The Star Goddess

by Aline de Chevigny

Unlike other Immortals, Amalda hated the dark and often felt extremely lonely. A solitary person by nature, she tended to keep to herself, enhancing her loneliness. This aggravated her father until he realized that her very nature would work to his advantage. He needed someone he could trust to keep an eye on his Heavens. So he began shaping her for this task.
He’d left her in the Heavens millennia ago, and told her only to guard it. She spent most of her days looking down upon the earth, watching the humans at their tasks with envy.
She possessed little power of her own, but used it wisely. Deciding that she’d been alone long enough and that she deserved at least a pet for company, she called for her father.
“Father, may I have some worthy companions while I do my duty, and perhaps something lovely to look at?”
Her Father looked at her, carefully weighing her request. “Very well daughter, as long as you keep my Heavens safe.”
“Always Father, thank you.” She cried happiness bubbling up in her.
So Amalda searched finding nothing and no one worthy of the honor or intriguing enough to join her as it would be for eternity. Discouraged she decided to make her nightly rounds of the Heavens. She came upon Apollo’s Chariot abandoned on the dark side of the moon.
This angered her, as Apollo was always abandoning his things believing it was his privilege to do so as he was a God. She decided to teach the arrogant God a lesson by taking the chariot and placing it in the Heavens turning it into a star formation. The effect thrilled her as it lit up the night sky, it pleased her s much that she named it Auriga.
Heartened by her success, she set out to find more things to light up the Heavens. One day she spotted a wolf stalking it’s prey. She thought it was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen. So she watched and waited. Then one day hunters came for the animal, when the hunters shot at him she took him up to his new home in the Heavens and named the formation Lupus.
Deciding to use noble creatures to help fill the sky, she searched for those worthy of remembrance. She pulled out the essence of the last Dragon. She had taken him with his dying breath and kept him with her, now she gave him a regal place in the heaven’s naming him Draco.
She then rescued a Centaur Warrior who had been cut down in the heat of battle. She reached down and plucked him from earth mere moments before death as reward for his bravery thus creating Centaurus.
She stood back. as the sun set, the sparks of the objects put in the sky glowed faintly towards Earth. Looking over her work she spotted dark empty places, here she placed a sacred object, and even a Human or two that deserved the honor. Hence the Constellations were born.
Soon Amalda had fishermen and Sailors thanking her for the use of her sky. The light showed them the way and stars were the perfect maps to guide them home in the dark. Her Father took notice of her growing attentions, as did the Gods.
All agreed that Amalda had outdone herself; the Heavens were a dazzling sight to behold. The Gods took note of the attention she’d garnered from the humans along with the new title they’d bestowed upon her, the Goddess of the Stars.
This was how Amalda a lonely guardian became the Goddess of the stars.

This story was written in November 2005.