TGWTSBE Chapter 6

The Girl With the Star-Bit Eyes
VI. Apricot


The turquoise comet was now their home – permanently.

For decades, and eventually centuries, they continued on their search for the comet that contained Luma's mother. But for all of the time and comets that passed them, no results came.

Whenever Luma grew despondent, Rosalina would sweep him into her arms, saying things like, "Now now, Luma, the rain clouds won't go away if you keep crying," and "I'll give you a present if you stop." They were both alone in the universe, now; they had to stick together.

Rosalina's growth had begun to slow. She passed into a maturation so that she resembled a young woman, before stopping altogether. An untapped reservoir of power had formed within her, waiting for her to become aware of its presence.

One day, after their seventy-fourth unsuccessful comet, Luma told her softly, "Rosalina, I think I made a mistake."

"What?" Rosalina grinned weakly. "Oh, no. Don't tell me that you don't think your mama's on a comet anymore! That would mean we've been looking in the wrong places."

"No, not that." Luma appeared quite serious. "We've been spending all this time looking for my mama, but I think I found her already."

"What?"

"YOU'RE my mama, Rosalina."

It took Rosalina a few seconds to wrap her mind around this announcement. She recalled something her own mother had said in a never-distant dream: "You have a family of your own now."

"I found you while I was looking for my mama," Luma continued. "But it took me a long time to figure it out. I don't think my mama's coming back, Rosalina. I don't think she's on a comet or anywhere else. She sent me to you so I would never be alone. YOU'RE my mama, Rosalina."

Rosalina was thunderstruck. It was all she could do to murmur, "Oh, Luma," and pull the small star-being close to her.

"I'll take care of you," she promised, and a spark ignited in her heart, burning away the last of the ice left by false hopes and doubt and loss.

Rosalina had a family of her own now.

***

Her first order of business upon adopting Luma as her child was to make the comet a more suitable permanent home.

It turned out that Star Bits weren't the only things encased beneath the ice. Deeper down there were all sorts of mysterious artifacts – tools, building materials, strange furniture. Rosalina set out to use these to make a magnificent house, not noticing how marvelously strong she had become. She planned a layout of dozens of rooms, as lavish as the castle she had once lived in. There would be a library, a ballroom, and an observation tower where she could set up her father's old telescope. She had more than enough supplies.

Luma helped her sort through the furniture, classifying it as in good condition or in need of repair. He also went treasure hunting, bringing her exotic items like a crystal candle holder, a glass wand with a star on the end, and incredibly ornate bottles of long-dried perfume. At night she would tuck him in and sing him a lullaby. Eventually, she even sacrificed her old stuffed bunny for his sake.

At last, Rosalina completed their home, and proudly brought Luma in for a tour.

"See the library? We can travel to planets and bring back books to put on the shelves," she chattered as she went. "We have plenty of kitchenware in the kitchen, so maybe we can come up with some Star Bit recipes. And of course we both get our own rooms, right next to each other!"

"It's beautiful, Mama," said Luma. "But don't you think it's, um…big?"

"Is there something wrong with it being big?"

"No…but there's only the two of us here. This place could hold a hundred people. It feels so big and empty!"

After that, Rosalina would often stop in the middle of a hall or in the corner of a room, realizing just how vast her new home really was. Luma was right: dozens of people could live here, but they had the whole place all to themselves. It made her feel a bit selfish, but more than that, it made her feel lonely.

"If only my mother, father, and brother could come and live here with us," she mused wistfully. Then she remembered her dream, and had to quickly push all thoughts of Rosalia away so that Luma wouldn't see her upset.

***

One morning, Rosalina and Luma were sharing a breakfast of Star Bits outside. Their comet was passing by a small apricot-colored planet. They passed places like this every day, and Rosalina wouldn't have paid any attention if Luma hadn't pointed out, "Mama, something's coming off that planet!"

She squinted and saw what appeared to be an apricot-colored speck drifting towards them, as if a chunk of the planet had broken off. "How odd! And it seems to be headed straight for us."

The speck gained speed quickly. It wasn't until it was very close that Rosalina realized that it wasn't a speck at all.

It was a Luma.

Luma, who had been bobbing up and down in the air, suddenly froze upon seeing this apricot duplicate of himself. It came close and stared. Silence was draped heavily over them.

"Hello!" whispered Rosalina excitedly. "Do you two know each other?"

Luma only stared, bug-eyed. Then he shouted:

"My mama!"

The apricot Luma parroted right back:

"My mama!"

The two began throwing the same words back and forth. "My mama!" "My mama!" "My mama!" They began an erratic dance around each other, neither slowing, neither stopping. Rosalina couldn't suppress her laughter upon witnessing this adorable scene.

Finally, Luma dipped down to her side. "MY mama!" he declared defensively.

Apricot Luma showed no sign of being defeated; he just gazed at Rosalina with wide, expressionless eyes.

And then something amazing happened.

A flood of color ascended from the surface of the apricot planet, a mottled mass of red, blue, green, yellow, orange, every shade of every color in the universe. It was a swarm of Lumas, pooling around her, all children, all orphans. They were all jabbering, and they were all saying exactly the same thing: "My mama!"

And all of them, absolutely all of them, were staring at Rosalina.

"Oh dear," she giggled, "what am I going to do with all these children?"

The crowd of Lumas stared blankly as she doubled over laughing.

***

Rosalina would adopt all of these Lumas, and she would name them and move each into her home individually. The house would never feel big and empty again.

As she and Luma began to discuss plans together, Apricot Luma and a red Luma approached them. "Joo have a vewwy pwitty mama," Apricot told Luma in a thick baby voice.

"You're a person, aren't you, miss?" asked the red Luma.

"You don't need to call me 'miss,'" responded Rosalina. "I'm your mama now. And yes, I am a person. Why?"

"Well, Mama," Red Luma continued, "if you're a person, how come you can float?"

"Float?!"

"Look at your feet!"

Rosalina's gaze dropped, and for the first time, she noticed that her feet were hovering a few inches above the ground. She gasped, and her surprise seemed to carry her higher.

"She eats Star Bits," Luma explained matter-of-factly.

"Oh!" exclaimed Red Luma.

"What do Star Bits have to do with anything?" demanded Rosalina.

"Well, when people eat Star Bits, they sometimes get powers," said Red Luma. "Things Lumas can do, like float and live for a long time. And magic!"

"I don't have any magic!"

"If you're a Luma mama, you must be magic!"

A titter of laughter passed through the mass of children, and Rosalina grinned sheepishly, suddenly aware of how far she really was from the ground.