Scarlet Discovers True Strength Read Free

friends.
    â€œWhat’s the matter, dearie?” The elder Starling chuckled. “Glowfur got your tongue?”
    â€œOh…star apologies,” Scarlet said quickly. She was suddenly aware that she probably seemed rude. “Uh, yes. Yes, this is Mira’s room. But, well…” She looked around and shrugged. “She’s not here.”
    â€œOh, what a pity!” The woman’s face folded into a pained expression, like one of those comedy/tragedy masks that hung over Mira’s bed. She sighed and shook her head slowly. “Well. I suppose I’ll just wait for her, then. I should have told her I was coming. Hopefully she won’t be long.” She shuffled across the room, smiling sweetly and looking ever so slightly confused. “Please do forgive me for surprising you. I didn’t realize she had a roommate, you see. I could have sworn the last time she wrote to me she said she lived alone.”
    â€œShe did,” said Scarlet. “I just moved in.” She tried to sound less bitter than she felt.
    â€œAh, good!” said the old woman. “Glad to know I wasn’t wrong.” She tapped her head just above her ear. “Two thousand and three and still sharp as a prism. So what’s your name, my dear?”
    â€œIt’s, um, Scarlet.”
    â€œScarlet! How lovely! We had a glowsow on the farm with that name when I was a girl. So!” She crossed the star-trimmed corners of her shawl. “Just moved in, you say. Does that mean you’re new?”
    â€œNo, ma’am…” Scarlet shook her head and turned back to her loft, longing to climb back up. She was usually so glad her new roommate, Mira, was always at “play rehearsal,” or whatever that drama stuff she loved so much was. For once, though, Scarlet wished she would hurry back to their room so her grandmother would have someone else to talk to.
    The old woman, meanwhile, settled onto the bench in front of Mira’s dressing table with a frail yet eager sigh. She took a moment to catch her breath and take in Scarlet’s side of the wide, softly lit room. Her eyes lingered on the hot-pink drum set perched on a raised platform across from Scarlet’s black-and-fuschia-covered bed. Scarlet’s things had been moved for her the same starday Lady Stella had broken the news. When her Star-Zap finally led her to her newly assigned room on the other side of the Big Dipper Dorm, it wasn’t clear who was more put out: Mira, who’d been quite content having a single, or Scarlet herself.
    â€œAre those drums?” asked the old woman, pointing.
    Scarlet nodded. What else would they be?
    â€œOoh! What fun! Can I try them?” She was already out of her seat. She hobbled over to the platform, raised her cane, and gave the cymbal a powerful smack.
    CRASHHH!
    â€œDon’t!
Stop!
” Scarlet cried, hurrying over. “I mean, I’d rather you didn’t, um, please.” Scarlet didn’t want to be rude, but nobody—not even a little old Starling—was touching her precious drums. “Maybe you’d be more comfortable waiting for Mira in the Luminous Library. I’m sure a Bot-Bot guide could show you the way.”
    â€œOh, starry nights, no.” The old woman grinned and set her cane back on the polished star-studded floor. “I’m just as comfortable as can be. Where is my lovely granddaughter, though, do you know? I’m just as eager to see her as I can be.”
    Scarlet didn’t know, though she wanted to be helpful. If Mira had ever said anything to her about where she was going, Scarlet was too focused on her Star Darlings problem to care. Besides, Scarlet preferred for other Starlings to keep their noses out of her business, so she tried to set an example by keeping her nose to herself, too.
    â€œI’m not sure…maybe play rehearsal?”
    â€œOh, yes, you’re right, I’m sure!” crowed