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Somewhere far, far away in the depths of the primordial world, where galaxies didn’t intersect with each other, and drifting comets left their mark only for a moment, there lived a lone Star.
Like all the stars, it was destined for someone and only silent observation helped it to brighten up its loneliness. It didn't even have anyone to talk to. Other stars were far away, and showed no interest in it.
It's been dreary all these hundreds of years. Until one day the same lone star turned out to be very close. It was quite modest and not particularly sociable, but it was comfortable even to be silent with. The years of being together turned into an unforgettable time for both of them.
✦✧
Star. Hello!
Neighbor. Greetings! How is your protégé doing?
Star. Thank you, good. Here, look. Traveling again. What about yours?
Neighbor. Mine has found a job and has been quite busy lately. He should get some rest. Relax... Oh, my stellar core hurts, it hurts for him. I'll bet he'll ruin himself one day.
Star. I can’t help you, dear friend. If he met my protégé, perhaps she would have taught him free life. But there are too many people and not everyone can meet, mon cher.
Neighbour. You're right, dear. We just have to watch and hope for the best for our wards.
✦✧
Star. Don't you think it doesn't happen often, cher ami?
Neighbour. You're right, as always. I can honestly say, my dear, I, like you do, am pleasantly surprised by the acquaintance of our wards. However, I am happy at the same time. Your protégé has an interesting personality. Maybe she can make him stop for a little and return at least a drop of starlight to his eyes. I dare not pray about it, but let this meeting not become a a passing one that they will forget the next day…
Star. I completely agree with you. Perhaps not the anchor that fixes the ships in the pier, but maybe the tail of a kite that caught on a tree just for a moment before the next breath of wind. Let him help her to suspend her wandering life and look around. After all, there is no evil in a small respite in a long journey. I really hope that they can become the same friends as you are for me!
✦✧
Star. I take back my words!
Neighbor. But...
Star. He threw a whale at her.
Neighbor. …
Star. Twice!
Neighbor. The second one doesn't count, I guess...
Star. The fact that she dodged means absolutely nothing. The crime is committed and noted by moonlight. Ahem... twice... If she has sanity, she won't even look in direction of Your ward. Ne-ver!
Neighbor. …
✦✧
Star. [sighs] Well, I think she still has no prudence...
✦✧
Star. And yet she does not find a place. Poor fellow… Um... Mon cher, tell me, is everything all right with your ward? As he disappeared behind that door, he never comes out. And my protégé doesn't sleep at all these days. I'm worried about her somehow... She's been taking care of him too much lately. It harms both beauty and health.
Neighbor. If I had the ability to bring him back from there, I would certainly do so, for the sake of our peace of mind. But I assure you, my dear, nothing bad has happened to him. Send a soothing glow to your ward, so that no heavy thoughts and sad thoughts visit her in such a difficult time. Shine, my dear! Dim light does not suit such a beautiful star as you. Even though I have no power over your protégé by Universal Ruls, even if it is only the faded light of a distant nameless star like Me, I will try to illuminate the firmament. And if she notices it, let her know that everything is fine with her friend. Let a smile touch her face and let it be with her that she will meet his return.
✦✧
In a galaxy far, far away with hundreds of planets filled with ordinary life, there lived one lonely girl. Surrounded by many different people, she certainly shouldn't have felt out of place. The acquaintances, the friends were only temporary companions for her on a journey of a lifetime.
Too soon she realized one thing: “the saddest loneliness happens only in a crowd”. The more acquaintances she made, the more she became aware of her emptiness. There was no one to join, no one to turn to even for elementary help. She was said to be cordial and amiable, yet she was not a sociable person. When everyone was laughing, she wanted to hide in the farthest corner and just cry out everything that had accumulated in her soul.
Silently suffocating from the lack of understanding from others, she became more and more withdrawn. Until the force of gravity attracted the same lonely person as she was into her orbit. He understood her without words.
Not entirely unexpectedly, he made his way into her heart. Captured her mind. He made her want more from their communication. Like drops breaking through the ground, pure spring water with a rushing unrestrained stream irrigated her empty soul. Where there used to be a desert, flowers began to bloom and butterflies flew. And she could bet that she even felt them at times.
At some point, the crowd was replaced by a single person, but it seemed that her world had finally become complete, opened its arms only for her. It became easier to breathe, as if that person had personally opened a window in a stuffy room in which she had been locked for many years. She continued to excitedly greet each new day, but the reason for the excitement had already changed.
