Cygnus X-1
The following few days passed by in... not exactly monotony, but there was a definite structure to each day, which she appreciated. Wake up, take care of her body's needs, speak with Vinur on occasion as he went in circles trying to decide whether or not she really was a star, and sit around waiting while he was at work. Then she'd go to sleep, wake up the next day, and repeat. Of course, that was only the general structure. In the meantime she continued to make discoveries about her organic body, stumbling upon details that were apparently so common that they weren't mentioned in books. The pliability of skin, for instance, was greatly annoying. It caused her already non-spherical form to shift and warp erratically. Cygnus had undergone small changes in her form as a star as her gasses fluctuated, but those were always minor. Nothing that... drastic.
One interesting discovery was that of sleep's mechanics. Vinur didn't have a guest bedroom, so Cygnus slept on the couch. Vinur figured that if she was new to sleeping, she wouldn't mind, and the organic had been right on that count. Due to her body-shape, the only truly 'comfortable' way to sleep was on her side. That often left her hooves dangling over the couch's edge, but that was only the start of the oddness of sleep.
For, starters she had yet to experience a 'dream', and she dreaded the time when she would. Rendering herself defenseless for a good third of the minuscule amount of time that her organic body would live was bad enough, but filling them with hallucinations detached from reality? Even if they'd be memories, they weren't the type of memories she desired. It was also jarring to wake up in a different position than what she went to sleep in, as evidenced by 'tossing and turning'. How did organics put up with that sort of nonsense?
She had, however, noticed something intriquing. Whenever she woke up from sleep, if her head was angled so that her opening eyes saw her own body just in time, Cygnus could see dark brown mist seeping back into her body, reforming her vest and skin. She had several theories about that, none of which really meant anything for her. Save for the fact she didn't need to undergo the rituals of cleaning that Vinur did; small miracles, as the organic saying went.
Most of the 'days' were spent silently waiting for the other griffons to show up and help her. Cygnus didn't mind; it was an incredibly short time to wait, after all. Vinur, however, seemed to take an interest to needling her with questions. After he'd agreed to let her read through his remaining books and promised to take her to a library once it was feasible, she decided to entertain the organic's questions.
'So how old are you? Five million? Plucking... you know what? What ever you say.'
'So where were you in this galaxy? Outer arms? That's, uh, that's nice.'
Eventually, the questions slowed to a stop. On the fourth day Cygnus X-1 was, as usual, sitting in the living room. Her eyes were open, constantly scanning her surroundings, and her mind was a dizzying whirl of worries and curiosity over her form. Vinur had gone to work, which he had told her was to work at a tourism center for other species that visited Piercing Sky. They mostly visited for the great view and hiking trail up the slightly-taller mountain they were nestled next to, or so he said.
On that fourth day, after returning from his work at seven hours, thirty three minutes and seven seconds in the afternoon, he came in and prepared dinner of some unimportant 'bread', 'ham' and 'butter'. As they sat around the dining table, eating, Vinur looked towards her. "So, I have a question."
She looked back at him, slowly chewing and then swallowing carefully. She didn't want to choke again. "Yes?" she asked.
"So, let's assume for a moment that I believe you're a star." Oh, this again, she thought. "What was it, I don't know, like?"
Cygnus X-1 shrugged. "What's it like to be an organic?"
"Well that's the thing," he pointed out. "You know what it's like, and supposedly you also know what it's like to be a star; you can compare them. So... what's it like?"
"Well, my entire body was devoted to housing my awareness," she explained. "As such, my consciousness dwarfs yours. To have the stimuli from such a tiny body, magnified to fit my mind, is somewhat jarring. There's also the gravity of this planet. It's disgustingly weak, I keep expecting to float off."
He raised an eyebrow. "Gravity is weak." It didn't have the inflection of a question, yet he didn't seem to be stating it. Curious.
"Relatively speaking, gravity is over twenty powers of ten weaker than the next weakest interaction, the Weak Nuclear Interaction. To say nothing of the other three," she explained. "Even more than that, in the prime of my life I had over fifteen million times the mass of your planet, and the gravitational field to show it. It became more..." She winced in the memory of her death. "... evident after collapse."
