Let’s begin.
GiGi the giraffe had found the best place for stargazing.
It was a grassy rise above Starlake, with room for her long legs and a clear view of the sky. Her friend Starlight, a small, sparkling unicorn, was stretched out beside her.
Their families were gathering near the shore for an evening picnic.
“That one looks like a spoon,” GiGi said.
Starlight looked up. “Which one?”
“The one beside the bent branch.”
“That is a bent branch.”
“Oh.” GiGi moved her head a little. “Now it looks like a fork.”
Below them, little star-shaped lights shone on the lake. Starlight called them the Glade stars. They rose from the reflections each evening and floated above the shore path, helping visitors find the picnic clearing.
GiGi could see the path from her height. She could also see two of the lights suddenly dip behind a tree.
“There goes your spoon,” Starlight said.
Another light vanished.
Then three more.
The friends sat up.
“That isn't how stars usually work,” GiGi said.
Above the trees, the real stars still shone. But their little floating reflections were disappearing from the shore.
Across the lake, Starlight's father Rowan called to another family.
“Wait by the big willow. The path lights have gone out.”
GiGi stood. Without the lights, the bend near Whispering Woods was difficult to see.
“We should tell him where they went.”
Starlight touched her horn to a fallen star reflection resting on a reed. It glowed softly.
“They leave a little shining trail,” she said. “I can help it show.”
A fine line of silver appeared over the grass.
The girls told Rowan what they had seen. He stayed at the picnic turn to guide arriving visitors while they followed the line along the familiar shore path.
The trail stopped at a patch of leaves.
GiGi lowered her nose. “Perhaps the leaves ate them.”
Starlight nudged one leaf aside. A tiny glint hid beneath it.
“The leaves have very untidy table manners.”
She touched the glint. The silver line returned, leading around the roots and into Whispering Woods.
They followed it to a low cottage made of fallen twigs.
Something inside was shining much too brightly.
GiGi bent her long neck to look through the little window. A young field mouse sat on the floor, holding a glass jar. Star reflections crowded inside it.
His ears were trembling.
“Hello,” GiGi said gently.
The mouse squeaked and pulled the jar behind him. Light spilled around his paws.
“I'm GiGi. This is Starlight.”
“I'm Milo,” he whispered.
“Those lights belong beside the lake,” Starlight said. “Families are waiting to find the path.”
Milo looked down. “I was going to give them back.”
“When?”
“In the morning.”
A little star pressed against the glass. Milo held the jar tighter.
GiGi lowered herself until one eye was level with the window.
“Are you using them for something?”
Milo nodded.
“My mother went to help with the picnic. I said I could wait here until she called. Then the trees got dark.”
He glanced toward a shadow behind his chair.
“I heard scratching. I thought, if I had all the lights, there wouldn't be any dark corners.”
Starlight looked around. The jar lit one corner very brightly. Behind the chair, the shadow looked even bigger.
“Did it work?” she asked.
Milo shook his head.
From behind the chair came a tiny scrape.
He jumped.
GiGi turned toward the window. Through the glass, she could see a branch rubbing against the cottage wall.
“Your scratching noise has leaves,” she said.
She reached over the low roof and lifted the branch clear. The noise stopped.
Milo peered outside.
“Oh.”
“Trees can be noisy neighbors,” Starlight said.
For a moment Milo smiled. Then he looked at the jar again.
“I still don't want to be alone in the dark.”
“Then we need a plan for that too,” said GiGi.
Starlight tried lifting one reflection out of the jar with a curl of horn light. The tiny star stretched toward her. The others pressed after it, tangled together like a knot of bright string.
She stopped.
“If we pull them all at once, they'll get mixed up.”
Milo's whiskers drooped. “I shouldn't have packed so many.”
“No,” Starlight said. “But you can help us unpack them.”
GiGi looked toward the picnic clearing. From her height she could see the path bend, the big willow and the waiting families.
“If we take the jar up the rise, I can show them where to go.”
Milo hesitated at his doorway.
“You can come with us,” GiGi said. “Your mother is at the picnic. We can find her together.”
He set the jar in a little carrying basket. Starlight carried the basket by its handle while Milo walked beside her. GiGi kept the high branches out of their way.
At the rise, Starlight touched her horn to the open jar.
“One at a time,” she said.
A silver star rose out.
GiGi leaned toward the big willow. “The first turn is there.”
Starlight guided the reflection in a gentle loop. It floated toward the tree and settled above the path.
From the shore came Rowan's voice.
“There's our turn!”
Milo climbed onto a flat stone to see better.
“The next one goes beside the little bridge,” he said. “I remember because I caught it there.”
Starlight looked at him. “That's a useful thing to remember.”
Together, they returned the reflections in the order Milo had taken them. GiGi spotted each place from above. Milo pointed out the small gaps near the ground. Starlight guided the lights without tangling them.
Soon a shining path curved all the way to the picnic.
A mouse hurried up the rise.
“Milo!”
His mother wrapped her paws around him. He pressed his nose against her shoulder.
“I took the lights,” he said. “I was scared.”
She listened while he explained. Then she looked at the empty jar.
“Next time, tell me before you try waiting alone.”
“I will.”
Starlight picked up an ordinary fallen leaf. A small glow settled inside its curled edge when she touched it with her horn.
“This light will last until we finish the picnic,” she told Milo. “It won't take a star away from anyone.”
His mother took the leaf to carry with them.
Milo looked at GiGi. “Can you still see the scratching branch?”
“Yes. It is behaving very well.”
He laughed.
Later, the two friends returned to their grassy rise with apple slices from the picnic.
The real stars shone overhead. The Glade stars shone beside the lake. Down below, a little mouse walked close to his mother, carrying just enough light.
“What do you think our next adventure will be?” GiGi asked.
Starlight leaned against her friend's warm leg.
“I don’t know… but whatever happens, I’m ready!”