Look closer.
A golden-white star whose poles brighten into narrow columns of light.
Stay through the quiet. A charge gathers at the poles, releases into light, and slowly subsides.
A story from the frontier · Lore draft
The Held Breath
Nothing happened long enough for the watch to grow comfortable. Then the poles brightened and the room fell quiet. When the column finally arrived, no one called it sudden; the whole star had seemed to be drawing breath.
