Outside this window there is - well, what might be considered either no sun at all, or countless suns, depending on the knowledge base of the viewer. Countless stars are visible in the deep void of space outside, erupting one after the other into glorious explosions, the cosmos' answer to every fireworks display from the beginning of time to the end.

Away from the window, Syl's village has also been replaced. Rather than whatever they had been expecting to see, they find themselves standing in a strange room, tables and chairs spread across the floor in front of them, booths towards the edges, a grand fireplace taking up one whole wall with cozy couches festooned with decorative pillows and blankets. Speaking of festooning, intricately cut paper snowflakes hang down from the ceiling, and branches of holly curl over the walls, the berries so vibrantly red they might be alive. A dusting of something white and powdery, snow-like but for its unmelting state, scatters slightly under their footsteps, sticking briefly to their legs before falling back to the floor.

At the other end of the room from the door they came in through, a long bartop stretches across the space, stools positioned along it at staggered intervals.

Sitting on one of those stools is a person, albeit of an unfamiliar kind to Syl. Not too tall, two arms and two legs, two eyes and two small round ears on either side of their head, pale brown skin, with long, thin black fibers draping down from their head, dressed in patchy and thick dark brown fabric over lighter pale cloth. They seem to be alternatively writing and reading small notes as they sip on a viscous white beverage, evidently not noticing Syl's entrance.

"Hello there, Do you understand me?"

The persons starts, though not enough to spill their drink which they clutch protectively. "Oh, hello! I didn't see you there. Yes, I can understand you." They turn around on their stool, and now viewing Syl stare with unmitigated fascination. "Ooh, I've never seen someone quite like you! Are you like-- ah, are you something other than human?"

"I've never heard of Humans! I'm a Hearthian, there used to be another sapient species called the Nomai in our solar system but we've only found their bones in our exploration. You don't look like one of them."

"I was talking about solar systems with Bar a little while ago! It's a such a fascinating and beautiful concept. I'd heard a bit about that sort of thing from my mother and grandmother but there's so much more to than the stories said. What is yours like, other than not having Nomai anymore? And, if you've found bones but there aren't any of them around, does that mean you don't have a way to bring people back to life? I know that things used to be like for my mom and grandmother before they came to the Pines. What do you do when someone dies?" The person, who is giving off a great deal of excited energy, takes a sip of their drink, perhaps to wet their throat, but also tamping down their phrenesis. "Mm, I wish we had eggnog back home. Uh. I'm Ira, by the way. Who are you?"

"You can bring people back from the dead? That's amazing!! As for what we do... we usually bury their body in the ground. And we have a party celebrating their life."

Ira nods. "I think that's what some people did where my mom and grandma came from, and, If we bring some proof of them having existed, the Hearth can bring people back if we wish for it on Wishing Night. Usually, at least. It can't bring my mom back for some reason, probably because of how she died. And, uh, sorry if me asking who you are was bad." She takes another sip of eggnog.

"Oh, I'm Sylvite, but most people just call me Syl. What do you mean by proof?"

"It's good to meet you, Syl." Ira gives a smile and welcoming nod. "And, some sort of remnant or piece of them usually, or at least that's what we use when we bring the chickens back. I think that a picture or diary or something like that might work too though, but we've never had the chance to test it."

"Well, bones are something we have plenty of for the Nomai... it's like they just left people where they died even if they were in the way... or like they all died at once. I don't really know that people would want to dig up the graveyard... we Hearthians live good long lives and generally people've made their peace with things before the end."

Expressions of fascination and concern briefly war on Ira's face. "I guess you don't know what happened to them? Which makes sense I suppose, if there aren't left to talk about it. Did they leave any writing behind?"

"Oh lots, that's my main project aside from Astronaut training. We're trying to make something that can translate their writing. We can do it manually ourselves but it takes forever. Most of the samples we're using are from what seems to be the school they had on Brittle Hollow."

"Astronaut training..." Ira repeats breathily, clearly tantalized. "Have you gone flying, or into space? Or are you not that far in your training? And, what do you know about the Nomai from what you've translated so far?"

"I've tagged along in Gabbro and Chert's ships for some short flights, mine is under construction. I've gone flying a bunch around Timber Hearth with my Jetpack and also practiced a bunch in the zero-g cave."

Ira's eyes all but sparkle as she envisions Syl's activities just from these brief mentions. "I wish I could see it for myself, it sounds so wonderful." She takes another sip, and seems to consider something. "So, Timber Hearth I guess is your home planet, if yoiu're Hearthian?" She giggles a little."I wonder if the world my mother or grandmother were from were ever called Hum. Or I suppose it might just be one part of the planet? And Brittle Hollow is another planet, or part of a planet? You're Sylvite, and there's also Gabbro and Chert. Is it traditional for Hearthians to be named after types of rock? Do you know any Nomai names? I don't really know what my name means, if it means anything other than just me."

