The Stargazers

Exup. It sounded like a soap brand, but it was a town in the Land of Eledus surrounded by tea and coffee fields. They could use some soap though. Farming was not exactly a clean job and neither was their experience with merchants. There had been a… situation recently.
You see, Exup was not famous for its tea, coffee or lack of soap, but for the highest concentration wizard wannabees of the kingdom. According to the only astronomer in town that is. The wizard wannabees did prefer to be called diviners though. And as regular wannabees are already annoying, these star gazing, crystal ball juggling, cheese watching, tarot reading, tea and coffee divining wizard wannabees were even more so as they were cocky, know it alls and the worst of all: they were right.
But fate works in mysterious ways and sometimes there are different answers on one question. This meant that the fortune tellers could not always tell the truth, because they could not see all the masks of fate. One of those mask had been particularly ugly for a certain merchant recently.  
But let’s start a little earlier. Let’s start on the day in all went wrong.

———————

“Astrologers warn: go to tarot readers due predicted bad weather.”
You didn’t need do be a diviner to see that the carpet of grey in the sky was ready to drop an uzzling amount of water. John shifted in his chair. He nearly knocked his coffee over in the process and got butter on his newspaper, but the astronomer couldn’t care less. It was not his newspaper and the coffee tasted horrible today. If he would have believed in the words of the wizard wannabees he would have taken the bad coffee as an horrible omen. Now, he only took it as a sign that he needed to look at his coffee maker. Fate was faced right on.
Yet the astronomer hated it more to get wet than trusting upon those ozly, wozly stargazers and as the astrologers relied on a clear night sky they were also responsible for the weather forecast.
There was not much else in the newspaper. Other subjects were “Bicycles and capes: why a bad idea?” and “How to tell your customer that you’re a diviner, not a miracle worker?”
Boring town, Exup. Many years ago the citizens were surprised really badly, resulting in the wish to never be surprised again. Even gifts were wrapped in transparent paper from that day forward.
‘Good afternoon, John! Did you sleep well with all the noise the crystal ball gazers were making this morning?’
Well, if it wasn’t the only person in this town who appreciated John’s work? The astronomer sent his mayor a genuine smile and a good afternoon too. Midas was looking around. He seemed to have lost something, but forget what exactly he was missing. One of those moments.
‘Do we still have coffee?’ Midas asked, giving up on his quest to find the thing he forget about.
‘Yeah, but I recommend the tea. This stuff is horrible.’
‘Due to your coffee make skills or the coffee itself?’ Midas teased as he took the coffee pot.
‘His skills. Definitely his skills,’ said a third. It was Harald, the head of the astrologers and already fully dressed. It was two o’clock in the afternoon, for Dru’s sake! After a night of star gazing John never understood the urge of the famous astrologer to look that fancy for “breakfast”.
‘Harald,’ John greeted the man without much enthusiasm. Really? He even wore the belt? Would be funny if Harald sat down on of his set squares. Or just on anything pointy. The belt was made of black leather with rubies and topazes hung up with everything an astrologer needed to do his job. And more. Blunted pencils, worn out gums, knuckled set squares, a bent ruler, a distorted pendant, some bird feathers, a pocket book with astrological numbers, a few extra rings to add more stuff and some of those jingle things belly dancers also wore on their outfit. Why? Don’t ask.
‘John. Good afternoon, my good man!’ the head of the astrologer greeted his housemate with too much enthusiasm solely to get on John’s nerve.
‘I sometimes do think I have two children,’ Midas sighed while putting the coffee pot upside down above the sink. After that he brewed some new.
‘It’s not my fault that Harald is a know-it-all,’ John defended himself.
‘And it’s not my fault that John is the most useless person in town,’ Harald sneered while making breakfast. John hit him with the newspaper. With the buttery side of the newspaper. Before Harald could curse him for everything he hadn’t been able to predict Midas put the coffee pot in between them.
‘Stop it, both of you. What are you? Twelve? Act your age, men, because I believe you both passed the thirty years ago,’ Midas said annoyed. Just another afternoon breakfast with these two. When would he learn to keep out of their bickering? He took a cup and poured some coffee.
‘John is important for this town. He discovers new celestial bodies for you, makes sure that your calculations are correct and so on,’ said Midas. He took a sip. John saw the mayor’s face turn into something horribly before he put the coffee away.
‘It’s the coffee to blame,’ Midas huffed. He stood up to get some water.
‘That a first time it isn’t John’s fault.’
‘Harald, what’s wrong with that stuff?’
‘I’m your astrologer, not your coffee supplier,’ Harald said as he took the cup, poured the leftovers in the sink and stared into the coffee grounds.
‘Predicting a bad harvest is in your line of work. The divinations of our coffee gazers can’t be trusted with such horrible stuff like this. Can you imagine the damage…’
‘I know. I know. I also have to find another job if no-one dares to rely on the towns diviners, but is has been cloudy all week,’ Harald defended himself.
‘In that case you should go to John’s observatory. You remember that tall building which towers above the clouds. Third door to your right, all the way up.’
‘No!’ both men said at the same time.
‘Your observatory is running on tax money, so it would be smart to keep me at your side, John Bauer. As for you, Harald: you’re the head of the astrologers, the most important diviners of Exup. I expect you to use all the sources you have to prevent unhappy surprises,’ Midas boomed. ‘So what do you see in that cup?’
‘Coffee ground and more coffee ground. I’ve always been horrible at tasseography. Can’t even see the difference between a skull and a smiley,’ Harald admitted. ‘I guess this is a smiley.’
‘Are you remembering what you came looking for in the kitchen in the first place, Midas?’
‘Don’t change the subject, John.’
‘I don’t…well, I do, but your wife is standing behind you with your glasses. Good afternoon, Eva.’
‘Good afternoon, John. Harald, you have a customer waiting for you in the lobby. It’s that crazy merchant from last week again.’
‘You heard the woman, men. Get to work,’ Midas said.
‘Technically Eva said that only Harald…’
‘John!’

