Descent
The lion opened his cerulean eyes to see a room lit in candlelight, and a young teenage girl kneeling in front of him. She had diamond blonde hair down to her shoulders, and she was dressed in ceremonial clothes of some sort. The embroidery was an intricate white on a navy blue tunic, a combination of colors he saw often in his home realm. His thoughts were interrupted when the girl held her hand out to him, palm up. Her head was dipped slightly, ice-colored eyes locked with his.
This was a gesture he was familiar with. He had been taught what to do next. As a response, he placed his muzzle gently on her hand.
She smiled and bowed her head. “Thank you for this honor. I am Melisende Orhan. What name may I call you by?”
He responded in her mind as he knew he could do, returning the bow of her head however he could by rubbing the side of his face on her hand. “You may call me Ischys.”
A mage wearing robes of a similar color combination broke the sacred silence after that and stepped into the candlelight. “The spirit animal is a white lion! Crown princess, may we know the great beast’s name?”
Ischys immediately sensed Melisende was tense, although he watched her stand up appearing perfectly composed as she moved her hand to his back.
“His name is Ischys.”
The white lion’s ears twitched; he could hear someone scribbling something. The smell of the candles was dimming his senses, but he could tell they were not alone in the room. It was made more obvious when a man and a woman approached Melisende, standing next to the astral mage. They wore the same tunics, simpler than Melisende’s. They were orange with white embroidery of a similar sort to hers, and each of them wore a crown on their heads. Ischys sensed his starbound’s tension rise further. He admired the way she managed not to let it show.
“We are so proud of you,” the man began, his crown denoting him as the king of this country. “The man who founded this kingdom had a lion as his spirit animal as well… I am sure our people will be overjoyed to hear of yours.”
“Thank you, father.”
“Now you just have to train him properly,” the woman continued, her own crown indicating she must have been the queen consort. “Our palace astrikomancer will stay with you until you have gotten this under control, alright sweetie?”
“… yes, mother.”
The mage bowed. “I will be happy to assist! This is the most magnificent starbond I have had the pleasure to direct the ceremony for.”
A younger girl ran up to them next, startling Ischys. How he had not sensed her, he had no idea, but she didn’t seem dangerous. She had long golden brown hair growing down to her waist, paired with baby blue eyes strikingly similar to Melisende’s. Her bright smile seemed to make the adults nearby settle, pastel purple dress swooshing after her. He also noticed an axolotl peering above the girl’s shoulder, held inside a water magic bubble. The two were talking with their hands joined together, until the younger one hugged Melisende and backed away a little once it’d been reciprocated for a few seconds, moving her hands in subtle yet very specific motions.
“He feels really strong, Mel!”
Melisende turned to him still bearing the fond smile this new person had caused. “Ischys, this is my cousin, Catherine.”
“And your fiance as well,” the king reminded from a few steps away. “Do not forget that, your wedding is only four years away.”
Ischys could sense his starbound barely resisting the urge to groan, and allowed Catherine to pet him. Her hands felt warm, buzzing with magic in a strange way he didn’t know human hands could. His enjoyment of these ministrations came to an end as soon as an armed, armored, dark-skinned teen came into view. Her coily hair’s buzz cut struck Ischys as unusual, since as far as he knew, the military of this kingdom did not have any hair length requirements, but he supposed even in the powerful sunlight of the desert, it wouldn’t hurt her scalp if she was keeping her hair like this.
“Sire, I’m afraid we require the princess’ presence elsewhere,” she said to the king, bowing quickly. “As her personal guard, I have been instructed to escort her.”
The king nodded. “Very well.”
This personal guard also made subtle movements with her hands in suspiciously specific ways to him. He was sure these meant something, although he had yet to fully grasp human language and ways of communication.
Once they were out of the room, the guard spoke again. “Phew, thank goodness Catherine orchestrated that whole thing. Those nobles would’ve eaten you alive!”
“Thanks for that one, seriously,” Melisende sighed. “Where am I needed?”
The soldier chuckled. “Nowhere, silly! Our lovely Rin will take care of everything. Let’s get you out of here, princess.”
“Hmph.”
