Her feet danced along the mossy grounds, the soft footing was an invitation to spin and dip. A long exhale fell from her lips as she danced forward, nearing the sweet burning embers of the fire. She should be nervous but a deep feeling of peace and relaxation subdued her. It was the elixir she took beforehand, she was sure, because any being walking into a ceremony of this nature, without an elixir, would be more likely to turn and run. But the stardust was a gentle tug forwards, keeping her moving, with each step closer to the fire.

“Ayla” Miralun whispered. Her eyes intensified as she gazed upon her grand daughter, proud and serious. Miralun was more ancient than anyone knew. Ayla was her only granddaughter and even she did not know how many hundreds or thousands of years old her grandmother was. From her a radiating but grounding power spilled over the ground toward Ayla. Her jet black hair was spun delicately into a bun secured with two obsidian rods. Her eyes were the same as Aylas, a deep grey blue that shifted with her expression.

“Eldmater” Ayla said softly as she bowed her head in respect and reverence to her grandmother.

Miralun reached for Ayla’s hand as she offered a gentle, warm smile, “Are you ready my Naethin?” Ayla quietly nodded and took her grandmother’s hand in hers, admiring the tourmaline crystal that was embedded into her finger. Together they stepped forward towards the building flames and the echoed chanting and drums.

“Venaeth, Venaeth, Venaeth

Venaeth, Venaeth, Venaeth”

“Sēl gratith thel” she whispered to the flames as she bowed her head graciously. An acknowledgement of gratitude to the ancient fire, in the old language. The language still remembered by her family. Mintaka was one of the few planets left that still carried forward the traditions of the old ways. These ways- created from stardust, never faltering until now. The ways here had been shifting, She could feel it, they all could. There was a darkness that had taken the places, the homes, that used to surround their planet with such divinity, compassion and unity. Planets were left in ruins- their resources depleted and their inhabitants dead or worse, enslaved.

Which led them all to tonight.

She felt the ground and all of the attention shift. A deep silence fell amongst the fire and all that was left was the crackling of the flames. Ayla’s head tilted upwards, her gaze falling on the outline of their shadow.

Astellio

They stepped forward into the firelight. A shimmering glow easing off their body and dissipating into the night. Even in the darkness Ayla could see the intensity in their eyes, the protective gaze that fell upon her face. Those deep hazel feline eyes. She had looked deeply into those eyes year after year as they had stared with matching intensity back into hers. Astellio moved with warrior precision- smooth, stealth, unwavering. In this form they were untouchable, sometimes even unreachable. A physical body honed by hundreds of years of training and mastery. Their shoulder length hair fell in white waves in a blunt cut with one single braid running along the left side of their face. With their next step Ayla could see the same celestial markings dancing up their leg, across their bare chest and along the massive arm that extended from their body only to cross the palm and loop around their ring finger, just as Ayla’s had.

Astellio’s eyes fell upon Ayla’s face and she lost a breath. They stepped forward towards each other close enough that Ayla could feel their warmth and inhaled the familiar cool smell of ocean and salt mixed with soft spices of the Punajab fields. She leaned into the steadiness and strength that was so familiar to her. The stardust danced between them pulling them closer together like a cosmic magnet.

“Are you ready?” Their deep, steady voice filled the minimal space between them. Ayla felt her desire to step closer, to be engulfed in their presence blocking the rest of the world out. A flicker of guilt and shame crossed her face. How could she have such selfish thoughts? She couldn’t, not right now. She took a deep breath and steadied herself. If she had any idea what she was actually getting herself into she would have turned and run. She could still turn and run.

But the drums consumed her. With every moment passing the stardust grew more intense, now dancing chaotically between them as if she didn’t act soon they may both just implode. Her body begged her to step forward but her mind was racing and she couldn’t bring herself to move.

“Aylamou” Astellio’s face with growing concern watched her. “There is no other way.”

She recognized the grief and sadness in their eyes. They silently asked again “Are you ready?”

Ayla breathed in deeply and in her true surrender, she nodded.

The stardust between them whirled, faster and faster around them. Miralun approached with both hands forward. A circular marking burned in the palm of her hands as she began to speak.

“Ex lae astrael thel velaeth et ad lae astrael thel raeth. Danaeth lae mira quid thel mirath. Nōs en alaeth forma. Sine en mortaeth thel vel.”

Ayla could barely hear the words over the pounding drums and celestial wind ripping at her braid. She tore her eyes from the flames and found Astellio’s. Clear, deep, unwavering. On the last word of her grandmother she reached her hand forward as her ring finger found theirs, the stardust exploded around them. Their fingers interlocked and the light slammed into her filling every cell of her body. Her head flew backwards as Astellio pulled her towards them. She felt every part of her soul being ripped open. Emotion poured out of her like debris being swept away in a river. The waves of darkness being replaced by a river of light. Her nose was filled with the sweet comforting scent of burning santo leaves as she lifted her head she heard the final words pour from her grandmother’s mouth. Ayla’s eyes found Astellios and the wind began to settle around them; she was unwavering in her stance- grounded in the power and magic that poured between them, uniting them in a sacred union unfaltering even in death. Astellio’s eyes gleamed as the words poured from their mouth softly into her ear “I will be with you from this world to the next, in any form through this sacred union. It is done” their fingers still interlocked Ayla reached for their other hand. “It is done” Ayla said. Her grandmother nodded, tears filling her eyes and bowed deeply towards them. Ayla smiled softly and with their fingers interlocked they turned and walked directly into the flames.

Ayla’s eyes flew open, she couldn’t breathe and flung herself upwards gasping for air.

Sitting over her with a mixed face of curiosity and concern was B.

“You were mumbling in that weird latin language again”

Ugh, Ayla shut her eyes again, steadying herself as the smell of tri tip began to fill the room. “Seriously, B? Steak this early in the morning??”

“Girl this is lunch that I snuck back up here from the kitchen- its past noon and you have been konked out all morning. Where were you last night?”. Ayla took a finger to the shade and peered outside. It really was clearly past noon. Slightly dodging the question Ayla said “do you feel up for a little adventure today?”

I closed my eyes and held your speckled face gently in my hands, waiting for the inevitable. Death called to you in the same way I did and in that I knew I was powerless to stop it.

But instead I found myself running beside you. Urgency pressed beneath every pounding step as the ground ripped away from my feet unfurling into a blanket of black nothingness. My arms flung desperately forward looking for anything to grasp, to hold, to stay with you. A tickle of silver mane wrapped around my fingers and in one motion I was cast upwards, away from the ground that tumbled down beneath my feet, held by the tendrils of energy between us; interweaving and swirling above and below me. A final moment with you and I didn’t know if I could let go of that silver mane and come back here without you.

A softness caressed the empty place in my chest where a huge chunk of my heart had shattered into a thousand pieces while your head lay lifeless in my lap, blood soaking through my tear laden leggings.

It’s been six years now and even without you here you still guide the most important decisions in my life. My heart still breaks this day every year. I can’t help but replay the memory over and over in my head. But that is the paradox of Earth, isn’t it. To fall in love so deeply and so profoundly knowing someday it will get ripped away but that it will be worth it. You were 1000% worth it

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