"Okay, not even gonna ask about what you mean by 'collapse'. So what do you think about us griffons?"
She stopped to consider the question for a moment. "Based on the sample size of two and the various secondhand sources, I am... surprised at your wide range of emotions. Understand that as a star, I had heard tales of organic life, but I did not once seriously consider you would be intelligent enough to be self aware," she said, motioning towards him with a hand. "It never once even crossed my mind you would be capable of experiencing the same range of emotions we can." She wouldn't admit it to Vinur, but they could actually experience a wider range, since cosmic bodies were incapable of romantic love; after all, as far as Cygnus could tell romance was a product of needing mates. "The emotions are duller than what we're used to, or so I suspect," she explained. "All physical evidence points to that."
"Huh," he said, taking another bite of his dinner. "Weird to think I might be talking with a star."
"It is weird that I am speaking with an organic," she countered. Cygnus grabbed the sandwich-meal in her hands and guided it to her mouth, taking a cautious bite. "This entire situation is surreal for me. You have to keep in mind the sense of scale I'm used to operating on." She hadn't been a black hole quite long enough to be used to the compression, and even then her event horizon had still dwarfed the organics. Cygnus was constantly fighting off the urge to squint at the 'tiny' structures. "And there is no 'might' about it. You are speaking with a cosmic object, Vinur."
"Right, right," he muttered, letting his head fall on the table. "Anyway, I got a letter back from the Department of Arcane Displacement. They said they'll have somebird by in three days to see what your situation is in order to decide how they can help you. I mentioned what you were, though."
"Star or centaur?" she asked.
"The, uh, the second one."
"So they know. So they are not surprised and coming to attack, or so they can look over me more carefully?"
"Yes."
Answering yes to an either-or question? It was the sort of nonsense 226868 did - Is that couple still around or have they collapsed? Yes, - and she couldn't stand it. She opted not to speak, and instead kept eating. Cygnus still felt like she needed to respond though, so she snapped her head over to glare at him.
He noticed and almost choked on his mouthful. After a few coughs he swallowed. "Winds, don't make that face! Geez, your irises are glowing. That's not natural. Like some sort of gargoyle."
Cygnus relaxed and raised an eyebrow. "They are?" She blinked and Vinur suddenly relaxed his grip on his sandwich; she assumed that meant her irises stopped glowing. "How curious. I assume this is not something organics usually do?"
"No it's not!" he said nervously. "Just... yeesh. At least you stopped."
They kept eating. Vinur finished first, since he was less cautious about eating than Cygnus X-1 was, and stood. "Anyway, freaky eyes aside, is there anything you need?"
She took a moment to work through what he meant by 'need'. "No. I will wait the remaining three days." She finished up her meal under his watch and then walked back to the living room. Vinur followed her, talons clicking and paws padding in tune with the clip-clop of her hooves.
Her hooves. Ugh.
"Are you sure? I mean, you've been spending all day cooped up in here with no space to stretch your wi - legs. You're done with the books, and all you do is just sit around, staring at the walls like a statue. You sure you don't to, I don't know, draw or something?"
She returned to the location of the wall near the sofa and sat down, folding her hind legs. She let her upper body sway to the side and rest against the sofa. "I'll admit, this is rather dull - " Which was odd, because in her true form the slowly-changing skies had been far more static and she'd never thought to complain. Were organics more susceptible to boredom? " - but I doubt there is anything you have which is mentally stimulating."
Vinur's eye twitched. "Again with the 'dumb' comments," he whispered. "I'd prefer you didn't. Listen, you can't just... lay there. One, it makes me feel like a terrible host given that you're stranded here, and two, you have to do something."
"I disagree," she said, following the pacing organic with her gaze. "Unless there is some detriment to my health from laying in place - "
"There actually is," he remarked. "It's not just an expression, griffons who live sedentary lifestyles have all sorts of health problems."
Cygnus sat up and clambered to her hooves. Health problems? "What sort of health problems?" she asked nervously. Health was something she needed to pay attention to; the health of organics could vary extremely within terribly short time scales. They were fragile in that sense. She considered the definitions she'd read for a moment, searching for the right word. "It has to do with... exercise, yes?"
