Aurora Magazine 2019

The Star of the Gemini

Arianna Pershing

Far away and long ago, there lay a kingdom, nestled in the moun - tains. The land was called Tjolfdin by its neighbors, and Home by its people. They were lorded by the kind King Xavier, who en - sured a prosperous and happy existence for those who followed him. For centuries, the kingdom flourished, unblemished by the raging wars and deathly illnesses that lay outside their sealed walls. The people labeled the land around them a utopia, praising their king to the highest for his wise rule. But even the wisdom of Xavier’s continued rule was not safe from personal vendetta: in the land of Tjolfdin, wedding halls closed their doors in September, and would not reopen until November. Couples could not share beds in this time, and lovers were kept far from each other. Bizarre though the decree was, every year each citi - zen diligently upheld their duty. All knew that those born nine months later, under the sign of the Gemini, would be born a twin. And though few still lived to remember, all knew the tale of Canan, who killed his twin Abram, and posed as his brother for nearly a decade before being discovered and put to death in the first - and last - execution in Tjolfdin’s history. To avoid a similar situation, Xavier banned the birth of twins, and the people followed graciously. Throughout nearly a millennia of war and famine in the rest of the world, not a single child was born in the Gemini’s months. And so it was on the day that Xavier was wed to Juniper of Alcoatl, a regent from the North. On the night they first lay to - gether, keeping warm under the December moon. So it was when Juniper swelled in the middle, and expected her child in the fall. And so it still was when she fell ill, and was rushed to Leopold,

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