Kryno

Grey ran his hand through the water, watching the grape-colored waves lap up against his arms. The star was setting; the sky darkened slightly, but a blazing white ring shimmered proudly, lighting up the sky more than the moon on Earth.

"Does the water turn black when that star sets?" Gray asked, his arm wrist-deep in the water. His fingers now grazed the red sand at the bottom of the lake. Blue had mentioned that beaches tended to have a high iron content, hence the red color.

"Yeah," BlueShy said. "With no major light to reflect on it, the water appears black." He was looking up at the sky, watching the white stripe flutter.

"Sounds like fun," Gray said. "I hope I can see other pretty sights here."

"You've seen so much, though," Blue said. "Wasn't today alone an adventure?"

…

"Hey, come over here," Blue said, dragging Gray over to a silvery tree. "Can you believe that trees are softer on Earth? That's what Sol says!"

"It looks very sturdy," Gray said. He snapped off a limb from the tree, causing it to gush metal onto the ground. "Mercury?"

"Nope, silver!" Blue said. "Or a silver compound. I don't recall, sorry. I don't know why you'd think it's mercury, though. That's vapor here."

"It's very pretty," Gray said. He placed his hand under the stream. The cool-feeling liquid slammed against it, some of it splashing further up his arm, turning slightly red under the heat of his own body. It was a rather warm day, so krys all over expelled heat.

"Isn't it pretty?" Blue asked. "We'll be going to a forest next. With iron leaves."

"Sure," Gray said, his mind slightly occupied with the tree.

It was much too sturdy for this weather.

…

Night came alive in the sky. Half the sky stayed a light purple, the colors hovering around the belt, fading as it went away. Just above the krys, though, the stars broke through, twinkling due to the atmosphere.

"It's gorgeous here," Gray said. "Too bad that we can't see the faint stars due to the astral belt."

"Do you see the Void Belt?" Blue asked. "It's at the horizon."

Indeed, a line of stars were missing there.

"It's pretty scary," Blue said. "I don't ever want to be a warrior."

Gray swirled his hand in the water, feeling it lap up on his arm, feeling the coolness rush past his fingers. The core kept his hand warm, but, by doing so, the rest of his body cooled down. It was perfect after a hot day.

"Why is the water purple, I wonder…" Blue said. "The grass is red with iron, but the water…?"

"Don't worry so hard," Gray said. "It hurts the head. Can we go to a mountain tomorrow?"

"We can go anywhere, really," Blue said. "Just as long as it isn't around other krys, I'm good."

Gray smiled. "Of course not. Only idiots like me would go up a mountain. Especially Everest."

"There is no mountain by that name, Gray," Blue said softly. "Have you been paying too much attention to Sol?"

"Course not," Gray said.

The conversation ended. The very next day, they climbed a large hill and had fun looking at all the plant types. But Blue couldn't stop thinking about Gray.

He couldn't stop thinking about Gray's knowledge of Earth.