Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

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"Dunker!" Rhianne shouted, and we all groaned and threw down our cards, having lost yet another round to my competitive and gifted best friend.

Auntie Shah appeared, setting a plate on the table, and Susette passed around a tray laden with glasses of milk. Yep, they were serving up their latest creation, and it looked amazing.

"Oh, wow, baby, these are perfect!" Uncle Euri said, mouth full of chocolate. I had to agree with him, the cookies were lightly crisp on the outside, richly chocolatey, and filled with a gooey caramel center. Perfect little biscuits of deliciousness in every bite.

"Ummm," Slydar moaned. "We're gonna get fatted before we ever reach Trauton if you two keep feeding us like this. It's indecent. Don't stop, ya hear?"

"Susette," I started, having an ulterior motive for my line of questioning, but appearing complete innocent. "Did you always love to bake, or has that been a recent thing since you moved to Nineton?"

"Oh, you know how the troubadours are. We were always on the road performing, and yeah, we had a lot of take out, but lots of times, we'd rent places with kitchens and bunches of us were great cooks. It's more economical, plus it's nice to feel like family when you're traveling all the time. So, I guess you could say it's part of my heritage? But really, I just have an insatiable sweet tooth and can't stop inventing new things to taste!" she laughed.

"And I never heard what took you away from home. What's that story?" I prompted.

"Oh! Well, I busted up my knee, you know? So, I was out of dancing for months, and that's when I started hearing the cats. Maybe I always could, but was just too busy to notice. Not really sure, but anyways, after that, I didn't really wanna go back to performing. Just wasn't the same after the long break."

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"And I'd always loved the Rilla and Rawl graphics, but when I was recovering from the knee surgery, I devoured all the rest of them: Avenging Augment, and Nala's Tales From The Monastery. So, eventually I started looking into Five Spheres, and I found a job posting for a Vet Tech, which I really wanted to do, even though I didn't have training. But, I went out on a limb and called them, being a little vague but saying I had a special connection to animals."

"And Dr. Snowden came right out and asked me on a video call if I was an animal communicator! It was amazing! Just an instant connection. So, she didn't care that I wasn't trained; she just wanted to hire me and got me all ready to move across the galaxy! So cool, right?"

"So, who was the most responsible for you finding out about Five Spheres? Rilla and Rawl or Avenging Augment?" Euri asked her.

"Oh, I never woulda found the others without Rilla! I mean, I loved those when I was a girl—"

"Hah! Told ya! My books were the key! I win. Every. Time. Euridyne," Shah intoned.

"What?" Susette looked around confused, and Rhianne burst out laughing.

"Suse, meet Psy Ling," Rhianne told her girlfriend whose eyes bugged out of her head before she squealed.

"WHAT?! WHAT IN THE HOLY HELLS?! Shah! You're Psy Ling?" she asked, shaking her head. "Nuh uh. No way. Tell me I haven't been baking cookies with Psy Fucking Ling!!!"

Shah just laughed. "Well, now you know, and it changes nothing. I'll keep baking with you as long as you bring me more interesting ideas to try. I love making up recipes, and you've got a knack. I haven't written a Rilla story in over a decade, but I'm feeling a novella coming on."

"Eeeeeeeeee!" Susette screeched. "Really? Please! Please write another story. Everyone would love it so much. A Rilla and Rawl revival is exactly what the Known Cosmos needs! I mean, you could make it extra cozy with this awesome cookie recipe, and we can come up with even more— oh, wait. Sorry, I'm taking over your story. That's totally rude."

"Keep going, I'm mentally taking notes because you're a gold mine, Susette. Part of why I had to end the Rilla series was that I ran out of fresh ideas and didn't want to get repetitive, but with you on board the Good Time, I think that could change," Shah teased.

And so, while the rest of us got beaten at Dunker by Rhianne, Aunt Shah and Susette brainstormed Rilla revival ideas, and we made it to the Trauton system in a blink of an eye.