Somehow the stubbornness of Exup’s only astronomer had twisted fate just enough to have an observatory built on the town hall. Some would call it a miracle of psychics as the building seem to laugh at the laws of gravity and the basics of construction. The town hall itself was a large two story building. It was the usual gathering place for when creatures felt the need to…yeah…gather. That included the shepherd and his stock. Not many houses in Exup could hold a meeting for more than twenty people or keep thirty sheep dry. So town hall it was. The building itself was also the home of mayor Midas, the heads of the different divining departments, their families and John.
The observatory was built on top of this all. You had the dome on the roof with the planetarium. Glued to it you had a tall tower and on top of it you had another dome with the telescope. If we ignore the details of the extra weight on the roof of the town hall, there was still that flower like construction which should have come down years ago. Well, it hadn’t. It just hadn’t. Asking John about this would result in his absolute denial of the possibility. The planetarium was run by Eva, Midas’ wife and open for public. It was mostly the notorious behaviour of John which kept the people away and he knew it.
The more surprised he was when Harald was standing on his doorstep with all his astrological stuff, lunch for two (dinner for most people) and a big bottle with good booze in the middle of the night. It was clearly he wanted to use the observatory, but it was his state of being John slightly worried about.
‘Long day?’ John asked while letting the astrologer in.
‘Horrible day. That crazy merchant betted all his money on some cargo I saw in the stars. Turned out it was the cargo he should not have taken, so now he’s bankrupt. Not my problem. I stated clearly that divinations are guides, not guarantees. Even have that black on white.’
‘Suddenly I like my work a lot more,’ John said. Harald followed him to the telescope upstairs. Way too upstairs. He should have left some of his books at home. John surely had the same books here. When they arrived in the upper dome the astronomer started to get the telescope in position to get some accurate positions of the celestial bodies and the astrologers made some space on the desk to do his calculations.
Suddenly they heard a shriek followed by a rain of broken glass and the sound of metal being crunched. The wind blew them of the tower, making them fall many meters (and scream like girls) before they landed in the lake.  
‘My observatory,’ John said in disbelief when he saw the upper dome completely destroyed. A bright flash of light blinded them for a few seconds. When they could finally open their eyes it was like they were in broad daylight. The coolness of the night had also disappeared. This had become a hot summer day.
‘What happened?’ Midas asked
‘Magic,’ John said darkly as he saw something on the dome radiating with light.
‘Someone has put a curse upon us.’

