Heart of Fire and Tail of Ice, Comets sing you Lullabies

She couldn’t tear her eyes away from it. Out of everything that could be holding her attention, it had to be the single shoe in the middle of the road. Tipped over onto its side, caked in enough ash and dust that she couldn’t tell what its original color had been. 

It was small.

Alone. 

Tara slammed her eyes closed and tipped her head back. The smoke and rubble had settled enough that she could see a dusting of stars in the fading light of the sky. It would be dark soon. 

She’d known, in an abstract sort of way, that things like this had been happening more and more often lately; the Quasar had been ruthless and bold from the start of his very long reign, but… with all these rumors… 

She’d never thought it could happen to her town, though. Gapaclare was such a sleepy little town, nothing ever happened here. How had… Why…

Tara shook her head and turned to look forlornly at the smoldering remains of what was once her home. It had belonged to her mother, and her grandparents before that, and now look what’s become of it. Nothing but burnt rubble and the still gently smoking remains of her loom. Just that morning Luan and Cyrena had been helping her list out what she’d needed for her next project. They’d both been at the market when…

She heaved a sigh that made her cough and told herself she was much too tired to cry.

“Tara!” The shout snapped her back to the present. “Tara, there you are! We’ve been looking for you everywhere!” Solan skidded clumsily on the ruined road, face flushed and dark curls stained grey with ash.

“For me?” Tara croaked as Solan caught his breath, insistently pulling her along by the hand.

“Ye- yeah, c’mon everyone’s in the square. We found everybody!”

“Everyone?” Tara whispered, hope kindling.

“Everyone! We found them, Tara, they’re okay!”

Relief crashed through her, and she stumbled as she tried to quicken their pace. She listened with only half an ear as Solan kept rambling on, her mind solely focused on seeing her brother and niece, alive and well.

“- safe, since Pluto is there!”

Tara stumbled again as her stomach dropped, swooping terror taking its place. Pluto. Pluto.

“Pluto is still here?!” Tara hissed, crushing Solan’s hand. “Why? What is she still doing here?”

Solan had the audacity to look startled but her reaction. Pluto, the subject of the rumors that had brought the Accretions to the town, caused all this destruction! Had Solan not seen what happened? Had he not seen what Pluto had done?

“She got hurt, but she says she’ll be alright in an hour or so, then-”

“She’ll leave?” Tara interrupted hopefully, heart hammering.

“…I don’t know.” Solan said slowly, eyeing her with confusion. Tara shook her head in dismay and continued on to the town square. The Accretions may have decimated the town, but they’ve been around for centuries. They knew what to expect and how to handle those monsters.

The Accretions where beings made of the Quasar’s magic, bodies a shapless mass of ink black oil, but no less dangerous. They prowled through the wildlands without pause or remorse, leaving nothing behind but lifeless dust. It’s rumored that the Quasar created them to collect natural energy, using this to prolong their life, and power their ever-growing Accretion army. Others thought that they were created to search for something, since their wanderings in the wild seemed aimless and yet never ending. No one knew the real truth.

The thing about Accretions though, was that they never entered a populated area. Never, in the centuries of their existence and the Quasar’s too long reign, had an Accretion entered or harmed a town.

That is, until Pluto showed up.

Solan slowed to a walk as they rounded the last crumbling wall, and the sight Gapaclare’s town square brought them both to a halt.

Despite the overall state of the town, the atmosphere of the square was positively joyous. Tara may even dare to call it festive.

The rubble had been cleared away, and any rugs or blankets that had been salvaged were laid out in bursts of color and styles all around the edge of the town square. The entire town’s population bustled and moved in a dance Tara couldn’t hear the music to. Torches were lit and staked around the perimeter as the sky lost the last of its light. 

Injuries were being tended to but she couldn’t see anything worse than a a smattering of cuts and burns being wrapped up. Food and water stations were running steadily and the chatter of voices ebbed and flowed around her as her gaze finally landed on the fountain in the center of the square.

The water flow had long since died, and yet it seemed to be the liveliest spot in the square. Most if not all of the town’s children were crowded around a single figure. Sitting bandaged and half cast in the shadows of dusk, she was unmistakable.

Pluto.

Fear shot up Tara’s spine, leaving her breathless. Pluto had her back to the fountain, strange clothes hidden beneath a swath of bandages and a blanket draped over slumped shoulders. Tara was too far away to see details, but she didn’t need to. She’d seen more than enough when Pluto had fallen from the sky, fire in her hands and ice in her eyes.

“Tara!” Luan crashed into her side, nearly taking them both to the ground. “Tara, thank the stars!”

“Luan.” Tara whispered, tears stinging her eyes as she crushed her brother in a hug. Her fear ebbed away and left her feeling hollow. “Luan I thought- when I couldn’t find you in the market after everything- I thought-”

Luan hushed her and she pulled back enough to look him over. Her brother had a bandage around his head and bruises on his arms, but otherwise seemed to be just fine. He smiled at her softly and warmth bloomed in her chest, tears finally falling as she choked on her utter relief.

