A Hero's (Silly) Return

The royal spaceship, a magnificent vessel that usually gleamed with the captured light of a thousand nebulae, juddered a little as it re-entered the atmosphere. Princess Astra, still clad in her slightly-too-tight space cadet uniform, fidgeted in her seat. Beside her, Gleep, the grumpy alien mechanic, grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like a contented purr, though he’d deny it vehemently if asked. The starlight, a shimmering, ethereal blanket, was once again safely draped over the kingdom. The mischievous comet, thoroughly tickled and quite disoriented, had zoomed off in search of less musical, less ticklish cosmic phenomena.

“We did it, Gleep!” Astra exclaimed, bouncing slightly. “We actually did it!”

Gleep merely grunted, adjusting a dial that probably controlled the ship’s internal temperature, or perhaps just made a funny whirring noise. “You did it,” he corrected, his voice a gravelly rumble. “I merely provided the rusty spaceship and the occasional sarcastic comment.”