“Can we take a rest?” said Bee.

“We’ve just been riding for forty minutes or something,” said Foxglove.

“I know. But I’m just tired. And my back kinda hurts.”

“Okay, old lady,” teased Foxglove. She jumped nimbly down from Sammy, their horse, and held out her hand to Bee.

“Ow,” said Bee as she climbed down. “I must have slept in some weird position or something.”

“You could try just magicking us there,” said Foxglove with a grin.

“You really want to take that risk, honey?”

“Definitely not,” said Foxglove emphatically. They laughed.

Sweetpea, their beardog, barked at them indignantly. She had been ecstatic when she saw her two people getting on their horse and calling her to come with. She was now even less amused than Foxglove about this rest stop.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Do you mind if I play with lights a bit?” asked Bee.

“Isn’t that just going to make you even more tired?”

“It helps me relax,” said Bee.

“Okay,” said Foxglove.

The two lay back on a grassy hillock and looked up at the blue sky. Sweetpea barked once more and went off exploring.

First Bee waved her hand in a circle, conjuring up a mist, turning it into a big, thick cloud. Then Bee closed her eyes and let the cloud turn black. The blackness became deeper and deeper until it seemed to suck light away from the surrounding environment.

Then… the stars came out. Bee studded her cloud with glimmering jewels of white, blue and red. It was an eerie experience to be stargazing in the middle of the day.

Slowly, she let the stars grow more and more numerous, until they were like the Milky Swirl. (This was the Kandran name for the Andromeda Galaxy, though viewed from the opposite side and much closer than as seen on Earth).

This Galaxy turned slowly, and tiny, tiny stars fell down upon Foxglove’s gaping face.

Then the view zoomed out, until the Milky Swirl was just one galaxy of many. As most of them slowly turned, one reached out with a pair of wings, and brought them down again. Slowly, slowly, a cosmic bird, all starlight and magic, flew, or perhaps swam, through the sea of pitch and milk. It met another bird… they merged in slow motion. The resulting galaxy glowed bright before fading and turning into another milky swirl.

Gradually, the galaxies grew pale and the cloud turned from pitch black, to regular black, to grey, to white, and dissolved. The blue sky, temporarily forgotten, reasserted itself – a little jarringly.

“That was amazing, Bee!” cried Foxglove. “You could do shows for people like this!”

“I think that’s what I want to do,” said Bee quietly.