While they continued to talk, Ischys assumed this person was safe, sensing a warm connection between the two similar to the one Melisende appeared to have with Catherine. He instead chose to take in his surroundings. They were walking down a large hall, with obscenely high ceilings and ostentatious tapestries strewn along the walls. As they walked, the ceilings grew lower and the decor less elaborate. He wasn’t sure what the main building material was, even after staring at the walls so much, but he was surprised by how white everything was. The egregious amount of rugs, tapestries, flowers and other colorful decorations was the only reason such an amount of white looked good.
Ischys snapped back into focus when he saw his starbound open a door. “Where are we?”
“My room,” Melisende answered, sounding a little anxious still. “I need to change clothes.”
The guard that had been following them set her hand on the pommel of her sword, fist over the white leather chest armor she wore. “My pleasure to escort you, princess. Say hi to your pretty maid for me.”
Melisende snorted and rolled her eyes. “As if you’re not gonna see each other again tonight.”
“Shh!” the guard shushed with a smile, just before she waved goodbye and walked off.
“That girl is from a noble family of knights, she’s been a friend of mine since we were put in the same classroom years ago,” the princess explained, motioning for Ischys to follow her into her room.
Melisende’s room was not at all the fancy giant room he’d been expecting. There was a tidy desk with a stack of books on the side, an oddly large bed, an entrance to a small balcony, and little else. He could also see two more doors which he assumed led to the bathroom and the dressing room. Ischys was not surprised to see her walk up to an older-looking teen in a maid’s outfit and hug her. Behind the older one was her spirit animal, a great hyena larger than Ischys himself was.
“Ohh, so you’re Mel’s spirit animal.”
“Yes… You are this young lady’s starbound, I assume?”
“Yup. I’m sure we’ll get along just fine,” the hyena said, grinning at him before vanishing back to the stars.
“How was it? I see you were assigned a lion.”
Melisende parted from her maid. “The ceremony itself? Terrible. Ischys seems chill, though.”
“Spirit animals do tend to match their starbound’s wavelength. Catherine got you out in the nick of time, you know.”
“I’m aware, she’s awesome. My change of clothes?”
The maid smiled and gestured to the bed. “Right over there, Your Highness.”
“Thank fuck.”
Ischys sat back and waited for her to change into something more comfortable. Once the princess donned her loose white shirt and pants, they were off.
“We prepared a spell to break your fall, don’t worry about it. I’ll just sit here and read, if you need anything,” the maid informed.
Melisende nodded and jumped out the window. Ischys was startled by such lack of hesitation, but jumped after her, making use of the water in the air to trot down with relative stability. She had indeed landed on a magically softened patch of grass.
“Are you alright, Melisende?”
“Yeah, no worries. I trust those three with my life! Just Mel is fine. Oh, and by the way, Ischys?”
“Yes?”
“I use she/her and they/them pronouns, both sets. I’m not entirely sure what I prefer just yet, but I thought you should know that.”
“I see. Thank you for telling me. Where are we going now?”
The princess jumped to her feet and beamed. “The gardens! Come on, let’s race!”
“What-”
He sprinted after them, baffled at their sudden suggestion. Overtaking her wasn’t as easy as he had expected it to be. Having no idea where they were really going, they both ran into the forest, ready to get lost in the shifting gardens the palace was renowned for. Soon enough, Melisende stopped, hands on her knees while she caught her breath.
“Whoa, you’re fast! Thanks for indulging me, I needed to get some energy out. I might as well take advantage of your presence for the day.”
Ischys tilted his head. “Are we not bound until death?”
“Yeah! It’s just… Not socially acceptable to have you with me except in very specific situations.”
The lion raised his paw and almost tilted his head further, utterly flabbergasted.
Melisende rubbed the back of her head. “Let’s… Lie down for a while. We can talk, I’ll tell you about it. I’m not sure they teach you stars about social norms or court manners up there.”
“I can hear flowing water nearby, that should be sufficient. You need hydration.”
They chuckled, but indulged him, following after their starbound. The pair soon reached a secluded creek, consumed by the wonder of where this water came from for a moment. It was a nice location, and the princess took a moment to kneel and drink a little as she’d been instructed to before sitting down on a rock. Ischys sat across from her, not minding the dirt that would never dare stain his celestial white fur.
“You see… You know how I’m a princess, heir to the throne and all that?”
“That seemed rather obvious within the first few minutes of my descent.”
“Heh. Figured. Spirit animals are not supposed to be called on except for battles or really important public events, when it comes to royalty and the nobility. Our subjects are free to do as they please, though,” Melisende began to fidget with their belt. “I… don’t like the way we view your kin. It seems too cold to me. Not even transactional, it just seems like we use you, like tools. I just wish I had the same freedom as my subjects.”
