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Din stood at the bank of the river and looked out across it. The surface of the water shimmered in the dying golden light and the only sounds were the gentle lapping of the water, the buzzing of insects, and the soft crunch of Omera’s footsteps as she took his side. “It’s beautiful,” he breathed. He turned to look at her and she smiled at him. The light caught her hair and made it glow red around her, stray hairs tracing comet trails in the air.
“Wait until the sun sets,” she said and, taking his hand, led him to a group of small boats rocking by the riverside. She smiled again and indicated one, “Get in.” He hesitated but she made a ‘shooing’ motion so he stepped in gingerly. He heard her laughing a little at his clumsiness and then she shoved the boat out and jumped into it with him. Omera took an oar out of the hull. Din held his hand out so that she could hand it to him but she shook her head. “You work so hard the rest of the time,” she said, dipping the oar into the water.
“That’s thoughtful … thank you,” he said. She smiled in response and they fell into silence as she paddled.
The golden light dissipated and the moons came out, bathing them in cold, otherworldly silver light. “It’s just a little further,” Omera said. Din would not have minded if it were thousands of miles away: it was the closest to peace he had felt in years being here with Omera on the water, watching as glittering insects buzzed around her, and her strong arms worked the oar in the moonlight. Everything seemed to fall away from him: the circling years, the grief, even the weight of his beskar. He felt naked, purely himself.
“Look,” Omera said, smiling and nodding over his shoulder. He turned to look behind him and felt all his breath leave his lungs.
The river opened up into a large pool surrounded by trees, and on the pool were hundreds of pink and white flowers — and buzzing around and in between the flowers were thousands, millions, of fireflies. Blue, violet, red, green — they glowed and danced in every colour like a river of glittering stars. It felt as if the whole galaxy were contained in this pool, an astronomical number of stars and planets at their fingertips. The flowers parted as Omera gently paddled into the middle of the pool. Din stared at her. He had no words to express the sense of wonder bubbling up inside him, or the tenderness he felt for her.
“You have seen so many terrible things,” Omera said, a little sadly. “I wanted you to see something beautiful.”
Din closed his eyes. “Thank you,” he said, softly. He felt the boat rock a little as Omera stepped forward, keeping low so as not to capsize them. She pulled at him and he understood what she meant, sliding down into the hull of the boat so that they could lie together in their arms. “Thank you,” he said again, as she pressed a kiss to the edge of his helmet, and when she smiled he saw the whole universe reflected in her eyes.

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