"Plants, the Nomai names we can translate are all plants or plant related. You're right about all your other guesses. Timber Hearth and Brittle Hollow are both planets. Two of the seven if you count the Interloper and Dark Bramble... depends who you talk to whether or not they should."

Ira nods. "My grandma talked about people always arguing about which things exactly were planets or just something like a planet but not enough to count. I guess Timber Hearth probably is forresty. What are the trees like, do they have needles like the ones in the Pines do or do they have big, flat leaves? And, what's Brittle Hollow like, and all your other planets and not-necessarily-planets?"

"I didn't know trees could have needles. That's neat. Timber Hearth is the only planet where you can breathe everywhere instead of just near trees. Maybe that's because there's so many trees on the planet we're not sure. There are trees on other planets too but not nearly as many. We're not really sure what makes trees special. Most of the important stuff on Timber Hearth is in or around the craters. The village is in one, the wandering grove is in another, the main place the Nomai seem to have built is around a crater and a mountain next to it. As for other places, there's our moon the Attlerock, it's the smallest place you can safely visit in the solar system and it has a massive crater in one side where a piece of the planet that used to be where Dark Bramble is crashed into it. Dark Bramble is this really weird plant... as far as we can tell it grew in the middle of the old planet until it broke it apart and flung bits away. That was a really long time ago though... even before the Nomai we think since they left writing talking about Dark Bramble. No Hearthian has ever explored Dark Bramble. It's really intimidating. I already mentioned the Interloper. It has a weird orbit that's super elliptical and it's made almost entirely of ice. We don't know much else about it. Brittle Hollow is the planet we know the most about besides Timber Hearth it's hollow and there's a black hole in the middle. The Nomai built all their stuff hanging upside down from the crust to avoid being sprayed by the hot ash and bits of lava that its moon Hollow's Lantern spits out periodically. And then there's the Hourglass twins. They're like an hourglass for some reason... we don't know why... periodically the sand flows from one to the other and then back. The Nomai built a huge structure all the way around the Ash twin's equator... we think it's related to their teleportation technology but nobody's been able to get it to turn on. The last planet is Giant's Deep it's got a thick green atmosphere so you can't see down into it unless you fly in. There's a big Nomai space station nobody can open in orbit and periodically giant tornados fling the floating islands into space before they fall back down. Hmm, there's also that small Nomai space station in close orbit of the sun... everyone agrees it's too dangerous to get close enough to the sun to visit it though."

Ira nods again. "I think that trees and other plants breath differently from people and animals, so they breath in what we breath out, and breath out the things we need to breath in? Or at least that's how it's supposed to work for humans in the worlds we're from. Hm..." She takes another sip. "I wonder if maybe it's related to the Nomai? If they named themselves after plants it would make sense if they were important to them, so maybe they're involved with trees and all that? Oh, also, sorry if I've been distracting you from getting a drink or something to eat."

"I don't think that's how our trees work... there's air around trees even when we plant them in a vaccum. We haven't found Nomai writing either way... so maybe they made them. It's a mystery. There's food here? I didn't realize... I mean I saw you drinking, you said that was eggnog I think, but I didn't make the connection. What kinds of stuff can you get here?"

"I was snacking on some roasted pine-nuts earlier, but I don't actually know what things Bar has? Or doesn't have. I asked for a suggestion of what do drink and this eggnog was one her ideas and that turned out great, so you can probably ask her to recommend something to eat too?"

"The Bar is a person who can talk? That's fascinating can bars usually talk the translation doesn't make it sound like that's usually something bars can do."

"The stories my grandma tells me where people like Bar exist are usually fictional, but the Hearth can talk on Wishing Night, sort of, so I don't really know? I guess you don't have any people who aren't Hearthians or Nomai in your world?"

"Not that we know of... it's a big universe though. Who knows what's out there. Our ships aren't good enough to make the journey to other star systems yet but with a few more decades I bet we'll have that down. The leading hypothesis is that the Nomai came from another solar system if we can find out how they did it we can do it too."

Ira nods and takes a sip again. She wear a contemplative look and doesn't say much for a moment before asking, "So, what were you doing when you came in? I was just coming back inside from checking on the chickens."

"I was on my way to find Hal and work on the translation tool. I think I figured out how to fix part of the grammar system."

