The stars shimmered differently above Gia.
From the windows of the command cruiser Tivaras, they looked like ribbons—gold and violet, twining and rippling through the void. They danced, not flickered. Bian watched them in silence as the fleet broke through the last veil of deep space, nearing the shimmering horizon of their homeworld.
Gia came into view not like a planet, but like a vision.
A glowing opal hanging in the velvet dark, ringed in misty teal atmosphere that glittered faintly like powdered jewels. Its continents pulsed with golden warmth, framed by black glass forests and winding crystalline rivers that gleamed under the twin suns' embrace.
Bian, standing with Dican near the observation deck, said nothing.
