Astraeus

The suitor.

Aster, a young apprentice tailor of the Millmeadows and a childhood friend of Thalia, had developed a foolish crush on her as their feathers grew in.

Aster was quickwitted, but stumbled over his own tail when she was around. He would groom his feathers nervously until they stuck up at odd angles before they met to chat.

Aster was the only one in which she confided the truth about herself; her mother was Coirina, the manipulative socialite whose home in the Cloudsong had been stormed when they were just hatchlings. He took it in stride, promising earnestly to blind himself with his needles if he ever told another soul.

Thalia thought it was cute, but not cute enough to stay for.

She'd always been somewhat aloof to others' affections, and when she left on her search, Aster was left in the dust with only a quick peck on the cheek as she took off away from their life, out into Sornieth.

He worried over her for hours after she left, managing to sew his own shirt into the wingdrape he was mending in his concern, until he could no longer bear the thought of his friend alone out there, searching for her disgraced mother with no guarantee she was even alive. He went after her, catching up after nearly flapping his still-growing wings off in his haste, and confessed everything to her--his affections, his worry, his determination.

She deemed him a worthy companion with a smile half-hidden by her traveller's hood, and that same night found them curled around each other, in a strange, shadowy forest, under familiar stars.





If you want to Exhalt me, please name me first!!