Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

RORY

"It's not like Nineton, mom, it's more glowy. Like it's made of magic instead of ice." Ori the salamander was perched on my daughter's shoulder as usual, and he seemed undaunted by the dry air of my home sphere so far.

Bitsy was right. In my years away from Shurwinn, I'd forgotten how the Ayela Arcana Sanctuary glowed in the afternoon sun. Something about the desert sky and the heat of my home world gave the white building a magic unlike anything we had in Five Spheres. It was similarly white, yes, and probably chemically similar in composition. But it was special, and the quiet grove it was in felt hallowed.

Nearby was the casita my Uncle Euri and Aunt Shah had lived in. Well, originally it'd belonged to Ryst and Nayth, but in my lifetime, it'd been Euri's, so that's how I still thought of it. Its current occupants were friends of Euri's who took care of the grounds and watched over everything. Yes, they knew the whole story and understood the importance of the structure and its contents.

We still had fifty years before the deadline when the doors of the Sanctuary would open to the public, and the entire history would be made known. But we had the key to the lock that was the door on the place: our DNA.

Yeah, Poppop Peydran had keyed the lock to my DNA, so my kids could access it too. At least, that was the theory we were about to put to the test.

"Wanna try it first, Switch?"

He nodded, and my fourteen-year-old son pressed his thumb against the panel. Nothing seemed to happen, but two seconds later we heard a snick, and the door slid open. Switch looked at his thumb, but it appeared unharmed, so he shrugged his shoulders and stepped inside.

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What we found was a curved hallway lined with shelves and archways that led to the next layer in. Passing through the arch, we discovered the next hallway, which similarly had arched doorways. Once we crossed those we found the inner sanctum: a plinth in the center of a round room, and on it rested a pretty hand-made book.

The ceiling of the chamber was round dome, and a skylight was set in its center, letting in the bright daylight which set the room aglow with an ethereal magic.

Borden and Peydran knew what they were doing, alright, Slydar said to all of us, and Bitsy nodded her agreement. Switch and I were too busy looking up at the sky to nod, but I said back:

Auntie Shah designed this building when she was just a girl, around Switch's age, then years later, her dad took the concept art and made this Sanctuary. I'm sure Peydran and Ren had a lot to say about the design since they had to come up with all the mystique around Sibsil Creed too. So, it's probably a testament to all the people who came before us; all of them working together to preserve the history of our family, and the history of Shurwinn.

No mom, it's Five Spheres and the rest of the Known Cosmos. That's why the Sanctuary is here, Switch said. And he was right, wasn't he? The significance of the materials within this building were as multi-layered as the archways we'd passed through to navigate to the inner chamber. The artistry wasn't just the written words, it was the container that held them.

Bitsy ran her fingers over Ryst's book reverently. I know you said it's not time to read this yet, Mom, but I feel like I already know Auntie Ryst.

You can open it and read the title page, Bits.

She nodded and lifted the cover with a smile then traced the words with light fingertips. I don't know where it came from, but a gentle breeze lifted my daughter's hair, and we all giggled at the scent of costamelon that wafted through the room. It seemed our forebears were still with us, watching over us, and knowing we were passing the torch to the next generation.

How about pizza for dinner? Sly suggested, and we made sure the building was secure then headed down to the village to Pizza Pie, enjoying a favorite haunt of mine. Yeah, it was all vegetarian which was the Shurwinn way, but my family was used to eating some meals without meat, so they didn't care at all.

Then we took in a late movie at Centre Theatre—a comedy action flick that was pretty good—and we crashed at one of the guest rentals above Produced by Peydran's offices. It was odd to go home and not actually go home, but my parents had sold their house years ago when they'd moved to Nineton, so we had to rent a suite like we were guests.

I knew the suite well, of course, since it'd been owned by my grandfathers, but it was a bittersweet way to return to the world I'd known as a kid.

My family settled in, and I collapsed into bed. Sly was asleep in minutes, but my mind was restless wondering about everything I needed to face the next day.

The Ayela Arcana Sanctuary had been the fun part of the trip. The next bit was the business stuff, and what part of that is ever fun?