Falling Stars

Julian couldn't ignore his father's hard stare across the dinner table. He wasn't so sure why his father was trying not to smile, sneaking glances at Julian. Eventually, Julian just put his knife and fork down, the clattering noise surprising Gerald and earning Julian a very fatherly glare.

"What's gotten into you?" Julian asked. "You keep looking at me like you drew a mustache on my face while I was asleep."

"Of course not," he said. "I'm just happy to see my youngest running around with a pretty girl, that's all."

"A... What?" Julian frowned. "You don't mean Calli, do you?"

"Are you frolicking around my halls with other pretty girls, too?" Gerald asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well, I admit I'm surprised. I didn't think you'd be like that. Your brothers, maybe, but you-"

"It's nothing like that, Father," Julian said quickly. "No, nothing like that at all. I mean, I haven't even considered it. And I know she's not interested in anything more than friendship either. I doubt it'll last long after she leaves, anyways. We'll maybe write a few times and eventually one of us will stop caring about the other. We'll realize that we never had anything in common, other than how we were almost the same age and had no interest in anyone else. That's it."

Gerald stared at Julian in silence for a few uncomfortable moments, hands limp on the table with his palms facing up and his jaw a bit slack. Julian just continued with his dinner, ignoring the reaction until he finally spoke up.

"Depressing, Jules," he said. "That was very depressing."

"The truth is depressing," he shrugged.

"Well, at least you're not running around with multiple girls," he said, going back to his food. "You remember that fiasco with Joshie when he was a teenager, don't you? You were only eleven years old at the time, but I know you lied when you said you didn't know about what he was up to."

"Quite the contrary, I was the only one who knew at first," Julian said, laughing lightly. "He bribed me with candy and cigarettes to shut up."

"Candy and what?" Gerald frowned.

"Candy," Julian corrected quickly. "Just candy. Anyways, I don't think he liked being called Joshie."

"Ah, well, he got too old for the name, I suppose," he sighed. "Didn't want me to embarrass him in front of girls. But since you claim to have no girls, I can embarrass you as much as I want, can't I?"

Julian rolled his eyes and didn't respond, making Gerald chuckle. They finished their dinner without much more conversation, until one of the minor advisors entered the room, leaning over to whisper something to Gerald. Julian didn't catch it, but from the expression on his father's face, he knew it wasn't good news. Gerald wiped his mouth with a napkin and cleared his throat.

"Excuse me," he said. "I have some matters to attend to."

"It's Kaleb, isn't it?" Julian guessed. "No one has heard from him yet."

Gerald didn't say anything more, following the advisor out of the room. Julian sighed and slumped in his chair, picking at his food a few moments more before standing and leaving. He wandered and found his feet carrying him towards Calli's room. He started to knock, but she opened the door before his knuckles even touched the door. He noted that she was significantly more casually dressed, and her hair was left down. She didn't open the door all the way, just poking her head out to look at him.

"Sorry, bad time?" Julian grimaced. "I know it's late."

She paused, glanced into her room, then looked back at him for a moment before shutting the door in his face. Julian heard some shuffling around in the room, and a few moments later the door was open again and she gestured for him to enter. He hesitantly did, glancing around the room. The guest rooms were nice in the palace. Nicer than Julian's even. Then again, Julian never let the staff clean his room. He noticed a sparkle out of the corner of his eye and saw one of her glittery hair pins sitting on the vanity table. He picked it up and looked it over, raising a brow.

"Wow, this is really sharp hair pin," he remarked.

"Give it back," she said, snatching it out of his hand.

"Fine, fine," he said, raising his hands in surrender. "Don't get so grabby."

"Don't look through my stuff."

"You looked through all my stuff," he reminded her.

"And you didn't stop me," she said with a half smile. "So you're the one at fault here. What're you doing, wandering around at this hour?"

"Do you want me to leave?"

"No, something is bothering you," she said, gesturing to a chair. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Julian sat down, letting his head fall back on the back of the chair and closing his eyes.

"I think my brother might be dead," he said flatly.

"Sorry to tell you this, but Joshua passed away a couple years ago," she said.

"The other one," Julian said, opening his eyes and giving her a look that made her realize he was absolutely serious.

"Kaleb?" she frowned, suddenly a lot more attentive. "What makes you say that?"

"I have this empty feeling in my gut," he shrugged. "Like when you lose something important, and you don't know what. No one knows where Kaleb's cruiser is, and there's no trace of him here or the surrounding galaxies. People get lost in space all the time. I just didn't think it would be my brother."

"You think he's lost in space?"

"You think something else happened?"

"I think," she said slowly, "It's too soon to come to conclusions."

"Yeah?"

"Come on," she said, standing up and nodding towards the door. "I know some anxiety remedies. The perfect kind of tea. And we'l talk about your delusions some more."

"But I don't like tea," he frowned.

"Well that sucks for you, because you're having my special tea anyways. For fuck's sake, don't make me regret being nice..."