Jordan
l'etoile de bronze
Author Grant Douglas Photography Matt Slade Models Eleanor Henry Ball (Wallflower Management) & Erin Kelly Fashion Editor Tyler Anderson Styling Charlotte von Meister clothing House of Strut Makeup Samson Smith
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here was a young girl and she had bronze hair which shone like the sunrise over the mountains. And she had emerald eyes which glistened like the sunset over a lake. And she had a name, and it was Jordan. Ever since she was small, her mother and she worked in the palace of the Empress by the sea. The Empress was thought to be the most beautiful woman in all her Empire, and considered herself to be more beautiful than even the stars. But, Jordan had the light of the stars in her very heart. Every morning, Jordan’s mother tied up the child’s hair in a black scarf, for the shine of it put to shame the bronze of Her Majesty’s cutlery. On her eyes, Jordan’s mother smeared soot from the fireplace, for the gleam of them put to shame the emeralds of Her Majesty’s jewelry. Every night, while Jordan’s mother combed her beautiful bronze hair, Jordan would ask “Where is father? And why can’t we live with him instead of working in this awful place?” “Look,” said her mother, pointing to the stars from behind their small window. “Do you see them? Do you see that one blinking? There he is, waving at us, speaking to us. If you listen you can hear him say ‘I love you, Jordan, I love you.’” As Jordan grew so did her
hair and the shine of it’s bronze curls, and so did her eyes and the facets of their emerald sparkle. And every morning, just the same, she tied up her hair and smeared her face as she worked in the palace till nightfall. Then in the dark she and her mother would go to the sea and wash away the dirt. Together they would swim and laugh all night in the dark where Jordan’s beauty could not be seen. But as Jordan grew, so too did her mother, and she became old and ill and close to death. “Do not cry,” whispered Jordan’s mother on the hay of her bed under the palace. “I will always be here, with you, watching you by the light of the stars, blinking and waving and saying ‘I love you, Jordan, I love you.’” As her mother grew more sickly, Jordan’s chores grew more heavy. She alone had to wash the pots and polish the floors and tend the fires. The other servants showed no mercy, as each day Jordan’s mother came closer to the end. And one morning it happened, in the early light of day, just as Jordan woke she saw her mother was gone.
SHE DID NOT CRY, BUT INSTEAD TIED HER HAIR IN A BLACK SCARF AND SMEARED HER FACE IN SOOT, AND LEFT HER MOTHER TO LAY IN PEACE.
061 “There is a ball tonight!” exclaimed the Empress. “A ball in honor of the new star which appeared early this morning in the last moments of night. And under this new star I shall show my beauty to the world! Ready the palace!” And so Jordan spent the day in memoriam of her mother, cleaning and scrubbing and polishing harder than ever for Her Majesty’s ball. But Her Majesty was worse than ever. “The floors! They should shine and reflect my shine to the stars. The silver! It should polish and glisten for my face. Everything must be perfect!” Jordan washed the floors and polished the silverware and by dark she was combing the Empress’ hair. The Empress had six seamstresses fixing her gown, eleven jewelers mending her jewelry, nine artists painting her face, and four maids combing her hair. And Jordan began to cry. No longer would her mother comb her hair and speak of her father blinking at them from a star. Now there would be two blinking stars and Jordan would be alone. But the tears fell to the ground black from the soot. One drop at a time the dirt of her face washed away and her emerald eyes shown through. The Empress cried out and Jordan fell back. As she did the black scarf fell away and her bronze hair fell out. “Who are you! What are you doing here!” “Please, your Majesty. I am just a servant.” “Out! Be out of here! NO one shall shine brighter than I tonight! No one!”
