stars shining bright above you

just take your time wherever you go

Saiden made his way up the steps of the Aumakua slowly. Although he’d made this trek many times, this time his steps were slower than usual, more somber. Still, there were a finite number of stairs, and he eventually pushed the door at the top of the lighthouse open.

Walking towards the shrine there, he slipped a hand into his pocket. Dressed only in a pair of shorts, with a sword at his hip, he took out the moonstone and opal necklace that he'd acquired as a gift for the goddess of stars. Laying it on the altar, he knelt before it.

"Safrin, I bring this offering to you in the hopes that you would hear my prayer. I was told that my sister, Vanya, is a star in your realm. All I ask is that you pass along the message to her that I will look up at your night sky and think of her." He swallowed. "And that I miss her."

Is it because Saiden is an abandoned but Vanya an attuned? Do the stars only twinkle and wink for some and not others? Are his gifts not worthy her time, or is she perhaps simply busy? As with most things, we will never know; Safrin does not appear.

just take your time wherever you go

Though Saiden knelt for a while, there was no response. Shrugging, he stood up. "Alright. Well." Glancing out the window, he smiled a little sadly up at the sky. "Vanya, if you're up there, I hope you're still sailing, somehow. The sky instead of the sea, maybe." With that, he turned back to the shrine. "Thank you, Safrin, for your light." With that, he turned to head back down the stairs, leaving his gift behind.

Despite the lack of response, his steps were a little lighter than they had been on the way up. The storm had cleared in his mind a bit, and he felt better for having at least tried.

-FIN