"Oh, that's good! I hope your fix works out. What is the Nomai language like? Do you have any examples you could show me? I always want to think about languages when work on the settings for my stories but grandma doesn't know much about it and we don't have many books on it so it's hard to know what would make sense."

"I have a picture here." Sylvite hands over a printed photo about half a meter across. "You can see how it's written out in spirals. Each branch is a reply to what it branches off from. The start of each branch is usually the name of the person writing."

Ira takes the fact that she can read this unfamiliar text without effort in stride. "Ooh. That's a much more conversational way of writing than the books we have! I wonder if writing was a much more important way of communicating for them than it was for humans, compared to speech. And it's interesting how this writing ends up looking like plants. I wonder if that plays into plants being important to the Nomai, or if I'm only seeing it because I've started to think that."

What does this snippet of Nomai text say?

FILIX: Has anyone observed the phantom moon that sometimes greets us in the night sky? Your thoughts interest me.

    THATCH: I compliment your eyes! How do you imagine it disappears? Hypothesis: Could it be a shift in the light spectrum?

    PLUME: Suppose this moon is too shy to show us its face.

    PLUME: I’m interested in your playful moon. Is it much like its violent friend (Hollow’s Lantern)?

    THATCH: Imagine if there were two volcanic moons.

        PLUME: Then I imagine there’d be none of us left!

            FILIX: Hypothesis: There can exist too much lava.

            THATCH: I’d strongly prefer we test the null hypothesis.

    FILIX: This moon isn’t volcanic (to my unaided eyes). Sometimes it leaves its friend Hollow’s Lantern for nights at a time.

        PLUME: The nights the moon circles this planet appear random. It seems to travel as it likes.

"Huh! Do you know anything about this disappearing moon the Nomai are talking about? You mentioned the Nomai had teleportation technology, do you think it could be related?"

"We call it the quantum moon, it moves when you're not looking at it, there's areas on Brittle Hollow and Timber Hearth where other things behave the same way. It's a weird effect, entire trees, roots and all just aren't there anymore with unbroken dirt in their place. Look away again and they sometimes reappear as if they never left. We think it might have something to do with this one weird type of rock we haven't seen elsewhere. There's a bit of it in our museum and it behaves the same way despite not being in either of the areas."

"I wonder how the effect goes from being in rocks to being in trees? Given how different your trees are I shouldn't assume they work the same, so, how do you get more trees? You mentioned planting them but do they make seeds? Do you take cuttings? Do you get them some other way?"

"Our trees have seeds, and then they grow when planted in the dirt. How the rock makes trees and signs and such behave differently is a mystery. Gabbro seems to understand it better than anyone, they managed to make a signpost where the attached signs change order. They couldn't really explain how it worked when I asked though. It was a lot of trial and error."

Ira nods. "I imagine it could be tricky to work with something that can disappear as soon as you look away from it. I wonder what it's like, to be the tree? What does it seem like when to us it isn't there? Does it experience anything at all or does it just skip to the next time it exists? Actually, hm. Do you know if you do something to one of these quantum things, whether it stays that way after it disappears and then reappears again? Like if you carved into the trunk of one of the quantum trees, would the carving still be there when it reappeared? I guess it has to, if Gabbro was able to make a sign like this. I wonder if you made a clock that was quantum whether it'd count time while it was gone, and how much time. Oh! Do you know where this bit of Nomai text was found? Given how it has three different people and they all contribute to it more than once I get the feeling it must have been a place they visited frequently, or maybe stayed at for a while."

"Oh, we're pretty sure it doesn't really disappear, it just moves. Whenever you look at the rock in the museum it's always somewhere it just doesn't stay in the same place if you blink or look away. I think this particular text is from a wall at the north pole of Brittle Hollow. It's right above the biggest city of theirs we've found. Feldspar's reports said it looks like there used to be a pretty direct route down into the city but it's broken now."

"Huh! I wonder how the quantum things, uh...know where to go? Maybe they start as just a small difference and then over time they get separated more and more. Do you know if a quantum thing can have three or four or more different sort of places it can be? Or, hm, maybe they only have one sort of normal, consistent spot and when they disappear they go to a different other place every time. And, huh! I'm kind of surprised it's only the three of them if it's such a high traffic area, but maybe that's just part of the social rules for Nomai. These three don't seem like strangers, at least to me."

"The one in the museum switches between three tree stumps. Most of the other quantum obiects switch between more than that. The Quantum Moon can orbit in at least five places. As for high traffic, I don't think the Nomai went above the surface often. The vast majority of their structures are under the surface and the paths between them are too."

