Kait led Taylor to the mansion, to where she had planned on stargazing. When they arrived there, Taylor stared at the mansion. “So Lulikan really is the one paying for you to stay.”

Kait looked at Taylor. “You knew? Your sister had no clue.”

“Lulikan is a good friend of dad’s. I remember him from when I was really young.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, Hailey hasn’t ever been interested in asking about our partents’ past, so she probably just forgot.” “This driveway is paved well,” Taylor said absently as they walked down it. It large enough to be called a short road.

Kait looked down and raised an eyebrow. “It looks as impressive as everything else these days.”

“I think it would look a lot nicer if it were gravel, though. It would blend better with the scenery.” he pointed to the perimeter of trees that surrounded the estate. Plantarra’s citizens were enthralled with the natural aesthetic, so it was rarer to see a mansion built of brick and stone like the one in front of them, especially since earthquakes were common in the area. “I get why you wouldn’t want gravel roads for your driveway, though. It is a little impractical.”

“Is...as-asph...”

Taylor finished the word for Kait, “Asphalt?”

“Is asphalt more practical than gravel somehow?”

“Well, if you ride a car over gravel, it can be bumpy...though Lulikan is filthy rich, I doubt he’d mind the impracticality. Or maybe rich people care a lot about that stuff? Hmm...”

Kait nodded in understanding. “They do.”

The driveway also turned into a garage, but they took the path to the mansion’s front. Between the pillars and the brick wall of the mansion was a small sidewalk.

Kait spoke, happy to be the knowledgeable one for once, “Take a left. The spot is in the garden over here.”

They walked to the left of the mansion where the garden was. A fence surrounded the garden. Kait pulled a key from her pocket and unlocked the gate.

The garden itself was impressive, though not too large. A koi pond stood in the middle of it, with a few lily pads floating atop the water, well-trimmed bushes lined the fence, and a path wound through the garden and around the pond. A variety of vibrantly colored flowers was planted along the path’s edge, and a bench overlooked the pond. Farther from the house, a lawn of grass led up a large, steep hill and stopped at a treeline.

“Do you take care of this whole garden?”

“I just do basic maintenance like feeding the fish or trimming the plants. Another person comes in every once in a while to take care of the advanced stuff, like choosing what to plant and dealing with the aesthetics.”

“That’s still really impressive.”

“No need to flatter me,” Kait said sincerely.

Kait walked down the path, where it led to a door, and a large shelf filled with gardening tools stood next to the door.

“This is where I get the fish’s food.” She took a green plastic bag from the shelf and skipped to one of the benches, then patted the seat next to her, inviting Taylor to sit next to her, and he obliged.

The pond shone with the reflection of an almost full moon. She took a handful of brown grains from the bag and scattered them into the pond, then placed the bag aside, “The fish love this stuff.” She intently looked at the pond with Taylor.

A koi swam to the floating grains and pecked at the surface. Kait grabbed a stick from underneath the bench, stood up, then began walking around the perimeter of the pond, poking the water with it. “The fish know it’s lunch when I poke them, though it’s more like a late-night dessert.” Kait prodded the fish a few more times then returned to the bench. They slowly rallied at the floating food.

Taylor smiled at the cute fish. “Koi are so cool...”

“Koi?”

“You didn’t know what the fish are called?”

“Nope, Lulikan never mentioned it, or if he did, I was too concerned with whether the fish could survive winter in such a small pond.” She changed her focus, finding an opportunity to talk more about the fish. “I actually gave each of them names.”

“You gave them names?”

“Yep and each of them has a different pattern, so they’re easy to recognize.” She pointed at one with a red spot on its forehead. The other Koi kept their distance from it. “I call that one Bullhead. She’s the largest of them, so she always throws the others aside for food...and please don’t ask why I named a girl after a male cow’s head...I thought the bigger ones were boys at first...”

She pointed to another koi around the same size. It was the last to arrive at the food. It was white near its head and orange near its tail. “And he’s Guu because he’s always slow, lazy, and tired. The name just fits him well, I guuess...Erm, sorry, that was a terrible pun.” As Guu tried to get its share of food, another very slim and primarily white Koi moved to the side for him. Kait pointed to it, “That one is Nice. He always gives Guu room to eat...”

“Did you really name it Nice?”

“Uhh. Yeah? Is something wrong with that?”

Taylor shrugged. “It’s Just a little on the nose.”

“What nose?” Kait muttered. She pointed to the other two koi, who were both black and white, and kept their distance from the others. “Those two are Keul and Beul.” The two sat in silence for a moment, observing the hungry fishies. “Alright, why don’t I cast a spell!”

“I’m sure I won’t complain, whatever it is,” Taylor said.