“I see. This realm is certainly a curious one. We watch you often, but there are so many things I don’t know about…”
They got an idea then. “How much magic have you seen? I’m pretty skilled with my affinity.”
His tail swayed at the mention of magic. “I have seen quite a few displays, and I wish to see more. Your affinity… I sense air magic in your blood.”
The princess smiled and air magic runes lit up along their skin, summoning wind into the creek. “I can do minor stuff like this, I dabble in weather magic, as well as sound magic.”
“Your potential tells me you can do more than this.”
Melisende seemed surprised for a moment. “I suppose…”
She reached her hand up and lifted a large rock with her magic, reached the other forward and made the creek’s water rise out of the bank and loop in the air before landing. After a minute of this, she let the water go, threw the rock high in the air and sent a blade of wind to slice through it. The two chunks of rock fell close by, making a lot more sound than she expected them to.
“Uh oh.”
Ischys strained his ears and was able to hear a group of guards looking for them. “I believe we have been located. Should we run?”
“Absolutely yes, I’m gonna drag this on until nighttime,” Melisende told him, pulling him to stand alongside her. “Let’s go, the gardens enjoy mischief so I’m sure they’ll help!”
After running around for hours, dusk passed, and they eventually returned to the palace. Melisende got scolded, even if according to her it was a ‘mild’ scolding. It was time to send Ischys back.
The astral mage that had assisted in his descent stood next to Melisende, instructing her on how to return him to the stars. He was aware he required his starbound’s blessing to return to the stars the first time he descended, so he simply sat and waited.
“I wish I could stay longer… I have only just begun to learn about this realm, it seems cruel to only call on me for battle or otherwise important occasions. I’m sure it’s not what Mel wants either…”
Ischys sensed the magic slowly releasing him into the stars. He did not wish to leave, but accepted the feeling. He was starting to understand what his elders meant when they said he would discover new emotions in this realm. When his body started to float and turn into astral magic, he closed his eyes. Then, all of a sudden, he crashed down to the floor.
“What? What happened?”
“I-I don’t know,” the princess stammered. “I did everything right, I followed your instructions to the letter. I’m sorry about that, Ischys.”
“I am unharmed, no need to worry,” he replied, wanting to smile at his starbound as he stood up.
Her sigh of relief was cut short by the frowning astrikomancer.
“Princess, please try again.”
The exact same thing happened a second time. Frustrated, the veteran mage took over the spell and tried to do it instead. It only resulted in a third failure.
“Mel, what is going on?” the king asked, striding into the room with a frown. “Why is your beast not with his kind?”
“Your Majesty,” the mage started. “The ritual failed. Neither the princess nor I can send him back. They’ve tried twice.”
“You mean to tell me my daughter has to show their face tomorrow with that by their side?” he asked, raising his voice more and more with each word.
Sensing an incoming argument and wishing to avoid the king’s fury, Melisende and Ischys only needed to exchange one quick glance to decide on a course of action: retreat.
Back in Melisende’s room, she was sitting on the floor next to him, fidgeting with his tail and fur this time. “Say… Would you like to be carried?
The lion raised an eyebrow. “You can lift me?”
“Sure as heck gonna try.”
To her credit, she tried with all her might. And she managed to lift him, with some strain. Ischys marveled at this, but quickly noticed her arms would give out soon and swapped their positions, slamming his front paws onto the floor to catch her on his back. He found her only slightly heavy.
“Whoa, this is so cool.”
They both laughed together.
“I think it’d be best if you were the one being lifted most of the time.”
“I’m still gonna try to lift you.”
“I am not a cat.”
“You elongate infinitely like one.”
Ischys hopped up, making the teen on his back think she was going to fall for a second before she touched down again. “Anything you’d like to do?”
Melisende’s eyes lit up immediately. “Chasing! Wrestling! I’ll soundproof the room, give me a second.”
The wavy magic runes of sound lit their way onto her skin for a few seconds as she focused on the spell. In the meantime, Ischys prepared for play. He and the other newborn stars were not allowed much fun within the confines of their home. They were bound by duty, and as such were expected to train from the moment they were born. If they were caught playing, they were punished, so he and a few others had agreed on disguising their games as training. Speed training, sparring. Anything to get some downtime.
