The Queen of Constellations

One of my favorite creative escapes from reality is playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends. A commonplace necessity for building a character is to give them some interesting or tragic backstory that you can grow from and for the DM (Dungeon Master: individual who guides the game) to pull from and incorporate into their overarching storyline.

There is little more beautiful than watching a character who has been through hell and back, who maybe doesn’t even deserve a happy ending, find themself on the other side of the turmoil in a place where they can find peace.

One such character of mine was a man who went by Specter. He was of celestial blood and due to being born with bold hued wings instead of the socially acceptable pale, and for falling in love with the daughter of the community leader, he had all but spelled his demise. To keep him from his daughter, the leader staged her death and spewed false, devastating, and ruinous accusations that Specter was responsible. He was then, consequently, thrown from the ethereal plane. Most of his life thereafter was built around finding a purpose to live while running from his past. The cherry on top of the angst-sundae was he did this all while battling debilitating depression.

A friend of mine had created a character named Holly. She was also of celestial heritage and was exiled from the ethereal plane because she had been having visions of a disastrous apocalypse that she wanted to stop from happening. Once the children and eventually the adults started avoiding her out of fear, it painted a target on her back for harassment. Mental illness was unheard of in her community so once these premonitions started being coupled with the voice of a non-celestial being telling her he wanted to help, her family joined the mob.

Specter and Holly ended up bonding over the loss of a party member and quickly became emotionally codependent on each other. As time went on, though, their relationship thankfully grew somewhat healthier.

All Specter wanted was for somebody to show him they cared, to prove to him that not everyone was going to point fingers and tell him he’s broken. Holly did that. She loved him despite his dark moments and in turn, he showed her that she wasn’t damaged goods. They were both ostracized for things neither of them could control, and in their fall, taught each other that they were perfectly whole.

As the campaign drew to a close, this friend of mine and I would often fantasize about where these two little nuggets would end up. The topic soon shifted to them settling down and having a family. We loved the idea of them having a little daughter together that the scruffy edgelord that was Specter would absolutely melt for.

We started a roleplay in which Specter was taking their daughter, Stardust, to bed and the little one wanted him to tell her bedtime story. That’s where this story comes from. Rather than copy and paste something pre-written as a cop out, I was inspired to write my own and this is how it went.

It had been a grueling, stressful day and Holly needed the evening to herself to decompress. She trudged down the hallway of their home, prepared to ask Specter if he could take care of getting Stardust ready for bed, but as she walked past her daughter’s room, she heard giggling and the familiar cadence of her husband’s voice.

Stardust whined, "But Daddy! I need you to tell me a story before I'm ready for the sleeps!"

The man overwhelmed his daughter with tickles as he said, "Oh do I now, squirt? Well then what story did you have in mind?"

She pondered, "Uuuummmm *gasp* THE QUEEN OF CONSTELLATIONS!!"

Specter chuckled at his daughter’s antics, "Heh ok ok then, calm down. Hop into bed."

"Ok, Daddy."

“A LOOONNNGGG time ago, there was a little girl named Adastra..."

Stardust interrupted, "That means, to the stars!"

"Yes I know, kiddo. Now are ya gonna let me tell it or do you want to?"

The little one calmed down and nestled in next to her dad while he continued on with the story. Holly had stopped outside of the door and leaned against the wall, sliding down until she sat on the ground. Her head blissfully leaned back as she listened to her husband's calming voice and stifled a giggle at their daughter's. There was a stuffed doll left on the floor next to her so she lovingly picked it up and set it in her lap while she listened.

“Adastra would poke her head out of her window every night and sing to the stars and moon as they lit the sky.

She hummed her own little tune, making up words no one had ever heard before.

People would poke fun at her, saying it was only baby talk, but she knew.

She knew there was someone out there listening to her, so she kept singing.

One night, when the moon was full, Adastra sang, and her words became a staircase that led up into the heavens further than her eyes could see.

So she did what any logically thinking little girl would: she climbed those stairs. And they did, indeed, take her to the stars.

She was soon surrounded by an audience of sparkling bodies, eager for her voice. She began to sing her make believe words and those words turned into the language of the universe.

The moon and all of the stars sighed in unison at her voice.

Adastra had many fun times with her new friends. She walked through cosmic fields of moondust and stars sprinkled light into her hair.

She never wanted to go back home, and the stars and moon didn't want her to leave them either.

So do you know what they did?"

"What did they do, Daddy?"

"The Moon gave her a crown and said, ‘This is your place of belonging,’ so she stayed, and ruled over the night skies as the Queen of Constellations.

She was now half person, half universe and she didn't mind, and neither did they.

The night sky was hers now, so she started carving in constellations of her own, and she gave them names.

And to this day she lives in the sky at night, showing us that even in the darkest of times, there can still be a little starlight, a little moonlight."

Holly smiled at those words. She remembered the first time she called Specter her moonlight... and the first time he called her his starlight. They were the glow in the night so neither would ever have to be alone in their darkness again. Holly's eyes quickly weighed heavy on her face, and she let them fall.

"Goodnight, Stardust." Specter leaned down and smeared a big, slobbery, scruffy daddy kiss on her cheek.

She erupted into giggles and pushed at his face, "Daddy noooo! That’s grooooss!!"

Specter chuckled and brought the covers over her shoulders, "Alright now. It’s time for bed. I'll see you in the morning... maybe... I may sleep late. You'll probably just have to crawl in bed with me and Mommy to wake us up."

"Hehe ok Daddy, night night."

Specter turned down the lantern and quietly opened the door to see his wife sweetly asleep against the wall with a doll in her lap. He shook his head, a big, stupid grin taking over his face. He leaned down and gently picked her up bridal style as he headed to their bedroom.

Holly mumbled, "You put her to bed..."

Specter replied, "Yeah, figured you could use the time to yourself, but I didn't think the story would put you to sleep too. I guess even Mommies need bedtime stories, sometimes. Right, shorty?"

A drowsy Holly only made a few incoherent noises before drifting back into slumber. Her husband gently tucked her into bed, leaving a kiss on her forehead, "Goodnight, my starlight. My sky would be dark and lonely without you in it."