Night's Under the Blue Star

In the distant reaches of a galaxy there resides a bright blue star. It was a beautiful star that shined bright and was known well throughout the galaxy for it's brilliance. Orbiting that star was a small planet spinning with consciousness and life. Underneath the warm clouds of that world lay two starry eyed teenagers in a grassy field looking up. It was a unusual cloudless and clear evening of blue dusk. They were both waiting for the covers of light to fall off the horizon and reveal the stars. They had sneaked out of their small comfortable dwellings of their parents and were holding each others hands and enjoying the moment. Within a few minutes the first stars began to blink their way into existence and a velvety blackness began to spread.
“Ki” The boy broke the silence as he called for Kiona with her nickname that very few used. Kiona gazed at his bright blue eyes, dark brown ruffled hair and short dark beard.
“Yea, Chasel” She replied back with loving eyes and soft words. Kiona was a very beautiful girl with long dark hair and hazel eyes that were always wide and taking in the world.
“Do you think they're people out there sitting in some grassy field looking back at us?” He asked.

She didn't reply back immediately although he was used to this. Chasel had a knack for asking inquisitive and thought provoking questions that had only increased in depth as he got older. Kiona welcomed it as her mind was very open and loved how the questions would give her another perspective to see her world from. She took a deep breath and gave into her thoughts as they were now swirling with delight and wonder at the idea.

“I would hope so. It all seems so alive out there and we've only reached the outer edges of our own system.” she said and paused and continued

“ I know this sounds weird but If I look at the stars long enough, I feel so connected to ….. everything. I feel as if I'm one of those stars looking at us with just as much awe as were looking at it.” Kiona said with shyness at first but finishing with more excitement than anything

“ Whoa, so you feel like a burning ball of gas” Chasel broke the moment as he laughed. Kiona laughed as well.

“No, I just feel that apart of me is up there too. I cant describe it” Kiona said as she trailed off.

Chasel was often jealous of her ease at which she could connect with nature and things beyond what most could feel. Chasel thought deeply and Kiona felt deeply;together that complemented each other well and everyone in the community could sense there love and watched as they grew from childhood friends to intertwined lovers that were inseparable. They stayed out in the field and talked all night under the stars while watching fireflies blink until they could see a brilliant haze peeking out from the horizon.

“We should get back” Kiona said unwillingly

“Yea I know, I just like to get away with you as much as I can now. With everything happening and everyone freaking out like the world is going to end every other day; It's just got me appreciating each moment.” Chasel said with seriousness.

Kiona smiled and hugged him.

“Next year we'll be old enough to be given are own dwelling and we won't have to sneak out anymore. We'll be together until the last star flickers out” Kiona reminded him happily.

Chasel smiled as they both got up feeling very damp from the dew that had slowly absorbed into their clothes without their notice. They walked together on the path that led back to their community, Estaria, until it splintered and led into different sections. They lived on opposite sides of Estaria and always hated the part where they had to let each other go for a short while. It was usually filled with long kisses and many looks back. Estaria was a beautiful and peaceful community filled with more parks and open space than dwellings. Everyone in the community lived small and dreamed big. Most people had jobs in Estaria but some took pedal bikes into the city of Neutra; Most to work on the Blue star project.
They both slipped back into their beds before their parents woke up for their “positions of passion”. His mother worked as a painter and loved to ask Chasel for his thoughts about her current work and loved when he would take out a few moments and paint with her. It had been a while since he painted with her but in his defense, his life had gotten increasingly busy. His father worked on the highly controversial Blue star Project and often came home worried and stressed. Everyone knew that the Blue Star project was a way to understand the sun more and harness it's energy more effectively. A team had been sent five years ago to be stationed around the sun with some top secret equipment meant to test the suns reaction to different experiments. In recent day's some dark secrets of the Blue Star Project had been disclosed to the public from a informant within the company itself. The public was now aware of the dangerous nature of the project and how it had started a small unnatural chemical reaction within our star. Many top scientist's went on record saying that they were ' unsure of the consequences' which didn't help public perception. The truth was out and the Blue Star Project was now under criticism from the world council. No changes were detectable from the naked eye but many said that our star could grow causing the planet to undergo a dramatic climate change. Some said that nothing would happen at all. It seemed like everyone had a opinion on the matter everyone except Kiona and Chasel.
Kiona and Chasel were close to graduating from apprentice to journeyman in their “passion work”. Childhood “passion work” involved each child choosing a craft that excited them and studying under a master. Kiona was a excellent carpenter and carver and had just begun to really scratch the surface of her artistic abilities. Chasel loved studying the planet and the stars using sciences to explain the world around him.
Chasel had left a small piece of parchment on Kiona's window this morning before he left to go unto his studies. Kiona woke up and saw the note immediately because he had a habit of leaving them in the same place; Her eyes often drifted to that window without her realizing. The note read: Good morning love – meet me in the field for lunch.
They both arrived in the field that they had just been in only hours ago and sat down for lunch. Chasel laid a blanket down as Kiona spread the food.

