Under The Night Sky

JP with Lorem and Cindy

The stars were putting on a spectacular show tonight, taking full advantage of the clouds visiting the eastern mountain sides of Fang. The night air was fresh with the smells of the forest on a gentle breeze. The sounds were tranquil, creating a pleasant background ambience for a group of four friends enjoying each other’s company around the warm glow of a fire.

They had all finished a hearty meal, compliments of the hunting talents of Islana and the field cooking expertise of Alexis. The only bee stings that remained were the ones they chose to keep as fond memories or inside jokes. They had all had an honest days labor in their perspective areas contributing to the success of the Greyriver Steading and were now able to enjoy some quality time.

Gonyaul felt a deep sense of satisfaction and joy. It was a breathtaking night. He was surrounded by friends that he had grown to consider his new family. They were building a place together that was something to feel proud about; more than a place, a home. To top it off, Boyce was playing a soothing melody as after dinner entertainment.

Gonyaul was smiling by the time the music came to an end. He was leaning back on the ground looking up at the stars daydreaming and wondering if someone in particular was also looking at that same star tonight. If so, he hoped them safe and well.

The training sessions with Alexis, had been more therapeutic for Islana than she could have ever thought when first starting them. There hadn't been a lot of them due to other duties but a few but still, it had helped the young huntress feel more secure and take back some of the power she had lost, maybe misplaced was a better word.

She had offered to clean up from dinner, the woman had done that to the sounds of Boyce's music. Part of her wondering if maybe she should let her friends in on her other secret, this one a lot less serious than the others.

Finished now with the cleanup the youngest of the group came over and sat down by her friends. Gonyaul looked like his mind was thinking of something far away.

The motion to his left, as Islana came back to the group, brought Gonyaul back to earth. He rolled over to face her. The fire light was reflecting in his dark eyes, giving them a sparkle of wonder.

“Islana. You want see an excellent star?”

"Sure," Islana smiled at him.

The young woman didn't know much about stars. She was wondering what star he was talking about.

Moving her gaze upward to the sky, her eyes followed to where he was pointing and explaining. Islana realized that she was understanding Gonyaul a lot more recently than when they had first started staying on the property, as long as he wasn't speaking or signing in his own language.

It took the redhead a few moments but then it clicked completely where the star was.

"Yes, I see it. It is beautiful."

He beamed. “Favorite star.” He could fondly remember all the astronomy lessons growing up as a kid gazing up at the night sky from the top of the jungle canopy.

“Not what seems. It not one but two stars.” It definitely looked like one star.

“You must not look at it, but look just little away from it.” The trick was to glance just to the side of the star with your focal vision and allow your peripheral vision, which was better at detecting contrast changes, to see the stars. If this was done, the one star would separate into two stars in your peripheral vision.

It was in fact two stars. They were separated by light years in the heavens; however, the way they were aligned in the night sky made them appear on top of one another; which made them look as one.

“Names are Noiratus and Abnih.” Which in common tongue would translate to Stallion and Mare.

Islana couldn't really see it as two stars. She listened to him talk about how to see the two separate stars.

Green eyes looked up again, then a little to the side. "Is there more to seeing it as two? Is it - side vision?"
Trying to figure out how to explain what she meant.

"Noiratus and Abnih", she repeated, not sure if the pronunciation was correct, even if it was pretty close and having no idea what the words meant.

Gonyaul didn’t know the word in their language for peripheral. He nodded.

“Yes, use side vision to see. No look right at it.” As he spoke he physically demonstrated doing it yet again. The one star would separate into two.

“Noiratus and Abnih show goal of marriage.” Gonyaul quickly shared one of the lessons taught to him. “Two become one. Mind, body and soul. Both stay as own person but grow closer to oneness.”

While Gonyaul was indeed a hopeful romantic, he wasn’t trying to allude or make a move in this instance. It was just a fact that it was his favorite star and he was enjoying sharing that information. He continued on with another very brief summary of a longer lesson regarding the star.

“Also teach that sometime to see what real happen, must learn to see different. Use side vision. Good problem solve, yes? If keep looking direct at problem may no see solution. Instead, look side vision and see opportunity show selfs.”

The actual lesson dealt with the power of belief systems, and how one had the rational capability to make a binary choice that could change your perception, leading to innovative new behaviors and results. That the ability to win all possible dominance hierarchies that exist is to foremost learn how to control the super power of where one places their attention. He laughed inwardly, remembering how much he was disciplined as a child to learn and practice paying attention.

Islana tried looking at the star again, using her peripheral vision this time.

"Oh, I see it now. That's really amazing."

The young woman had certainly a lot of nights being under the stars but had never noticed that before, of course she had been preoccupied with other concerns at the time.

Islana wasn't as much of a romantic as Gonyaul. She knew people did indeed fall in love but had also seen what could happen when the two sharing their soul became torn apart. How it could destroy a person.

Then there was the idea of the marriages in which clearly love is not a factor.

Unfortunately, despite her lack of years, Islana had witnessed both things. It had left her with a guarded heart when it came to the idea of someday falling love or being married.

Still, she could tell Gonyaul was just sharing facts with her and Islana wasn't going to bring up any of her actual feelings on marriage at the moment. So, the redhead didn't respond to the marriage part.

"It does make sense that looking at things, more than one way,would give another perspective and possibly a better solution."

Gonyaul smiled and nodded in affirmation he could have toured her around the entire night sky; however, he was not one to show off, so he didn’t. He felt energized just to have other people around to enjoy life with and it was obvious by his puppy dog like enthusiasm.

While the lore of what happened to his people was horrific, his life growing up really was an ideal upbringing saturated with goodness, love and belonging. They had hidden and removed themselves so well from the concerns and woes that the rest of the world was still experiencing. The world had forgotten the Vaux, but in turn the Vaux avoided the world to create their own piece of heaven in balance, peace and harmony. In short, Gonyaul had lived a sheltered life, up until venturing out into the unknown world.

“You have favorite?” He inquired.

A favorite star? The young woman had honestly never gave that much thought before.

Directing her green eyes upward, once more, scanning the night sky, then it dawned on her.

Her hand came up and she pointed out one star, a little bit to the right of the one that Gonyaul had pointed out.

"It's easier to see in the winter months but starting from that one and going backwards, it always looks like an arrow to me. Depending on where it was I could always tell, approximately, how much time before spring or winter would arrive."

That summed up the young woman knowledge, or lack of, when it came to stars. Islana had simply found a point of something, her eyes could recognize as familiar, and used it to help the young hunteress survive from one day to the next when living on her own the woods. What the constellation actually was could be completely different from what she had seen.

Gonyaul grinned knowingly. The star she chose and assigned to an arrow constellation was indeed another constellation and had a name; however, it was her imagination and her night sky so he wasn’t going to mention that. He, nor his people, owned the heavens.

It always marveled him the imaginative power of individuals.

“Good choice. You should name it. Then have a friend to watch over you at night always. “ he suggested.