It should come as no surprise that I do not own this verse or its characters. I only borrow and play, but I always try and put them back the way I found them. Sort of. No infringement of any kind intended. To anyone.

Prologue

There was a story his mother used to tell him about the stars. About how, once upon a time, a long, long time ago, a mother bear and her cub were roaming across the sky and became separated. The mother bear was beside herself with worry for, so his mother said, being separated from a child was the worst fear of every mother. She searched high and low, but days passed, and she could find no trace of her cub. Distraught, the mother bear roared and cried her frustration out to the sky. And when she was too exhausted to roar and cry any more, she lay down where she was. It was then, however, that she hit upon an idea. Gathering bits of dust from some nearby stars, she created her own star, one that was anchored to the heavens, and could never move, no matter how many times the sun rose and set. This star, she told him, was to light the way for the little bear. To bring him home to her.

"And did he make it?" he asked, "Did the little bear come home?" He could remember his childish outrage when his mother shook her head no.

"But she hasn't given up," she told him, "She's still up there. Waiting for him to come."

"But what if he never does?" he asked, and his mother had smiled.

"He will," she said, "He'll find her one of these days."

"How do you know?"

"Because a mother knows these things."

She'd hugged him, then. Kissed him goodnight and wished him sweet dreams, and he'd fallen asleep, mind filled with images of diamond-shaped stars in a black velvet sky.