes they allowed her to stay and they probably would allow it more often… they seemed fond of her. But Vela didn‘t like seeming weak. She didn‘t want them to think of her as a child that needed charity. When it was her time to follow the stars to them, then they should think of her as an equal, not a child.

So for today, she followed the Northstar, skirting along the trees that swayed with the wind, yet never covering the star she needed to follow. And when she had stepped far enough into the forest, she could see the small burrow where she slept. Just big enough for her, large enough to easily store her few belongings.

And so, with a last thankful glance to the star above her, she quietly slipped into the burrow and rested her head on her hands. Perhaps tomorrow she‘d see about visiting the soldiers again. Perhaps she‘d find some other place to stay. The stars shone brightly today… perhaps it could finally be time.

By Shizena