Asterin

i. asterin

"Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us." A quote from one of her favorite novels, Pride and Prejudice, which was a book from the Second World, a world without magic or faeries or anything of the sort from the First World. 

Lune was raised in the First World, where she showed her magical abilities, which allowed her to attend the magical school that trained young faeries and men of the like, Eirlys.

"Miss Lune?" Di, her maid, said softly, knocking on her door, ripping her mind away from Pride and Prejudice and the Second World. "Yes, Di?" A polite smile formed onto her face, not quite meeting her eyes but her eyes only shown with kindness. 

"Your mother wishes for you downstairs. News about school." The last line grabbed her attention and she jumped up from the chair in the corner of her room, rushing down the stairs, her finger still in between the pages of her book, using it as a temporary bookmark. 

"Mother?" She called, looking around the dining room, curious to see what she called her down for. "Yes, Lune, come here, please." She heard her mother's voice coming from the ballroom, which was odd, as they had not used it for a long time. She entered the room that was sure to be filled with dust, had it not been for the many servants around the castle. 

"Ask Di to start packing up your baggage tonight. Tomorrow morning, you will visit Solis and stay for a week, then depart with Apollo for Eirlys. Greet the King and Queen for me?" Once she finished with her instructions, she looked up from her book and took a sip of her tea.

Lune nodded, "Yes, of course, mother." Her mother sent a polite smile to her daughter, and then sending her a curt nod, signaling to return to whatever she was doing before. "Oh, Lune. Be polite to Apollo won't you? He's a sweet boy and a marriage alliance with the Sun Kingdom would be great, wouldn't it?" Another smile was sent her way, but no joy me with her eyes.

Apollo was a boy that she grew up with. Rather than finding comfort in something like books or something sensible, he turned to girls and drugs, or anything of the sort. He was kind to her, since they understood each other but once she saw how he treated people, as if they were below him, she became distance, still kind, of course. 

Lune allowed herself to exit the ballroom, returning up the winding staircase and up the stairs, asking Di to fetch her luggage while she sorted out the clothes she wanted to bring with her to Solis and to Eirlys. 

The maid brought up her baggage and set it down, allowing her to pack herself. She loaded almost all of her closet into her bags, along with her favorite books that she wanted to bring and a few trinkets that he father gave her when he returned from travelling through the worlds and her childhood friends bought her too. After a few hours of packing and basically breaking her back, Lune shut her luggage and smoothed out the professional outfit she would wear to travel tomorrow to Solis. 

---

The next morning, she woke up, not to the sound of her alarm but to the sound of someone slamming open her door. "Morning, sunshine! Or should it be moonshine?" The familiar voice of the son of King Sorin and Queen Stella disturbed her unrestful sleep. "You're fucking hilarious, Ape." 

She let a smile appear on her face when he sent a dirty look her way at their childhood nickname. "Oh fuck off, Lune." "Hey, I didn't wake the sleeping monster. Now, why are you here?" She sighed, ripping the sheets off of her and her skin immediately creating goosebumps on her warm skin.

"The Queen and King believed it would only be proper if I escorted you to the Sun Kingdom. Otherwise, our reputation shall be tarnished, would it not?" He spoke in his most prestigious voice, hoping for a smile which she let on a bit. "Now, come on, my driver shall not be pleased having to wait so long to drive all the way back home." "You have a-" He silenced her with the wave of his hand and sat himself in the seat she was reading in last night.