Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

RORY

"You said you're an animal communicator, but you don't have any companions? Pets?" Euri asked Susette, genuinely confused.

She nodded, "Yeah, I haven't really settled on an animal because I'm working so much of the time, and it doesn't seem fair to leave one at home to go spend the day with other people's animals."

"Dr. Snowden takes her pets to the vet clinic, but there's so many stressed animals there, and I just. . . Well, that's probably just excuses. I'm sure if the right one comes along, I won't be able to resist, but so far, that hasn't happened," Susette finished.

"Etta would love ya," Slydar told her. "You seen any a those mirkas? Cute, adorable little rodents? Extra special they are."

Susette just looked confused, so I explained it to her. "He's talking about the creatures from my home world, and my Uncle Ronnie tends to bond them easily. They love animal communicators and form deep connections to people like you. It's pretty amazing, really. They seem to become even more intelligent once they find a person to bond with."

"Oh wow, I'd love to meet him, then, and Etta. That sounds really sweet. How far away is your home sphere, Rory? I don't really know much about your world."

"Well, Shurwinn is the opposite direction, but maybe we can go there on our way home. It's a desert sphere, so completely different from Trauton or Five Spheres, and it's hot and dry."

Susette giggled. "It actually sounds perfect for January through March. Maybe I can go with you on your escapes 'coz I have a hard time getting through all those long months of cold. I just moved to Uno last year, but it's awesome to get away and travel. Alright, we've gotta part ways here, but we'll see you in a week, right? Meet back here at the Transfer Station?"

We all nodded, and I hugged Rhianne and Susette as they took off for their landing platform. They were heading to Susette's hometown, and we made our way to the flight that'd take us to Shah's Nanna's house. Technically, Shah owned the place since her grandparents had passed, but she'd been calling it "Nanna and Poppie's" the whole trip across the galaxy, so that name had stuck.

Landing on Trauton in early autumn was a sight for my eyes: lush green everywhere. Trees, grass, plants. Everything was green, green, green. A feast of color for my vision, and I couldn't get enough. I was suddenly grateful for every single gust of wind that had blown me in this direction.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

We unloaded our bags at the house, checked that everything was in order, then took a porter into town for an early show (a troubadour musical about balloon rides over a monster-infested lake. Yeah, don't ask. Stupidly funny satire).

Then we had dinner at a pub that served a bizarre buffet of fried meats and fish, fries coated with cheesy sauce, and assorted crispy fried veggies like onions and squashes with these green dips that were outta this world. I'd never heard of a pub like that, but it worked. We put on a movie, but didn't make it ten minutes before the beer and heavy dinner sent us straight to sleep.

The night didn't last very long though, because I woke to a crack and a smash.

FUCK! Uncle Euri pounded into my brain as I blinked. Rory! You okay? Slydar was already outta bed, running down the hall, so I grabbed a sweatshirt, pulling it over my head.

I'm fine, Uncle. What the sands happened?

A tree branch. We're fine, don't worry, but fucking hells, the kitchen's wrecked.

I saw what he meant the second we got down the steps. It looked like a bomb had crashed through the windows and door, throwing glass and leaves everywhere. I could feel waves of sadness coming off my Auntie, so I pulled her into a hug.

We'll get it cleaned up, Auntie. We'll get everything fixed back just the way your Nanna had it. Yeah, it looks bad, but once we get the tree limbs outta here and clean up all this glass, it's not gonna be too bad.

She hugged me back, but it didn't stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks as she looked over the wreckage of her beloved grandparent's home. She nodded, bolstering herself.

"You're right, Rory," she said, wiping her face on her sleeve. "You're right. It'll be right as rain once we get this sorted, but what the hells even happened? How is there a tree limb right here in the wall?"

It was too dark to see much, plus there was glass everywhere, so we all went to get dressed, and then once we had shoes on, we spent most of the night picking up glass and tree debris out of the kitchen. The next day didn't make it any clearer what had happened, but an arborist came out and got the limb taken care of no problem.

The tree it had come from was very old and ginormous, but had some unhealthy parts that the arborist had to take off so we wouldn't have a repeat of the falling limb situation. Shah booked him to return and evaluate the other trees for similar issues since they were all huge and old, and she didn't want anyone getting hurt because of it.

Getting all the home repairs wound up taking ten days longer than we'd anticipated, so Slydar and I had extra time to enjoy Trauton 4. We decided to meet up with Rhianne and Susette for a tour of one of the other continents called "Jolly Holly's Lollipop Rides," and it turned out to be one of the funnest things I'd ever done.