**Syzygy**
Saga watched as the flames climbed the funeral pyre and began to delicately lick the maiden’s cold skin leaving patches of black char across her alabaster body. Her eyes sought the King’s face. He was standing on the hill above them all, looking down on the burning body of his young wife, staring resolutely into the flames. His strong brow set in grief. When Saga looked back at the pyre the flames danced as tall as the Upsaal behind it. You could barely see the maiden’s blackened silhouette inside the house of raging fire. The farmers and villagers took their turns bowing before the pyre and again before the king. Then they respectfully retreated to their homes and their daily rituals. Saga stayed and bore witness until the last of the commoners and nobles departed, until the King himself bowed his head and mounted his horse and rode away. Saga waited until the flames shrunk, and the smoke blew away with the salted wind, and night fell, and the embers cooled. She looked up into the night sky and saw the planets in their perfect alignment. Four celestial bodies perched in a line in the vastness of space. She set about her business.