Starfall

Cicadas cry as the radio crackles in and out, backed by the sounds of a light, high breeze rippling through the treetops. The air lies damp and heavy on the ground, and the smell of fresh cedar clings to Takeshi’s emblazoned gi, wood chips clinging to the Defender’s insignia. Sunlight strikes the hot metal dials of the radio sending harsh rays into his eyes. Takeshi grunts as he straightens up, throwing the last of his hewn logs onto the ever- growing pile. He wipes the sweat off his brow, squinting and glaring up at the sun. The gentle swish of charms on grass catches his attention, and his scowl changes into a smile.

“Are you drinking?”

He smiles and looks over his shoulder, tilting his head in greeting.

“Of course! Plenty and then some! Think I drank half the cask!”

He punctuates his statement with a raucous laugh that startles the birds in the surrounding trees. Aurora shakes her head and sighs, but her slight smile gives her away.

“I meant something hydrating.”

“Eehhhhy, you worry too much.” He rolls his eyes back, swatting away her concern. “Where are the kids?”

Aurora floats past him, bending down to the soil to investigate a row of sprouts.

“They’ve gone to Wither’s. Something about a rare ingredient. Which, once again, I don’t recall giving them permission to use. Takeshi dear, we’ve talked about these dangerous substances before, I really don’t think Amara ought to be using such strong materials yet. I thought we agreed to discuss permissions before-”

Much to his relief, Aurora’s speech is cut short by the banging of the garden gate as Akira bursts through, smile shining almost as bright as their scales.

“DAD, DAD!!”

Takeshi grins ear to ear, tusks nearly touching his cheeks.

“Akira, Akira!” He mimics, flying over and scooping the wriggling, giggling bean into his arms.

Amara smiles slightly, closing the gate as she comes through with a paper bag almost as large

as her body. Akira laughs, wrapping their arms around Takeshi’s neck.

“We found a huuuuuugeeeeee fox track on the way here! It was as big as me!”

Takeshi and Aurora both gasp, with delight and horror, respectively.

“As big as you?” Takshi queries with delight. Amara nods once, carefully setting down her prize.

“Slightly larger, actually. They laid down to check”

Aurora frowns, glancing to her children and partner, simply humming in worry. She gently pulls at the corners of the bag, the crinkling paper a less pleasant mimic of the excited conversation. She carefully begins to survey the contents of the bag as Amara and Akira regale Takeshi with the details of their findings. Her eyes land on a small pink note tucked to the side of the many vials and jars.

She pulls it out, the light scent of roses reaching her as she reads it over quickly. She hums, smiling to herself before interrupting the excited chorus of beans.

“Takeshi dear, Kyupi says the witherlings are going star hunting this evening. It seems Dulcette is putting together something of a party beforehand.”

Akira’s eyes grow wide after a moment as they grin and begin bobbing up and down in excitement, ribbons flailing behind them.

“Ooooo, I wanna go! If Ms. Dulcie’s there, Cremie will be there too! And maybe there will be cupcakes!! And I love cupcakes~”

Amara tilts her head, nodding slightly in agreement.

“Chi will be there as well, so I suppose I will go. Akira, you should be careful.”

"Why?"

Amara smiles slightly.

"Someone may try to collect your halo,"

Akira squawks, trying to reach up and pull down the star shards floating above their head.

Takeshi smiles, floating over to wrap an arm around Aurora as the two beans begin to squabble with each other.

“So, just you and me tonight, laying under the stars, eh?”

She doesn’t reply immediately, reading further down the note.

“Mm. She also says Tack will be there collecting stars... “

Takeshi nearly bristles at the mention of the other bean's name, immediately cocking his head back and crossing his arms.

“Tch.” He scowls, glaring at his invisible rival as he goes on. “Thinking he’ll collect all the stars himself, eh? And not even inviting me?!”

“Takeshi de-”

“Hah! Probably knows I’ll outdo him! We’ll see about that! I’m sure I - er, we, can collect loads more star fragments than he could hope to! Maybe even a hundred! No, a thousand, right Akira?”

Akira cheers in agreement as Aurora sighs once again, folding the note and slipping in into the folds of her hanbok.

“I suppose we’ll be going then?”

Takeshi nods, his flame burning a little larger than usual.

“Yes! And we’ll make it a real party too! I’ll bring some sake and- “

“There will be beanlings there, dear.”

“Ah, you’re right.”

She smiles for a moment.

“I’ll bring extra sake!”

“Dear!”

-----oOo-----

While the party had been awkward and draining enough, Amara was beginning to prefer it to the excruciatingly thick tensions between Hunter and Lesath. Hunter’s continued humiliation, and the memory of a warm beverage that was entirely unlike tea was not exactly pleasant either. She was considering ways to resolve the issue when Lesath steered the conversation to her.

“So, uh, Amara? What has Akira been up to?”

She blinks for a moment, shifting her train of thought away from potential solutions to the social situation to the subject of Akira’s latest antics.

“Well, we’ve been experimenting with various ingredients and their ingestion tolerances over the last week. As of yet, they have proven to have very high resistance to most plant-based poison. Limited itching.”

She gently holds aside a low hanging branch, careful not to let it smack the lagging Lesath. Chi pipes up from the front of the rough line.

“Honestly, from what Mara’s been telling me, it’s been fascinating. I still really would like to see which plants in particular they’re so resistant to; It’d be good to know, in case we ever need any sorts of herbal remedies for them. We’re gonna want to know what’ll actually work for them.”

Chi mused, tapping her finger to her chin thoughtfully before sending a smile towards Amara

“Though, we can discuss the details of that some other time… Which island did they end up on tonight, anyway?”

Amara returns the smile with the smallest twitch of her lip.

“They’re here tonight, but closer to our house. Akira and father are hoping to catch stars and the fox we heard. Mother doesn’t know. They’re going to ride it, if not tame it.”

Hunter mutters under his breath.

“Sounds like someone else we know.”

The party laughs as they disappear further into the tangle of limb and vine.

-----oOo-----

Their small group had split, and then spread further apart, each bean floating amongst the forest canopy to pluck the tiny shards of light that flickered amongst the leaves. Amara floats higher, reaching for a particularly large shard nested at the very crown of the ancient white oak, and takes a moment to absorb the unusual view of her home island. Stars streak across the sky, dipping below the horizon and coming to rest in the arms of the trees.

As she tucks the shard into her bag, she notices a large shape running up a ridge along the horizon. She chuckles to herself as she begins to define the shape.

Two glowing beans riding atop a ginger fox, chasing the stars.