The Legend of the North Star

There was once a woman named Noura, who was the most beautiful woman in all of Atheris, who lived on the edge of the Shining Desert with her mother and father and brothers. She was so beautiful that the gods and their angels would come to behold upon her. Some say the gods simply came to marvel at her perfection. Others say that it was jealousy that drove them. I believe it was the former..for most. There was one god; Kounab was his name, known amongst gods and men for his trickery and deceit. Kounab desired Noura’s beauty for himself, for he was ugly and malformed; neither gods nor men loved him. “Travesty of travesties!” Kounab muttered to himself, “no mortal should possess the beauty reserved for the gods!” So he hatched a plan to snatch her beauty from her very skin.

Kounab came to Noura one night in the form of a dream. Now, some dreams are little more than one’s mind sifting through memories as one might sift through sand for shells. Some dreams are windows into the soul, and offer insights otherwise hidden from view. And some dreams…some dreams are portents, being known by the indelible mark they leave on your mind after waking. Kounab wove just such a dream. Into it, he carved fear. He showed Noura her family; her mother, her father, her brothers, who were all as dear to her as any person can be to another. In this vision, Noura saw her family standing in the desert. As she watched, a terrible, tearing sand storm came upon them like a wasting disease. They never saw it coming. She screamed as she watched it tear at their flesh until little more remained than white bone. In it’s turn, their bones crumbled into dust; swept up and scattered by the wind. In her despair, Kounab impressed upon her an image of an old crone deep in the desert. He assured her through her dream that the crone was the only being who could save those Noura loved so much. Noura woke weeping as she had never wept before. Her dream had been indelibly marked upon her mind, and so she resolved to herself that she would save her family. The gods had given her a warning, and only she could find a way to prevent this horrible fate!

It is wise to tread carefully concerning portents of the future. History is full to brimming with men and women who stepped directly into their fates by the very actions they took to avoid them, or side-stepped their futures with the very choices made to ensure them. One cannot choose when and where to meet fate. One can only choose to meet fate with dignity and grace.

Such thoughts of care flew from Noura’s mind, blown away before the great storm of impending tragedy. She gathered what supplies were needful and immediately set out to find the old crone of her dreams. For forty days and forty nights, Noura traversed the Shining Desert, searching for the old crone. First her food dwindled to nothing, and then her water withered away in the face of the desert sun. Even still, she pressed on, for only she could prevent the fate implanted in her mind! She walked until she could walk no more, and then she crawled, first on her hands and knees, and then on her belly as the snakes. Death was at her back, and still she searched.

At the very moment when death began reaching into her mind to pluck her soul, Kounab appeared to her as the very crone he had shown her. He chased the Ragged Rider away with fresh water and food, bringing Noura back to the land of the living. When she had recovered enough to sit, Kounab spoke:

“Why do crawl through the desert, girl? There is nothing here but insects and lizards.”

“I came to find salvation for my family!” Noura replied, with more vigor than her gaunt form should have been able to produce.

“Salvation? Out here? Girl, why in the name of Sattava’an would you think to find salvation from nothingness?” Kounab was tricky, you see. He knew that she must work for this imagined salvation. If she was given it freely, she would begin to suspect.

“I was shown the face of one who could save them,” Noura replied, “The face which you wear, Grandmother.”

“Hmm…” the old crone croaked, “Mayhaps I may possess this salvation, but mayhaps not…”

“Please I beg of you!” My mother and father, my brothers will waste away if you refuse me!”

The old crone shook her head violently. “No. Fate must take its toll! I will not divert the river of fate, for no one may know how that will change the future.”

“Please, Grandmother! I will give anything to keep them safe!”

“Hmmm…the bigger the request, the dearer the sacrifice. Tell me girl, would you truly give anything? What if I asked you for your soul? Would you give that for the sake of those you love?”

“Take even my soul, if it would keep them safe! I would go to the fires of the hells for eternity if it would save them!”

The old crone chuckled, “It is good to see how deep your love runs, but I will not ask such a price. No, the price will be your beauty.”

“Take it, take it! What is beauty if those you love most perish??”

“Good, good. Come with me.”

Then Kounab made a large tent appear, as if from a mirage. Inward he led Noura, as one leads a lamb to slaughter. Inside the tent was shade, but such a shade that if Noura had not felt such relief at the lightness of the price, she would have bowed under the weight of the darkness. Kounab, still in the guise of the old crone, opened an oil-dark chest and pulled from it with long, bone-thin fingers a small vial glowing with a deep blue liquid.

“Drink this, and your beauty will fade. Your skin will crack, and your breasts will shrink and sag. Your eyes will dim and your face will become as a grape left in the sun. Your price will be paid, but your mother and your father and your brothers will be safe. Without hesitating, Noura grabbed the vial and downed the liquid. Now, if I were to try to describe the taste of this liquid, I would say it tasted of dry dust, but one can only truly know if one has tasted it. What the old crone promised came true. Noura grew as ugly as the old crone herself. At first, Noura felt joy, at the assurance of her family’s safety. Her joy soon turned to fear to despair as the old crone began to cackle deeply.

“Foolish girl! You have trusted your dreams and look where it has led you!”

Before her eyes, the old crone began to change. Her hair grew sleek and shone as if with oil. The skin of her face smoothed and grew as rosy as the morning sun. Her breasts grew round and her eyes grew bright as the stars. “You have given your beauty to me,” Kounab crowed, “and for what?? A lie! Now all the gods will come to me to gaze upon the beauty you used to have! Now I am the most beautiful among gods and men!”

But Kounab made one fatal error. In his arrogance, he named Sattava’an, the Goddess of Light. Sattava’an heard her name and drew close to listen and watch. Her horror grew as she watched Kounab take Noura for a fool. It was at this moment that she could take it no longer. The grave-dark tent suddenly blazed with glorious light! Kounab and Noura cowered before the purity of it. Sattava’an’s voice filled the tent as light fills a prism:

“Kounab! How dare you! How dare you take that which so pure and defile it with your deceit!” And Kounab could say nothing, for how can one defend himself from the Radiant Goddess herself? And then, just as the silence thickened and crystallized, a small, timorous voice shattered the quiet…

“Is it true, dear goddess? Have I lost my beauty forever? Is there nothing to be done?”

The goddess sighed and knelt before Noura, and deep sadness tinged the light violet-blue around her as she spoke; “I fear not, dear Noura. Your beauty, once so pure, has been forever defiled by Kounab’s trickery and lies.

“But…” she said as she wiped a tear from Noura’s wrinkled face, “I can give you a beauty that will not fade, and that Kounab cannot take no matter how hard he tries.”

At this, Noura began to shine with an inner light so pure and bright that Kounab could no longer look at her, or he would go blind. “Kounab!” The goddess proclaimed, “This is the fate and curse with which I bind you! From this day unto all eternity, you shall desire Noura, but she will forever be out of reach. Every night until Atheris turns to ash, you will see Noura in the North, but you will only be able to gaze at her from afar. She will guide men away from your lies, and set their paths true.”

And then Sattava’an set Noura in the northern skies, and every night since, she has shown the brightest and most beautiful of all the stars in the sky! As for Kounab, he still roams Atheris, seeking to lead men astray, but ever he looks to the north in impotent longing and rage, for he can never fill the hole left by the purity of Noura in his heart, nor can he stop her light from guiding men down the paths they are meant to travel. Rage, rage, Kounab! Rage evermore at beauty that cannot be stolen!