Once they had exhausted all of their energy, they both crawled up onto Melisende’s bed. She offered him water before taking a sip herself, then kept panting. He was tired as well, this had been just a little more exercise than he was used to. He wasn’t used to being tired.
The human laughed. “I’ll have to apologize to my poor maid for the mess.”
Ischys raised his head from where he was lying on his side and looked around, realizing the whole room was a wreck. Furniture had been pushed around, there were some claw marks on the floor…
“… apologies.”
“Nah, no need. We were having fun! That was sorta the whole point.”
“Your maid is the older human we found in your room earlier?”
“Yup. I like her. I shouldn’t, but I have a couple of helping hands when it comes to keeping it under wraps.”
This was confusing to Ischys. “Are you not allowed to love whoever your heart tells you is right for you? Does… Does it have something to do with Lady Catherine being your fiance?”
“Eh, it’s less about the monogamy and more about the fact that she’s a maid. Human societies all have class systems, rigid or not. You know about that, right?”
“I do, I just don’t understand.”
Melisende sighed, eyebrows knitted together. “Neither do I.”
After a few seconds of silence, they spoke up again to change the topic.
“Now that I think about it, your claws did do some property damage.”
He caught their teasing tone instantly and huffed. “At least my claws are more useful than a human’s flimsy hands.”
“Oh yeah?”
Melisende leaned over to grab a case and took out an object Ischys had seen a lot but never known the purpose of. He didn’t know how to describe it other than ‘a hollow, flat chunk of wood with a long fretted neck and six strings’ even if he was told it was named ‘guitar’. He theorized this contraption was meant to perhaps clean humans’ fragile nails.
“I actually started learning how to play guitar because of an inside joke about how Catherine usually plays the entire court like a fiddle. I won the bet we made after that joke, so I got guitar.”
Before he could speak, she played the first note. His ears repositioned to listen better. It sounded like a complex melody. The lion had never in his lifetime heard a sound so pleasing.
“This… Must be what the elders call ‘music’.”
Carefully, he placed his head on the leg his starbound wasn’t resting the guitar on. Without realizing, he started to purr. Melisende smiled, but said nothing about it and continued playing until the end of the song. Then, she started petting his neck.
“I can also play the flute and piano,” the princess teased, with a smirk. “Hands are not so useless now, are they?”
Ischys’ tail perked up. “May I hear a demonstration? Please?”
This sudden plea made her laugh a little. “Sure. By the way, I wanna give you a nickname, so think of something you like.”
“Alright… That will be the price I pay to hear more of this ‘music’.”
By the time they fell asleep, it was far later than Melisende’s parents would ever allow.
The next morning, they woke together, at the exact same time. Those linked by a starbond tended to do that sort of thing. However, contrary to what Ischys may have expected, Melisende leapt onto her feet, stressed beyond compare.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, shaking the sleep off his body with ease.
They were pacing around the room, nervous. “I need to move, I need to move, but I can’t, someone will be at my door in minutes to get me dressed for all the important stuff I was supposed to do today, if it hasn’t been postponed because of you that is, which I have no way of knowing-”
Seeing this, the lion walked up to her and gently stopped her pacing by standing in her way and bumping his head on her chest. He nuzzled her until he felt her heartbeat slow down a little.
“… is there anywhere you’d like to go?”
“They’d look for me in the gardens. My best bet is… the kitchen.”
“Alright. We’ll hide there, if that is what you want.”
“Yeah… At least for a little bit. The cooks won’t tattle.”
The palace had two main chefs, no need for any more. The chefs had been married since their youth, a pudgy man with no hair and a very tall muscular older man who had changed careers from soldier to cook. They welcomed Melisende into the kitchen as if she was a puppy in a thunderstorm. Ischys wondered if it had something to do with his starbound’s teary eyes.
As he had no hands, he stayed back and watched as the shorter man allowed Melisende to help him make some desserts, until the taller one approached him and asked if he wanted to help. Never had carrying ingredients to and fro been so much fun. Then again, he’d never done that before.
By the time Ischys noticed the princess was absent from the main area, he found her sitting in the corner of the room with two bowls. One was full of strawberries, and the other was half full of their seeds. Inside a third bowl slightly further away were two or three completely seedless strawberries. He approached Melisende to make sure his eyes did not deceive him, and gawked when he saw she was indeed separating each and every seed from the fruits.