Kait searched around the pond for a moment, then picked up a minuscule crystal a few feet from her. “This should do!” She sat back on the bench then looked straight at the reflection of the moon in the water.

She began explaining her magic to Taylor, “First, I need to be calm, which I already am, then I need a prism just like this.” She presented the tiny crystal to Taylor. “Finally, I need the reflection of a bright object, like the moon, since that’s what I’m modifying.” She threw it at the moon’s reflection in the water. Then, from the moon’s outline, a rainbow of colors spread out in a miniature, prismatic, dazzling aurora.

“Witchcraft’s best attributes are its connection with the metaphysical, but it can do things like this too.

Taylor gazed in amazement, “Wow. It would be cool if I could do magic like that...”

The light slowly lost its color and returned to normal. “Hasn’t magic been documented better in the last few years? Couldn’t you try and see if you can use an affinity?”

“Not really...There are so many kinds of magic most people don’t try to find what magic they can use.”

“They can use?” Kait noted on Taylor’s wording. When Taylor just looked at her questioningly, she continued, “You made it sound like everyone can use magic.”

“Everyone can.”

“They can!? I thought only a few people could use any magic.”

“Well, there’s close to a thousand types of magic, so its different too.”

“A thousand?!” Kait then muttered inaudibly, “Well, now that I think about it, there sure were a lot of spirits...”

“Yeah, a thousand.” Taylor shrugged, “The long-running theory is that The Consciousness blesses everyone with the aptitude for a certain few.”

Kait narrowed her eyes in thought, “I’ve only heard of a few dozen kinds. There were only five people with an aptitude for witchcraft in the village.”

“Five? how many people were in your village?”

“About five hundred. No other village produced more or better witches.” Kait deadpanned the following sentence, “Well, probably because we had a lot of people with red hair.”

“Red hair means you’re more likely to be a witch? Is that a joke?”

Kait chuckled, “Yes, it is.”

“Thought something was strange about that! But anyway, testing for an aptitude requires setting up a somewhat costly ritual, and testing like, 200 could cost more than a house.”

“Want me to see if you have an aptitude for witchcraft?”

“I get the feeling you’re about to contradict what I just said.”

“Yep. Don’t mind if I do...” Kait pushed her thumb to Taylor’s forehead then held it there. After a moment, she removed it, “Luuzh.”

“What?”

“None, you have luuzh potential. None at all. Males are worse at witchcraft anyway since they aren’t emotional enough. If I were you, I wouldn’t be too disappointed...not that I could train you anyway...”

“Oh...but what does luuzh mean?”

“It just means zero in Tarranian.”

Taylor thought for a moment, suddenly confused after noticing an inconsistency, “Wait, I just realized, how can you even speak my language if you have only been...now? For two months?”

“A spell.”

“Really?! you have a spell that lets you speak another language fluently?!”

“Yep, it took a week to come up with, but it works well. I essentially turn my feelings into words, but it’s much more complicated than that, so it’s not exactly like talking your language. The spell is even good enough to let me make puns! Tarranian is just an old version of the Terran language, so it doesn't take much to translate it.” She showed Taylor the custom armband she always wore on her left wrist. It had the whole alphabet written on it. She slid it off her arm and started talking. It sounded like vaguely familiar gibberish “Ais Really util” she slid it back onto her arm. “It’s really useful.”

Taylor nodded with agreement, “That much is sure! You could make a living just off making those!”

“I probably could,” Kait said, strangely dispirited.

The koi had mostly finished their food. Kait sat up and helped Taylor sit up. Kait returned the fish food to the shelf and picked up two clean pieces of cloth from a plastic bin.

She handed one to Taylor, “Take this, I’ve got one last magic trick for the night!” Kait then walked to the hill, beckoning Taylor to follow, and trudged up the slope.

Before she hit the treeline, Kait fell over and laid down with her face towards the sky. Taylor did the same. “What’s the cloth about?”

“You’ll see.”

“You say that every time I ask!”

“But do I ever disappoint?”

“I guess not,” Taylor admitted.

“The stars are so dim because the town is...too bright...right?” Kait held in a chuckle, finding it ironic. “So, I thought, what if all you could see was the light of the stars? Go ahead and blindfold yourself.”

Taylor nervously looked from Kait, wrapping the cloth around her eyes, to the piece of cloth in his hands. “Whatever you say...” He wrapped it around his eyes then felt a finger press against the bridge of his nose. Slowly, his eyes adjusted to a new sight.

Everything was pitch black...except he could see the sky fully, the many stars of the galaxy shining brilliantly. A good stargazing spot? Anywhere near her is a good stargazing spot!