When Nira woke up, it took her a few seconds to remember where she was. She couldn't remember falling asleep, but except for being a little disoriented, she felt good. More rested than in what felt like ages. She yawned and sat up, looking at the alarm clock on her bedside table.

It was a little past midnight, which wasn't that strange to her. She was a light sleeper and rarely slept for long, anyway. Though she had no idea what woke her up this time. For once the temperature was comfortable, and Nef wasn't snoring.

Nef...wasn't snoring.

She turned around to look at him and froze for a second. He wasn't there.

With a frown, she got up and walked to the room that was both a living room and a kitchen, but he wasn't there either. Was he not in the apartment?

What if something had happened to him? Nira highly doubted he'd just go out by himself, so this probably had something to do with whatever had been going on with Alor before, though the details of that were blurry at best. She knew Alor was responsible most of the time, and he definitely wouldn't do something to hurt his younger brother, but she couldn't shake the bad feeling off. Dammit, why had she fallen asleep? Maybe she could have found something out if she hadn't.

Nira shook her head. That kind of thinking wasn't helpful. She needed to call Nef.

She started searching for her phone, spotting it on the table a few seconds later. She immediately grabbed it and dialed Nef's number, but a few seconds later, his ringtone started blaring from the couch. Disappointed, she let the phone ring until she found it. Nef had apparently left it on the couch, underneath a throw pillow.

With a sigh, Nira hung up and brought Nef's phone with her to the table. She stared at her own for a moment as she gathered her thoughts.

So, Nef was out, and he hadn't brought his phone. Given that Nef brought his phone everywhere with him, that wasn't a good sign.

Nira wished she could talk to him, just to make sure Nef was okay, but since she couldn't do that, she decided to make herself coffee to wake up a bit more instead of freaking out. She had no idea where he was, and she had no way of finding that out, so all she could do was wait for him to return.

Maybe she could try calling Alor? Except she didn't have his number. And while Nef did, she couldn't remember the passcode to his phone.

Nira tried to remember what she had heard Alor tell Nef. Something about Alor and someone else needing Nef's help. But what could Nef help them with? He was good with computers, but that didn't get her closer to an answer. If only she hadn't fallen asleep and missed everything, but at least her headache was gone now.

She was brought out of her pondering by the sound of the door opening and closing with a soft click, and suddenly she was looking at her boyfriend who stared back with surprise and badly masked guilt. A sense of relief filled her as soon as she saw him, but the feeling quickly dissipated because of the face he was making.

"Uh, hi?" he said when he got over his shock but didn't go any closer. "You're...awake."

Nira narrowed her eyes at him. "I just woke up. Where were you?"

Nef stayed silent for a little too long, looking at Nira with a look of controlled panic. "Um, a-after Al left, I realized I haven't been outside in like three days, so I went out for a walk."

She didn't need to be good at reading people to know that was a lie, but as much as she didn't want to let this go, she knew Nef wouldn't lie to her unless he absolutely had to. So, instead of calling him out on it, maybe if she pretended to believe him, he would let down his guard, and she would be able to get him to tell her what was going on gradually. She didn't like the idea of having to do this, but she couldn't shake the feeling that whatever was going on, it was bad news.

"You didn't take your phone with you." Nira picked the phone up and showed it to him.

Nef blinked and patted his pockets as if the fact that Nira was holding the phone wasn't evidence enough. Nira almost started laughing at that, despite the tense atmosphere. It was such a typical Nef reaction. At least something was right with the world, still.

Nef looked a little annoyed at Nira's barely hidden amusement, but she knew he didn't mean it. He did still seem a little nervous, though. "Huh, didn't realize I forgot to bring it with me. You called me?" Nira nodded, and he gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

"It's fine," she said and sighed softly when she saw Nef relax. He didn't seem to think Nira was suspicious of him at all anymore. "You can go to bed if you want. I don't feel like sleeping anymore, but you don't have to stay up with me."

"Nah," Nef said after a second of consideration, waving his hand. "I don't think I'd fall asleep if I tried. Let's go out."

"You were outside a minute ago," Nira deadpanned, and he shrugged.

"Yeah, so I know that the weather's great. You could grab your telescope, and we can check out the galaxy. We haven't done that in a while." His grin was so infectious that Nira couldn't resist it. She sighed and smiled at him fondly.