"Yes. But there's only so much you can do locked in my house."
Does he or does he not want me to perform activities? she thought sharply. "I'm getting the impression you don't really know what you want me to do."
He sat and threw up his talons in what Cygnus interpreted as annoyance. Maybe exasperation? Body language was tricky at times. "Look, I'm sorry I've been snubbing you these past few days - " He'd been snubbing her? Cygnus really hadn't noticed, engrossed in waiting like she had. She supposed 'snubbing' her was one way to look at it. " - but you have to understand that I am ridiculously out of my depth with this! You're a centaur, and supposedly a winds-damned star! I still don't know if you're playing dumb about your abili - about everything, and you're just waiting to kill me, or worse." He'd cut off saying 'abilities'. What abilities did centaurs have? Cygnus X-1 resolved to look into it. "I just have no idea what to do! I work at a tourist company, working at the lodge that leads to the mountaintop!"
Vinur flopped down on the couch Cygnus had been leaning against a moment ago, prompting Cygnus to stand up and walk to the griffon's side. She frowned at him. Seeing him like that was... difficult. He'd merciful to her after all, kind even. He had spent some of his terribly-short life to help her, and she was making him miserable with her very presence.
"I don't know what I can tell you to put you at ease," she said. "Assuring you I mean no harm would simply let you think I am lying. There is nothing I could gain through your distress though, so I do wish to alleviate it." She tilted her head. "Would performing exercise help in that regard?"
He turned around so he was on his back, talons and claws poised seemingly to defend his stomach. "No," he groaned. "Just... just give me some time to think this over. Again."
Cygnus sighed and stepped backwards carefully. "Very well. I will attempt to exercise while you do so." She trotted away, intent on seeking a place to maintain her health. As she did, she found herself tracing the perimeter of Vinur's home.
From where the door led in from outside, there was a closet that supposedly housed clothes for exceptionally poor 'weather'. It split into a hallway that went to the left and right. Facing in, the left hall lead to the living room she had recently left. The right one passed the 'bathroom', and ended in a turn to the left. If she ignored the turn, it lead straight into Vinur's 'study', though from what she could decide it would be better named as the place he kept his hobbies. The hallway turned and a door to the right led to Vinur's bedroom. From there the hallway continued on to the joint kitchen/dining room, and then circled back to the living room. It created a 'ring' of a hallway surrounding what would be empty space, if the various rooms didn't take it up. It was decorated in bricks, wood, and paint of various light colors, and was lit up by both candles and luminescent rocks of unknown chemical composition.
She made her way to the study. Cygnus found the simple desk pushed against the curtained-off window overflowing with papers laden with all sorts of writing, writing she could now understand. Once there, she closed the door behind herself and reached into her memory of words, dragging up 'exercise' and several other words described as such. She mentally flicked through a few possibilities, and settled on 'high knees' for the moment. Cygnus made to move...
Knock knock knock!
She stopped, jumping slightly in shock, turned her upper body around to look back into the hallway. She saw Vinur roll off the couch, surprised, and spring to his feet. He rushed to the door and opened it. "Hey, how can I... oh. You're here early."
Cygnus raised an eyebrow. Early? Who was early? Several possibilities ran through her mind, the foremost being Gria. The second was the griffon government coming ahead of time. She went to poke her head out of the study, curious.
Griffons stormed in, pushing Vinur to the side. Each one was a head taller than him and had dark brown feathers, dressed in light-gray metal armor. Their beaks were sharp, their talons gleamed, and their claws shone in the light. Holding long, decorated spears in their forelimbs, they were forced to flare out their wings to keep proper balance as they approached her, fitting three across the hall. There was noise from around the house, and another three appeared on the other side, surrounding her and pointing the spears at her.
She lowered her eyebrow. "Hmm, you are early," she mentioned, hiding her unease at the spears. Those could kill her... "Department of Arcane Displacement, I presume?" Cygnus was shaking. Her knees and arms trembled with a semi-irregular frequency. Was that the organic reaction to fear?
The organics that held weapons to her didn't respond, but beyond her field of vision she could hear Vinur speaking with another organic. "Are the guards really necessary?" he complained. "She hasn't done anything!"
