Making their way through the palace, Nenah was worried about the star festival happening soon, and wondered whether she would have to dance as the astral priestess. Azure had made sure that she would have no role to play now that she was secularized. It was a great relief to her. Then he handed her a lantern, since royals were also permitted to make wishes. It scared her a little to see him act so nice.
The king and his entourage arrived, calling out to them, and the queen told Azure that she hoped he wasn't wishing for the throne. So pretentious. The king played nice, however, and told her that his son was a sensible second prince. Then he mentioned that it was a shame they wouldn't be able to see Alicia perform the rituals as a priestess — but fortunately, this meant she'd be able to enjoy the festival herself.
She loved how nice the king was to her. But when one of the advisers asked her to dance at least once, she got irritated.
Taking off, Nenah brought up how the queen was as nasty as ever. Azure, however, didn't dislike her at all. In fact he felt positively toward her, since she was straightforward and only attacked head-on. In any case, he didn't feel that everyone was as simple as Nenah. Nenah took this as an insult. He thought of the statement as a compliment.
Nearly dropping her lantern, she wondered why he hadn't taken one, and he responded that he had nothing to wish for. Nenah wondered whether that was because he wanted nothing, or because his wishes had already come true.
Meeting up with Muilam, she found that he wished the star festival hadn't come at all. As Nenah began munching on his snacks, she asked whether it was because he was sickly all the time. He said he was fine now, and that he was only still here because his mother wanted him to rest. He was just saddened knowing that a month and a half after the festival ended, his sister would be leaving and getting married.
She'd be going to Galatada, a neighboring kingdom beyond steep mountains, with a long route by both land and sea. It takes weeks to get there. It used to be a small kingdom far to the north, but over the past few decades it had moved swiftly south. Muilam had heard that their prince was quite a scary person. He was worried, and he thought about wishing for Nenah not to get married.
She hugged the little prince for being so cute.
Afterwards, Nenah thought about the distance of living in the kingdom of Galatada. The only thing she was truly sad about was that she might never see Azure again.
Then the adviser from earlier came by, mentioning that she must never have seen the star festival before, given her time spent secluded. He gave her advice on how she could sneak out to see it, while everyone else was eating, before taking off himself. The court ladies came running to her side, reminding her that she shouldn't be by herself, asking who that man had been.
In her room, she sat in a daze, just thinking. She didn't think she could go outside — but she wondered what she would do if she did.
While Nenah made her way out to sneak away in the evening, elsewhere a man spoke of a blue-eyed orphan who used to be around the same age as Princess Alicia. The astral villa staff were known to be tight-lipped and wouldn't say a word. The former king, the current king's father, was ill and practically powerless. This man was going to use the opportunity to make his move.
As Azure found out that Nenah was missing, the court ladies discussed how Nenah had learned where the priests' robes were kept within the temple, and that the temple led directly out into the city. She had actually made it out of the palace.
She strolled about, imagining her parents' voices welcoming her home. She remembered when her parents had told her that she had the same kind of blue eyes as the god of stars, and that she needed to keep them hidden until she was grown. Then she remembered the warmth she had felt being with Colin and Saji, the lantern they had shared, the wishes they had made.
She returned to her old home, but found neither of the brothers there. If they were gone, then the existence of Nenah would completely vanish as well.
She was startled half out of her skin when Prince Azure found her. Then she started beating at him and blaming him for her previous family being gone, tears running down her face.
She remembered when Azure had said she would die. She had thought it was just a figure of speech at the time, when he'd said she was going to be reborn as a princess. But now she realized that the Nenah she had lived as would truly disappear. She would be sent to a faraway country, and everyone who knew Nenah would be gone. No — she realized that Nenah was already dead, since there was no one left to call her that.
Azure thought of his own past. The names and faces of his parents, which he couldn't remember. And the day he had been declared to be Azure Seth Fortna, replacing the true dead prince. Just like Nenah, a man had told him that he would have to create a new version of himself.
Snapping out of his thoughts, he quickly threw a knife at a man pursuing them and went outside, slaying two men and pointing his blade at the one cowering.
Then another man caught Nenah. Azure was still vigilant, and cut down the man trying to sneak up on him. Nenah was able to get away by slipping out of her wig, and from there Azure held her close, cutting down one assailant after another, the last of them one of the king's advisers.
But now the adviser could see that Nenah was in fact a fake princess. Azure had no need to ask what the man's intentions were, since the dead cannot speak. The man screamed that Azure was a usurper, but inevitably he was cut down and met his end.
Nenah was shaken by all of it, but she noticed blood dripping down Azure's hand. She took it as her fault, even though he didn't blame her. He knew that many in the palace were offended by his existence. Their goal was to remove him.
He sat down to rest, and told Nenah that she could flee somewhere far away now, if she wanted.
She wondered whether he was saying this because of what she had said earlier. She wrapped a part of her dress around his injured arm and asked whether he still needed her. Since he said yes, she told him not to worry about what she'd said earlier, claiming she had just been lashing out. And there wasn't anyone left who could call her Nenah anyway.
She kept thinking about Azure saying he needed her. Out of respect for those words, she chose to forgive him, and now she told him, "I'll die for you."
His eyes widened at that. He got up quickly and acknowledged that he knew she wasn't Alicia. Then he brought her in close for a hug, and, facing her eye to eye, he called her Nenah — and told her that was what he would call her when they were alone.
Tears welled up in her eyes. If there was one wish she wanted to make to the god of stars, she only wished for at least one person to need her.
Remembering that she would be leaving in a month and a half left a pain in her chest.