JORDAN WAS TOSSED FROM THE PALACE AND INTO THE SEA. THE LAST OF THE DIRT WASHED FROM HER EYES AND THE SCARF WAS LOST IN THE CURRENT. One by one, the stars came out blinking and the moon shone, and all the light from the night sky made the shine of her hair ever more glistening and her eyes ever more enchanting. “Help! Help!” someone cried. At once Jordan’s tears stopped. “Help!” Swimming through the waves Jordan leapt toward the cries. They were shrill and sharp and desperate and Jordan felt their fear. A tiny child, no larger than a dove, was drowning in the waves. At once Jordan scooped up the thing and carried it to shore. When the child had caught its breath, Jordan could see it was a very small boy, a boy with little wings on his back. A faerie. “Thanks ye,” said the faerie, “ye saved my skin.” “You’re hurt!” Jordan cried. The faerie had two large wings, silver and transparent like the wings of a bee, and two smaller wings just the same, only one was cut and bleeding. “A hunter! Knocked me out the sky! Struck me flying! Right to the sea I fell with no hope of seeing the starlight again. Never to see their pretty blinking faces, never to hear their whispers of love. Till ye came. Thank ye.” The faerie raised his little fingers and pointed right at Jordan’s emerald eyes. “And by the light of the stars, I give ye a gift.”
At once Jordan felt warmth as if from the sun. The blinking starts seemed to come falling out of the sky and danced around her. With a bright flash and a blink of laughter it ended just as suddenly as it started. Jordan looked down to see she was shining from breast to foot in a gown made of starlight. “The Empress holds a ball tonight! Ye shall attend as the Princess of the Stars. And put her Majesty to shame! But be wary, the gown shall shimmer and die away by the light of day just like the light of the stars.” In another blink the boy was gone and left Jordan standing by the sea alone in her gown of starlight. The ball was going perfect. The Empress shone like no one had shown before. Princes and Kings, Emperors and Czars lined up to see her, for just a glimpse at her beauty. The palace glistened like she did, every facet of every corner reflecting her radiance, and much past midnight, the new star began to blink on the horizon.
“Outside everyone, outside! The new star comes out to shine!” Out on the battlements and along the stairs and across the walls the members of the ball stood watch. The Empress herself stood on the steps of the palace front where all could see her. All eyes stood watch and silent on the horizon. “There! I see it! There!”
IT BEGAN TO BLINK JUST ON THE SEA. IT WAS SOFT AND GRACEFULAND PERFECT. SLOWLY IT GREW BRIGHTER AND MORE WONDERFUL, AND LARGER TOO. “It’s coming! The star is coming!” The Empress smiled widely. The star was coming to greet her, to meet her and glorify her beauty, declaring it above even its own. The star grew closer and closer, coming up from the sea, but as they all watched, they all soon realized that the star was not gliding through the sky, but walking across the ground.
Soon they saw her, the Princess of the night sky, in her gown made of starlight. Jordan glided toward the palace with her eyes down though still they shown. Her hair sparkled as it fell like liquid bronze across her shoulders and down her back. Slowly everyone began to bow as Jordan reached the steps of the palace. Then she was there, before the Empress, the only one who did not kneel. “I know you,” spat the Empress. “I know you, girl!” The Empress reached down and grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it in Jordan’s eyes. “A servant girl from the kitchens! A worker from the fireplace! This is no princess of starlight!” The guests of the ball gasped, not because of who the girl was, but because of who the Empress could be. She turned to them. “Do you not see? She is no one! It is false beauty!” No one spoke. “She does not shine brighter than me!” No one spoke.
“I shine brighter than any star in the sky.” Then Jordan spoke. “You may shine, but you are no star. You will always be a gem of the earth, and in time you will crumble and turn to the dust and dirt you are.”
JORDAN TURNED FROM THE PALACE AND WALKED BACK TOWARD THE SEA. THERE SHE WASHED HER FACE AND STOOD TALL WATCHING THE BLINKING STARS WAVE AT HER BELOW. As the sun began to rise and the starlight fade, so did the glistening folds of her gown. And by dawn the light was gone, and so was Jordan. Every night, under the light of the glistening stars, a young girl by the sea shines and sparkles in a gown made of light, and she watches two blinking stars. They speak to her and she listens as they say, “I love you, Jordan, I love you.”