Page 1 of Ava Stargazer

“Hold it like this, Ava.” Vox held out a flat stone to her, showing her how to wrap her fingers around it tightly.

“Okay.” Ava launched the stone into the lake, where it sank immediately.Harder than it looks.She frowned at the spot where it’d slipped under the water.

Vox threw another, and it skipped along the lake.One ... two ... three ...All the way until six before sinking.

Ava looked across the lake doubtfully. “How do you do that?”

“Years of boredom.” Vox threw another with ease. “Erox and I used to compete with literally everything. My brother never could do this well either though.”

Her eyes followed the rock while it skipped across the lake. She launched hers a second later, and it bounced once.

He tilted his head toward her. “Better.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She rubbed her wet hands on her jumpsuit.

It had been two weeks since she first stepped onto Xai’s soil. Two weeks of learning to live in sunshine alongside Vox and the other Vorbax. Two weeks of living life as someone who was free.

She watched Vox throw another rock.He makes it look so easy.His body was different from her Human one, tall and muscular with frills on top of his head instead of long hair like her. And he was blue. Very blue, compared to her pale skin. With golden lines intersecting across his body, reflecting from the sun above.

Ava looked down at her arm.Not quite so pale.In fact, parts of her skin were positively rosy, a side effect she attributed to being outside so much. There was a single sun here, so large on the horizon that it took up almost a quarter of the sky. Xai was relatively far from it, but the sun was so massive that it still gave off enough heat to warm the world.

After a few more throws, Ava put down the rocks and began exploring around the lake’s edge.The water is more interesting.The lake reflected her face back to her as she leaned forward. She bent down to put her hand in, water rushing over her fingers. Her bare toes squished into the mud where the water splashed. “Vox?”

“Hold on a moment, Rhutg is trying to connect.” Vox was shining when she turned around, her hand dripping. His head was tilted, a muted glow on his body as he communicated far away.

Ava went back to the water, reaching for the rocks right underneath the surface and felt the slippery growth on them from the lake. She dripped some of the cool water on her arm, waiting for Vox to be done. Her reddened skin felt like it was on fire.Why is it like this from the sun?

The water wasn’t as soothing as the healing cream in the engine room, but it did help take away some of the sting. Itprobably wasn’t good to be out in the heat so much, but Ava just couldn’t help herself.I love Xai’s sun.

Vox came up to her a second later, bending over to where she sat. He picked up a rock and threw it, a little harder than before. The rock sank before he spoke. “The quorum here wants to meet with us. Rhutg just arranged it.”

“The quorum?” Ava echoed as her heart rate picked up.

“Yes. I tried to put this meeting off as long as I could.”

“Why?”

Vox shifted his stance, scuffling his feet, which looked like Ava’s, in the dirt next to her. “Why? They don’t really understand about Humans. Or about us.”

Don’t understand.Ava bit her lip as she held her legs to her chest. She figured as much. “Oh.”

“Rhutg will join us. He used to be a part of the Vorbax Quorum, after all.” He connected his forehead to hers. “It will be fine, Ava. Just an annoyance.”

Anxiety prickled through her as she thought about meeting Xai’s ruling body. “Well, better to get it over with.”

“Yes. It won't last long.”

“I hope so.”

Vox sat next to her on the water’s edge. She wiggled her toes next to his, slightly splashing. “How is the water cold even though it is so hot outside?”

“The lake is always like that. Look, Ava.” He pointed in the distance, across the muddy lake next to his home and fields. “See my trap? I think it caught something.”

Ava pulled her visor down low to shade her eyes, squinting in the direction he pointed.All the way over there?She watched Vox as he walked through the shallow water of the lake, opening his trap to reveal a small creature.

“Ah yes. Look! Here, I'll show you.” He lifted the animal and put it in a bag, a boyish grin on his face. There was an easybalance in his step as he walked back over the slippery rocks to show her.

Her face scrunched as he opened the bag and showed the flopping creature to her. “And we will eat that?”

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