A star's light

Nemisis (Sol)

      Time passed in a blur for Sol. The young star spent most of their time playing with Solaris or listening to their lectures. Of course, they often left their guardian's watchful eyes to check on their forming sibling and go exploring. The crimson star had quickly become a mentor for them and they trusted the elder with their life. Solaris had taught them many things including tricks for better controlling their temperature, luminosity, and gravitational pull.
Gravity manipulation was quickly proving to be the most difficult to master.

Sol pulled at their hair in frustration as the asteroid they were practicing with was ejected from the nursery. "Don't worry" Solaris shrugged. The older star's voice was frustratingly amused. "You'll get it. It takes a lot of practice to set and manipulate an object's orbit. You've got plenty of time to figure it out." Sol grit their teeth in frustration. Sensing their gravitational field and bending it to their will was the easy part. Yet figuring out what adjustments to make and to what degree? Forget it. Too much force and the object is crushed or ejected. Too little force and the object drifts away or crashes against something else. This was hard!

Sol loudly voiced their complaints to their guardian. "This is hard! Why do I even need to know this stuff? I can sense my gravity and bend it but figuring out how to use it to influence something else is so frustrating! Why do I even need to know this stuff?" Solaris just chuckled and patronizingly pat them on the head. The smaller star grumbled as they fixed their hair from where the bigger one had ruffled it. "If or when you get planets you'll need to know how to set and sense their orbits. Sometimes you might even need to change them and reorganize your entire system. Also in the event of an intrusion into your system  knowing how to manipulate not only yourself but other things with your gravity will allow you to weaponize anything within your reach."

Sol grumbled but acknowledged that the elder star had a point. "Fair point. I guess that could come in handy. It's still hard though." Solaris chuckled. "Of course it is little one." Sol frowned at the nickname. They weren't that little! "Don't be so disheartened. Not only are the objects you're manipulating much less massive than yourself which makes it hard to figure out how hard to pull on them but you're also having to learn how to use your gravity to overcome its own. That's not even mentioning that you have to figure out which direction to pull from. You're already doing so well, what's a few mistakes here and there? You can already sense your gravitational pull and manipulate it. That's very impressive for a star barely half a cycle old."

Sol smiled at the older star glad to be complemented. "You really think I'm doing good?" Solaris affectionately nudged the younger star with their gravity. "I know so. It took me almost a full cycle before I could sense my own gravity much less manipulate it. You'll figure it out eventually. Sol smiled, their core warming shy the encouragement. "Thank you. That made me feel a lot better."

They were going to say more but a sudden sense of urgency overcame them, barging into their mind like a beacon. It was impossible to ignore and they slowly turned to face the depths of their nursery. It was coming from there. Solaris must have noticed their change of focus because they asked "Sol? What's wrong?" The older star's voice was tinged with concern. They didn't notice, to focused on the tug on their essence. "I don't know. We need to go, now." Without waiting for a reply they floated away following the pull on their core. Their vision narrowed. They didn't hear their guardian's calls for their return nor their muffled curses as they followed. Sol couldn't feel anything but the desperate need to go wherever the pull led them.

They could have traveling for many cycles for all they knew but it seemed like moments before they were floating in front of the protostar. The incessant pulling was radiating from it as if their unborn sibling was begging for help. The protostar was flickering weakly and was dimmer than when they last checked in it. Sol could sense the problem. The yet to be born star didn't have enough energy to ignite. Their essence was too weak to begin element fusion. Sol could feel their sibling's pleading for help and who were they to deny them? Still in a trance like state they raised their hand and gently rested it on the swirling clouds of the protostar.

"Don't worry little sibling" they said. They couldn't be sure but they swore they felt the protostar's relief at being answered. "I'll help you." Sol felt their innate energy, their very being swirl around their core. They carefully plucked a tiny sliver of their essence and forced it through their hand and into the protostar. As soon as they did their unborn sibling released its hold on their mind. Sol blinked in confusion before they understood the situation. They barely had time to withdraw their hand and close their eyes before the protostar exploded in a brilliant inferno of fire and heat.

Sol was thrown back from the force and it took them a minute to struggle back to their feet. Their surface was dim and their vision was fading fast. They were swaying on their feet and their whole body ached. They barely had the energy to turn their head and face the no longer protostar. The new star was beautiful with their long lashes and red glow giving the illusion of a halo. Their sibling was smaller than previously estimated maybe 30% of Sol's mass and 35% of their radius.  The newly ignited star looked around in wonder. That was all Sol's exsausted body could handle before their eyes fluttered shut and they passed out.