Chapter Two: The Stranger Beyond the Trees
The next morning, Ava's world looked the same gray rooftops, the clatter of horse carts, neighbors calling to one another across the narrow streets but nothing felt the same.
She couldn't shake the memory of the figure on the hill, shining with silver light, as if the stars themselves had taken human form. Her hands fumbled with a needle at the seamstress's shop, and twice she pricked her finger hard enough to draw blood. Mrs. Calder scolded her for daydreaming, but Ava only smiled faintly. If she spoke of what she'd seen, they would laugh, just as they always did when she talked of wanting more.
But Ava's heart told her she had not imagined it.
By evening, the town was abuzz with rumors. Hunters claimed they'd seen scorched trees deep in the forest. Fishermen swore the river glowed faintly silver under the moonlight. Children whispered of a "fallen star" that had landed near the edge of the woods.
Ava didn't need convincing. She knew where she had to go.
So after nightfall, she wrapped herself in her wool cloak and slipped quietly from her window. The forest loomed dark and endless, its branches clawing at the sky, but she walked with steady steps, guided by the faint glimmer that pulsed in the distance.
And then she saw him.
The stranger stood in a clearing, tall and striking, his cloak rippling like liquid light. His features were sharp, almost too perfect, and his eyes… they glowed faintly, the way stars might if they were alive. He seemed both otherworldly and heartbreakingly human at once.
Ava froze, half-hidden among the trees.
He turned, as though he had felt her presence, and their eyes met.
For a moment, the world stopped. The night sounds faded, her breath caught, and it was only him the stranger with starlight in his gaze, watching her as though he had known her all his life.
Then he spoke, his voice deep and quiet, carrying across the clearing like a secret.
"You wished for me."
Ava's lips parted, but no sound came.
Because somehow, she knew he was right.