"Oh, huh. I suppose it may have been some special place for these ones then. Maybe they worked there, or it was a place for them to hang out." She takes another snip, before seemingly having some internal realization and putting on a somewhat chastised expression, if such is recognizable to Syl. "Sorry, I've hardly let you ask any questions yourself, or even sit down."

Syl takes the prompt to sit down. "It's alright, there's a lot of mysteries in our solar system and they're all so exciting. I can't wait to try to find the answers so it makes sense that you're interested in them too. Hmm, Bar can you recommend something I've never tried before but you think I'll like?"

A napkin appears on the bartop, bearing a short message in neat, feminine handwriting.

Certainly, says the napkin. 

Next to the it appears a large ceramic mug of something warm and fragrant, smelling of herbs and spices and light sweetness. It steams gently.

Syl picks it up and smells it, feels the warmth of the mug in their hands... "That doesn't smell like anything I've smelled before, this is great!" They take a sip... "Ooh, I don't know why we didn't think to try heating up things and drinking them, it's such an obvious idea in retrospect. This is really good." They drink some more.

Ira nods vigorously. "Hot drinks are the best! They change how all the ingredients taste so much, plus they always feel great when you come in from the cold." She takes another sip and really relishes it, consciously registering its tastes and aromas, its texture, its warmth. "Do you not cook things on Timber Hearth? Or are just hot drinks new to you?"

"Just hot drinks, we cook Marshmallows all the time and we make fish stew pretty often."

Ira nods. "Huh. I wonder if we could make marshmallows back home. Do you know how to make them? And, ooh, fish stew. I've heard about fish, and seafood, for so long. Maybe I should get some. Bar, would that be covered with books I traded earlier or should I go get something else to trade?"

The books will more than cover a seafood dish, yes, the words appear on the napkin with their suggestions as though an invisible person were writing them out, Do you have a specific one in mind?

"Hm..." Ira considers that for a moment, before glancing over to Syl. "Maybe something from Syl's world, if it's safe for me to eat? Other than that I more than trust your judgement." She takes another sip of eggnog.

Ira will receive a lovingly carved bowl full of gently steaming fish stew, then!

"Marshmallows are a lot of work, you need to refine sap to get sugar and fish to get gelatin and a lot of patience to get the consistency right."

Mm, delicious fish stew. Ira has thought a lot about the ways that it might taste, though naturally that doesn't apply as much since this is Timber Hearth fish and not fish from her mother or grandmother's world, but still, there's a great sense of satisfaction, above and beyond the excellent flavor and ground-level dining experience, of being able to able to know, in a way she couldn't before, what this is like. "Well, if there's one thing that we have plenty of in the Pines it's time. Do you think we could use chicken bones instead of fish bones? Do you have chickens, or other birds, on Timber Hearth? Or I guess any other planet. Do any of the other planets have animals?"

"There's the anglerfish we think are from Dark Bramble, we have one in the museum and the giant jellyfish that probably came from the planet where Dark Bramble used to be. Those are too big to put one in the museum. Otherwise, we don't really see any animals around."

"Huh! I wonder how the anglerfish got to Timber Hearth? Or whatever planet it was found at. What other sorts of things do you have at the museum? It sounds like it's got a lot of interesting stuff."

"Oh it was clinging to the landing gear of one of our ships. And we have a bunch of small things, there's a Nomai skeleton, a part of a Nomai building with some text and a star shaped symbol they put a lot of places, a small collection of Nomai pottery, a gravity crystal from Brittle Hollow, an exhibit about the life cycle of stars, a small exhibit about our new deep space satellite, an exhibit about how we use salvaged Nomai tech to enhance our ships and scouts and of course a bunch of photos other astronauts took while exploring."

"It survived on the landing gear of your ship, all the way between planets? Wow, that's a remarkably persistent fish. Why do you think it comes from Dark Bramble, though? If no one's been there, I mean. And, I wonder what the significance of the star symbol is. Do any of the Nomai texts you have talk about it?"

"We don't know for sure it's just Chert's best guess as to where it came from after they noticed it was attached to their ship. As for the symbol, our best guess is that it matches to something they called The Eye of the Universe."

"Fair enough, and ooh, that sounds important! Do you know anything about this Eye?"

"Not very much, we know they were searching for it, they built something to try to find it on the Attlerock, and there's suggestions that the big dome on Brittle Hollow's south pole was built to continue that search but we haven't found a way inside. The symbol is also on the spaceship or probe inside the space station around Giant's Deep we haven't found a way inside that either though. One of the areas of the hanging city on Brittle Hollow is also supposed to have more information but the path is pretty treacherous and so Riebeck doesn't feel up to risking it. I'm better with a jetpack though so when I go out I'll be sure to take a look."

