Where to Begin

Starwoven: A Story in Verse - Chapter 13 (Finale)

WHERE TO BEGIN


Ti Tayme
left Earth
18 MAR 2204

Today
10 SEP 2404

Apriori Station
spindly
docking arms
shifting warily
spider legs
probing strands
of unseen web

suspended
above Talamh Ru
looming
unsettled sentience
a jewel in the dark
rust-red

Red
felt the pull
peculiar gravity anchored
her thoughts wandering 
free

… and shuttles to Talamh Ru
will commence immediately.
last directive

Finn family
first to depart
founders

who would be last
Zophia knew—
two stasis vaults
held in shadows

Red adjusted
her sling pack
a buzz
not a hum
a flicker of green
Echo?

imagining
back to life
some day …
maybe

memory
threads pulsing
now with something new
maybe
Ancient Star Wanderer
maybe
waiting for someone
to listen

Red
too long tethered
to Ti Tayme
to her family
her name
her past
now on the edge
of a new world
realizing
stars weren’t something to leave behind
stars were something to carry with


two hundred years
from Earth
now
where she was meant to be
summoned

Speak to me.
new mantra
words shared with
an ancient wanderer

Did they share more?

Did Mum?

this …
only the beginning
keep her promise
to the stars
to herself

a breath
a heartbeat
a flicker of green

one by one
stars blinked
sealing a vow

Red
a deep … 
deep breath
stepping out of the
Finn family shadow
into her own light

This
is where
I begin.

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