After

EIGHT MONTHS LATER.

That morning a soft, romantic sound woke Avine from her usual dream, a dream she still didn't know how to define, let alone erase. And for once more she was grateful to her neighbors in the building across the street, whose graceful, blonde eldest daughter was practicing for a ballet performance, and whose dream would be to perform in the great Egan Opera House, which for any classical dancer was the pinnacle of her career. Just thinking about that name, that planet, made Avine feel her chest tear.

Dissipating the last mists of sleep, the stream of astral light woke her up completely.