"Just a precaution," came another male's voice, slightly higher in pitch than Vinur's. "After what Tirek did, forces above my head decided not to take any chances. Terribly sorry about the deception."
She heard Vinur sigh. "Yes, well... what's going to happen?"
"We just need to move her to a secure location, to ensure she doesn't - " There was a whispered noise. " - oh, she can't? Well... I still think it wouldn't hurt. Let me talk to her."
"Heh, I'm not going to try and stand in your way," Vinur said nervously. "Just, um, oh dear."
Cygnus saw the griffons moving out of the way, and one of them - likely the griffon that had been speaking with Vinur - pushed forward so that two spear-holders were on either side of him. Instead of brown feathers, his were a light gray, with darker 'rings' around his blue eyes. He also didn't have a weapon and instead of armor, wore a blue vest over his front. Said vest had a metallic symbol on its front; a griffon standing before a pentagon, with D.A.D. written beneath it. "Cygnus X-1, I presume?" he asked, looking over her.
Cygnus flicked her eyes up to meet his. Surprisingly, the taller organic wilted backwards. "Yes. What is your n-name?" she asked, trying to keep a tremor out of her voice. She looked at the five spears pointed in her direction with a frown and another annoying vibration in her limbs.
"Please, call me Kristaf. I'm sorry about the Skyguard, but we aren't keen on taking chances. Now, if you'll follow me, we'll escort you to a secure location to figure out how to send you back to where you came from."
"Acceptable. Where is this location?"
"Like I said, follow me." That wasn't a proper answer, and Cygnus got the impression even the organic knew it. He turned around and nodded to the guards, three of whom moved in behind her. An escort, perhaps? They started advancing, and Cygnus was forced to keep a regular pace with them. She didn't have much difficulty with it, only stumbling once on the way to the door, and the griffons behind her kindly stopped advancing so she could get back to her hooves.
Kristaf led her outside of Vinur's home - he trailed behind the Skyguard, his face contorted in the ways Cygnus had learned to associate with worry - and into the openness of Piercing Sky.
The sky was bright blue, and the yellow star burned with unusual intensity out of the corner of her eyes. There was not a cloud in the sky, but the occasional griffon dotted the sky. Turning her head, Cygnus could see a tall, wide mountain covered in a white substance she assumed was snow, filled with irregular rolls and hills. Through the varying-sized houses around her, which she could now identify with her vocabulary rather than letting them fade into the background as 'organic constructs', a trickle of a crowd slowed around her, watching and whispering. A few took to the skies to get a better look at her, whispering to each other and glaring at Cygnus.
Kristaf and his guards led her through the various streets, and Cygnus X-1 memorized everything she saw; a candlestore, a shop that seemed to hold hunting weapons, a cub peeking out from what she assumed was its mothers leg, other guards trying to keep the civilians away from her, the color of their fur, the tint of their feathers, down to the last speck of color. Vinur trailing behind them cautiously. Nothing she saw was lost, even if she deemed most of it irrelevant.
The journey was quite... long. Cygnus stumbled across a new form of exhaustion and she was not a fan. Her legs felt tense beneath the skin, aching from her hooves up, and it grew worse and worse with every step. She was inexplicably breathing louder. Organics were ridiculous in their responses to stimuli.
The building that she was led to was significantly larger, and located nearer to the middle of Piercing Sky than Vinur's home. It had several stories, the windows were all open, and a large circular, sky-blue emblem stood tall on top of it. What words were written on it were too small for her to read. The doors were wooden and she was led inside, still at spear-point.
Hallways passed into her memory. Doors. Slowly, the guards peeled away and led Cygnus to a door that had 'Director Kristaf' on its outside in bold, black letters.
Kristaf stopped and looked at the guards. He made talon-motions at two of them, and told the other four, "Go to Vinur, tell him to take a seat and wait for me to call him in. Then return to your position." He opened the door and looked to Cygnus. "I'm sorry about the less than friendly greeting, but we really aren't willing to take many chances. Please, come in, take a seat."