‘So it was a skull I saw in the cup. Not a smiley,’ Harald mumbled while they got out of the water. John didn’t say anything. His telescope. Completely gone. Midas came rushing towards them followed by a bunch of town people, all but the astrologers in their pyjama’s.
‘What happened? Are you alright?’ Midas asked, but his eyes quickly trailed to the top of the observatory where the source of all this light had to be.
‘We were blown off the tower after we heard some shriek,’ Harald stated. He shook the water out of his boots. ‘After that the giant light bulb appeared.’
‘How did you not see this coming?!’ a fellow astrologer yelled.
‘This is a curse. You let us get cursed!’ the shepherd screamed alongside his sheep.
‘People, let’s all calm down so we can found a solution. I heard wizard Woemfol is in the area…’ Midas started.
‘It’s not about the solution, Midas. It’s about our best diviner failing his job in the most legendary way possible.’
‘We have eighty-three diviners in this town and none of you saw it coming, so don’t blame Harald alone.’
‘Yes, indeed. We can’t blame Harald alone. Don’t forget the astronomer. That light comes from his tower.’
‘Technically it’s government property as you paid taxes to built it.’
‘John!’
As the threats start raining down Midas grabbed the two man by the arm and dragged them back inside before they had to face something worse than threats.

As soon wizard Woemfol was located and brought back to Exup with maybe a little more force than needed, people guessed that soon all would be turn back to normal. A week had passed. A week of living in a continues summer day. Astrologers were way off with their predictions. They needed the most recent position of celestial bodies for accurate divinations, but also the tea and coffee readers stood hopeless while they saw the plants wither in the magical sunlight. What was left were divination methods which weren’t as accurate as the people of Exup and their customers were used to.
Woemfol concluded that the light could not be extinguished and that the tower was also magically protected. The idea to move the whole town crossed Midas mind, but now people started glowing like a light bulb when they left the area of the curse. It was mostly inconvenient for the astrologers who still couldn’t see the lights even if they weren’t in Exup, but seeing a glowing red thing in the forest had really scared all evil out of the neighbouring villages. No, they Exupians better stayed. Maybe turn the town in some holiday destination.
There was not much that Woemfol could do. The curse could only be lifted by the genie who had casted it, which, on it’s turn, would only be able to if the wisher whished so.
Besides the curse Midas feared for the lives of John and Harald. The people still blamed them for the whole curse. Maybe it was better if the two men would stay low for a while. Out of the town low. And while they were away they could figure out a way to solve this mess.

‘So if you want to stay stargazers instead of sungazers I advise you to leave for a while,’ Midas finished after he had told John and Harald everything the wizard had been telling him.
‘Technically, the sun…’
‘John, if you dare to start your sentence with “technically” one more time I swear in name of the king that I will cast the only magic spell I know on you,’ Harald said dead serious.
‘You work magic?’ Both Midas and John said at the same time.
‘My great grandfather was a wizard. I just can do one little, but a very good shutting-up-astronomers spell.’
‘Oh, really?’ John said while looking at the astrologer who was so much smaller than him. Or John was just tall. It was the later. ‘Now it’s really tempting to use…’
‘I’m sure you’ll find out, John. Now, for the journey ahead. Any ideas where to start?’ Midas asked.
‘Let’s…just get out of here first and head to the Land of the Bankers. They surely know which genie has casted this curse. But first I would like to say my farewells to my family.’
‘Of course.’

