Chapter Three: Star Light, Star Bright

We’re right where we left off at the bush. A slim gray spotted cat slips out of it. We get a wider shot and see the cat is at the edge of the Hamlet. He stretches and walks out of the hamlet towards Rosas. We pan up to see the castle before fading into the royal kitchens.

The cat from before is walking through, head held high. He stops as he hears footsteps and spots Flazino walk in. The cat ducks behind a barrel. Flazino adjusts a satchel slung around his shoulders as he passes the barrel. The cat shifts from side to side before pouncing on the young man’s boot.

“GAH! CHARO YOU LITTLE-!” Flazino tries to shake the cat off of his boot before grabbing him by the collar and holding him up. “What are you even doing here? You're not allowed in the kitchens.” Charo pins his ears back and hisses.

Another pair of footsteps and a tapping sound come from nearby, and a girl around Flazino’s age using a crutch emerges from behind a door. “Flazi, is that you? Is everything alright?”

“Sí, Dahlia. Cat got my boot, that’s all.” Flazino takes Charo over to the door and sets him outside. “Now get out of here, shoo!” Charo gives Flazino a dirty look before pointing his nose to the air and walking away.

Dahlia chuckles and walks towards a line of shelves and cabinets. “What did you ever do to that cat to make him hate you so much?”

“I never did anything to him!” Flazino huffs. “He hates everyone except my mother. I say we should have named him Diablo.” He pauses before looking back up at Dahlia. “What are you doing up this late?”

“Oh, I came down here to get some ginger for tea. One of the other servant’s had a bad headache, so I offered to make some. What about you?” Dahlia glances at him sideways as she looks through a cabinet and grabs the herb.

Flazino shrugs. “Father wanted me to grab some old book from the cellar. He’s got something planned for tonight.”

“What planned?” Dahlia asks, grabbing a kettle and filling it with water before putting it over a fire.

“That’s confidential, I’m afraid. Very important sorcerer business.”

“…You don’t know, do you?”

“Well I…no. But it sounded important.”

Dahlia smiles and rolls her eyes as she continues making her tea. Flazino pauses before asking “Have you seen him this evening?” “A little earlier while I was cleaning,” Dahlia replies. “Did he look angry?” Flazino asks.

“He did seem rather peeved. I didn’t catch what he was saying though,” Dahlia says.

Flazino sighs and nods. “Okay then. Well, I shouldn't stall any longer. I’ll see you tomorrow, hopefully.”

“Be careful. You know how he can be he’s angry,” Dahlia says, adjusting her crutch and watching Flazino make his way towards the door.

Flazino chuckles, sounding a little defeated. “Oh trust me, I know.” He shuts the door behind him and makes his way up the long, long staricase.

Flazino stops at the top in front of a set of double doors. Yelling comes from behind the doors, making Flazino hesitate as he reaches for the handle and pulls open a door.

Inside is the wishing chamber. Hundreds and hundreds of wishes float around the room, soft blue light pulsing from them. The roof is open, exposing the night sky. On two sides of the room there are tables littered with alchemy sets and various ingredients. Herbs, animal bones, liquids, and other strange things.

Amaya is working at one table, carefully measuring and brewing a potion while Charo sits at her side. Manuel paces on the other side of the table, running his fingers through his hair. “Maldita sea esa chica! Every time she shows up, she makes a fool of my guards, causes a scene, and disappears without a word. And the people love her for it!”

“Calm down, mi rey. It’s only one thief. We can deal with one little thief,” Amaya replies.

“Have you even been listening to what I’m saying?” Manuel snaps. “This girl is no ordinary thief. Whoever she is, she clearly takes after him. And that is the last thing I need.”

Amaya walks around the table and gently places her hand on Manuel’s cheek. “I understand dear, but don’t worry. After tonight, no one in this kingdom will dare to act out of line ever again.”

Manuel takes a deep breath and nods. “You’re right. As usual.” Amaya smiles and turns back to her potion. Manuel looks up as Flazino walks over. “Did you find it?”

“Yes, it was locked away in a case. The lock was enchanted, but I managed to break the glass.” Flazino explains, reaching into his sack and pulling out a leather-bound book. He sets it down, and we see the cover has two wolves circling a star symbol in the middle.

“Perfect,” Manuel says, grabbing the book and flipping through its pages.

“We didn’t see you at the ceremony earlier. Where were you?” Amaya asks.

Flazino tenses. “Uh, Samson escaped from his pen again. You know how skittish he can be.” Amaya looks at Flazino with suspicion, but doesn’t reply. Flazino glances at Manuel. “What are we doing up here so late anyways?”

Manuel ignores his son, scanning a page. “Let’s see here. Aha! ‘Harnessing a star’s power’.”

Flazino blinks. “How are you going to do that?”

“Well first, we pull it out of the sky, then drain it using this,” Manuel says, holding up his staff. “Mi amor, are you finished yet? I’m not getting any younger here.”

“I’m finished, I’m finished,” Amaya replies. She holds up a flask and hands it to Manuel. “Dragon scales for strength, rosemary leaves for focus, and unicorn hair for power.”