But he didn't have to know about it, did he?
✦✧
Lumine. If you just wanted to go fishing, you could have said so…
Ajax. Come on, comrade, what's the matter with you? Where does such anger come from? What did I manage to do wrong today?
Lumine. It’s all right.
Ajax. And yet?
Lumine. You do realize that today is your birthday..?
Ajax. …
Lumine. You could have rented an entire restaurant. Even three. You could have ordered a performance at Yun-Han Opera and have the whole troupe dance cancan from one end of the pier to the other. It would be possible to drag snow from the Dragon Spine to the doors of the Northland Bank and arrange an improvised slide from the stairs. And also…
Ajax. Stop-stop-stop, girlie. You have too much imagination. But if you want, I can arrange this for your own birthday.
Lumine. Don't, Ajax. I just gave an example. It seems that you would rather like to celebrate in such way so everyone in Liyue would have falling from the walls pictures and cracking windows.
Ajax. [winks] Perhaps in any other year I would have done so. And yet, I have already chosen my gift. And you kindly agreed to provide it to me.
Lumine. [aside] I probably have a really wild imagination, since I allowed myself to think that the word “meeting” is equivalent to the word “date”. I had come up with something, and I became upset. Cheer up, Lumine!
Ajax. Come here, comrade! I just have to teach you one of the tricks.
Lumine. Yeah.
Ajax. Stand up straight. Then stretch the line a little and throw it into the center of the lake. Like this. Well done, comrade! It remains only to patiently wait for the bite.
Lumine. [looks into the lake] Ajax?
Ajax. Yes?
Lumine. Did you know that the night sky is filled with millions of voices.
Ajax. Where have such thoughts come from?
Lumine. I’ve just remembered that there exist some people who hear one star talking to another. And there are myriad of such conversations. Some quiet, some sad. And most often these are conversations about dailies. Like people discussing the weather at breakfast, it's easier for stars to talk about a passing comet. So everyday.
Ajax. I suppose you can do that too?
Lumine. Nope. Not at all. But I’ve learned to read the signals of the stars. Over the years of my life, I hope I have managed to succeed at least a little.
Ajax. Huh, comrade, after such words you have to show me your skills!
Lumine. Okay, but only today. [Draws a line in the air connecting the reflection of two twinkling stars in the lake] For example, these two. One star says to another, “I missed you.”
Ajax. And what does the other one answer?
Lumine. “I missed you a lot too.”
Ajax. ...It doesn't really sound like a conversation “about comets”.
Lumine. These two stars have always been special for as long as I remember. Their radiance seemed unusual, and I often watched them. The unique light they sent to the Universe was surprisingly unlike the light of other stars. Every time I thought, looking at the sky, what if I could hear their talking? Their conversations would obviously confirm my guesses that they had known each other for centuries. Amazing? Okay, since I've set an example, now you, too, try to hear what the stars are talking about.
Ajax. I don't think I'll succeed...…
Lumine. Try, Ajax.
Ajax. Okay, okay. You got it, girlie. [Looks at the reflection of the stars in the lake for a long time, and then looks at Lumine] “Ja tebia liubliu.”
Lumine. [Looks at Ajax] Ajax, tell me honestly, you haven't even tried to imagine what the stars can talk about, have you? How could you say such gibberish…
Ajax. [Looks away from Lumine] I am serious. That's what they said. However, you admitted that you can't hear, so take my words for granted. With best wishes from a-person-who-hears-what-stars-say-in-the-sky. [There is a commotion in the once-stagnant water] Ouh, let's get back to this conversation later. Look what we're having for dinner tonight. You will remember today's dishes for a long time, girlie! I promise you!
✦✧
Galaxies have the ability to collide with each other, forming new ones that will soon also disappear from astronomical maps in every corner of the Universe. At the same time, the collision of people doesn’t mean anything on the scale of the cosmos; new connections may be a simple illusion that was revealed that short moment.
Lumine looked at Ajax, who was hooking a fish with honed movements. For a second, earlier he seemed to be embarrassed by his own words. But he was serious at that time. Even though he tried to make her believe that everything was a joke, insisting on that was truth, but this fish apparently decided to save an awkward situation and pecked at the most appropriate moment for this. Because of the commotion caused by these two, the surface of the lake no longer reflected the stars, and the girl raised her eyes to the sky.
Somewhere in the endless expanses of the Universe, a lone star in the constellation Viatrix barely audibly replied to the same lone star in the constellation Monoceros Caeli, “I love you too.”