HOME, SWEET HOME — The first call

Then she remembered how the mission had begun.

Long ago, during one of those gatherings, the first call for help had come. It was barely a whisper. Those who heard it listened closely, and over the following days the plea grew clearer. It came from creatures who had awakened in the enchanted lands and wanted to help their world through a transformation they could not sustain alone.

The call reached other planets, other systems. The Great Council called on all who were willing to help. Never before had so many starseeds joined a single mission.

Skyblue remembered the words that had brought them together: ‘The pain of one is the pain of all.’

They had offered their help out of love. Now she knew something of that pain in her own life. And she knew the joy of a hand reaching out when she no longer had the strength to go on.

She drank slowly.