"Nova! Nova!" Someone yells, trying desperately to drag you from the veil of sleep. "Oh, come on... Nova!" The person shakes you. "Oh Blaze of L'oos, why are you like this?"

You suddenly bolt awake, a stinging pain coming from your cheek. You groan and rub at it as you look around.

It's dark. The glow of 3 of the 6 moons just barely illuminates the room. Probably Eirii, Kienaa, and Phentuu due to the coloring of the light, which had a bluish-reddish-golden color. Your eyes slowly adjust until things become visible again.

"Finally! By my left arm, Nova, you are so annoying." Melonaa, one of your friends, says as she stands over you, her multitude of brown-haired braids swinging as she rights her posture to avoid being right in your face. She places a hand behind her back as if hiding something. "Buuut, L'Neeri is coming home tonight!" she says excitedly, her tone shifting suddenly.

This gets your attention. You throw off your sheets and throw on something more presentable.

"Since when?!" you say as your head pops through the neck hole of your overshirt. "I haven't gotten his letter!"

She laughs. "I totally bet that he just wanted it to be a surprise, but as always, he's terrible at those. He is just so recognizable, and he is a Branded One." Her bubbly accent denotes her Northern Limbs origin. "He is on his way right now!" She claps her hands together gleefully. "I'll go get ready! We are all meeting him where he is supposed to land!" she adds before turning and running for the central door that leads to the staircase down the Shoot.

Standing at the windows of your bedroom, you stare out of the tall oval holes in the Titan Trees wood to the distant horizon of Xulaa, with nothing standing in the way of the view. The sky is clear enough to see all the stars and constellations, celestial travelers across a navy sky. Eirii and her sisters stand in formation in the night sky, casting their light on the endless sea of clouds and trees.

You turn and look back at your home.

You had been given this small apartment by your grandparents. It wasn't large but it held everything that you couldn't get from the communal living spaces. It is situated in the upper segment of the 861st Shoot in the Western Limbs, suspended over the infinite cloudy abyss below by the Titan Trees' glacial growth up and out towards the sun. The entire house was a quarter of the circumference of the entire shoot, with the outer wall being completely comprised of oval windows that let in the rising sun and the evening wind.

An excited thrum runs through your body as you remember what is happening. Your childhood friend is on his way home from his arduous journey as an ambassador to some distant Titan Tree! You run out the door and down the hollow tunnel that was the Shoot that your house was in, it suddenly opens up into crisp, open night air that your room could never quite catch. The Western Limbs open up before you, their absolute vastness seemed to generate gravity, holding you to the titanic branch that your feet were on.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

You run through the wooden streets that carved their way through the Limbs using tunnels, boardwalks, and bridges, guided by the light of the moons and only the barest inkling of where to go.

Your lungs started to complain as you spot a small, but restless congregation at an intersection of boardwalks. A perfect landing spot. You turn the corner, leaping over the gap and joining the budding crowd. Jumbled voices can be heard.

Pushing your way to the front of it, you catch fragments of conversation.

"-And why must he be arriving at this time of night?"

"Oh, please, L'Neeri is a Branded One! No need of those inhumane Aso'une'aawn carts-"

"-There hasn't been a Bridging in several lifetimes! Where did you get that-"

"Come on baby, you can go back to sleep in a little while..."

You slip through a couple, ending up right next to Melonaa. She doesn't notice you and instead continues to squint at the horizon.

Suddenly, her eyes widen and she points into the distance. "Ooh! Look! Here he comes!"

Everyone stops. All eyes turn to the moonlit horizon.

There.

An outline, something moving. Fast.

As the thing draws nearer at an alarming rate, you realize what it is.

It's a boy, falling sideways directly at the crowd.

"Everybody move! You're blocking his landing pad!" a gruff voice yells.

People immediately start moving. Scrambling to get out of the way. A semi-circle develops around the edge of the boardwalk. People shuffle and push to get a better look at what was happening.

L'Neeri comes in fast.

Falling through the air sideways as if he was flung by some giant catapult. His spiky white hair and brown and green clothes flap in the wind. He throws his arms and legs out, righting his tumbling "decent."

He and you make eye contact for a heartbeat.

He sails over everyone's heads, flailing his limbs in surprise. He falls past the boardwalk, and out over the expanse. Everyone freezes.

L'Neeri flails his arms around, awkwardly curving down and backward. His body turns over in the air, your eyes making contact again.

The boy falls back at the congregation, tumbling and rolling on the boardwalk. People jump and scramble away, trying not to be hit, before all rushing to help him. They quickly lift him onto his feet.

"Are you okay? What happened?" someone asks.

"I'm fine," L'Neeri says breathlessly. "One of my friends surprised me- oh hey Grandma," he says, hugging an elderly woman.

"Heyyy, L'Neeri!" Melonaa calls from the outside of the bubble of people that had formed around him.

"Oh! Hey, you two!" He responds, "Hold on, excuse me." He quickly says to a few people who are talking to him, before leaping up and out of the group as if he weighed nothing. He sails over everyone's heads, a leaf in the moonlight of the three visible moons. He lands smoothly in front of you.

Melonaa and you laugh and clap.

L'Neeri flourishes, bowing to the two of you.

"Wait, where is Poi'niuu and T'Ervaa?" He asks, both were two of your other friends.

"They don't know you're here yet, I don't think," you respond, glancing at Melonaa.

"I didn't wake them up. Besides, look at how late it is!" She supplies, waving a hand at the three moons, all of which made a perfect triangle in the sky. Almost as if awaiting orders from L'oos, the Goddess of the Sun, among other things.

L'Neeri chuckles. "They are not going to be happy that you left them out, though." He adds. "But anyway, I have been falling for several hours, so I am going to bed." He salutes, then jumps backward and falls away from you.

"See you tomorrow, I guess?" you say.

He waves, then falls away into the moonlit eastern limbs, leaving you and Melonaa alone in the night.

***