"Okay, no. I absolutely do not understand why we are making a detour. I thought you wanted to show me Lórian, of which you spoke so highly?"

Herkyne the Thirty-third was wagging all four of her well articulated pointy ear cups in confusion. This 'cultural exchange' had been a strange exercise so far, with the humans apparently trying their best to impress her. She had seen videos of their home world Earth, visited the grand exchange station that dwarfed even the citadel, was shown around four different of their iron ships and now she was supposed to be brought to a colony that she was told was a garden world of lush vegetation and breathtaking landscape. These humans were just so strange, big and loud. She did not understand their mannerisms that were subtle sometimes and freakishly exaggerated on others. She did not understand their strange architecture where open spaces, brightness and absence of decoration were the 'nice areas'. And she did not understand why they were now taking a detour of tens of lightyears just to look at a dying star.

But the human captain, Mister Myoung, had gladly changed course for 'something special'. Human ambassador Rieckardson was meanwhile trying to explain why they were now traveling towards a sector without any life-giving planets, utilising the maximum speed that the exotic faster-than-light engine of their species' own design could output. As always, he was waving his big hands all over the place when he talked.

"The star Tiamoranis was closely watched for several cycles after it was first visited, shortly after we joined the galactic council. Back then we only knew the end of a stars lifecycle by observation from hundreds or thousands of lightyears away and purely theoretical simulations. And Tiamoranis' size and age made it a perfect candidate to go supernova soon. I think it is fairly well known how much resources were spent to create an outpost with an extensive sensory network in that system. Now the research station Tiamoranis Nazar reported the first indicators of a core collapse. There are massive amounts of data being collected as we speak. And we can make it there in time to actually see the flash happening."

She leaned further in the thick upholstery of the chair. It still did not make sense. Why was there be a need to actually be present? Before she could voice her thoughts, the ambassador had already noticed her confusion and frustration - reinforcing the stereotype of humans being exceptionally good at interpreting the body language of other sentients once again.

"Dear ambassador Herkyne, this is a special event. As far as I am aware, the Cantonezar have not observed a supernova this close either and we will gladly share anything we will learn from it. Let us see scientific advancement-"

The captain had put a hand on the shoulder of Rieckardson and looked at him in one of these ways that she could tell was telling books of unspoken words, but for her was meaningless. The latter quieted down after the interaction and went to sit down his bulky frame in one of the round chairs with the high back. Herkyne the thirty-third watched him curiously, but her attention was then taken by the captain when he used the room controls near the door to dim the overhead lights. How strange, they were probably not able to see as well anymore. Though it was a very pleasant half-darkness now in the windowless room.

"Dear ambassador", Myoung began, "Forgive me for taking the word. I want to tell you why we are traveling to a dying star. Why we want to be there to look at it with our own eyes. For that, I will tell you something about tradition and human nature. Do you want to hear it?"

He moved so slowly and spoke quietly, it was a nice change of pace to the busy ambassador. When he sat down opposite of her, he leaned heavily into the cushions as well, seemingly making himself comfortable.

"Please. Captain Myoung, I will listen."

"Many hundreds of thousands of cycles back in our history, before our ancestors had even become the species that you now see as humans, we feared the darkness greatly. The darkness was where we could not rely on our sight to warn us of predators. From the stealth of darkness these beasts struck, to kill and devour us and our families.

“Night-time was dangerous, a time to hide and cower in holes underground or fearfully clutching to branches in trees up high. A time we could not accomplish anything, because our eyes were unable to distinguish many details of the world in the absence of light. There was but one thing that could dispel darkness, and that was fire. A dangerous thing it was, unpredictably it popped up here and there, burning flesh with its heat if one came too close. Animals feared it and so did we.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“One day that changed. One day, some pre-human grasped a burning tree-branch and saw in it our salvation from the darkness, instead of chaotic danger. They fed the fire more branches, creating a glowing pit of light and warmth for their tribe to huddle around. And suddenly the nights had changed.

“They could see the glowing eyes of the predators hiding in the bushes, who still feared the fire and did not dare to get close. They could venture forth to hunt themselves. They could sit besides the warm light and socialize while crafting clothes and tools. Fire didn't mean danger anymore. It meant safety, protection and home."

She could visualize the scenes so clearly. The proto-humans she had seen pictures of - those small hairy bipedal beings, apparently blind as children - sitting besides the orange flames of a wood fire that warded off the darkness and the cold of the night.

Her own ancestors had no reason to hide in the dark, it was actually time of safety. She had eyes for the day and eyes for the night, and her ears would tell her of any movement in her surroundings. Adding to that, the fast predators that would hunt them during the brightness of day could not use their speed in the night. How strange it was to see the opposite view.

"Over many more cycles we had tamed the fire. Ancient humans would set alight dried plant fibre with the heat of friction, able to create fire anytime they wanted. And we used the heat to process previously inedible plants and roots or to preserve other foodstuffs for stockpiling. It also made water safe by boiling out lethal bacterial pathogens and parasites.

“So ingrained into our species it became, we would not go where we could not find fuel for it. We developed our culture around it and derived the basis of our modern technology from it. Early metal-working and steam power directly stemmed from the same wood fires our early ancestors had used to light up the night.

“Time went on and our technology improved, but the fire never left our homes. Wood burning heaters and even open fire pits you will find in a number of planetary habitats. You will hear many humans say how they prefer the heat of open fire to radiators powered by other means. I would say it is the dancing flame that actually captures our liking.

“You see, it is still tradition to light fires outside to just watch them burn. Fire pits in the wilderness, torches at festivities and bonfires of such ridiculous size, they take weeks and heavy machinery to be set up. They all speak to our most primitive instincts, to a part of us that developed after that pre-human had grasped the burning branch.

“And the height of our celebrations with watching the flames are fireworks. Even before humans had learned to use steam power, some had found that mixing certain combustibles and metal powders could produce flames of different and bright colours. Varying the ratios even produced compounds that burned so quickly, they exploded. These were the very first fireworks.

“Refining and improvements made them from small noisemakers into solid-state rockets that could be fired high into the air, where the explosive part then detonated into colorful light. They became a part of many types of festivities in modern times, though their use declined as other technologies took over that could produce a display of light in the skies without leaving debris or making an awful lot of noise. So, if we get the chance-"

Tonelessly Herkyne finished his sentence: "You want to see the fireworks."

The captain nodded, which she was told meant agreement. How curious to see fire as something actually worthwhile to observe. Though she had just learned quite a bit about human culture. Maybe she should tell them about the times of her ancestors and explain to them why she had preferred this smaller room to that big and open meeting room topside of the ship. Though Myoung seemed to have somehow understood a few things already.

A voice coming from the room's speakers interrupted the silence: "Captain, ambassadors, we are arriving at our destination."

The only indication that they had left the traveling dimension was when the virtual windows switched back on, showing them what was outside. Far off was the still tiny point of light that was Tiamoranis, and close by was the human research station. For a moment she wondered why the sensor network was around here instead of near the dying star, but then she noticed that the thousands of vessels around the station were spaceships.

The iron ships of more humans. All around the nearby space were more of them jumping in to see the supernova that was about to happen, apparently oblivious to the danger of the massive amounts of energy that would be released by it. She now understood how the other citadel species had called the humans everything from 'too adventurous' to 'utterly insane regarding their own safety'. And she also understood that she was about to take part in festivities where they would watch the grandest firework possible.