The North Star (Draft)

Chapter 5: The needle that stitched the sky

Aliyah would find trouble with her words. She felt like Sally, her words barely coming out the way she'd like them to. "This is the observatory. Right? That must be the uh..." Sally would pipe in, her knowledge barely covering for Aliyah's lack of words. She pointed at the spherical object, a single crystalline shard shaped like the tip of a spear that looked straight upwards towards the night sky. From it, one could see how it glowed bright blue, and its energy seemingly flowed down into the dome. "That's where we get the name of this city or at least part of it. Say hello to the Needle." Although she said this, Sally herself knew very little about the Needle other than the fact it pointed straight up and glowed blue occasionally. No one from the outside had been this close to the bloody thing unless you had a scope or worked in the observatory. Presumably, the odd scholar and the endless hallway were parts of this place. Furthermore, anything about the Needle itself has kept away from the government and everyday people in general. It seems that anything surrounding information about Compass' magic and the Needle is a secret held in the libraries of the grand observatory.

"Like the lullaby. Right?"

The noble's voice quivered as she remembered. Turning slowly and looking at Aliyah like she had just spoken in another tongue, Sally questioned her sanity and pondered what she meant.

"Well yeah. The Needle. You know this thing by song better than sight?"

It seemed that the bartender found that to be quite odd, as plenty of people both inner and outer city knew what the Needle looked like firsthand.

"Don't tell me you never went outside or even noticed the giant glowing dot from the center of the world. Seriously, it's hard not to see that."

"Well..." Aliyah tried her best to regain her composure. Her face was hot, and the air around her seemed unbearably humid. "I got locked at home, remember? The whole taking care of the family business thing? My parents were killed, but I had to stay inside of the manor to fulfill my duties and uphold my responsibilities. I might have lost out on the better years of my childhood."

"Like the lullaby. Right?"

The noble's voice quivered as she remembered. Turning slowly and looking at Aliyah like she had just spoken in another tongue, Sally questioned her sanity and pondered what she meant.

"Well yeah. The Needle. You know this thing by song better than sight?"

It seemed that the bartender found that to be quite odd, as plenty of people both inner and outer city knew what the Needle looked like firsthand.

"Don't tell me you never went outside or even noticed the giant glowing dot from the center of the world. Seriously, it's hard not to see that."

"Well..." Aliyah tried her best to regain her composure. Her face was hot, and the air around her seemed unbearably humid. "I got locked at home, remember? The whole taking care of the family business thing? My parents were killed, but I had to stay inside of the manor to fulfill my duties and uphold my responsibilities. I might have lost out on the better years of my childhood."

"Oh, so you're a shut-in as well as a snob." Smirking with her mischievous grin, Sally poked Aliyah's forehead to tease her about it. Somehow, it seemed like she was warming up to the girl. Aliyah returned by trying to punch Sally in return, but the attack was easy to read and slower than any the woman had seen. All she had to do was step backward, and the noble would spin and knock herself off balance. All of Aliyah's weight was in that swing, and her footwork was terrible, so everything turned out well for the bartending champion of knockouts. In the midst of the girl's rotation and fall, Sally grabbed her by the leg and maintained her grip. The noble precariously leaned forward, and she would have fallen were it not for the wonderful save. Pulling the limb back and helping the girl regain her footing, Sally laughed once more and gave her a pat on the back. "Nice try, but we should get going. You can sing me that song if you want while we look around!"