“Mel… I am in awe. This level of perseverance is impressive.”
Immediately, he noticed his thoughts seemed to be bumping against some kind of magical wall before they reached his starbound’s inner ear, tilted his head, and wondered whether he should break their focus or not. They appeared to be almost in a trance. When he sniffed the air for clarity, he realized there was sound magic on her ears. Some thinking later, he decided to snap her out of the trance by bringing his head into her field of vision. That action alone immediately interrupted her.
It took Melisende a little bit of blinking to refocus, as if really actually woken from a trance. “Oh. Were you calling for me, Chii?”
Ischys hummed and sat, smiling slightly at the usage of his new nickname. “Yes, I was praising your determination. But I noticed there is permanent sound magic on your ears, it was stronger before than it is now.”
“Ah, that. It was very difficult to make this magic permanent, Catherine did it for me. It took us many years to perfect. I’m sensitive to noise, the world was just too loud. We wanted to figure out a way to lower the volume, so to speak. This is just the result of that. When I’m super concentrated, the power ramps up for some reason, and I can’t really hear anything or anyone. It’s… malfunctioned, before. Did you see our special sign language?”
“The way you were moving your hands yesterday did not look like any existing sign language to me, if that is what you’re referring to.”
“We made one up. It was originally meant for when I got overstimulated or extra sensitive, but we’ve found many additional uses for it.”
Melisende seemed happy every time she talked about those close to her, so Ischys prepared to ask further. Then, the doors of the kitchen slammed open and a squadron of royal guards pooled in, led by a man similar to Melisende in looks. The princess tensed up immediately, her muscles rigid like steel.
“Who is that?”
“One of my half siblings… He’s the captain. I-I don’t-”
The armored man strutted towards his sister and the lion with a scowl on his face. “Mel, where the fuck were you? Father is looking for you.”
Ischys stood in front of his starbound and bared his teeth, letting out a low growl. “I won’t let him harm you. I promise.”
For the first time in their life, Melisende hid behind someone, although they summoned their soul weapon and pointed the gladius at their half brother, trying desperately not to let their voice waver. “What could father possibly want? We cannot proceed with today’s event for as long as Ischys remains in this realm.”
“Get that animal out of my face. As it turns out, despite her insisting otherwise… Your fiance has the latent power and the knowledge to send this beast here back to the stars where he belongs. We can only call our spirit animals down when it is socially acceptable, Mel,” he chided.
Melisende did not take well to this information, getting in front of Ischys this time. “What did you do to Catherine?”
The captain rolled his eyes. “She’s fine, relax. Uncle would kill me if I let my guards touch a hair on his kid’s head. We only cuffed her. The astrikomancer in charge of your ceremony will be using the spell we made Catherine cough up plus her power to send your lion back where he came from. The Sidereal should take care of whatever is wrong with him then. And you better lower that weapon, little sister. Wouldn’t want the crown princess who bears the sin of Wrath to be found threatening her own flesh and blood like this.”
She grit her teeth, but lowered her gladius and dismissed it, hands shaking. Ischys could see the demonic energy emanating from her back, and a red glow through her shirt. He would’ve normally sensed danger, but Melisende was making that energy recede through breathing exercises.
That captain the lion was learning to despise in a matter of minutes smile. “Good. Now follow me, we need you and the beast in the room for it to work.”
Melisende and Ischys were escorted to the ritual room by a completely unnecessary amount of royal guards. Ischys recognized it as the same place where he had descended. Melisende, for her part, was focusing her attention on her cousin. Catherine was being made to sit with her wrists and ankles cuffed to the chair.
“Hey Mel,” she greeted, her smile apologetic. “I’m sorry.”
Trembling with barely contained fury, the crown princess tried to control her breathing, aware her irises had flickered between their usual ice blue and the burning red of the Wrath Clan just by the expressions everyone else wore. Almost every major noble had gathered in the small room, joined by the king and queen.
“… don’t be. I know your magic has no offensive use. And I know you’ve done your best.”
“Now, princess,” the astrikomancer spoke, coming up from behind the chair they’d sat Catherine down on. “Your cooperation is required for this ritual to work, so please, stand over there.”
“Give me a moment.”
Melisende turned to face Ischys and wrapped their arms around him.
“I’ll miss you, Chii.”
“…”
They hurried to the spots the astral mage had instructed them to stand on. Said mage reached out to set his hand on Catherine’s outstretched palm… and winced.