John and Harald had left Exup silently, but decided to make camp just outside of town. It was eight in the morning, for Dru's sake! They should be in bed like every other night person. As the evening approached the men woke up like their usual time, broke up camp and continued their journey.
'We should have brought lanterns,' Harald mentioned.
'Why? We're emitting light,' John said. 'I feel like a fire fly.'
He looked at his arm. A faint red light was emitting from it like he was indeed a glowing bug. Harald put his arm besides it for comparison.
'At least you're glowing red. I'm like a torch,' Harald said. There was still some daylight left, but the astrologer was already emitting a strong warm white light.
'Thanks to you and the curse we can at least travel at night, save money on lanterns and keep our day/night rhythm.'
'If you put it that way than yes, I'm more useful than, but that is nothing unusual.'
'Oh? Tell me, Harald. Which direction for the Land of Bankers? And I rather take a path through the mountains than cross the Plains of Decay,' John stated. His voice boomed through the silent night in the woods, but he didn't care. As two walking lights were not enough to attract one's curiosity, their voices wouldn't make a difference. Most people would take them for some ghosts. Or just two lunatics who angered a wizard.
'I…ehm…you don't know either!' Harald defended himself.
'I know we need to go north,' John said.
'I know that too.'
'No, you didn't.'
'Yes, I did.'
'No, you didn't.'
'So what use are you, sir Astronomer?' Harald changed the subject. 'Do you have a secret alliance with some eagles to bring us to our genie or what?' Harald said. Just in time he saw the creek in front of them. He took a run-up and jumped to the other side.  
'No, but at least I can see the brightest stars and the moon,' John claimed.
'No, you can't.'
'Harald, come closer to the water. I can hardly see a thing.'
'See? You're lost without me.'
The astrologer stepped to the side of the creek to give his companion a hand. John grabbed it, gave a strong pull and dragged Harald in the creek before stepping over the little water with ease. The moment of surprise gave the astronomer enough time to escape from the soaked through astrologer, however Harald had the benefit of proper light. Making the impossible possible again John started running just out of reach of Harald but within the astrologers radius of light. It made the chaser more than angry enough to run a marathon. John, on the other hand, still hated it to become wet and that was enough motivation from his side to stay out of Harald's hands. A marathon later (probably less) they had run their motivation away to kill each other.
While catching their breath, Harald managed to pant: 'When we lift that curse and get home, I convince Midas to make your tower the red light district of Exup.'
'You know what a red light district is, don't you?' John panted.
'Of course I do,' Harald said. He leaned against a tree. 'It's the area where all the bankers live. You're as greedy and arrogant as they are.'
'You're joking, right?'
'Why would I joke? But anyway, where are we. Weren't you capable of seeing the moon and the brightest stars?'
John walked a bit further away from Harald so he had a clearer vision of the sky, but he could not find the stars, nor the moon he saw so brightly earlier tonight. Maybe the trees blocked his view? The astronomer looked around and found a tree which seemed not too difficult to climb. When he reached the top he still didn't see the moon or the stars. Had the curse become stronger? Nah…why would you increase the power of an already powerful spell? Clouds! That was it! It just had become cloudy.
'John!' The astronomer turned towards the call of distress. From here he could see the faint light of Harald. He was moving, running again. From what? Quickly John climbed out of the tree and ran in the same direction as the astrologer as fast as possible. He did not see any traces of wild animals, nor he heard a sound excepts Harald's calls for help. Damm it! Why was he running after that astrologer? John knew some reasons, but they were all too sappy to acknowledged at this moment and in this life. Perhaps in another life and another moment. A chase was not very ideal to work on their current relationship. Wait, what? Rephrase, rephrase. Oh, never mind. He had an astrologer to save and something dangerous to fight. Hopefully it was not that dangerously. A rabbit or so. But a rabbit was fast…. Nope. Nope. John put his hope on a guinea pig. Preferably a white one. The black ones were so hard to see in the dark.
Call it dumb luck or a funny leap of faith, but John tripped over a branch, slid down a hill and found himself ran over by Harald who was coming from a different direction. Both of them ended up lying on the ground, too tired from the previous marathon to run any further.
'Well, you've got your wish. My clothes are ruined by your dirty creek water,' John said while pushing Harald away from him. Quickly the astrologer rise, but he couldn't hide his sneaky smile.
'I've got some more for you,' he said while wringing some more water from his blouse. John jumped on his feet, tested his muscles and prepared his mind for another run. At that moment he found out they had reached a dead end. An old little quarry. Damm it again.
