The sparring field had long since cleared, but the ground still bore the marks of battle.
Scorched divots from Astra's falling stars. Gashes in the earth where Noelle's magic had flared with untamed force. It was the kind of aftermath only mages could leave behind—beautiful, wild, and vaguely apocalyptic.
Astra sat atop the weather-worn courtyard wall, high above the training field, her knees drawn to her chest. Her long black hair spilled down her back like ink, tangled slightly from the fight. The crisp wind tugged gently at her cloak, carrying the scent of wet grass and distant trees.
She was alone, yet she wasn't.
Her grimoire hovered at her side, closed now, the faint glow of starlight pulsing within its cover like a heartbeat under skin. It thrummed with mana, quiet and alive, as if waiting for her to speak to it.
But Astra said nothing.
She simply watched the horizon as the sky shifted from orange to plum, then finally to indigo. The stars, one by one, blinked into view.
So many stars.
To anyone else, they might've looked like glitter on velvet—pretty, far-off, harmless.
But to Astra, each one was a gate. A lock. A language of gravity and memory she had been born to read. Each one held weight—not just in magic, but in meaning. She didn't look up for beauty.
She looked up to remember who she was trying not to become.
"Mind if I join you?"
The voice was quiet, hesitant. Not Noelle's usual proud edge, but something gentler. More human.
Astra didn't look away from the sky. "You already are."
Noelle climbed up beside her without waiting for an invitation. She sat with her back straight, hands in her lap, not quite close enough to touch.
"I wanted to say... thank you," she said after a beat.
Astra glanced sideways. "For what?"
"For not humiliating me," Noelle said with a dry chuckle. "You could've crushed me in that spar. But you didn't."
"I don't fight to prove I can win," Astra said. "I fight to learn."
"And what did you learn from me?"
Astra's lips curved faintly, not quite a smile. "That you're more afraid of losing control than losing a match."
Noelle stiffened.
But then, after a long pause, she exhaled. "That's... not inaccurate."
Astra finally turned her head. "Why?"
"I wasn't supposed to be the failure of the Silva family," Noelle said, voice low. "And yet, every time I tried to use my magic, it went wild. I became a liability. A mistake."
She laughed softly, bitterly.
"I used to think if I just trained hard enough, I could fix it. That if I focused, controlled everything down to the breath, I'd be useful. But magic doesn't respond to fear. It responds to will. And I... don't always believe in myself."
Astra listened in silence.
When Noelle finally looked up, she met Astra's gaze head-on.
"But you—when you cast spells, it's like the world bends to your desire. You don't hesitate. You don't doubt."
Astra's expression darkened just slightly.
"Doubt is a luxury I was never allowed."
Noelle frowned. "What do you mean?"
Astra turned her eyes back to the stars. "When you grow up under the Eclipse, you don't get second chances. Every failure is a flaw in your soul. Every mistake is weakness to be corrected—usually by pain."
Noelle's eyes widened slightly. "You were raised by the Coven?"
Astra didn't answer right away. Her voice, when it came, was quieter than before.
"I escaped when I was twelve. I thought I could bury it. Start over. But the kind of magic I use... you don't unlearn it. You don't get to forget."
Noelle's hand inched closer along the stone ledge. Not touching. But close.
"You're strong, Astra. Stronger than most of us put together. But you don't let it go to your head."
"I don't let it go anywhere," Astra replied. "That's the point."
The silence between them now felt heavier—less awkward, more like the shared weight of memory. The kind of silence that only exists between people who've seen too much and said too little.
Then, softly, Noelle asked, "Do you miss it? Where you came from?"
Astra closed her eyes for a long moment.
"No. But I do miss what I could've been if I hadn't."
Noelle looked down at her hands. Her fingers had small scars from training—reminders of every failure she'd tried to hide. She flexed them thoughtfully.
"I think... I get it," she said. "What it's like to feel like you missed out on something normal. Something warm."
Astra opened her eyes and turned to look at her again. For the first time, the distance in her gaze eased—like a veil pulling back just slightly.
"You think warmth is something you get," Astra said. "But it's something you make. Moment by moment. Choice by choice."
Noelle's breath caught.
And in that moment, something between them shifted. Not dramatically. Not loudly.
Just a **click**.
A soft alignment of two broken parts finding each other.
They sat together a while longer, watching the stars come to life.
Then Noelle said quietly, "You smile when you fight."
Astra blinked. "Do I?"
"Yeah. Not like a show-off. It's small, but it's real. You like it. The dance of it."
Astra looked down at her lap. "I smile when I'm not afraid."
A pause.
"Do you smile around me?" Noelle asked.
Astra didn't respond right away.
Then she looked over and gave the smallest smile—barely there, but undeniable.
"I do now."