2024-01-06: Starsetter

• Log: 2024-01-06: Starsetter
• Cast: Banagher Links
• Where: Magallanica
• Date: U.C. 0098 01 06
• Summary: Banagher holds a starlit vigil.

---

All is calm.

Streetlights shine, but shops and residential buildings are dark. Another day has come to a close. Magallanica grows, just as it should, attracting those who believe in Audrey's cause from all corners of the Earthsphere.

Only one figure moves within the secure building Audrey uses for her diplomatic meetings. His footsteps are soft, but purposeful. They bring him to a room shrouded in a familiar tapestry -- his eyes linger on it for a moment, before approaching.

Banagher sits carefully against the wall. Near the tapestry, but not touching it. It's an ancient piece of art, after all. It shouldn't be disturbed. Neither should what rests behind it, or so the powers of this world have ruled.

"Sorry it took me a while to come back." Banagher starts, his voice quiet. He leans his head back against the wall and stares up at the ceiling. "The days have been getting away from me lately. There's so much to do -- and at the same time, so little I can actually help with. It's a weird feeling."

Nothing stirs. At least, not visibly. But Banagher knows better. He feels the brush of her soul against his own. She sleeps most of the time, now that she's been sealed away. But tonight, they're both awake. This stolen moment of time is a Miracle unto itself.

Green-flecked-gold eyes close, as the young man gives himself over to his more spiritual senses. In his vision, now, he sits within her cockpit. Internal lights aglow, with the expanse of space beyond, just as it was the last time they flew together.

"It must be scary." He murmurs, reaching out an illusory hand to adjust their flight path. "Losing everyone -- all you knew. Having to hope things will change. After becoming so alive. After --"

Banagher sighs. He rests back against the pilot's seat.

"After everything. You did so much for us. We wouldn't be here without you. /I/ wouldn't be here. But you're the one left behind. It's not fair."

If she has an opinion on this, she does not share it. Her course is steady, cutting through the cosmos, trailing her veils of aurora-green. Perhaps this is answer in itself. How terrible it is, to have been tamed. If she were still a wild, unbroken thing, she would only have to know how to race through the stars. Innocent and ignorant of the love she was given.

But who would she be if she stayed a Beast?

The feelings she shares with Banagher are warm and gentle. Something north of acceptance. Something west of grief. There are no words for communication of this nature, all he can do is experience the radiant expression echoing from her soul.

"I believe in this world." He says, eventually. "I believe in what we fought to protect. Someday --" Banagher pauses, frustrated at the inability of language to express what he needs to. "-- someday this will be real again."

But even so, she whispers, in a rare moment of clarity.

They fly on, safe in the harmony forged by their near-perfect union so many months ago.

"We'll always be together." Banagher promises. "Nothing can ever change that."

The dream of flight stretches on before them, unbroken in the quiet of the night.

Come morning, Banagher will wake, finding his body stiff from sleeping against the wall. He will stand with a slight grumble, stretching. Fingertips will extend, brushing against the still-warm place. With a quiet smile, he will turn and walk from the room.

One final glance to the tapestry, and the doors shut behind him.