The first thing Lucy felt was… good.
Not just okay. Good. The deep, bone-weary ache that had been her constant companion for weeks was gone. The fog in her head had lifted, leaving her mind clear and sharp. She took a breath, and it didn't hitch in her chest. It was full and easy.
She sat up, the thin, silvery blanket that had been covering her pooling around her waist. This wasn't the Citadel's sick bay. The bed was a simple, woven cot, and it stood in the open air.
Her eyes widened.
The sky above was a swirl of violet and deep magenta, streaked with neon-green clouds that drifted slowly. Five moons, each a different size and color—one pearl-white, one blood-orange, one a shimmering aqua, and two smaller, silvery ones—hung in a perfect arc overhead, casting an ethereal, multi-colored light. The ground was pale, dusty stone, stretching out to a horizon of jagged, dark mountains. The air smelled of ozone and something sweet, like alien honey.