The inside of the room was semi-spacious, with a window out into the streets that streamed in sunlight; it was the only source of illumination. The walls were painted a deep shade of purple, and there was a desk facing away from the window, towards the door, with all sorts of forms and writing utensils piled on top of it, in addition to a picture frame facing the plush red seat behind said desk. There was a long, griffon-sized seat facing the desk, seemingly designed for two griffons to be able to lay down on comfortably. Two of the spear-wielding, brown-feathered griffons moved to the inside of the door and stood beside each other, weapons held tight. As they did, she noticed a shiver run through their bodies, making their wings twitch for a moment. She walked in, and immediately her throat felt oddly dry.
Kristaf had told her to 'take a seat'. The ex-star didn't think he meant for her to literally take the giant couch, so she climbed up the griffon-sized furniture and folded her legs beneath her. She grimaced and sighed when their aching muscles pulled against each other as she found a comfortable position to rest her hooves. He moved behind his desk - he went through the same shivers the Skyguards did - and eyed her oddly when she weakly grasped at the tendons in her forelegs. "Something wrong?"
"It was a tiring walk," she explained, releasing her legs and letting them go limp. "Evidently not so for you. A limitation of my body, or do you specifically enhance your endurance?" she asked.
"I don't know about the former, and the latter is neither here nor there." He sat. "Now, I'm sorry about the unpleasant business of herding you through the streets like a criminal, but I suppose you know why we had to do so." She did. "We tried to keep you from being seen by as many citizens as we could, but I wasn't given enough Skyguard for that unfortunately." He rolled his eyes. "Paperwork. I just know that's going to come back and peck me in the tail."
"Your letter claimed arrival three days from now," she mentioned, changing the subject. "You're ahead of schedule."
"Actually, the week-from-now was a lie. We didn't want you preparing to do us harm then. This didn't go quite the way I would've liked to, I prefer us to be meeting at night, but it is what it is." He shrugged.
Cygnus frowned. "I can feel the trust in the air." There was an uncomfortable tension in her lower body, where she estimated her stomach was. Judging by her emotions, it was how 'stress' manifested in her body. "This is the Department of Arcane Displacement, correct?"
"Correct," he said. "Now, Vinur wrote us about how you've been supposedly removed from your place of residence and, even more supposedly, changed against your will into, well." He motioned to her. "That. Is this correct?"
"Yes, it is. This body, centaur as you call it, is sub-optimal. In addition, I worry there will be great difficulty returning myself to what I should be. I assume you can help?"
"That's the purpose of our department," Kristaf said with a wry grin. "But you know, I've been here for quite a long while now. I've never heard of anything even remotely like your transformation. Those are rare enough, and they're usually other races being turned into griffons so they don't stick out. Whoever - "
"Whatever."
He frowned. "I'd appreciate if you didn't interrupt me, Miss Cygnus. But let's take the detour. You say 'whatever'. You mean to say what did this to you you was natural? Can you describe it?"
She shook her head. "No, I'm afraid not. I haven't quite pinpointed what could do this yet, I've had more pressing concerns. I know it wasn't a person, however. No organic exists that can do such a thing, that I am certain of. My true form was quite... resistant to outside change."
He tapped a talon against the desk, making an odd click click sound. "I see. Would you mind describing what your true form was? Dragon perhaps?"
She sighed. "No, not a dragon. This is the part where I tell you the truth and, like Vinur, you do not believe me."
Kristaf tilted his head with a slight grin tugging at his beak. "Well, we have all day here, miss. Who knows? It's my job to investigate what you say you used to be," he reminded.
"Very well. In my natural form, I am a star incomprehensibly far from this planet."
He blinked, stared at her for a while, and then sighed. "Hmm. A star you say? That's... rather a tall order to restore. I've read Princess Luna's report on the true nature of stars; fascinating read, though resolving that with what you just said... well. You stars are alive?"
"Very much so," she said calmly. Her throat was still oddly dry. "You believe me, then?"
"Well..." he said, trailing off.
"I can offer evidence. I bleed warm gas instead of blood." She held out a spindly hand to across his desk. "Demonstrate."