“I have a surprise for you” Chasel said with excitement

“Oooo what is it?” Kiona said with glee. She never could handle surprises and immediately began interrogating Chasel.

“I'm going to be really mean and wait until were finished eating” Chasel said with a devilish grin.

Kiona's reply involved picking up her sandwich and chomping down on it heartily while Chasel laughed.
They finished eating as Chasel pulled out a mysterious package wrapped in cloth.
“Finally” Kiona said in a exasperated tone as both their eye's found it hard to adjust as the light pulsed in a unusual manner.
Chasel gave the cloth wrapped gift to Kiona with glee and watched her open and reveal a smoothly carved object. She gasped as she looked at it further;It was a beautiful wooden star the size of her palm.

“You carved this?” Kiona asked with a tear coming to her eye

“Yea I’ve been working on it for a while, I know it's nothing compared to what you do but I wanted to try”
As Kiona hugged him her eyes drifted towards the horizon as the light from the sun began to oscillate from fading to extremely bright. The shining warmth turned bright hot and receeded back to warmth until there was a giant burst of blue light that blinded both of them. Kiona looked at Chasel as she held his gift tight and motioned towards him. They hugged deeply as the hot blue light overtook them and the rest of their little world.






Millions upon millions of light years and moments away in another corner of a galaxy spun a slightly larger planet teeming with consciousness. Most on this planet celebrated holidays of all sorts but all knew of the Blue Star Day. It was a day of laughter, good food and when night fell all would shut off their lights, hold hands and look up at the bright blue star millions and millions light years away. No one was really sure of when or where the tradition started; Wise ones have said it was something that has been with us since we've been able to tell stories.
It was the night before Blue Star Day as Chase wandered around the village late at night contemplating his place in the world. He wandered until he found himself a little outside of town in a small clearing where the street lights didn't cover the stars as much. It was a beautiful clearing with a small path leading through tall trees and opening into a grass clearing surrounded by more old trees. He rest upon the soft grass and looked up and gazed at the small blue star in the sky. He stared and felt something was missing in his life, no not something, someone he thought. He lay there and felt the words “apart of me in the stars” drift into his mind. He was not really sure where that thought came from. He usually thought deep and logically and that was baffled by the illogical thought he just had. He got up after a bit of bruting and took one last look at the blue star and saw it flash brightly and return to normal.
Chase walked late into the night knowing that he had a day off tomorrow because of the holiday. He eventually returned to his small apartment, slipped into his ruffled bed and fell into a deep sleep. He woke up abruptly to music and cheering.

“Heh... I must have slept through the morning festivities.”He said to himself.

