The older manakete scanned the ground intently, looking for the secret place she had found that she wanted to share with Nowi. With the wind whistling through her crystalline feathers she started to circle down past her companion in lazy spirals.
"I think it's close to here," she noted in the ethereal voice of her dragon form.
Nowi performed a delighted somersault in the air. "Yay! And I'm not even sleepy yet!"
Tiki suddenly spotted the outcropping with the soft tufts of grass on it, some of the blades a silvery white that reflected even the scant moonlight. Her maw moved into a draconic reflection of her normal soft smile and she called to Nowi, "Follow me."
They let the wind hold their splayed wings as they slowed onto the ledge. Their dragon features fell away behind them in colorful scaly petals, leaving the two green-haired girls standing at the edge of a grass-blanketed island jutting out of the side of the mountain. It wasn't likely that any human would ever see this place, for the rocks below it were too steep and the wrong angle for climbing, not to mention rather high up the mountain anyway.
Nowi hopped a little, getting the basket she had been carrying in her claws as a dragon unhooked from her feet and nearly falling over. Tiki reached out to steady her and take it. She pulled out a shawl for herself and a thick winter blanket for Nowi, handing it to the excited manakete just as fast as Nowi could snatch it.
She twirled around with her blanket, twisting herself up warmly in it, and fell backwards into the thick grass. Tiki smiled again, this time at Nowi's childlike mannerism, and wrapped the shawl around herself before settling into the grass beside Nowi.
While Tiki scanned the skies, Nowi considered whether or not to tell her what she had learned from Robin about what stars actually were.
"Hey, Robin!" Nowi chirped as the pigtailed tactician sat down to eat. Robin snorted a little when she saw that Nowi's plate was already swept clean except for the culprit broccoli still sitting in the corner. "Hey, Nowi! What's the matter with that broccoli? Not poisoned, is it?"
"Aw, c'mon!" Nowi pouted, "I haven't had to eat broccoli in a few centuries, and I'm doing just fine, thank you."
Robin set her heavier-than-usual plate down on the log bench before seating herself. She was hungrier today, and seeing that food wasted was a bit of a sin in her eyes, especially when Stahl was cooking. She started tucking in to her plate with gusto. Nowi eyed the plate heaped full of odd food choices and decided to let Robin be before hitting her with her questions, anyway.
When Robin took a break to drink Nowi jumped on the opportunity. "Robin, what do you think happens when people die?"
The tactician choked a little on her water and had to bring it away from her mouth to stop herself from having a coughing fit. "Wha- uh- wow, Nowi. Way to kill my appetite. But to answer your question- I wish I knew."
Nowi looked at her still, hoping for her to say some more.
Robin took another sip of water and continued. "The body is left behind and goes back to the ground, obviously, but the part we can't see… the soul… many people think it goes to the afterlife, or another place, some divine plane where the gods reside."
Nowi wasn't quite satisfied with that answer. There was one important fact missing from that explanation that she had to know. "Do the souls become stars?" she asked, without missing a beat.
Robin's eyes crinkled in a smile. "A lot of people think that, and I might have accepted that at some point in my life. However, Miriel tells me that lately she's spent some time digging into her mother's postulation that stars are giant balls of burning gas, incredibly far away from us but so big we can still see them. She tells me the Sun is a star, and there are lots of other Suns out there, maybe some shining on other Ylisses and tacticians and manaketes, too. I thought it seemed far-fetched, but Miriel's area of expertise IS science, and I HAVE gotten a few sunburns in my time… and the way everything is so crazy right now, I frankly wouldn't be surprised if she was right, especially if she can prove it one day."
Nowi's face visibly fell with every sentence. She looked down at the ground and scuffed her boot against the dirt. She couldn't tell Tiki this, it would break Tiki's heart if it made HER this sad.
Robin stopped, afraid she'd said something wrong. She rubbed Nowi's shoulder and inquired, "Are you alright, Nowi? Did I upset you? I really didn't mean to."
Nowi told her about her conversation with Tiki. "I just"- she sniffled - "reeeally liked the idea of you and Chrom and all of you guys hanging out in the stars where I could see you, even when I get super-duper old."
Robin's heart twinged, and she almost cried. Oh, gods, this was too sad. Maybe she should have just let her believe stars were souls after all. She had to say something.
"Look, Nowi, just because we can't see souls doesn't mean they're not here. If the gods can watch over us, then surely our loved ones can, too. And I personally like that thought more, if they could be closer to us than stars."
The manakete perked up a little hearing that. She wiped a tear away with a small fist. "Yeah!" she exclaimed weakly. "That sounds pretty nice, too."
To tell or not to tell?
…
She could let Tiki go on thinking stars were souls. For the sake of this perfect night, she would do it, even when she wasn't that good with secrets. Oh, how she wanted to tell her. Watching Tiki smile up at the stars was too pure, and she couldn't. So she just laughed and agreed when Tiki pointed up at a particularly large star with a blueish tinge and said, "That one is probably Marth."
Tiki sighed contentedly. Wistfully under her breath she whispered to her star. "Mar-Mar, it's so good to see you again." As if it could hear her, its light fluttered in the smallest of twinkled messages.
Nowi broke her eyes away and decided to scan the night sky with her own agenda. That one can be Gregory. That one can be Olivia. That stupid orange ruiner one can be Miriel. Neh- Miriel can just be the Sun. After all, she gets the credit. Maybe I'll make it Stahl instead. A tear threatened to fall, thinking about the day when she would actually assign each star to her passed comrades. I hope I never have to make this one hers, but those pretty greenish ones together can be me and Nah. She would remember each one here and now and would never forget them, not even when the seasons changed and the constellations switched places. Those two there-they're so close they almost look like the same star, except the left is so blue and the right is so white.