“This isn’t exactly a romance is it?” Rhoda moaned in disappointment.

  “I dunno if this matters,” I told her, "but try to think of it this way: Sibsil Creed wrote a slow-burn story for a reason and planted all of those clues. So, there’s a mystery hiding in there that you can unearth. Does that help, Rhoda?”

  “Hah! You know I love romances, Sam, and this one is Cosmic in scope, so I just wanna see some sparks!”

  Sparks weren’t on the table, but Talent sure as hell was, and it wasn’t something tiny.

  First, it was Ryst dreaming that a starliner struck a building and everything melted like wax. The starliner crash hit a little too close to home for my comfort, but the rest of the story was amazing.

  Inconsolable about the dream, Ryst went to Peydran for help. Together, they figured out there was an oasis on Shurwinn that hadn’t yet been developed.

  So they built a village.

  Here.

  Where I was sitting right now. Ryst Nova dreamt the future.

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  Then, Sibsil Creed was born when Peydran decided to publish Ryst’s book Within and Without. That didn’t seem monumental to me, but as soon as that decision was made, BOOM!

  Peydran’s first love showed up, and we finally got a spicy romance.

  “Nowwwww we’re talking!” HC said, and we all agreed, because the slow-burn story took off.

  Ren Crieve wasn’t just the love of Peydran’s life, and he wasn’t only a simple musician.

  He was a savant composer in tune with something otherworldly, and when he heard Ryst was pining for the man she’d only seen in dreams, he decided to do something about it. He sang Ryst into a trance so deep she flew out of her body and into the arms of the man she loved.

  Without Ren, Ryst might never have found the man of her dreams, and Nayth Carmidee wasn’t ordinary either.

  “Damn, damn, damn,” HC cursed. “Another fucking god-damned Galactic Minister.”

  We’d known this from our reconn. I mean, we’d seen the video of the wedding of the millennia, but I’d forgotten the details of Nayth’s business life.

  The recent discovery that I’d been babysitting the Milky Way Galactic Minister of Technology’s grandchildren had us looking closely at who held positions in the Trade Guilds. Suddenly, it seemed all the more important that Ryst Nova married someone so high up in the Ministry.

  “At least this one’s from the Hospitality Guild, Wimpy. Not Technology. I wonder if Hospitality is as corrupt as Tech? Anyone know anything about it?” Paddy asked.

  We all shook our heads and kept reading. No one wanted to stop so we dove into Book 2, hoping to see Ryst meet the man of her dreams in the flesh, but that didn’t go as planned.

  Bitsy Joon appeared with an announcement, and then my friends and I finally started piecing a 100-year puzzle into a picture that made sense.