The Star's Tale
Ariel Robeheim was only four years old when she first fell in love with the stars. The reason was simple. It happened back when she was even younger than now—back in the days when her mother’s skirt was still the coziest place in the world.
Her mother, Helene, often stood on the terrace or balcony at night, gazing up at the sky. At first Ariel thought she was simply looking at the stars, but after seeing the sight so many times, curiosity finally got the better of her.
Why does Mother look at the sky so often?
To young Ariel’s eyes, the night sky always looked more or less the same. The only difference was that on nights when heavy snow fell or thick clouds gathered, fewer stars appeared. So what could possibly be so entertaining about that unchanging sky that her mother smiled at it with such joy every single time?
Ariel had never been good at holding back her curiosity. She ran straight to her mother and buried herself in the folds of her skirt. Helene seemed startled for a brief moment, but she quickly welcomed her daughter with the same gentle touch she always used.
Her mother’s embrace always smelled wonderful. Maybe it was because she was so pretty and kind. Ariel wondered if she would smell the same one day. Without thinking, she pressed her nose to her own shoulder and sniffed like a little puppy. There was no special scent at all.
It seemed she still had a long way to go before becoming someone like her mother. That had always been her dream.
“Hehe, you’re not a puppy. Why are you sniffing so much?”
“Because Mother smells nice, so I wanted to see if I do too.”
“Really? Well, Mother thinks our daughter smells wonderful.”
Helene lifted Ariel high into the air and kissed her cheek. The night wind was quite chilly, so she took off the coat she was wearing and wrapped it around her precious daughter, worried she might catch a cold.
“Aren’t you cold, Mother?”
“No, Mother is fine.”
“Hehe, Mother really is amazing!”
To Ariel, Helene was an object of pure admiration. She was always graceful, more beautiful than anyone Ariel had ever seen, kind-hearted, and capable of doing anything perfectly. Perhaps the reason the stubborn, headstrong Ariel actually listened to her mother was because she had chosen her as her role model.
Helene gently stroked her daughter’s hair as the girl looked up at her with sparkling eyes, then asked carefully.
“Ariel, do you think Mother is a good mother?”
Every mother in the world carried some degree of anxiety, no matter how big or small. Helene was no exception. Was she truly doing the right things for her daughter? Had she made any mistakes in raising her? As long as she couldn’t read her child’s heart, these worries were both a mother’s duty and a form of self-improvement.
“Of course!”
Ariel answered instantly with the brightest smile imaginable, completely erasing all of her mother’s doubts. A relieved smile bloomed on Helene’s lips. She had secretly been curious just how much her daughter loved her, so this was perfect timing.
Maybe she could ask something a little mischievous.
“Then, between Mother and Father, who do you like more?”
“Mother!”
“Hehe, Father would be sad if he heard that.”
Still, it was more or less what she had expected. Her husband was not a bad man, but his educational philosophy and values were rather rigid. It was only natural for a young child like Ariel to feel some resistance toward him.
That was also why Helene had deliberately arranged for two two-year-old children to become friends and why she was raising Ariel with more freedom than other young noble ladies of her age. If there was already one person trying to control her, and even her own mother joined in, who would ever listen to this child’s voice?
“By the way, what brought our daughter to find Mother today?”
“I was curious because you look at the night sky every night.”
At Ariel’s answer, Helene’s eyes widened for a moment before she smiled warmly and gently pinched her daughter’s cheek. No matter what, it seemed only her daughter truly paid attention to her.
“Does Ariel hate the stars?”
“Mmm, I don’t hate them. I just don’t really like them either.”
“Hehe, you really take after me. Mother was the same way a very long time ago.”
“You were, Mother?”
Looking at her now, it was hard to imagine. But since it was something her mother said, Ariel didn’t doubt it for a second. After all, her mother had never once lied to her. That was the power of the trust they had built over the years.
“That’s right. If you listen to the story Mother is about to tell you, I’m sure you’ll come to like the stars too, Ariel.”
“Is it a fun story?”
“Well? Why don’t you listen first and then tell me what you think? Mother is very curious too.”
Since Ariel was full of curiosity, her eyes sparkled at the mention of a new story and she nodded vigorously. Helene noticed her daughter’s hair fluttering in the cold wind, gently smoothed it down, and slowly began to speak.
“This is a story my mother—that is, your grandmother—once told me.”
“Okay, okay.”
Ariel’s grandmother had already passed away by the time she was born. So she had only ever heard about her through Helene. Hearing that this was a story her grandmother had personally told made her even more curious.
