"How's the stars lookin', A'leigh?"
"They're very bright. It reminds of a story I think my mother told me."
"It's something I've only heard from my mother, and it was only once.." A'leigh tilts his head, thumb rubbing along the side of his empty mug.
".. so I may get some things wrong."
"... but if I remember how the story goes.." He takes a breath. "Once, there were two sisters."
"One was as bright as the moon, and carried love with every word she spoke. The other stayed in her shadow, a stern figure in the shade, but devoted all the same."
"One day, as they watched from their home in the heavens, the people below began to fight and tear each other apart for reasons they could not discern. It caused the brightest sister great sorrow, to see her loves ruin each other so."
"The shaded sister, loath to see her moonlight in such agony, leaped from the heavens and tumbled down below. In doing so, she lost her godhood, the bits of it trailing down like rain against the night sky."
"When she finally alighted upon the star, the men down below at once dropped their spears and shields. They considered her coming a sign from above, and did not wish to offend a goddess who had come to see them."
".. thankful that it took so little, she lept towards the sky.. but fell short."
"She was stuck, as her impulsive dive had shaken off every part of her divinity."
"But the brightest sister was clever. Every time the stars fall, it is said that it is the moon offering pieces of its divinity to the star below."
"So perhaps, one day, the shaded sister can return to the sky with her inspiration. Her light."
"She would offer it all at once, but the resulting light would be so bright, that none would have need for the sun. In order not to offend the sunlight, this is the plan the brightest sister made."