“The stars are silent tonight.” I look up at my mom, who herself is looking up at the sky, her eyes closed as if listening to a lovely song. I do not ask what she means, knowing her answer would never truly be one I could understand fully; as she loved her riddles when talking of the magical world.

My mom was more in tuned with the ‘hidden’ world than I am, though she swears I have my own way of knowledge surrounding the world spoken of in old legends. She leaves out milk for the fairies and sings softly to the forests and lakes around our house every full moon, bringing home animals, both wild and domesticated, and taking care of them before one day they leave as if they were never here to begin with.

“What do the stars normally say, mama?” I ask a few minutes later, and my mom smiles, turning her gaze to me.

“The stars are very old and wise, my love, they whisper of the past no one had seen and of a future we could only dream of, and if you can listen closer, not with your ears but your soul, they may tell you how to get want you wish,” she explains, closing her eyes once again and this time I do as well, trying to hear what the stars say.

But I hear nothing but the sounds of nature around us.

“They must be speaking to another tonight, maybe we shall hear tomorrow.” I follow her inside, gently shutting the door behind us as to not wake the forest nymphs.

I may not be as in tuned to the magical world as my mom, I may not see the selkies playing in the water when we go to the ocean or catch the stare of an animal shapeshifter like her, but the magical world is hidden for a reason.

Maybe the stars will tell me more tomorrow.