“Useless, Simply useless.” The King said.

The Council of mages that surrounded the king all sat in silence, as did the young woman at the end of the table.

“We went to all that trouble, months of work, more coin than I can stand to think about, and the risk of upsetting the world’s natural balance. All of that, and we got a Medea.” The Kind said.

It was true. The woman, barely an adult, sat at the end of the table and was told her lot. She was summoned to this world suddenly, after getting used to this new world (With no small difficulty) she was finally found to be the least useful possible summon they could have had.

An otherwise normal girl, who just so happened to have an affinity with healing.

She was found to be of the “Medical” Type Healers. One’s who could treat Injuries and potentially save someone from deadly wounds. The issue was that Medical Healers, or Medea, are a dime a dozen in this world. Worse yet was that she wasn’t even better than the average Medea the king had at his disposal.

“I’ve had it with this useless project. When the sun rises tomorrow, this foolish project is to be canceled. All of you are fired.” The King said. “And as for you.”

The king looked at the girl at the far end of the table, barely holding back tears.

“I am not a cruel man, these worthless mages next to me have managed to earn my ire, but you have done no such thing...yet. You will be given provisions, and an allotment of coin, from there I can only wish you good luck with your new life here.” The King said.

Sure, there was the possibility that he could make use of her abilities. Considering that she was so young, and so new to the practice, she might become quite the healer in the future, but just having her around would be an ever present reminder to what it took to get her. With the time and resources spent on her they could have built a small city from scratch.

“Th-Thank you.” She said through tears. Being taken from her home and thrown into an unknown place like this, then being told she was useless, all of that was too much. She couldn’t hold back her tears. Her words only coming as they did because she was informed that anything less would be a grave insult.

Within minutes, she was given a small bag with a change of clothes, a small pouch of gold coins, and a fresh loaf of bread from the king’s personal chef.

She walked a short distance away and sat one of the benches near the castle gates. She reflected on her life.

Who was this poor girl? Who was forced into a world she didn’t know? For a reason that she didn’t know?

The Andromeda Galaxy. It was a galaxy that was so far away, but the closest to our own Milky Way. Her father was an astronomer of no small fame, likewise her mother was fascinated with space and was one of the first civilians to ever step foot on the moon. They both dreamed of the stars, and the focal point of their love was on the Andromeda Galaxy, the purest form of the saying “So close, yet so far away.”

When they met and eventually had a child, they named her after the Galaxy. In their owns words it was their attempt to bring that far flung cluster of stars a little closer to their lives.

Andromeda Noel.

This was the girl that brought into this world. As the day faded into night she looked up at the stars above. Something that she had seen a million times before tonight.

And she recognized none of them.

A deep, painful hole in her stomach gnawed at her, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the sky, but she couldn’t find any comfort in it like she used to. The tears wouldn’t slow and she felt her head slowly loose its grip on consciousness.

In all this time, not one person stopped to see if she was alright.

Until one did.

Andromeda felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up through tear soaked eyes and saw a kind looking old man standing above her. His eyes were faded grey, as was his hair. Despite this he was smiling a kind smile down on her. Though she still felt as though the world was weighing down on her, she could feel the smallest bit of peace.

“Young miss, are you alright?” He said.

“I’m… I’m…” She started, but the moment the words started to come out she felt herself overwhelmed. Tears fell down her face again.

“Come now, we can’t have that.” He said. Through her blurred vision she saw the man had placed a handkerchief on her lap. She picked it up and dried her eyes again, took several deep breaths, and cleared her throat.

“I, well, I’m from a very long way away, and I’m very alone.” She said.

“Do you have a place to sleep tonight?” He asked.

“No, I have nowhere to go.” She said.

“If that is so, I have a place that you may rest for the night.” He said.

“I’m… Not sure, if I can trust you so easily.” She said.

“I can understand that young miss, but I am an old man, and blind besides, if such a thing as you imagine were to befall you, then I can only imagine you would manage to escape.” He said.

Andromeda looked at the man again, he wasn’t looking at her, but into the middle distance. His eyes were indeed faded gray, but it was more than that. There was no flicker to the movement of his eyes. He didn’t look even for a moment at those who passed by, or the night birds swooping by.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. I’ve been whining like a child to someone off so much worse than me.” Andromeda said. She dried her eyes again and put on her most serious face.

“Young miss, I’ve been like this for many years. I have learned to live with my limits, but you are newly lost. You can be afforded tears.” He said. “My offer still stands, if you accept.”

Andromeda sat silent for a moment. She looked up at the sky again.

When she was young, she didn’t understand why her parent’s always looked up at the sky. To her it was just a black dome with a bunch of sparkly lights. Sometimes the Moon was there, and other times there were small circles of light.

But as she got older, she realized why this was wrong. It was her. She was the tiny speck on a tiny ball of dust, orbiting around a small sun, traveling through a single galaxy, sitting in a massive cluster. Just one of many in the universe.

She looked up at the night sky, and realized how small she was. Even if the stars were all different, and even if she wasn’t in that same universe anymore. She and her family were still looking up at the stars. That brought her some peace.

“Yes, I think I’ll go with you.” She said.