Stars Of Memory

Chapter 22

When Kysanden returns, he immediately starts prepping the ship for take-off. Jīvitaya approaches him in the cockpit.

"Kys . . ."

"No. I'm not going to talk about it."

There is still such brimming fury in his voice that she backs off and goes to sit on her bed, watching out the window as the ship shudders and they leave Gaia behind. There is a small body that jumps up on the bed beside her, and Jīvitaya turns her head to look at the cat. It jumps into her lap and ripples, growing slightly smaller. Jīvitaya stares down in amazement at the little dark body. It appears to be a tiny, inky blue-black cat.

"How many forms do you have?!"

It jumps off and ripples back to the larger, fluffy white and auburn kitten, then a silvery spotted cat around the size of a normal and full-grown domesticated cat, but with wild features. Then it becomes the golden lynx, followed by the panther, before shrinking back down to the little blue-black kitten. It hops back up onto the bed and into her lap.

"Just five forms?"

It purrs and nuzzles her hand, so she begins to pet it, a slight smile on her face. It isn't until they've gone through the first wormhole that Kysanden finally deigns to leave the cockpit and come talk to Jīvitaya.

"Have you finally calmed down enough to talk about it, or am I still going to be left wondering what you did and why you were so furious?"

He smiles slightly, and the shadowed expression on his face clears a bit. "Yes, I can talk about it now."

He sits on the edge of the bed and the cat gets up to stalk toward him. He holds out his hand to it and the cat sniffs him momentarily. It looks up at him for a moment with luminescent eyes before it licks him and heads back to curl up in Jīvitaya's lap.

"So, what did you do?"

"I confronted Grania."

Jīvitaya mock glares at him. "Kys."

He sighs. "Do you really want to know?" She nods and raises an eyebrow at him in a 'go on' gesture. "Grania told me that you were a monster and didn't follow the laws of nature and that's why she tried to kill you. Then we had a shouting match, and I left."

Jīvitaya senses that there is more, but refrains from pushing him further. His face is still lined with anger at what Grania had done. She changes the subject. "So, would you remind me where we are going to next?"

His face clears completely, and he grins. "We are going to a planet called La'Vi'Ai, in the Miridian Galaxy."

"How far away is it, or how long will it take to get there?"

"Well, it will only take three days to get there."

"So it's not that far away?"

He grins sneakily and she wonders if he wanted her to ask him that. "No, it's the furthest away of all the planets we've visited, but the wormholes we will be traveling through span a large distance, and so we won't have to travel between as many of them, drastically shortening our travel time."

She smiles at the quiet joy in his voice. "Oh. You like traveling, don't you?"

Kysanden nods. "I love it, but my father doesn't let me travel as much as I wish he did. This is the most I've been able to travel in years."

She grins at him. "So get on with it then!"

He laughs and looks down at the cat. "What are you going to name it?"

She frowns and looks down at it thoughtfully. "I think I like the name Laira." She glances down at the cat. "What do you think?" It purrs loudly, and Jīvitaya grins. "Laira it is!"

Kysanden pats her on the shoulder and returns to the cockpit to steer them through the next wormhole.
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Hi guys! Sorry this one is a bit short. I don't have any author's note questions today, so just comment or PM me if you have questions.

I don't have a picture of Jīvitaya today, sorry!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.