“It’s called ‘The Star’s Tale.’ A very long time ago…”
Even in the freezing outdoor air, listening to her mother’s voice made Ariel feel strangely warm inside. The story, told in a soft, comforting tone that rose and fell without ever becoming boring enough to lull her to sleep, was incredibly fascinating.
Until then, Ariel had thought of stars as nothing more than mysterious objects floating in the sky. She had never attached any special meaning to them, nor had she ever made a wish upon them like other children her age.
‘The Star’s Tale’ completely changed the way those stars existed in her mind.
To summarize, every star had its own story, its own face, and its own color. And when the quiet dawn came and everyone in the world was asleep, the stars would briefly reveal themselves and share ‘the stories of the stars’ among themselves.
But one quiet dawn, when the stars thought no one would be awake as usual, a girl who had been locked away in a tall tower witnessed them. Since it was an unwritten rule that humans must never see them, the stars decided to erase the girl’s memories in exchange for granting her one wish using their power.
When they asked what she would wish for, the girl said she wanted to know the whereabouts of a boy who had visited the tower when she was young. The boy had always told her stories about the outside world and promised he would definitely take her away from the tower one day. But at some point, he stopped coming.
She said it was fine even if he never returned—she just wanted to know whether he was alive or dead.
The stars gathered their power and searched for the boy, but he had already been killed by a band of thieves. However, they worried that telling the girl the truth as it was might wound her, so they came up with a clever idea.
They told her that the boy had circumstances that prevented him from coming to the tower right now, but that they would tell her his story if she wanted. And in return, they would leave her memories intact.
The girl agreed. So every night, the stars slightly altered the stories of various people they had secretly watched from the night sky and told them to her.
Decades passed like that. On the night the girl faced her final evening, she finally revealed something she had kept hidden from the stars all this time.
“Actually, I already knew that person had died. Even after death, I will never forget the effort he made for me. Thank you, dear stars.”
And in the old notebook inside her room, she wrote down ‘The Star’s Tale’ so that others could read it. However, she added a request that it only ever be passed on to two people in an entire lifetime, so that the stars’ secret would be kept.
“Isn’t it amazing?”
“Yeah, it’s amazing.”
So even now, did the stars secretly appear at dawn to share their stories? When Ariel tilted her head, Helene seemed to guess what she was thinking and chuckled softly.
“The truth is, the reason Mother looks at the night sky every night is because I want to see the stars talking.”
“You haven’t seen them yet either, Mother?”
“That’s right. Your grandmother probably never saw them either.”
It really must be hard to see them. That made sense—otherwise the story wouldn’t have been passed down like this. Ariel nodded as if she understood, then confidently raised her hand high.
“Don’t worry! I’ll definitely hear the stars’ stories and tell you all about it, Mother!”
“Will you? Thank you, my sweet daughter.”
Helene kissed her cheek once more, then carried Ariel in her arms back inside the castle. The weather was getting colder, and she couldn’t leave a child who was weak to the cold outside forever.
“Mother, but doesn’t this story have to be told to only two people in an entire lifetime?”
“Yes. It’s a promise that’s been handed down through the generations.”
“Then who did you tell it to besides me?”
“Hehe, I wonder. Who could it be? Would you like to guess, Ariel?”
If it could only be told to two people in a lifetime, they must be incredibly precious. Even little Ariel could figure that much out.
The person most precious to Mother…
After wracking her brain, her eyes suddenly widened as the answer came to her. She shouted triumphantly.
“Father! It’s Father, right?”
“Correct. As expected of my daughter.”
“Hehe.”
Delighted, Ariel jumped up and down in place. Then, as if realizing something, she suddenly stopped and clung to Helene again.
“Mother, then who should I tell it to?”
“That’s for Ariel to decide. One day, that person will surely appear.”
“How will I know?”
“Even if Ariel doesn’t know, the child sleeping inside you will definitely tell you when the time comes. So don’t worry.”
When her mother pointed to the area near her own chest, Ariel blinked in confusion. Was there someone sleeping inside? Then why weren’t they telling her now?
She decided she would have to lie in bed and think about it alone. Ariel immediately ran off toward her room with quick little steps.
On the way, a certain face suddenly came to mind, but it disappeared from her thoughts just as quickly, leaving her tilting her head in puzzlement. She didn’t know why, but for some reason, it was a night when the face of one particular friend kept floating into her mind.