ONCE UPON A STAR will launch on Monday, February 18th, and will feature fourteen all new faerie tale retellings with a science fiction twist! My contribution is titled BY THE LIGHT OF A DISTANT STAR and is a retelling of The Goose Girl. I had so much fun writing in this genre, one I've never attempted before, and I hope you enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Happy reading!
- Jenna
Princess Estrelle’s marriage
to Prince Damryn of Kaul is not just a means to establish a lucrative trade
agreement between two galaxies, but a chance for her to begin a new life. But Estrelle’s fairytale future is put on
hold when the woman transporting her to her new home steals her identity and
leaves her for dead. With the help of
her newfound friends, Estrelle discovers the courage to face her enemy and to
fight for the one she has grown to love.
AND NOW FOR A SNEAK PEEK OF BY THE LIGHT OF A DISTANT STAR!
Estrelle
swiped her fingers across the screen of her Glasslight, then tapped the symbol
for her inbox. A list of messages
scrolled by, her eyes flicking through them as she hunted for one in
particular. When the familiar subject
header caught her eye, she stopped it with a finger, the letter unfurling to
fill the screen. Estrelle grinned and
rose from the couch in her private quarters.
With digital tablet in hand, she stepped through the gauzy curtains onto
the shaded terrace just outside her room.
The stones beneath her bare feet were rough and warm, their rusty color
matching the barren landscape surrounding her family’s estate. Above, the broad leaves of the rossu vines
climbing the wall and spreading across the pergola provided ample shade beneath
Staerra, Parsa’s unforgiving sun.
A
wall fountain tucked away in the shadiest corner of her personal oasis offered
some comfort, and once Estrelle was seated upon the edge of the shallow pool,
she read her message for what must have been the hundredth time.
Dearest Estrelle,
In your last
correspondence, you inquired after my favorite color. A simple question, but one I delight in
answering. Blue, white, gray, and black
dominate the planet of Kaul, and only in the spring and summer months, a mere
third of the year, are we given the chance to admire a more varied color scheme
in the birds and blossoms that burst forth with life then. Beauty abounds during that time, and all the
people of the capital city pour onto the shores of the lake as it begins to
thaw. I cannot describe how much I enjoy
seeing the variety of hues during the warming season, but you were curious
about a single color: My favorite.
Despite all the lovely ones I have to choose from, I must admit red is
my preferred pigment, only because it happens to be the color of the brightest
star in our night sky. Not the brilliant
red of furzel bird feathers, or the deep scarlet of the wild poppies in bloom during
the mild season, but the warm crimson tone shining from a certain star that
keeps me company during my evening walks.
We call the star Hettar, the harbinger of summer, since it hovers on the
horizon for most of the year only to climb higher when the thaw begins. It also happens to be the star your home
planet orbits. I smile as I write this,
wondering if the cosmic fates had some part in our arrangement. For who else would know to bring me a
companion from the source of my hope and inspiration?
Yours affectionately,
– Damryn
Estrelle
smiled and hugged the thin plane of glass to her chest. She couldn’t say why she kept coming back to
this particular correspondence, but it always made her heart light when she
read it. Received only a few weeks ago,
it had been the first time the prince of Kaul had used a more intimate term of
endearment to close his letter. And the
first time he had signed off with only his name, no titles attached. Estrelle initially had no interest in
courting Prince Damryn, but as the days wore on, he proved to be everything she
could have hoped for in a mate: Charming, kind, and possessing a warm sense of
humor that shone light into her soul.
Through
their correspondence, Estrelle learned they had much in common, despite being
from two different worlds. Damryn had
described the natural wonder of his planet, Kaul, the largest body circling his
star, and one that spent the majority of its year wrapped in crystalline ice
and snow. She, in turn, had described
Parsa to him, in all its arid, crimson glory.
They had bonded over their love of the natural worlds around them,
seasoned with honesty and encouraged by the easy, patient nature they both
possessed. Who would have ever guessed
something which had begun with resistance and trepidation would blossom into
eagerness and joy?
Estrelle
now reflected on that fact, smirking at the memory of the hour she’d learned
her destiny would be so depressingly typical of a woman of her status. A little over a year ago, her great uncle and
her mother had come to her with a proposal: Their solar system and the one on
the other side of the recently discovered wormhole cluster wished to make a
treaty. Both planets sat on the edges of
their perspective galaxies, and both their rulers were interested in opening a
trade agreement between their solar systems – an opportunity for both planets
to act as the crossroads of an intergalactic port of commerce. The discovery of the wormhole cluster a
decade before had made travel between the two edges of the galaxies much
swifter than the usual mode of transportation.
Instead of spending a month cramped on a cargo ship with advanced hyper
speed capabilities, the wormholes allowed even the most basic starship to leap
from the edge of Parsa’s solar system to Kaul’s in less than a week.
Estrelle’s
great uncle and Prince Damryn’s father, both emperors in their own right,
jumped at the opportunity to strike a treaty between their two kingdoms. And an arranged marriage was the easiest, and
most secure way, to ensure a successful contract. Since the Kaulian race produced multiple
offspring at one time, the current emperor had plenty of sons and daughters to
choose from, and Damryn was his youngest.
Estrelle was the fourth daughter of the Parsan emperor’s sixth sister,
also the youngest. Technically a
princess, Estrelle was so far from the throne, she might as well have been a
commoner. And since she had three older
sisters who outranked her, she was chosen for the role of bride.
Estrelle
rejected the idea at first. Arranged
marriage was something her distant ancestors, human beings, had practiced on
the now dead planet Earth. Eventually,
her mother and great uncle persuaded her to start a long-range correspondence
with the prince, though she hadn’t placed much faith in the success of that
venture.
Oh,
how wrong she’d been. With a wistful
sigh, Estrelle closed the message she had practically memorized and leaned
against the cool wall of her patio garden.
She gazed out over the edge of the veranda and off into the far eastern
hills. Staerra had slipped below the
horizon, leaving the world hanging in a crimson twilight. Estrelle tilted her head back even farther,
seeking out Yssa, the star that lit Damryn’s planet and the one closest to her
own. There, in a gap between the rossu
leaves, a window of darkening sky framed a burst of brilliant, pale blue
fire. It would shine brightly over her
world tonight, casting its cool light across the desert. And beneath its unyielding watch, she would dream
of her new life and a future full of hope and opportunity. And gods willing, love.
* * *
Continue reading Estrelle and Damryn's story on 02.18.2019!