Manuel snatches the flask and eyes it carefully before raising it up. “Here’s to the most powerful king in all the land.” He drinks the potion and shudders, then smiles. “Oh yes.” He grabs his staff and the book, walking to the middle of the room. The king raises his staff and starts to read from the book.

“Stella lux, stella splendida. Primam stellam i videre noctem.” The tip of Manuel’s staff stars to glow brighter and brighter. Amaya, Flazino, and even Charo all watch intently. “Ego praecipio tibi in omni virtute mea. Habere potestatem, hac nocte impero.” Magic erupts from Manuel’s staff towards the brightest star in the sky.

Charo yowls and jumps into Amaya’s arms, who doesn’t look away from the sky. Flazino jumps back and watches with amazement. Manuel drops the book and grabs the staff with both hands. He pulls with all of his strength, gritting his teeth.

“Come on!” Manuel shouts, eyes locked on the star. He smiles as the star looks like it’s coming closer, and closer. “Yes. Yes, yes, YES!” Suddenly the magic snaps. It hurls back down to the chamber, sending Manuel flying back.

Amaya runs over to Manuel, dumping Charo into Flazino’s arms. The two look at each other awkwardly. “Mi rey! Are you alright?” Amaya asks.

Manuel gets up with a groan and grabs the flask, throwing at a wall. Flazino flinches back. “No, I had it, I felt it!” He storm over to his staff and grabs it, gripping it tight. “Why didn’t it work?! I had everything set up perfectly!”

“Darling, please calm down. Breathe,” Amaya says, gripping Manuel’s shoulder. “You were close tonight. Very close. That means your magic is working. Perhaps you should read more from that book and we can try again tomorrow night.”

Manuel sighs. “Yes. Perhaps, mi amor,” He turns around. “Go to bed. I’ll be there in a minute.” Amaya turns and walks out. Flazino hesitates before Manuel looks at him with a piercing stare. “You too boy.” Flazino quickly walks out of the room, leaving Manuel alone. He stands there for a few moments, taking in the silence.

The gem tip of Manuel’s staff is glowing dimmer than it was before, which he notices. He gently taps it “You’re a little low on power, aren’t you?” He pulls several wishes towards himself and sorts through them. “No, too soon, too weak.” He stops and grabs one, carefully examining it. Sabino appears, proudly staking a flag onto the top of a mountain. “Well hello. I thought you would have been dead by now, but apparently not. We can change that.” He crushes the wish.

Blue light flows from the wish into the staff. It glows brightly again, making Manuel smile. “There we go. All fueled up again.” He picks up the book and walks out the door, laughing to himself as his eyes glow green.

Author Notes

I’m sure Sabino is fine :) Anyways, sorry about the delay on this one. I’ve been caught up with some personal stuff recently, and overall I wasn’t sure how to go about this chapter. But I’m pleased with how it turned out. We get to meet Charo and Dahlia in this chapter, and get to see more of everyone’s favorite royal couple.

Charo is here to be an absolute menace. He helps our villains later on, but as of right now he’s mostly a source for jokes. Dahlia meanwhile is the only one of the seven teens I kept as a consistent character rather than a cameo. I felt like she would be a good companion to Flazino, and would be the first to fight alongside him, Asha, and Earendel. Her conversation with Flazino also allows us to see more of his character. He can be very pessimistic and sarcastic, but is a good friend.

And we finally get to see our royal couple in action. Now, I like all the rewrites that make Magnifico and Amaya madly in love with each other, but I personally went with their love being one-sided to contrast Flazino and Asha’s relationship. This chapter also shows the relationship between Flazino and his parents. They aren’t outright abusive yet, but do act somewhat neglectful and cold towards him in this chapter.

Amaya is definitely the brains of the relationship. Manuel is intelligent, yes, but more so in a social and book smart sense, while Amaya is better with emotional and adversity intelligence. She takes a lot after Maleficent, being very calm and collected, but wicked to a T as we’ll see in later chapters. And then we have Manuel. I can’t say he takes after any particular Disney villain. He kind of does his own thing, which I think is for the best. With their real introductions in this chapter, I wanted to confirm the audiences suspicions from earlier. And from there I wanted to make sure they were unlikable, but interesting. As Andres Deja, who animated Scar, once said “A villain always only works when he is interesting” (might be paraphrasing that) which is a sentiment I stand by. So, we end the scene at Manuel’s peak evil so far, and make sure everyone in the audience knows this guy is a threat. Basically have this relationship between him and the audience:

On a final note, I wanted to put in a little more foreign language in the dialogue. I thought it was a shame we didn’t get more Spanish considering the film is set near Spain. We also don’t get anyone in Rosas saying anything in their native language, which wouldn’t have added a whole lot, but I think it would have given Rosas a little more life. The spell Manuel recites is actually a twist on the “Star Light, Star Bright” poem. “Star light, bright star. I saw the first star at night. I command you with all my might. To have power, I command tonight”. It’s a little janky due to the Latin but you get the gist.

And now onto Chapter Four, where we’ll meet Earendel! I’m so excited to finally him. Oh I also have a post planned discussing Asha’s character arc in this story, because I have thoughts. a LOT of thoughts. So stay tuned for that.

Thanks for reading!

Chapter Three: Star Light, Star Bright

More Posts from Snackara