Kristaf seemed to consider Cygnus's words. The griffon looked behind Cygnus at the two members of the Skyguard and nodded. "Alright. Please hold still, this will just hurt for a moment." He held out a talon to the palm of her hand and poked her with the sharp point. Cygnus involuntarily winced; the pain was unusually precise compared to what she had known as a star. Kristaf pulled back and watched as the tiny puncture in Cygnus's hand bled mist; she cupped her hands to keep it in place long enough for it to pull back and the injury to heal.
"There you see it," she remarked, not breaking eye-contact with the griffon. "The only visible evidence of my true nature. Do you know of anything that can return me to form?"
"Not off the top of my head, no," he remarked. "This does raise interesting questions, but let me return to what I was saying before you interrupted me," he said accusingly. Cygnus's left eye twitched a little at the tone. "I've never heard of anybody transforming into a centaur. Understand, permanent transformation spells like what seems to be your case requires intimate knowledge of how the new species works on a biological level, and that's simply not information that centaurs have. Either you're lying about not being a centaur, or someone out there knows a tremendous amount about Tirek's species. Neither of which are particularly comforting."
"There is a third option; that which transformed me was not magical. I can think of a dozen other events in the universe capable of doing such a thing, which one however..."
"Well, are any of these anything we can help with?" he asked hopefully.
"No." The possible events were utterly beyond their ability to measure up to or replicate.
"You're not giving me many options here, miss."
"I do not know what options you are even capable of. All I am aware of is that you have the ability to expedite me getting citizenship, which I can use to independently research a way home, and sustain myself with a job in the meantime."
He nodded slowly. "I see, so that is what your intention is with me and my department."
"I don't have many other avenues to take at the moment," she explained. Cygnus paused for a moment. "Sorry if this feels like I'm using you," she added as a half-sincere afterthought.
Kristaf sighed, resting his head in one talon. "No, no, this is my job after all, in a sense. Now, I doubt the situation will remain under our control for too much longer, but I need to speak some more with Vinur, then report to my superiors. Until then, I hope your form isn't causing you too much pain?"
"No, but it's disorienting to have so little mass in so little gravity."
"Right, right. Star, massive, I understand. So." He glanced down at the papers, then back up at her. "The Department has a few guest rooms, for individuals who, for a variety of reasons, cannot be relocated instantly. The guards will show you to one while I speak with Vinur, and depending on what I learn you can either spend the night there or go back to his house."
"Acceptable," she said tersely. Cygnus slowly shuffled off her seat, wincing when her still-sore legs were forced to support her mass. She instinctively clenched a fist when the pain flared up, but forced herself to relax. "Where is this room?"
"Follow them." Kristaf then started speaking with the Skyguards. "And please, show Vinur in here so I can speak with him."
Cygnus nodded and turned to the Skyguards. The one on her left stepped forward. "Right this way, ma'am." He turned around, and as his tail swung idly she noticed there was a tiny, tiny sliver of metal in the tuft, probably a weapon of some sorts. As she trotted after him, the other Skyguard followed behind her and she heard Kristaf shuffling his papers. When she got far enough away, the ache in her throat vanished and the griffons' wings twitched again.
Curious.
She found Vinur laying on a couch, holding a newspaper in his talons, with his eyelids lowered in phenomenal boredom. He looked up when he heard them approaching, stifling a yawn.
"Oh, hey," he said, putting the newspaper away and standing, giving his long wings a brief stretch. "Is everything alright?"
The Skyguard in front of her nodded. "Yes, we're just bringing your guest here to a room for a brief while. Director Kristaf will see you now, sir."
"Alright, which door is it?"
The Skyguard behind her stepped around her. "Follow me please," he said gruffly.
"Okay. Cygnus, is everything okay?"
"They're better than before," she admitted with a slight nod. "Please try and convince Kristaf that establishing my citizenship is high priority."
"Uh, sure." He flicked his eyes to the Skyguard. "Lead the way."
The two griffons, one a noticable percent large than the other, left. The Skyguard by her silently led Cygnus up a series of stairs - that was an adventure and a half - and then through a hallway into a side room with a wooden door. When she entered, her throat dried up again. What was causing that? If it started happen with increasing regularity it might turn out to be more than a mere nuisance...
