When the Stardust Settles (and I Still Like Her)

Previously

…Lyra, the brilliant, the revered Lyra, was asking to see her work. Her secret, her theory, her half-formed ideas, were being acknowledged. A wave of warmth, brighter than any star, spread through her. Her shyness hadn’t completely vanished, but it was now a quiet hum beneath a rising tide of exhilaration. “Yes, Mistress Lyra,” Elara managed, her voice filled with a newfound steadiness. “I’ll show you.” As she opened her notebook, the faint light of the observatory’s lamps glinted off the silver embroidery of Lyra’s gown, mirroring the distant, shimmering stars that both women so deeply loved. The night, it seemed, was just beginning to reveal its secrets.