Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

** This story is free to read on RoyalRoad.com **

If you are reading this on another site it is a pirated copy. If you enjoy the story please read it on RoyalRoad.

You can find the official updated story here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/122374/stars-dancing-dreams-to-lovers-romance

You looked into a pool

so vast

so wide

so deep.

And found it was only

ever

always

an inch.

And in its shining surface

you saw you.

From my point of view.

Collected Unpublished Lyrics

- Sibsil Creed, Stories of Shurwinn (2788)

I woke up. I pushed myself to a sitting position using my arms. I was weak, but I was finally hungry. I was ravenous! It was day twelve of my Shurwinn holiday, and my life just kept getting crazier and crazier. After what I was now thinking of as the "Vast Ryst" episode, I had only wanted juice and melons. I didn't want anything else. So, I'd just kept eating melons and drinking juices.

Then I'd stopped wanting food and barely wanted anything to drink. Some water and some juice. And I had zero headaches. I had wondered if it was possible to live on fruit alone. I mean, that didn't even seem healthy at all.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

So, a few days ago, I had started looking for information on all-fruit diets. I'd found lots of information on the stream about fasting and cleansing. Was that what I was doing? I guessed it was fasting, but I wasn't meaning to do it. I just didn't want anything else. Surely I couldn't keep it up for long.

I had kept digging and searching for information because I felt so much better. And I came across an old reference to something from Earth. It was called "hygienic eating." It was from long, long ago. There were actual medicas who recommended a vegetarian diet of uncooked fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds. I couldn't find very much information on it, but I thought it couldn't hurt to try it. There were spas you could go to and healing centers where people just fasted the whole time. What would it hurt to try it?

And then the symptoms started. They called it "detox." I hadn't really expected anything to happen to me, because I didn't believe any of it, but it really happened. I was weak, of course, and peed every few minutes. Then my skin felt like it was burning from the inside out. I itched all over. And I was queasy. Not enough to vomit, but I felt sick. Then I started sweating and feeling feverish. Aching all over like I was bruised from head to toe.

And my feet got so cold they were like ice. My mouth tasted like metal, and I couldn't eat anything. My brain was so foggy that it was hard to focus, but I kept reading on the stream about detoxification. I didn't remember much from medica training about detoxification. I didn't think we'd studied it that much. Sure, for things like poisons and alcohol toxicity. But just general, everyday detox? It was hard to make sense of it, but I had slowly started to piece together information that I could logically explain from an anatomy point of view. And I persisted. I just kept going and listening to what my body wanted.

And I'd gotten stronger. The worst seemed behind me, and I wanted food. It was like I knew what I was doing before I got to the kitchen. The cooler was loaded with fruit, juice, and a few vegetables. There was a zucchini squash, and I got it out and cut it into strips. I topped it with tomatoes, and there was basil in the garden in the back, so I tore some of that up to go with it.

I downed the whole bowl. It tasted so good! I polished it off with a juice. Everything tasted delicious, and by the time I was done, I felt stronger. Like I could flow through the Jendo forms again.

I started the morning exercise. I was still weak, but better. And I had some decisions to make. Was I going back to Starlend? I had only two days left of Visitor Acceptance on Shurwinn. Did I want to go somewhere else? No, that didn't seem right.

I was really happy in Shurwinn. I was getting used to the hot sun and the dry air. I liked how quiet it was and how unobtrusive the people were. But could I stay? I would need Work Acceptance. And I would need Ritsken or someone like that to help me get a job. I could stay six months if I was employed and had a Guarantor. Was that what I wanted? Did I want to go back to work?

I didn't want to work as a medica. That just didn't feel right at all. The whole thought of it was just too much pressure. But I could do something simple, right? Like clean houses or work in gardens. Would they hire me to work in the gardens? Being outside sounded really good. Not being indoors and shut in. That sounded right. It felt like it fit.

And suddenly I could see myself walking to work in a garden and coming home with bags of fresh produce. Practicing Jendo in the morning and practicing Shurwinn in the evenings while watching stream shows in the local language. Yes, that really fit. I could do that.

My decision made, I went to ask Ritsken for help.