"Interesting! I hope you do find out more about it, and maybe if I'm still here when you do I can ask you more about it then." She pauses to eat some more of her fish stew, then take another couple sips of eggnog. "Are there any other places you want to go, once you have your own ship?"

"I want to explore everywhere, I'll probably wait to explore Dark Bramble everyone is worried about it for good reasons but... I want to find Feldspar and they were known for seeking out challenges and trying to be the first at things. If they're alive somewhere I think they might be there."

Ira nods. "I hope that you find them, and, find them alive and well, or as well as they could be. Honestly, I wish I could join you. There's so much in your world, so much mystery to explore. And jetpacks!"

"Maybe you can? I just walked through a door. I don't know how this works though.... Bar do you happen to know?"

Napkin!

They are able to go with you, yes. The door will open to your world only if you open it, at which point you may admit whoever you wish to. Should you let go of it, it will close, at which point if you are on this side of the door time will be at a stand-still in the world you came from, as it is now. Should you be outside, the door will disconnect from Milliways and return to leading where it usually would.

"I see, thank you for explaining that Bar. Well it certainly sounds like you could come if you wanted. I don't know how you would get home though. I've never heard of anyone going to Milliways before."

Ira frowns, just a little, as she thinks on this. "I haven't either. Bar, if I open the door and head back to the Pines, could Syl hold the door open for me to come back in? And, if I went with Syl back to their world, would time start to pass in the Pines again?"

I'm afraid if you let go of your door it will close. You could, however, hold the door yourself, while Syl gathers any items you might like to have on the other side.

As for the passage of time, so long as you intend to return to Pines, time should remain frozen until such a time as you return or until your death, whichever happens first, barring unusual circumstances.

Ira nods, and thinks on this for a long few moments. if Syl doesn't speak up, she'll offer this thought. "It's nearly Wishing Night in the Pines, just a few nights away. If we leave them a note and piece of me, they should be able to wish for me back. Would you be willing to help me with that, Syl?"

"Of course. Everyone at the village will be so excited to meet you. A real living alien."

Ira beams. "There are some writing tools in the cabinets on the left side of the glass room door, which will be straight ahead when you enter. It's not exactly the same as with Bar, but there's a wish that translates meaning in my home as well, so you can just write things down however you normally do. Please let them know that I'm alright, and that I've gone on an adventure to another world, but that I'll need for them to wish me back on Wishing Night, and that I'll tell them all about it as soon as they do. And," she plucks one of the thin black fibers from her head, wincing slightly as she does, and hands it Syl, "put this with the note."

Then Ira gets up and heads to the door, opening it for Syl.

"I can do that. Sounds simple enough." Syl walks through the door and writes a short note to that effect, sets down the hair in a neat coil and walks back through the door.

Ira closes the door, and then sits back down at the bar to finish her stew and eggnog. "So, what should I know before I meet your people? And maybe we should work out a dictionary between our languages in case neither of the translation effects follow me to your world."

"There aren't a lot of us, there's 126 of us in the village? Everyone's expected to pitch in and help with taking care of things. Building ships is a lot of work so depending you might end up sharing mine though if you're willing to wait long enough Slate is always trying to build new ships. If you're going to be exploring with me you'll need a jetpack and you'll need to learn to use it. I'm not sure if our medical supplies will work for you. Not sure how to confirm that one way or another though. Hornfels is close to being in charge of the space program these days though Gossan is still in charge of training and Slate's in charge of making the ships. Rutile is mayor and makes sure everyone is doing their fair share of the work on village things. Otherwise I don't really know, everyone has their own quirks. I'm sure you'll find a way to fit in. A dictionary is probably a good idea. Maybe we should borrow more writing materials either from your house or mine?"

Ira nods. "Maybe yours, since we're going back to your world. It probably wouldn't be a big deal but in case my family needs all the spare pages we have it'd be better to not take off into another world."

Presumably they do a similar sort of operation as moment ago but with Syl on the door and Ira grabbing the writing stuff, and work on the dictionary as they eat?

Yep, there isn't a lot of spare paper but there's a bunch of photos they can write on the back of.

Excellent! Probably makes sense to try and associate the words with what's on the photos, just to minimize confusion at a later point, but they may not have the room spare for that.

Once the food's all eaten and the dictionary has at least a basic vocabulary fleshed out, Ira feels she's ready to go!

Syl holds open the door to a new world.

Onwards, to Timber Hearth and beyond!