Music of Starlight

The heart lies beside him, whole, pink and beating. Thump. Thump, the drumbeat of someone who knew how to make music or war. She picks it up and cracks it open on the nearest rock.
 
Rumors and legends spread throughout the kingdom of unimaginable treasures found inside human hearts. They are just rumors, but still, it can’t hurt to take a look. Seeds and string and feathers fall from the broken heart––seeds of hate and lust that never did catch hold and grow, strings, thin but strong, tied to kindness and love, and a lone white feather of hope that never did fly away.
 
She looks around, then hurriedly picks up the pieces, shoving them into the cracked shell of a heart, piecing it together as best she can before placing it back where it belongs. She waits for something to happen. But it never does. After long, long days she takes the treasures with her, back to her village.
 
And at night, as the fire dies and coals glow, her ears roar with a wild, thump, thump of music that tastes of starlight and hope. It is the song of a music maker.