The Star-Whale's Song

On the tiny, twinkling moon of Aetheria, floating gently near the rim of the Milky Way, lived the Starlight Keepers. Their job was the most important in the whole universe: to make sure the stars sang their perfect, beautiful song every night. This song was played on the Great Celestial Harp, an instrument woven from crystallized moonlight and stardust. If the harp was silent, the stars would dim, and the universe would lose its sparkle. Lyra, a young Starlight Keeper with hair the color of midnight and eyes that held two tiny, captured galaxies, felt the weight of this duty more than anyone. But lately, Aetheria was troubled. The Harp was missing one note—the Glimmer Note, the final, high pitch that gave the whole song its joy. Without it, the celestial music was a beautiful, but profoundly sad, hum. The Elder Keepers worried. They had searched the moon's craters, sifted through its moondust lakes, and even checked behind the largest, most ancient meteors, but the Glimmer Note was nowhere to be found. The star-song was growing weaker.