He knew this because they usually saved the live music until the afternoon. He threw on his clothes and looked out the window and saw the streets filled with people laughing and dancing. He could see the familiar kiosks selling beer and tasty treats that slowly wafted up into his window. He smiled and turned on the radio to hear the morning news.
“Scientist's have been detecting some interesting activity coming from the famous blue star...”
He half listened as the news caster as it went on.
“Activity has been increasing steadily for a few months now but nothing like what we've seen within the past few hours”
“This coming on the heels of a long report released from the sun station revealing that experiments with our own sun are progressing and that we can proceed to the next step of the project White Star ”
Chase tuned in and boiled over in anger because of his opinion on the project. White Star was a very polarizing project and he was on the anti-tampering-with-our-source-of-life-side. In the end, no matter how many demonstrations and signatures that activists gathered, the project blazed forward as they searched for better ways of utilizing the suns energy. Chase calmed down as he had a small breakfast knowing he'd be eating allot of festival food. He finished his breakfast sitting on his nook looking out the window. He took one last look out before he decided to head down and saw a beautiful girl with long dark hair and a wooden necklace gazing back at him. They looked at each other for a frozen moment until a group of people walked in front of her and she was gone.
Chase looked out the window for a quick moment trying to find her until he resigned and quickly put on his shoes and threw himself into the bustling party on the street. He enjoyed the festivities of music, dancing, drinking and eating. He spent the day by himself bumping into friends here and there but letting them continue on without him. He couldn't stop thinking about that girl with the long dark hair and found himself looking for her face everywhere.
Chase felt a pang in his heart as dusk fell, realizing he would probably never find her. He walked around the block and took the path that took him out of town and towards the clearing he was in the night before. He sauntered along the path as night fell and peered up as he stepped into the clearing. He looked up as he walked slowly and contemplated the empty feeling in his heart. He walked with his head up looking for the blue star. There was still light coming from the town as his heart beat with excitement to know that the sky would soon burst awake as everyone on this hemisphere would turn off there lights at the same time and look towards the night sky. It's always quite a sight, you don't realize how much you miss until you turn off everything. He continued to walk knowing that any minute the stars would get their moment to shine; Chase kept walking, right into another star gazer looking up as well. They both completely collided and fell unto the ground together feeling very foolish.They both laid on the ground slowly propping themselves up in the complete darkness.

“Sorry I didn't see you there” Chase said concerned and embarrassed

“No, my fault I was looking at the Blue Star and didn't realize anyone was here” A female voice said softly that it made Chase feel even more embarrassed

They both helped each other up in the darkness and stood in silence for a second before Chase broke it.

“I'm Chase by the way” he said with as much bravado he could muster at the moment

“Kara” she said with tenderness and continued

“I've never met someone in the complete darkness before, hooray for new experiences. Did you come out here to watch the lights go off?” She asked

“Oh yes. I love this place, I'm amazed no one knows about it.” Chase said

“Well maybe they do and they're letting us borrow it” she said jokingly.

“What time is it?” She asked while looking towards the light and music of the town.

“About a minute to go” Chase responded while looking at the very dim glow of his solar watch.

“Well it's nice we get to share this together then. Why were you out here all alone?” She asked softly with curiosity

“Probably the same reason that you're here” Chase responded simply.

“Well..... shall we hold hands now?” She asked

Chase responded with a quiet “uhhhh” as she cut him off.

“... Oh come on, It's tradition to hold hands with who ever your with as the lights go off” She said lightly

“Well OK” Chase said trying to hide his desire as Kara talked.

“Do you think they're people out there in some grassy field looking back at us?” Kara asked

Chase paused, feeling as though he had just had a serious case of dejavu as he held out his hands and
Kara held out her hands and they slowly interlocked their fingers as the lights on their side of the world turned off. The sky suddenly multiplied it's lights as the stars burst out with their familiar brilliance. The starlight fell onto the clearing, illuminating their faces and revealing that neither Chase or Kara were looking up into the sky anymore. Chase's eyes had fallen into hers and Kara's into his. Chase saw the familiar beautiful face that was looking up at him through the window this morning. He took in her beauty and she smiled as her necklace caught his attention; It was a beautifully carved wooden star that hung below her starlit face. They both stood there in silence as a small pulse of light above got their attention. They both gazed up as they watched the famous Blue Star starting to oddly pulse with brightness for a few moments. They both gasped as the light burst and grew as big as their sun and fell lightly upon them. They gasped again no longer peering up but looking into each others eyes and remembering a life the blue light had taken away and had now given back to them.