Kalei, Intermission

Prince Corvus stalked to the throne room, where his brothers were meeting as planned. He was late. He didn’t offer an apology; he simply slid in and dared his brothers to comment. None did. The Head – unofficially, simply the Head; officially the Head of a long string of things nobody could remember – gave him an odd look, but didn’t say anything.
“The King is dead,” the Head told them by way of preamble. “There are four brothers alive now. The King has decided that, instead of splitting the kingdom, you must find the Star. The kingdom will remain under my control until one of you brings the Star back.”
All the princes stared. “But – nobody’s seen the Star in decades,” Marcellus said. Corvus calculated quickly. His father knew that the kingdom couldn’t remain ruler-less for any length of time. Thus, the Star was findable.
“The King has given me three sets of runes,” the Head continued. “They will lead you to the Star.”
“Only three?” Alarus asked. “Why – “ He broke off. Of course. This was his father’s way of speeding things along. He glanced at Corvus. The expression on his face wasn’t pretty. Alarus only hoped that his youngest brother wouldn’t be left without runes; otherwise Corvus would try to take someone else'. Given their relationship, it would probably be Alarus.
“So who gets the runes?” Corvus asked, undoubtedly thinking the same thing.
The Head of Everything smiled.