'So what was chasing you?' John asked.
'Moths.'
'Moths?!' Well, that was even better than guinea pigs. The astronomer started to smile from ear to ear. 'My good Harald, I didn't know you suffer from entomophobia.'
'I don't, but these ones are huge!'
'Like that spider who caused you to run to the other side of the room two weeks ago?'
'No, John. Really, really huge. They're taller than you and…It doesn't matter what they look like. We are chased by five gigantic moths who are probably attracted by the light I'm emitting.'
'Technically moths aren't attracted by a red light light so you're the one who is in trouble, not me,' John said.
Harald sighed, shook his head and massaged his temples.
'I warned you,' he simply said followed by something John couldn't understand. Next thing John knew was that he felt a gigantic urge to sneeze, but the sneeze itself didn't come.
'What's this, Harald?' John asked with his mouth half opened and rubbing his nose.
'My shutting up astronomers spell.'
'It doesn't seem to work well, because I'm still talking,' John said while rubbing his nose in the hope to rub the urge to sneeze away.
'I'm an astrologer, grandchild of a wizard, husband and father, but not a miracle worker. The spell wears off eventually.'
'For Dru's sake, you think you're being funny doing magic tricks while we are chased by gigantic moths? Which are not pretty fast, I might add.'
'Maybe I lost them,' Harald said.
'Or not,' John answered when he finally saw the creatures. Thank Dru they were indeed not very fast, hungry or dangerous at all. Their most aggressive attack was an attempt to sit down on the glowing astrologer who made himself small on the ground. John just took place on a big boulder and watched it happen with a smile on his face.
'Can I get any help here?' Harald asked annoyed.
'Maybe we could fly on them to the Land of Bankers,' John mooted. He tried to fake a sneeze in the hope that a real would follow, but without success.
'Good idea, John. If you'll be so kind to find a big stick and a rope so you can use me as lure for these over sized insects,' Harald said.
'You should try to be more optimistic. The clouds are gone and I can see the moon again. Yet, here are the moths.'
'So?'
'So it’s a compliment. Harald, you're are more attractive that the eternal silver disc of heaven.'
Both men were surprised by the sound of a laugh. The looked towards the direction the sound came from.
'You're funny.' It came from a little girl who was sitting tailors seat at the end of the quarry. She had a dark blue skin, black hair and a body full of white freckles like stars in the sky.  Like the men she was a beacon of light, in her case bright white. Immediately the moths forget Harald and flew to the girl. She worked some magic and a ball of light distracted the moths away from the quarry.
'Thanks,' Harald said. He stood up and swept the dust from his clothes. The girl had come closer to get a better look at her midnight stand-up comedians.
'You're not from Exup, are you?' John asked her.
'What's Exup? A soap brand?' she asked while keeping some distance with the strangers.
'No, it's our village,' Harald answered. He saw her fidgeting with the silver band around her wrist. 'Are you a genie?'
'Maybe,' she said after hesitating some moments. 'I'll tell you if you tell me a story too. You first.'
Harald gestured John to sit down as did he to talk to this little genie at the same eye height. The astrologer told her the story about what happened in Exup, why they were here and why they had to find the merchant who had wished for Exup's curse. As Harald told her more and more, the little genie grew more pale.
'…so now we are looking for the merchant who wanted our village cursed and maybe you can help us,' Harald ended his story.
'I…I…I should be in bed,' she said.
'We're not angry at you, little genie. We know that you only fulfilled the wishes of your master,' Harald said softly when he saw the tears welling in the corners of her eyes. 'We just like to have our night back. If you can only tell us the name of your master of overseer we can work this out. Do I look like a guy who can do anybody else, except John, harm. For Dru's sake, I ran away from some moths!'
The girl laughed a bit between her snivelling.
'What's your name, girl?' John asked. Harald wanted to hush him before the astronomer would ruin everything again, but he too was curious to know her name.
'I'm Indah.'
'So Indah, did you accidentally curse yourself too when you put that spell over Exup?' John asked with a teasing smile. Harald glared at him angrily. Shut up. Just shut up. He had this. Indah crossed her arms looked at John with the eyes of a fighter.  
'I'm the best genie ever and if you continue to talk to me like that I turn you into a moth.'
'Technically Harald would be the one who will be cursed as I already annoy him without end in this human form. I'll just annoy him more with some big wings and a fluffy body,' John said.
'Than I'll turn you into something else,' the little genie said.
'So, Indah, world greatest genie, if you're not radiating light by accident I must conclude that you are scared of the dark.'
