The snow crunched softly beneath my boots when I shifted my weight around. It had been a major relief to talk with my girlfriends again, at least now I felt like I could bridge the evening to see them tomorrow again. I put my phone back in my pocket and stared at the night’s sky. The morning couldn’t come soon enough, in my opinion.

“Sis, could you come and help me with the lenses?” My sister called out to me from next to her telescope.

“Yeah, I’ll be right there.” I sighed contently and turned around towards my sister, jogging slightly through the snow. “Which one do you need screwed on?”

“This one.” She handed the lens with her mittened hand.

“You could do this yourself without your mittens, you know.”

“Yes, but you have gloves. It’s easier. And less cold hands for me.”

I smiled and rolled my eyes. Quickly changing the lens for my dear sister. I’d done it plenty of times before. Astronomy wasn’t really my thing, but I liked doing it together with my sister.

“What are we going to look at today?”

“I was kind of wanting to look at M16.”

“Oh, the Eagle Nebula? It’s been a while.”

“Mhmm, I think we’ll get a nice view of it today. It’s really dark outside tonight.”

“Nice.” I smiled, and after I had installed the lens for my sister, I patted her on her hat. “There you go.”

“Thanks sis.”

Karin started looking through the telescope and then slowly but surely adjusted it to the right position so we could look at our open star cluster. I actually don’t really know where my sister’s interest for astronomy came from. Neither of our parents were into it, but it’s just something that attracted her from a young age, she couldn’t really put a finger on it herself either. Maybe it was just the peace and quiet of the hobby that attracted her, just like her reading. Or maybe she thought it was a fun thing that we could do together. But you could definitely tell her interest in it was sincere. As sincere as my love for my girlfriends, at least. And that’s a tough act to beat.

“Em?” Karin was looking at me.

“Ah sorry, I was just lost in thoughts.” I smiled. “What’s wrong? Did I take the wrong lens?”

“No, I was asking if you wanted to take a look.” She stepped aside to let me take a look.

“Oh, thanks. Did you get a good image of it?”

“Yes.” She nodded. Few words, as always.

I smiled and took up my spot next to the telescope, being careful not to change any of the settings that Karin had carefully dialed in. Otherwise, we would be suddenly looking at some other part of the galaxy entirely.

As I gazed through the eyepiece I saw the familiar, yet a long time unseen, Eagle Nebula. A marvelous sight to behold, even though it wasn’t the first time I’d seen it. It’s red colour reminding me of Auro’s eyes. It made me think, the last time we’d looked at this together, Aurora and I weren’t even girlfriends yet. Heck, it’s even from before we got into Saint Katherine’s. I’m pretty sure we had only just done our entrance exam. It was a stressful time but we took seeing the nebula as a good sign, which apparently it turned out to be.

“Does bring back some memories, doesn’t it?” I took some distance away from the eyepiece and looked at my sister.

“It does.” She nodded.

“Is that why you wanted to look at it together today?”

Even in this rather dimly lit spot in the garden, I could still see my sister blush. The rest of her body language betrayed it too, tucking her face just a little bit deeper behind her scarf. I had hit the nail on its head.

I softly chuckled and straightened my back. In only a second, I had taken my sister in a full embrace. She only momentarily struggled against it, but quickly turned around to return the hug.

“Don’t forget me, okay? Even if you are with Ria and Aurora.”

“You know I would never, ever, forget you. Best sister anyone could wish for. As much as I love Auro and Ria, my love for you runs a lot deeper, some goes for mom and dad.”

“Even if you get science babies with them?”

I snorted. “How did you come up with that term? Did you read that somewhere?”

“In a fantasy novel.”

“That’s rather funny.” I continued chuckling. “But yes, even if we, for some reason, would get science babies, I’d still love my dear sister more.”

Karin hummed contently at that.

We continued our little stargazing session shortly after that, with my sister testing out the camera she got on her birthday for some astrophotography. It was the perfect night for it, after all. After another half hour, however, things just got a little bit too cold for my sister. Signaling that it was time to pack up and get the telescope back inside. Mom opened the door for us as we headed back inside.

“Don’t forget to rub it off otherwise it’ll start to rust, okay?”

“Yes mom.” Karin replied.

“Where did dad go?” I looked around the room, but I couldn’t see him. “Did he go to bed already?”

“Yes, he was pretty much falling asleep in the sofa while watching the two of you, so I sent him up. Are you two going to stay downstairs with me for a bit longer?”

Karin and I looked at each other and then gave our mom a happy nod in return.

“Good, then I will make something hot for you to drink. You must be very cold.”

“Thanks mom.” Mom went off to the kitchen while I helped Karin carry the telescope to where we normally put it in the storage room. Both of us carefully but thoroughly wiped it clean. Making sure that it was completely dry when we exited the room again.

My sis and I then made our way back to the living room, after taking off our jackets and shoes, where our mom had already returned with two nice hot cups of cocoa. It was not regular hot cocoa this time though, mom had chosen a white chocolate for us. It smelled very sweet.

She patted the sofa next to her, indicating she wanted us to come and sit next to her, but we were already planning to do so.

When we were sat down, she rubbed both our backs. “I’m sorry you had to sit through this evening. I know the both of you would rather have been doing something else.”

“It’s okay, mom. Uncle Johann and Aunt Sabine would be rather disappointed if they didn’t see us. We understand.” I replied. “Besides, leaving you alone with them and dad would be rather unfair, too.”

Mom chuckled. “Their conversations really didn’t interest me that much either, that’s true. But they are family so what can you do about it? They are nice people, so you can’t dismiss them, right?”

“Mhmm.”

In the meantime, Karin had been blowing on her hot chocolate for quite a while now. Since it’s freshly made, it is still going to take a while to cool down. One of the properties of hot chocolate, quite useful if you want to warm your hands with the cup, though.

“Are you looking forward to going back to Aurora’s place tomorrow?” Mom decided to switch subjects.

“I am, I really want to see Ria’s reaction to the computer Auro and I bought for her. I think she is going to love it.”

“She will.” Karin added.

“I’m not going to say I know as much about computers as you do, but as your sister says, I’m sure she will like it. If anything because it’s a gift from you and Aurora. Liking the gift itself is just added value.”

Karin nodded in agreement with what our mom said. Attempting her first sips of her chocolate milk. She pulled back rather quickly, though. Still too soon sis, too soon.

“Yeah, that does sound a lot like Ria.” I giggled. “Oh, by the way, apparently they ate döner kebab today and Auro was really enthusiastic about it.”

“Ah, döner kebab, it’s been a while since I last ate that. I think I was still working when I did.”

“Really?”

“Your dad doesn’t really like those kinds of foods. I’m pretty sure it was also Aurora who introduced you to fast food, wasn’t it? I don’t think we ever ate it together.”

“Bad influence.” Karin smirked.

“Hey, you went out for food with us too, sis!” I protested.

Mom giggled again. “I wouldn’t say a bad influence per se. She has definitely helped give you two a broader perspective of things. And with the current events, that might be a little bit of an understatement.”

“She definitely opened a whole new world for us, that’s true.” I nodded and then finally got to drinking from my own chocolate milk too. “It might be a bit weird to say, considering recent circumstances, but I do look forward to what else we are going to experience together in the future.”

“A great many things, of that I’m sure.” Mom smiled and rubbed me on my back again. “Not all of them will be positive either, but it’s through that, that you grow as people. And the positives will shine even more brightly.”

-That’s some calendar wisdom, mom. Are you sure you weren’t an author?-