That actually sounded really nice. Watching the universe always made her problems seem tiny and unimportant, which was probably what she needed right now. Maybe it would help her not worry so much about yesterday's incident, especially if it turned out to be nothing that important. She was probably just being paranoid, anyway.

"All right," she said, laughing when Nef beamed at her. He looked so genuinely happy that Nira almost forgot about her questions. They were still lurking in the back of her mind, though. There was no way she could stop thinking about this.

"Awesome, let me just grab a beer," he said and went to the fridge while Nira shook her head at him.

"I'm starting to think you have a drinking problem," Nira commented, as she went to the bedroom to get the telescope. She wasn't sure when she'd used it last—it must have been a while because it now had a small layer of dust on it.

She'd been so busy studying that she hadn't had the time to look at the thing her studies were about. It was a weird problem, especially since there was no school right now.

"It's not a drinking problem," Nef defended himself from the other room. "Besides, have you ever tried stargazing while a tiny bit drunk? It's so much better." Nira grinned and went back to Nef, who was tidying up the fridge a little, grabbing both of their phones as she went.

"Alcohol kills brain cells," she joked, folding her arms in an overly dramatic way.

She expected him to say one of his fun facts he always had to prove his point, but that wasn't what Nira got. Instead, Nef just reached into the fridge without bothering to look back at her and produced a clear glass bottle with orange liquid inside, which he then handed to her.

"Want some cider?" he asked smugly, and Nira rolled her eyes, taking the bottle and reading the label. It was her favorite flavor. Of course, it was.

"Fine, you win this one," Nira begrudgingly admitted, and handed him his phone after he'd finally closed the fridge. He kissed her, winked, and strolled towards the door. Nira followed, and he opened it, letting her step out first. She shook her head but smiled and waited for him to lock the apartment.

"As a gentleman, I should carry that for you," he said and Nira narrowed her eyes at him, keeping the telescope out of his reach.

"You're no gentleman. You're a southerner," Nira replied, and he let out a gasp.

"Offensive. Also, there are southern gentlemen," he said and stuck his tongue out at her.

"And you're not one of them," Nira told him and kissed his cheek. Instead of having a comeback Nef just nudged her as they walked to the car, laughing. Nira looked briefly up at the black featureless sky and tried to imagine where the visible part of the galaxy was going to be once they got far enough from the city.

Once they got in the car, Nef looked over at Nira.

"So, where d'you wanna go?" he asked. Nira thought for a moment before she decided.

"The beach," she replied, and Nef turned his head to look at her.

"Any beach?"

Nira nodded and Nef shrugged, telling the car where to go. Since Enbrant was situated just a few minutes away from the coast they got there quickly, but the problem was that many people lived there, so the light pollution still made it impossible to see anything. The car was just about to land when Nef told it to stop, making it hover in the air.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Nira frowned at the sea under them and then shot Nef a questioning look. "What are you doing?"

"Let's go to an island. It'll be easier," he explained with a lopsided smile, and Nira shrugged. A beach was a beach. Besides, an empty island sounded a lot more private than the easily accessible Enorian coast, and it made the chances of running into someone even slimmer.

Nira wasn't exactly a people person—she enjoyed peace and quiet, while Nef could hardly go ten minutes without talking. She wouldn't call him a people person either though. He was sometimes a bit rude and didn't seem bothered at all by the fact that he had no close friends.

When Nira had asked he had laughed and said that there would always be people on the internet who had to listen to him and his problems, so what would he need friends for? She would have felt bad for him if he hadn't said it so honestly.

Nira herself hadn't made friends at school either, but most of them were rich arrogant snobs, so she was probably better off. If she talked to someone, it was because she or they needed lecture notes.

Hopefully, when she got a job, she'd meet someone she could hang out with, but she wouldn't be too torn up about it if she didn't. It was a bit scary that just a year from now she would be hunting for a job, and hopefully in the field of astronomy. It would be a real waste of time if, after four years of studying, she had to find a job that had nothing to do with those studies, but she was prepared for that development also.

"How about this one?" Nef asked, making her focus on him again, as he pointed at a small piece of land that was slowly getting bigger as they got nearer. It was too dark to see it properly, but even with the bad visibility, it looked like a typical tropical island with white pristine sand. In other words, it looked perfect.

