[Intro — the tower, the highest floor, the field is gone] She does not know how she got here
One moment: the field after the battle The corrupted light going out into the world The silence of everything she now knows
And then
The tower
Highest floor
And above her through the open ceiling one light that does not move
[Verse 1 — Polaris, before the claiming] She has come back here three times before But she was not known
She tried reaching toward it Since she knew Since she felt it From every field she crossed Trying to become what the star was waiting for
She knew the name She knew it was hers
She just was not ready
And the star which does not move held its position
And waited
[Pre-Chorus] And it flickers
Just once
The way something flickers when it recognizes what it has been waiting for
[Chorus] Flicker, flicker north star I see you up there You have been holding that position Since before I had a name
Flicker, flicker north star You have been the point Every lost person navigated toward
And you have been waiting for the one you were always keeping that position for
For the one who had to see everything before she could look up and finally find you
[Verse 2 — what she brings to the claiming] She does not come here empty
She comes with the machine that built her She comes with the names on the wall She comes with the woman on the cold floor who did not choose it either
She comes with the market bells She comes with the letter She comes with Diana’s face in Adina’s jaw
She comes with the ordinary people grinding grain in the south who held the door open for two hundred and ninety thousand years
She comes with the battle She comes with the corrupted light She comes with what she knows that she was never supposed to know
She does not come the way the church built her to come
As a sword
She comes as herself
[Pre-Chorus 2] And it flickers
Twice
The way something flickers when it understands who is standing underneath it
[Chorus] Flicker, flicker north star I see you up there You have been holding that position Since before I had a name
Flicker, flicker north star You have been the point Every lost person navigated toward
And you have been waiting for the one you were always keeping that position for
For the one who had to see everything before she could look up and finally find you
[Bridge — the claiming] She does not come here the way she came before
Every other time she looked up She was still the church’s weapon Still the sword Still the chosen one who never chose
She could feel the star She could not reach it The distance between them was everything she had not yet understood
And now she has seen everything
The machine The names on the wall The woman on the floor The letter The ordinary people grinding grain in the south
And she looks up
And she says:
I am ready now
And the star which has been holding that position since before she was born
moves
Just slightly
Just enough
The way something moves when it has been seen by the right person for the first time
And the light comes down
Not like a gift Not like a blessing Not like something given by someone who had the right to give it
Like a recognition
Like two things that were always the same thing finally touching
[Pre-Chorus 3 — full] She is not the church’s weapon
She is not the Order’s sword
She is not the chosen one who never chose
She is the one who saw everything and stood up anyway
And Polaris has been saving that position for exactly her
[Final Chorus] Flicker, flicker north star You are mine now I did not earn you with obedience I earned you with understanding
Flicker, flicker north star Every lost person who navigated by you was navigating toward this moment
Toward the one who carries the light the right way
Not aimed Not wielded Not pointed
Just
present
The fixed point that does not move while everything else turns
I am here
I am the north star’s daughter
I am finally here
[Outro — the tower, the star, the field now visible below] She stands on the highest floor
And she looks down
She can see the south She can see Mydaal She can see the battlefield She can see the kitchen and the grain and the fire
She can see somewhere in the distance a tower
A light in a tower that is not north but familiar
She does not reach for it yet
But she knows where it is now
And it knows where she is
The north star does not move
But tonight for the first time something in the south is looking back