Stars Above

Kina stood on the balcony to her and her twin’s apartment, overlooking the lower portions of Ethermoor, bathed in the orange and red glow from the setting sun. In the distance, the fog threatened to engulf their little city, but all the beacons blazed strong throughout Ethermoor’s streets, or would be soon enough. The sun continued its trek down the horizon and Kina turned her attention back to the telescope she was setting up. A friend had randomly gifted it to her, and she was giddy as hell about it. Well, ‘random’ wasn’t necessarily true. Kina and Phoenix had celebrated their birthday recently, and while she’d gotten the telescope, Phoenix had gotten an equally expensive set of books he’d been wanting for a long time.

Still, the gift was appreciated, and Kina worked to set it up correctly, following the instructions as best she could in the fading light. As it got to a certain level of dimness, the outside lights of the building she lived in flicked on, and the street below lit up with automatic lights, both regular street lights and the anti-fog measures the city had put in place. It was always awe inspiring to watch it happen, and her grin spread wider still in appreciation. Kina looked out over the city again while she absently twisted a screw into place on the support system. It was a modern telescope, but some things were still old-school, like the tripod that would keep it upright being made of sturdy brass with rubber feet to keep it from slipping.

Soon, she had it properly constructed and upright, and she carefully wiped down the large lens that pointed skyward. Even with all the lights below, some stars peeked out overhead. It had been far too long since she’d properly stargazed, and Kina realized as she looked through the eyepiece of the telescope just how much she missed it. It was dizzying, and she pulled back, shaking her head. Carefully, she collapsed the device and carried it inside. She’d have to adjust some settings on it, but for tonight, she’d refresh her memory on the constellations one could see from her fair town.

Namely, she couldn’t really remember what her favorite looked like. Absently, she leaned the telescope against the wall and closed the door behind her, her other hand swiping at her technical display on her temple as she did. Without even thinking about it, she locked the door behind her as she tried to bring up the electronic book she was looking for. For this time of year… the prominent constellation was the elegant Gardevoir. Right. It was a complex constellation, with many links near the bottom forming the ‘skirt’ that made up the main part of Gardevoir’s body. She used her eyes to scroll the page, before pausing as she then backtracked as she came across one she’d not paid attention to in the past. Braviary.

“This constellation represents Braviary, and stands for courage, loyalty, and justice. It can be found flying along the bands of our galaxy, as if they are thermals in the heavens at the end of summer and beginning of autumn.”

Fascinating. OK, that was really cool, really. She’d have to keep an eye out for it when she went stargazing tomorrow… after she adjusted the settings on the telescope, that is.