Kailu absorbed this knowledge as best he could with his limited understanding of the world. He had his own perception of reality, but it was constantly evolving as his senses sharpened and he learned more from his mother’s spoken word or by observing her actions. For now, she was his world, but even that concept was beginning to shift as he gazed up at the night sky, and learned that there was an even bigger world out there beyond the nest of his siblings.

Gray eyes darted between the stars above, trying to map the shape his mother indicated. He couldn’t exactly see it… But he could see one star standing out amongst the rest, the brightest star in the sky. It beamed at him radiantly, a beacon that would undoubtedly always draw his attention. Polaris.

Maybe if he continued to return to the sky, and studied it long enough, then one day he would see what his mother saw. He looked up at her, eyes full of starlight, and like the first sighting of a rare bird, a soft smile appeared on his face.

More? he asked, requesting to know more about the map of the sky.