'John!' Harald said. 'I would love to solve this without your usual criticism.'
'I just wants to know why a genie named after one of the brightest stars in our night sky is afraid of that same night. Look at her, Harald. She is like a mini Milky way with those freckles. And those eyes. One gold, one silver. Sun and moon,' John said while still rubbing his nose.
'Milky way?' Indah asked curiously. 'That sounds stupid. I'm not a cow.'
'You have never seen the Milky way?' John asked amazed. He was a damn good actor, Harald must admit and a crafty manipulator, but genie or not, this was a child nonetheless. The astronomer didn't give him a chance to speak. Instead he started to tell Indah about the miracles of the night sky. He even had a mini planetarium with him to show her to rotation of the planets in their solar system. His passion was contagious. Harald joined their conversation and told the little genie how they were able to predict the future from the stars.
'But why is there only one astronomer in Exup?' Indah asked.
'If it was up to the Exups I would have been gone long ago,' John sighed. 'I'm kind of an ass and they don't really need me. I could live on the Plains of Decay, print a book with updated corrections every year and no-one would bat an eye .'
'Watch your words, astronomer,' Harald said
'I'm sorry. I meant to say I'm not a really nice person to work with.'
'That's not what I meant,' Harald sighed. 'Just pretend you have never heard this, but divining is…yeah, not magic.'
'I knew that, wizard wannabee.'
'I meant to say: astrology works with relationships, patterns, tendencies and interpretations find in books, charts and calculation tables.'
'I also knew that. Any other old news you wanted to tell me or what?'
'Just shut up for one second! I'm trying to tell you something really important. Do you know why the astrologers of Exup are among the best of the whole kingdom? Do you know why we can predict the future in such detail? Do you know why all these astrologers gather in Exup?'
Harald had suspected a cocky answer from John, but the man didn't say a word. Only raised an eyebrow. Harald sighed in annoyance.
'You told me to shut up, so I did,' John said.
'You just love to mess with me, don't you?'
'Of course. It's so easy. I never like the things complicated.'
'Calculating a fixed position of a star seems pretty complicated to me,' Indah said.
'Oh it's not as bad as it seems. I can teach you,' John said.
'Really?'
'Yes, of course. Gladly even.'
'Oh, for Dru's sake. Why you?' Harald interrupted the two.
'I don't know what's wrong with you, but can you please be more direct? You're ranting about how precise the diviners of Exup are, yet you keep talking like some vague oracle. Is that part of the job? Being mysterious and such?'
'No,' Harald sighed. 'Exup has something which is really rare to find in the kingdom of Dru. We have an astronomer who is able to correct the mistakes in our patterns, discover new celestial bodies who influence our life in a way, updates our charts and all those things on a daily basis. That's the difference between a regular astrologer and an astrologer of Exup. We are up to date. They try to predict the future with the past. Without you, John, Exup is lost.'
'Well, and here I am. Far away from the village I'm oh so important to! And you should feel the same. You were the best astrologer of Exup until that curse. Suddenly we were not that important anymore. We even were the ones to blame for the mess and now you're telling me that I'm indispensable for the people who treated me like trash my whole life?! What do you need from me, Harald, because otherwise you would never try to flatter me like that,' John said. He did not only rub his nose anymore, but also his eyes.
'This is exactly the reason why no one has ever told you this. You mean well, but you're not the easiest person to get along with,' Harald softened his voice.
'Well, if everybody in the village hates you…' John said.
'Why didn't you leave?' Indah asked. John sighed.
'A reasonable paid job as astronomer including a private observatory is hard to find. I need money to buy food and I truly love astronomy too much to look for another job in a nicer place,' John admitted. 'And Midas is nice to me.'
'I suppose we should show our gratitude towards you more when we get back.'
'I don't understand why you looked down to me in the first place.'
'We are the famous astrologers of Exup. We love our work as much as you do, but you can tell the people "Yes, I discovered that planet, I fixed that mistake and I am responsible for all those fantastic astrology charts." All we can see is "Yes, we saw it coming, but not without the help of the astronomer." That's the reason your great-grandfather was loved so much, because people acknowledged him, but the astrologers grew tired of sharing the spotlight over and over again. Eventually they claimed everything as their own doing,' Harald said. 'In short: we're the asses.'
The three sat a few moments in silence while John saw the moon already lowering in the night sky. The fleeing moon made the other celestial bodies so much clearer. If it wasn't for this light he could have seen the beauty of stars.