“What-”
He tried again, but found himself screaming in agony. Catherine giggled under her breath.
“Stop that! Whatever it is you’re doing-”
“Catherine,” the king spoke. “Are you interfering with the ritual?”
“Dear uncle, there is no ritual,” she politely responded. “It seems the mage you hired can’t access my magic.”
The astrikomancer growled and tried a third time to take her hand, his whole body stiffening for a moment when he did. He then fell on his face, immobile. Everyone stared at him.
“… is he…?” Melisende asked her cousin.
Catherine understood the question. “He is not dead. He will be fine in a few hours.”
One of the dukes took a step forward. “Well, I suppose if this means the princess cannot send that beast back, we should reconsider the subject of matrimony. Somebody else would be far better suited to be the next ruler.”
The queen nodded gravely. “I will talk to Catherine’s parents about marrying her to your eldest son, then. He’s only 41, right?”
“Yes, he recently lost his seventh wife… He is quite unlucky with women, but I’ve heard young Catherine is very healthy.”
Upon being faced with the very real threat of being married off unhappily for the rest of their lives, Melisende made a choice for both of them.
“Rin… Please, do as they ask.”
Catherine looked her cousin in the eye, held her gaze for a minute, then nodded. The cuffs restraining her bent in on themselves and she stood up from the chair, startling the nobility.
“Dearest aunt, there is no need to be so hasty. I was only playing. I will conduct the ceremony myself.”
“Are you sure?” the king asked. “We all known of your unmatched magical ability, but astral magic is…”
Before he could finish speaking, Catherine spread out her hands and summoned magic circles of astral magic beneath both Melisende and Ischys.
“I will take care of this. Please, stand back.”
The ceremony barely lasted half a minute. This time, it worked. Ischys left the realm smoothly, almost as if recalled by the stars themselves.
“I miss him already…” Melisende thought to themself, her father’s hand squeezing her shoulder a little too tightly as they walked.
Catherine, for her part, was being berated by her mother, although her perfect poker face never broke.
“Do you know how much work it’s going to take me to make up for what you’ve done?”
“Yes, mother…”
“We’ve lost favor and credibility with every single noble family, Catherine. This will not go away with a couple of tea parties. You better watch your behavior from now on.”
“Of course, mother. My deepest apologies. I will never do something like that again.”
“Translation: I’m going to go batshit the moment you look away,” Melisende guessed, sending her cousin a supportive smile before their parents took them on different paths.
“What was that all about?”
Melisende almost gasped, raising her head to look at her second father. The king consort had intercepted the king and the queen consort, probably seeing the distress in their child’s features. This man was famously far taller than anyone else in the palace; very large, and very strong, skilled in earth magic. His brown eyes twinkled with curiosity behind his glasses.
“Our husband and I were taking care of the issue with Mel’s spirit animal, that’s all,” the queen consort explained. “Can you take her? She needs a good lecture, but I don’t have the time for that at the moment.”
“Unfortunately, I am as busy as my wife is today,” the king complemented.
The third royal brushed his long black hair back and smiled. “Of course. I’ll be happy to help.”
This seemed to be enough for the other two adults, the queen thanking him before she left and the king giving him a quick peck as he hurried off. The king consort looked down at Melisende and offered his hand, smiling warmly.
“Come on. We can talk about this over tea in the greenhouse.”
“Yeah… Can I braid your hair too?”
He chuckled. “Yes, anytime. Let’s go, then. Unless you want me to have you sit on my shoulders.”
“I’m not a kid!”
From above in the stars, Ischys was watching, relishing his new ability to hear sounds around his starbound from his abode. He let out a sigh of relief, trusting by her reactions she would be safe.
The Sidereal’s million voices spoke from behind him in the vast expanse of midnight blue, littered with white pinpricks of light.
“Are you satisfied now, child?”
“Yes… Thank you for waiting.”
“It is only natural to be worried about one’s starbound. ’Tis the nature of a starbond, Fate willed it so. Come now, let us have a look at you.”
Ischys stole one last glance at Melisende, then trailed after the enormous white flaming comet the Sidereal tended to manifest as.
“I hope we see each other again soon, Mel… This realm is silent, I never noticed that before… I miss you. I miss your voice, our games, your hands playing with my fur, your weight on my back, and that thing you humans call music. I want to see you again…”
