[i]Stergann Scythe[/i]

The young woman gazed out the window, chin resting on her palm. One corner of her mouth was lifted up into a smile, slightly dimpling her cheek. The room was small, but it contained everything a girl needed to thrive: a bookshelf crammed full of books, a neat desk, a small bed and closet, and a large window open to the smoggy sky of New York. She had been preparing for the next week's lessons, but her pen had slipped from her fingers and her mind was far away. In her dreams she never saw herself as a Star. Not that she minded having powers; her unconscious just didn't seem to have caught up to her reality yet. Daydreams, however, were under her control, and she often dreamed of what it would be like to be able to read a little from the minds she was putting her own thoughts into. Today her flights of fancy were unrelated to Stars and powers. She was imagining that she lived in the countryside, and had met a mysterious young girl who looked eerily similar to Stergann herself when she was about five years old. The two of them were walking through a gloomy forest in search of the wise old beetle-king who lived deep within it, in hopes that he could tell them who the young girl was, as she herself could not remember.

They had just crossed a charming little brook full of water-spirits when Stergann shook herself out of her reverie. She glanced down at her papers. She didn't need to finish them today; she'd just thought she could get a little bit ahead on her work. She tapped the sheets of paper into a nice, neat stack and stood up. She stretched and then stood there for a moment, her mind blank. She decided to see what the commotion was outside; the noises in the hallway were different from usual, so there were probably a lot of kids going out on missions. She closed her window. It was getting a little too hot to have it open anyway.

Stergann opened her door just in time to see Del whoosh by on his skateboard. Always in a hurry, that one. She stepped out and looked down the hallway. He'd stopped just down the hall, in front of the mess hall, and was talking with two other students, only one of whom she recognized. There was a staff member standing with them, but he didn't seem too friendly, so Stergann to go see if they needed anything. And she'd get to chat with Del, ask him about all the missions going on that day. Del was a regular in the cooking club, just because he was in the kitchen around the clock.

The girl Stergann didn't recognize tackled Del just as she walked up. Seemed friendly enough, but it occurred to her that the girl might be corrupted, since Stergann didn't know her, and there was that burly man standing nearby. She smiled at Lyra and greeted her -- she knew the girl wouldn't be able to see the smile, but maybe she'd hear it in her voice. She glanced back at Del. "You doing okay there? What's all the fuss today?"