'John?' Indah asked a bit sleepy.
'Yes.'
'How can you see stars if it is dark? And what does a star look like?'
'A star looks like glistering diamond on black velvet and the night isn't dark. On a clear night like this she is filled with thousands of stars and other celestial bodies. Sometimes you can even read in the light of the moon,' John told her. Indah sighed.
'I wish I could see the stars,' she said.
'Can you stop glowing? In that case you can see them,' John said.
'I can,' Indah said hesitantly. 'But the darkness…I'm really scared. There are monsters in it.'
'The biggest monsters here are Harald, me and maybe some oversized moths. You can handle it. Believe me, you have never seen so much beauty in your life as a sky filled with stars.'
'He's right you know,' Harald said.
'But…but…'
'Let's try this: because of the red light I still can see some stars. You will stop glowing and keep close to me. When your eyes get used to the darkness you'll see some stars, alright? And if you found this too scary you run to Harald,' John tried. Slowly Indah nodded. He took the girl by her hand and lead her away from the radiating astrologer. In little steps Indah dared to dim her light. Eventually she stood close to John while her eyes got used to the darkness around her. It didn't take long before she spotted the moon. She kept jumping up and down from enthusiasm about it's size and beauty. Moments later she saw her first star. It was Indah. In an attempt to get closer to the star she left John's radius of red light and found herself not surrounded by darkness, but draped in the gently glowing diamond coat of the night. She reached out to them, laughed and danced until she felt to dizzy from spinning around.
'I must tell you something,' Indah panted. She kept her distance to the two man so she was able to keep looking at the stars. 'You don't need the merchant. He only wished to restore his fortune. The curse was my doing.'
'You're doing?' Harald asked.
'Don't be angry. The merchant told me about how he lost all his money. He went to your house in the middle of the night, Harald, and got a divination. In the end you were wrong and I thought that it was because you needed to have light to see the future. I felt pity for you and the other astrologers so…well, you know what happened.'
Just for safety she took some more distance from the men, but Harald and John started to laugh loudly until they had tears in their eyes.
'I can't wait to tell this to my wife,' Harald hiccoughed from laughing.
'I can turn everything back like it was,' Indah said timidly.
'That would be very nice.' John said.  
'But what will you do after all this?' Harald asked.
'Sleeping,' she yawned. 'I was going home to mister Douwe, my banker, together with the merchant. I saw Harald running from the moths when I couldn't sleep,' Indah told him.
'Is he a nice banker?' John asked.
'Very nice. I bet he will let me travel to Exup to visit you guys from time to time.'
'I hope so,' John said.
The men brought Indah back to the camp where they silently said their last goodbyes before she turned everything back to normal. As bonus she teleported them back to the village. Exup under the morning stars.
Achoo!
‘Seems the spell wore off,’ Harald noticed.
‘Yes,’ John sniffed. Of course he had left his handkerchief at home. Oh well, his sleeve was good enough for the moment.
‘So, we saved the village,’ Harald said.
‘Indeed we did,’ John said. The observatory towered once again over the little houses and John couldn't be happier with the prospect to climb all those stairs to the upper dome to sleep under his telescope for the whole day.
‘Do you think they will treat us as heroes?’ Harald asked.
‘More like: good thing you didn’t make it worse.’
‘Ah, come on, John. We didn’t save Dru from eternal doom, but we saved Exup from eternal light.’
‘Yeah, put that in the chronicles. Two glowing idiots safe their village by talking to a little girl about their job.’
‘Maybe I should write Indah and ask her to put the glowing back on you. Than we can at least pretend you’re a little ray of sunshine,’ Harald teased.
‘Have you never read some chronicles? The heroes are always in mortal danger, someone must die and there will be  love triangle. You don’t write a story about two glowing guys or…I don’t know… a dragon with booze.’
‘The strangest thing I’ve ever read was a story about a cricket who saved whales in an ice sea.’
‘What, in Dru’s name, is standing on your book shelves?’ John asked.
‘Books, mostly. Shall we go, John? If we are greeted as heroes I prefer not to smell like dirty creek water.’
Exup. It still sounded like a soap brand, but again it was the home to the worlds most annoying wizard wannabees ever. They still needed an astronomer though. And maybe it was time for this town to get some real wizards. Or even better: a genie.

———————

Dear mister Douwe,

I require the special services from your genie Indah. It's a matter of utmost importance and I hope you will seriously consider my request.

As for my wish: I wish to see miss Indah again in person and show her around the village she so noble-minded blessed with her magic.

The best regards,
John Bauer
Astronomer of Exup