Stars Of Memory

Chapter 33

Jīvitaya eats quickly and heads back to her room, exhausted. Kysanden steps into the room, carrying a bag. She looks up at him, frowning. Is he going somewhere?

"Kys? What are you doing? Why do you have a bag?"

"I'm leaving for a while."

Jīvitaya is instantly on her feet. "Why? You said you weren't going to leave! How long will you be gone for? Where are you going?"

He places his hands on her shoulders. "Jīa, calm down. I'm not going to be gone for long. I'm going back to Earth."

She interrupts him, not wanting to wait until he finishes before she says her piece. "Why are you going back? Your father is there!"

"Jīa, let me speak. I got you out of there quickly, which was good, but I forgot you had to leave things behind. And it's obvious that you miss them, so I'm going to get your rabbits for you."

"But is it even safe? And how long will you be gone for?"

He laughs. "Jīa, they were trying to hurt you, not me. The worst that can happen is that my father finds me and tells me he disowns me, alright? I'll only be gone for a month."

She recoils. "A month? We spent so long to get here before!"

He laughs again. "And we were traveling to a bunch of different planets then. Now I'll just be going to Earth and coming back, so only direct wormholes. I won't even have to pass the ones by the black hole."

Jīvitaya nods. "Come back soon, okay?"

He smiles. "Of course I will. Now, are you going to give me the coordinates and things I need so that I can actually get to your house, or am I just going to have to search the whole planet to find it?"

Jīvitaya giggles. "Give me your tablet." He hands it to her and she taps on it for a moment before she hands it back. "I've input the coordinates, and you should land behind the house, by the woods. I don't want you to end up scaring some innocent people, even though it's on the outskirts. I've set up a communication link between your tablet and my own, and here are the keys." She hands him the key to her house.

He grins. "Anything else?"

"Yes." She launched herself at him and he pulls her into a tight hug. She kisses him on the cheek. "I'll miss you."

He smiles warmly, murmuring into her ear. "I'll miss you too."

He sets her down and turns to exit the room, stepping out the doorway. She follows behind him as he walks to the field, and watches as the ship takes off. Laira nudges her and she strokes her fur, noticing that she is back in Lynx form. Jīvitaya stands up, turning back to look at the starry sky just once. As she walks, she swipes at her face, realizing her vision is slightly blurry. She feels something wet smear across her cheeks and pulls her hand away, realizing that she was crying. She reaches her room and slips into bed, pulling Laira's fuzzy body against her as she cries into her fur until she falls asleep.

She wakes up in the courtyard and groans. How did she get here? Did she sleepwalk or did she project? She looks down at her hands to see that they are slightly transparent. That answers it, she projected. She huffs, not knowing how to stop the projection. She hears footsteps from behind her but pays them no heed. It's not like the person can hurt her when she is like this, can they?

"Jīvitaya?"

Jīvitaya turns to see her mother standing behind her, a mug in her hands. She was clearly planning to curl up for a while in a chair outside with her drink.

She has to restrain her grimace at the situation. "Hi?"

"What are you doing?"

Jīvitaya sighs. "Waiting."

"What are you waiting for?"

"For this to end."

Her mother's mouth opens slightly. "Are you stuck?"

Jīvitaya nods. "I don't know what causes the projecting, I don't know how I did it, and because I have no information, I have no idea how to get back to my body so I can just sleep."

She steps closer, setting her mug on the table. "Okay. Sit down first, either on the floor or in a chair."

"Won't I fall?"

Her mother laughs. "You're solid enough in astral form to sit, don't worry." Jīvitaya nods and sits in a chair. "Now close your eyes." Jīvitaya frowns, confused, but does so. "I want you to think about being in your actual body, how it feels, and how things feel to you. This is important; if you don't do that, you won't be able to get back."

Jīvitaya sighs and thinks hard, trying for a couple of minutes before opening her eyes in frustration. "It isn't working!"

"So try again."

Jīvitaya huffs but does as her mother says. She thinks of her body and concentrates as hard as she can.

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Will Jīvitaya be able to get back to her body? Will Kysanden run into any trouble on his trip back to Earth? Tell me your thoughts!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.