"Sure," she replied, smiling at him. He smiled back before telling the car's computer to land.

The computer protested a little, which made Nira concerned that they would damage the car somehow, but thankfully, after landing, nothing seemed to have happened to it. It was also far enough from the sea, so there wasn't a chance the tide would damage the engines, no matter how improbable that was, anyway.

They jumped out, Nira carrying the telescope and cider, while Nef took out his beer from the cup holder and locked the car without apparently realizing how pointless that was on an empty island.

The island truly was tiny, which was probably a good thing because like this Nira wouldn't feel the need to look at the cluster of trees behind them every five minutes, expecting a wild animal to attack them.

As they settled down on the sand, Nira realized they really should have brought a towel, but it was too late to do anything about that.

As Nira started adjusting the telescope, Nef opened the bottles with a bottle opener attached to his keys. Nira barely raised her eyebrow at it. She hadn't noticed Nef had that particular keychain, but it didn't surprise her. She just took the cider when he handed it to her and drank a little, savoring the crisp taste.

"So what's so great about watching the night sky drunk?" Nira asked as she looked into the telescope. The belt of the galaxy was just as beautiful and breathtaking as ever. The white shining center was surrounded by dark purple that turned into dark blue, and then light blue around the edges with yellow and red mixed towards the horizon, billions of stars dotting the rest of the bluish-black sky.

"Well, the beer makes it kinda blur together a bit, and I think it looks better like that. Like a painting or something," Nef replied as he lay down, unconcerned about all the sand he would have to get out of his hair later.

"Can't you just take off your glasses?" Nira asked with a frown, and he chuckled.

"Alcohol makes this enjoyable, removing my glasses does not."

Nira shot him a disapproving look, and he winked back, taking a swig from his bottle.

"Don't even try to pretend you don't like it," she told him, and he sighed dramatically.

"Fine, it's very pretty."

Nira smirked and shook her head before looking up to take in the whole view. It was too bad she could never see the entire galaxy outside of photos, but there wasn't much she could do about that. Nevertheless, even just a part of it was amazing.

She had picked a beach as the destination because she had remembered something. It was on a beach that she had figured out she wanted to study the stars all those years ago when she had been twelve years old.

The sound of hooves beating the rocky ground filled the air as Nira and her father rode their horses side by side toward the sea. They weren't going too fast or too slow, just the ideal speed to not tire the horses out too much and to be able to talk to each other.

"Is something wrong?" her father asked, no doubt noticing the frown Nira was wearing. She had been laughing just a moment ago, so it was probably hard not to notice.

"I'm just a bit cold," she replied, before quickly adding: "But it's fine. I don't want to leave yet."

Her father nodded and started going through his pockets until he pulled out a pair of wool gloves. Nira didn't know why he had them, but she sure was glad. She and her father had been here for longer than they'd planned, so she hadn't brought gloves, just a hat.

"Your mother and I used to go here quite often when we were younger," her father said out of nowhere, petting his horse as Nira put on the gloves. "She loves riding horses. Or at least she used to."

"Really? I didn't know that," Nira said, her expression changing into one of curiosity, and her father grinned at her.

"Oh, yes, every time we went your grandmother said I'd break my neck," he replied and chuckled.

"Really?" Nira asked with a smirk. "So parents aren't always right, huh?"

"They are. It's the grandparents who are wrong," he said, and Nira frowned at him in confusion.

"But Grandma's your mother," she said, but her father was already too far away to hear her. Or perhaps he just pretended not to hear her.

Nira glared after him for a second before shaking her head, making her long, blue, curly hair fly, and doing her best to catch up to her father. He had stopped at the end of a cliff and was looking down. Nira didn't know what he was looking at, but when she saw it too she gasped.

Right under them was the sea, seemingly unending and almost black in the early evening, but it was much more beautiful than she had ever imagined.

It also surprised her a lot. She hadn't realized they had gone so far from the city.

"That's nothing like the pictures," she said, and her father smiled at her.

"When I realized you've never seen it, I knew I had to take you here. I still can't believe I hadn't thought of this sooner. We live close to the sea, after all," he said, sounding apologetic. Nira barely heard it though, as she kept her eyes on the rolling waves below her. "You know, if memory serves, there's a path down here somewhere...."