“Stars above Luan,” she laughed wetly, “don’t you ever scare me like that again!”

“I’ll try not to.” Luan chuckled, eyes bright. “I’m just glad that everyone made it out of this alright. The worst of the injuries were on Pluto, and she seems to be making a speedy recovery.”

And just like that, Tara was slammed back into cold, hard reality.

“Cyrena. Luan where’s Cyrena? Is she-”

“She’s fine, just fine. She’s with the other kids.” Luan says reassuringly, completely missing Tara’s look of horror as he turned to watch the cluster of children around the fountain. “Pluto said she’d be happy keep the kids occupied while we set up the square. She’s a lifesaver, she is. In more ways than the obvious, of course.”

Luan’s voice was warm as he spoke, but Tara could only feel icy dread as she searched the children for her little niece. How could Luan let Cyrena close to that-

There. Cyrena was practically hanging off of Pluto, smiling wide and laughing bright as the source of all the town’s troubles gestured widely with their least bandaged hand.

“It’s amazing isn’t it?” Luan asked softly. “All those stories… I never believed them, and yet here she is. It’s like… a legend come to life.”

A living legend, huh? Tara could only think of what she saw as their house burned down; at least a dozen Accretions stalking down the street, crumbling stone and dust left in their wake. A terrible screaming sound of something cutting through the air and an impact that shook the very ground. 

Pluto had risen from the crater of her own making and all Tara saw was a living nightmare.

Rumors had begun to crop up only a few months ago, whispers and wonderings of what most called the impossible. No one knew her real name, only that a girl traveled the kingdom with stardust in her blood and the sun and moon lighting her path. Out of everything the kingdom had called her; Star-walker, Eclipse, Comet tail, Pluto… Pluto was the name that stuck.

And Tara… Tara had loved those stories. She’d loved hearing about the impossible girl and her wondrous adventures throughout the kingdom. She’s sought out every whisper and rumor and held them close, always yearning for more.

“Did you see? Pluto can fly! She held my mother’s hand and they rose up and up, laughing all the while! Taller than the fort walls they were! The winds carried them like they weighed nothing at all!”

Ash burned and dust sliced as she coughed and hacked, trying to get away in a stumbling crawl. The air snapped around her, whipping her skin raw. She could just barely see the epicenter of the riptide gale, Accretions getting shredded in the winds surrounding the shrouded figure.

Did you hear? Pluto made it snow in the middle of summer! She pulled the water from the air and with a wave of her hand and a single breath, she covered the fields in sparkling white!

Her breath hung heavy in the air, frozen in her very lungs as foreign hands lifted and twisted and three more Accretions were gored on the ends of wicked spikes of ice in nought but an instant. Another wave of a hand and the ice was water once more, all deadly grace and horrible promise as she watched sticky black drip down, down, down.

“Did you know? Pluto can hold the sun in her hands! I swear it, she lit the way for my brother lost in the Southwood! I swear it’s true!”

She huddled behind the crumbling wall of what was once her home, staring wide eyed at the pooling ichor of a destabilizing Accretion not five feet away from her. The rest of the writhing mass was being held down ruthlessly by Pluto, white flames licking up her arms and lifting her hair as the Accretion beneath her hands screamed.

Bright!

Burning.

Amazing!

Horrifying.

Kind!

Vicious.

Salvation!

Devastation.

Force of Nature.

“Wow.” Luan breathed, shattering Tara’s thoughts and snapping her back to the present. Her breath caught as she saw exactly what had captured her brother’s attention. 

The crowd of children around Pluto had parted just enough, and right there, before their very eyes, was a miracle. 

Pluto had her eyes closed, bandaged hands pressed to the cobbled stone beneath her, and slowly, from between her fingers the earth bloomed. 

Flowers glowing jewel bright and shimmering, flooded the town square. Colors the likes of which Tara had never even imagined, spread out to cover all the exposed ground beneath their very feet. Gasps and exclamations preceded awed and delighted laughter, the entire town enraptured by the impossible spectacle. 

The torches cast dancing shadows across the square and some of the townsfolk decided to dance along with them, twirling and laughing among the newborn blossoms. Tara didn’t know who’d started singing, but she recognized the tune, and soon the entire town was singing along. 

Their voices rose and met the night sky, cloudless and star studded. 

Tara only had eyes for Pluto. Who was this stranger, to invoke this beauty and wonder and light and love? Who was she to take all the wonderful stories told about her and her powers and turn them into something terrifyingly vicious? 

How was Tara supposed to look at this being of both gentle force and horrific power, and see the same person? Should she even try to reconcile the two? 

Tara sighed, deep and long, and turned her gaze to the stars. There was ash in her throat, song in her ears, and stars in her eyes. A comet burned through the sky, leaving behind an icy tear. 

When Tara looked back to the fountain, Pluto held a toddler gently in her lap. The child excitedly showing off a flower they’d picked, laughing happily as they kicked little feet that was missing a single shoe.