They head back out and admire the sky for a moment. Is the sky clear, are the stars out?

She gazes softly up at them for a long moment.

<Thinking about traveling them, eventually?>

<Perhaps,> Maya replies with a shrug, <but in a world with intentful navigation, what kind of stars even are there? I'd love to find out, but I won't get my hopes up on that.>

<Sensible. This world's made one of us cry once already.>

<We're not going to give up on hoping altogether, though, loves. Whatever we find, both down here and up there, we're going to make the most of it. Together.>

After a chorus of <together>, they go to bed.

Dawn arrives, and with it the revolving constellations make their presences more blatantly known once again. One of the smaller stars passes in range, and the grasping cord reaches out from them and latches onto it. Molten starmetal pours down the tether, into their heart. Deep at the core of them, where they now know to be their soul or souls, a forge hammer strikes the glowing metal. And another. And another. The weight of it builds and peaks over the course of a timeless span of countless blows.

Just as swiftly as it started, it stops. Sable is left wide awake, blinking, gasping a bit, as the new knowledge settles into their shared mindspace.

Aerospace Engineering Makes Things Go Fast (Kerbal Space Program) 100

You have an intuitive grasp on the mechanics of wind-flow, material sciences, atmospheric drag, tensile strengths, rocketry, so on and so forth, and how it applies to the art of designing vehicles that traverse the sky and space.

<I want to say "ow", but that's not exactly it? Still leaves me reeling, though.> She stands up and starts stretching.

<The text of it definitely feels distinctly "perk"-flavored again, though, and more engineering besides. We're building a theme here.>

<We are. I think it's something to consider when we get tools in our hands, however. You can be the one to say goodbye to Lily this morning, Sable.>

<Appreciated, love.> She sends her girls a burst of affection, gets ready, and heads out to the pump.

Lily pokes her head out the kitchen door in short order. "Good morning! Stew?"

"I'd love some." She steps inside with Lily, smiling warmly.

There's plenty of stew for both of them. Lily is a bit sleepy at first, but shakes it off soon enough.

"Did you sleep well?"

"We did! For some reason we can't manage to sleep past dawn, though. You?"

Om nom tasty stew.

"Oh? I do usually wake a little after dawn, but I do that on purpose."

She shrugs and nods. "We don't mind rising early, but it would be nice to have a choice in the matter. Couldn't say what's doing it, though."

"How odd. Well, whatever it is, I hope it clears up." In the meantime, stew.

It won't, not anytime soon, but she doesn't mention any of that. Stew is a very nice consolation prize.

It's great stew! Lily's vegetables really are top-tier quality.

"So, you said you wanted to walk off with two days' rations this morning, if I remember right? Do you want it right away, or are you going to collect Torok first?"

She hums thoughtfully. "Probably collect Torok first. Spend some of my vegetable budget on feeding my escort, too."

"Sensible."