Nira's eyes shot up as soon as she heard, and she gave her father a shocked but also excited look. "You mean we could go down there? To the beach?"

"'Beach' is a strong word," he muttered, and then continued more loudly, "but yes, definitely."

"But it's almost 7 o'clock," Nira said, checking her watch. "Do we have time for that?"

"Well, look at you being responsible," he said proudly, and Nira smiled in response. "Don't worry about anything. I'm completely responsible for you, so if something happens, it's my fault." Nira started laughing again, and although he joined in, it was not as enthusiastic. But Nira barely noticed.

It didn't take her long to find a path, though she waited for her father to confirm it was indeed the one they were looking for. After he did, he went down first just in case it was dangerous. It was quite steep, uneven, and partially covered up by tree branches, but the terrain was still much less challenging for the horses than it would have been for Nira and her father if they had gone on foot.

A few minutes later they reached the end of the path and found themselves on the rocky, grey beach that would have normally looked depressing, but to Nira it was too amazing to think like that. They got off their horses and started strolling along the ocean.

Unfortunately, as soon as she looked at the ocean she started thinking about what was on the other side. Realistically, she knew there was a much nicer beach with a warm climate, but it wasn't really about that at all. She knew what the entire world looked like, but she had only seen it through photos, and Nira wanted more than that. She wanted to go to the other continents and see everything they offered, but that would happen only over her mother's dead body.

"What's the matter?" her father asked, and Nira blinked quickly before looking up at him with the most authentic smile she could muster.

"Nothing, it's nothing," she said, but he still looked skeptical. "Thanks for bringing me here." She hugged him, and he immediately did the same.

"Of course. Anything for you, sweetheart," he replied, and they let go after a few more seconds. Nira smiled but still sighed inwardly. Unfortunately, her father didn't have the power to give her what she really wanted, and he never would.

"There's one more upside to being here at this time of day," he said and pointed to the sky. Nira wanted to ask what the other upside was, but she looked up first and then couldn't find words. She had been so focused on the ocean that she hadn't noticed the sky at all, but now that she'd seen it she couldn't look away.

Just above their heads, millions of stars illuminated the dark sky, but they were dim compared to the visible part of their galaxy stretching as far as Nira could see. Much like the ocean, she had seen pictures of it before, but she had never really paid close attention to the stars or the universe in general.

"Too bad we can't see it in the city because of the light pollution," her father said, but Nira didn't take the words in. All she could take in was the amazing sight above her.

Nira smiled at the memory as she stared up at the same stars that'd gotten her so interested in astronomy. Even though the sky always looked the same, she never got bored of it. Not once had she thought that she should try studying something else, no matter what her mother had said.

Since Nira had had her 'career' planned out already, her mother hadn't allowed her to study anything not related to it because there hadn't been a point to it according to her. Nira's smile disappeared as she remembered everything her father had to do to keep Nira's studies a secret.

Nira had been wrong. It was only because of him that she was here now, fulfilling her dream and completely changing her planned destiny. Nira still wasn't quite sure how her dad had managed to get her abroad, but she was incredibly grateful. Enoria might not be perfect but it was infinitely better.

She missed her father a lot, but the chances of seeing him were ridiculously low with a cold war going on. Maybe sometime in the future, she'd get her wish, but right now she just hoped that her mother hadn't found out it was her father who helped her leave. Nira wasn't sure what her mother would do if she knew. She wasn't sure she wanted to find out, either.

Nira's gaze focused on Nef who had apparently fallen asleep. She wondered just how long she had been sitting here just thinking and reminiscing about her childhood. She frowned at him with both worry and suspicion.

Where had he been earlier tonight? What had Alor wanted from him? What could be such a big secret that Nira couldn't know?

She quickly looked away to stop herself from thinking about this further. All these questions were going to drive her insane. With no answers, she wouldn't get anywhere, so in the meantime, she should focus on school. The summer break would be over in a few days, and she'd wanted to go through her notes from last year before it ended. Hopefully, that would distract her until she managed to get some info out of Nef.

She looked at her telescope and shrugged. She couldn't leave without Nef, and they had come here so she could watch the stars. Maybe she could do justthat for a bit, if only to let Nef sleep for a while longer. He clearly needed it.