The room itself was somewhat reminiscent of Vinur's bedroom, but smaller. The Skyguard remained behind as she stepped inside, looking around. There was a bookshelf on the side, lined with books she would tear into. There was no window, but there was a painting of a tiercel and a hen playing a game in the cloudy sky. The walls were painted so as to resemble wooden planks, and the bed's mattress was quite thick. There was just enough room on either side of it for a griffon to walk, but not much more.
It was enough for Cygnus X-1 to tolerate. She grabbed the books off the shelf, arranged them on the bed, then pulled herself up onto it. Getting on the bed was clumsy, though; it felt like her hooves kept getting in the way of her arms. What sort of organic would evolve like this? There was no benefit to it!
She sighed and, after creating a psuedo-nest in the sheets, sat and began leafing through the books and booklets. They informed her slightly about the Griffon Empire, however none of it was anything she didn't already know. There was a rather large book on building specifications, which took her a few minutes to flip through and then arrange the information in her mind. Meanwhile, the Skyguard remained by the closed door, watching her sternly. Cygnus would've been lying if she said he didn't intimidate her; his talons were sharp, his spear equally so, and that combined with his armor and relative height made it quite clear she could do nothing to stop him from killing her if he so wished.
Luckily for her, he didn't seem to wish to do so.
The black hole remained on the bed, her hind legs folded beneath her as she looked down at the books, occasionally tapping the small gray horns jutting from either side of her head. Before too long she finished the bookshelf and found a comfortable position on the bed, laying on her side, and waited for Vinur to return.
He took longer to return than it had for her; Kristaf must've had more questions for him, either that or Vinur took longer to answer each one than Cygnus did. Perhaps both.
At one point, the door opened and Cygnus snapped her gaze over to it, hoping that they were done, but instead it was an organic female bringing in some food. She left it for her on the bed and left, closing the door behind her. She eyed the plate carefully; it matched what Cygnus knew to be a 'sandwich' from her reading, with various condiments and ingredients. Her stomach had started rumbling and, while the 'flavor' was revolting, she forced herself to eat it.
After two hours waiting, the door opened and Vinur came in. He closed the door behind him, took a glance at the Skyguard, and shuffled to the side of the bed nervously. Cygnus pulled herself up and stood on the bed, watching him. "How has the situation evolved?" she asked.
"Well for starters, you need to stay here overnight," he said worriedly. "They're gonna get a magic specialist over here by tomorrow afternoon to take a look at you, see if they can't get started on returning you to form. They also let me stay around here when that happens, is that okay?"
"Very well," she said emotionlessly. "You are familiar enough. So long as it won't interfere with the procedure." She narrowed her eyes. "You won't, will you?"
He smirked. "I'll stay out of the way Cygnus." He glanced at the books on the bed. "Do you, uh, want me to go to the library, get you something to read?"
"That would be ideal. Any astronomy, mathematics, and physics books you can find would be appreciated." She needed to know where she was in the universe. If the organics had some idea of where they were, it could save her a lot of time. "What did Kristaf ask you?" she asked, tilting her head at him.
He rubbed the back of his head with a talon. "Well, I'm not really allowed to say. But rest assured, we're going to see what can be done to help you, Cygnus. Whether or not you're lying about being a star."
She sighed. "I'm not."
"Okay, okay," he said smugly, backing up slightly. "So anyway, are you sure you'll be okay here?"
"I am," she said, shuffling her forelegs against each other. "Your concern is noted." She paused and considered how many planck times they had been in the building. "I should begin to sleep, it's night isn't it?"
"Might not be a bad idea," he agreed. "Well, if you're sure you're alright, then I'll just go home. See you tomorrow, Cygnus."
"Probably," she agreed. Cygnus laid down and closed her eyes, engulfed in near total blackness; the only light sources were multicolored flickers from outside light sources interfering with her eyelids. She heard Vinur's talons and paws on the hardwood floor as he left, the click of the door, and reluctantly began the ritual of falling 'asleep'.
She chuckled internally at how much the organics were aiding her. A magic specialist coming by the next day, hmm? It was certainly a start.
But her throat was still dry...
