I needed to restock my backpack. Astral had given it to me when we were younger. It was basically a very light chester drawer, really, with lots of little compartments, hidden rooms and pockets. It was where I kept all my remedies. After weeks on the road, I needed to replenish it and it was quite lucky we were in a city as it could be tricky to find some of the ingredients in the wild or in a small village.

Zeke was coming with me so she could learn a bit of herbology, while Keefe stayed with Astral for entertainment. Astral had protested loudly because he was still bedridden and would be bored. Luckily Keefe knew a lot of card games, so they were now playing in our room.

"What are we looking for?" Zeke asked, looking at the different store fronts.

"An herb's shop. There should be one around here somewhere. I asked at the guesthouse."

"And what do you need?"

"A whole bunch of stuff. This is my favourite type of shopping." I felt giddy. I loved scouring the usually dark shops for everything they had.

"Did you have one of these in the college town?"

"Yes," I said and nodded. "The shopkeeper knew me by name. He was always immensely helpful." I stopped by a store window and looked in. "Ah, here we are."

We stepped inside, a bell above the door announcing our arrival. A small woman stood behind the counter, barely able to see above it. She had matted locks bundled on top of her head in a big bun. She smiled widely and waved at us, her dark skin wrinkling. She reminded me of the hostess at the guesthouse. I guess, this town was run by nice old women.

"Hello," she croaked.

"Hi," I more or less squeaked. "I'm... Looking for all of this." I handed her my shopping list and she quickly scanned it before nodding.

"I have all of this." She smiled again and then went behind a curtain that was behind the counter. She probably kept most of her merchandise in a backroom. I wasn't exactly asking for something simple like... Roses or whatever.

Zeke looked at the drawers covered walls. Every inch was filled with big shelves with endless amounts of drawers. All had been carefully marked with what each drawer contained and if I were ever to leave life as a researcher, I'd have a shop identical to this one.

The woman came back with a package wrapped in cloth and put it on the counter. "Can you help?" she asked and smiled at me again.

"Of course," I hurried to say. She pointed to some of the top drawers, and I climbed a wooden ladder to get to them. I carefully brought out some fire-root. It'd explode if I dropped it, but it made a really good remedy for sore muscles. Heated you up from the inside.

I climbed back down and carefully handed her the root. She put it in a small box and went to the package, stuffing it inside. I cringed a bit over her hard-handedness, but I didn't say anything. She looked like she knew what she was doing.

"Was that all, star-child?" she asked.

I frowned a little. "Uhm, excuse me?"

She smiled, her heavy eyelids covering her eyes. I glanced back at Zeke, but she just shrugged. I had no idea what star-child meant, but the shop was not as comfortable to be in anymore. I took the package and we left kind of in a hurry.

"What does star-child mean?" Zeke asked.

"I have no idea..." I trailed off as my eyes widened. A person with paper white skin and hair was walking on the opposite side of road. "Zeke." I grabbed her arm and she flinched. I was digging my fingers into her skin.

"Woah," she murmured and peeled my fingers off her. "Have you ever seen someone like you before?"

"No," I breathed and started after the person. I had to find them. Talk to them. Figure out if they knew anything about our shared curse. Or if they were even like me or I was just way too judge-y about how people looked.

Zeke followed me, having to run to keep up with me. My legs were far longer than hers and for every step I took, she took two.
"Mars wait!" she tried but I wasn't listening.

The person rounded a corner and I followed quickly only to stop. They had entered a temple. A temple with a big star over the door.

"What the..." I muttered under my breath. "That's a Star's temple. Why would they go in there?"

Zeke was panting as she caught up to me. "I... Have... No... Idea..." she said between pants.

"Let's go in," I said and hauled her along with me.

We entered through the massive brass doors, entering right into the main hall of the temple. I had never been to one, despite there being one in the college city. Mages didn't really engage in religion as much as non-mages did, but then again... I wasn't a mage. I could be here if I wanted to.

I caught a glimpse of the person who looked like me entering one of the smaller prayer rooms to the side. I almost ran after them. I had this almost primal urge to just talk to them. I had to talk to them.

I opened the door to the prayer room and widened my eyes. There they were. Long white hair cascading down their back. They turned around and smiled at me.

"Hello," they said with a soft voice. It was impossible to determine their gender just by looks. I mean, so was mine, I guess.

"You... Look like me," I mumbled. I had no idea what else to say.

"Yes." They just kept smiling at me. They didn't have nearly as many coloured splotches on their skin. They had one in their face though and on their hands. Everything else that was exposed was paper white.

"Are you... Like me too?"

"I reckon so, yes."

"I've... I've never met anyone like me. I thought I was alone." My eyes were stinging, and I took a step forward. "I'm Mars."

"Cassiopeia." They kept calmly smiling at me. "You are not alone. There's plenty of us around. Have you never been to these temples before?"

I shook my head.

"That explains it."

"Do you know who cursed you?"
"Cursed?" They arched a brow at me. "We're not cursed, Mars. We're blessed."

I clenched my jaw and shook my head again. "No."

"We've been blessed by the stars." They motioned towards the ceiling. Or probably the sky.

I backed up, shaking my head.

"We've been blessed to guide humanity for all eternity, Mars. That's our role in this world. To gain knowledge and teach the mortals."

"We'll watch everyone we love die," I whispered, feeling blood drain from my face.

"We'll love several people in several lifetimes. You're young. You'll learn eventually."

I snorted and shook my head again. "And how old are you?"

"A hundred and fifty-two." Their smile didn't die down and before I found it calming, but now it just looked creepy. The fuck did they want me to do? Live forever to teach everyone else about... What? Life? We wouldn't know what life was. Life without death wasn't life. It was a curse.

"This was a mistake," I said and turned around, finding Zeke in the door waiting for me.

"We are all the star's children. When you're ready, you can return, Mars."

I grimaced and walked out, Zeke following me in silence. We ended up back on the street before I stopped to take a breather.

"You alright?" Zeke asked. She was holding the package from the shop. When had I handed it to her? I couldn't even remember. Did I even take it when we left the store?

"I don't know," I admitted.

"Sounds like some of the other immortals are... Well, religious fanatics."

"Have you heard of the Star's Temples before?"

"Heard of them? Yeah. They send missionaries to all corners of the nation to spew their bullshit. I'm not surprised they'd praise immortality and somehow use it for their own gain." She scrunched up her nose. It was probably supposed to make her look meaner, but it just made her look quite cute.

I ended up just shrugging. Zeke shrugged back and we started walking again.

"Can we not talk to Astral about this just yet? He gets weird with certain topics."

"Sure. But you are gonna tell him, right? That there's a whole cult who basically worships you?"

"I wouldn't say that's what's happening," I grumbled.

"You wouldn't? That person basically told you, they considered you blessed and that you should forever dedicate your life to teaching people about their religion."

"No, to teaching people about life..."

"Yeah, that means teaching people about their religion, Mars. It's all bells and whistles, they never say anything straight."

I bit down on my lip, not knowing what to say. I felt stupid for not realising it.

"It's a tactic, Mars," she said softly then. "If you've not encountered it before, it might seem pretty straight forward. That's why so many get tricked by it."

Right, that did help a bit on me feeling absolutely moronic. She was a good friend.