A Delayed Return

Situ Xuan did not answer again. He lifted his head and looked at the stars filling the sky. There were so many stars in the night sky, packed densely across the entire vault of heaven, like countless diamonds scattered over black silk. That newborn star was among them too, its orange-yellow light especially striking amid the countless silvery-white stars.

He looked for a very long time. Long enough for the night wind to stop, long enough for the clouds to scatter, long enough for the first rooster crow to drift over from the distance. Vasha stood beside him, not urging him, not making a sound, only keeping him company in silence, her orange-red hair drifting softly in the night breeze.

"Take me away from here, Vasha."

His voice was very soft, so soft it seemed like a sigh forced out from deep in his throat.

"Okay~"

Vasha's voice was crisp and cheerful, the end of it lifting with a girl-like delight. Her hands waved lightly in front of her, her slender fingers tracing graceful arcs through the air. Starlight poured from her fingertips, orange-yellow and silvery-white, the two colors intertwining as they wrapped around them both.

Situ Xuan closed his eyes. He could feel the warmth of the starlight, feel space shifting, feel his body being drawn by the starlight from one place to another. At that moment, his mind stirred slightly as he tried to touch the starlight enveloping him.

The starlight answered him.

Those orange-yellow rays flowed past his fingertips, as if caressing the back of his hand, as if whispering to him, as if telling him that they knew him. Inside him, that Starlight Seed glowed faintly, resonating with the starlight outside and forming a complete cycle.

He could influence the starlight arts Vasha was casting.

His