Twilight had began to cover the forested mountains and hill near the Great Temple of Vidara. Most animals went back to their shelters in trees and underground to go sleep for the night to come. But for one group of scouting kids, this was not yet the time to go to bed. They had been setting up a fire in the middle of a field, under the watchful eye of their Vidari troop leader. The group itself was a very diverse mix of alien races, who despite their many differences seem to work harmoniously together to get their fire started.
"This should be a good enough starter pile," the girl who looked like a mix between a dragon and a snake said, standing on her forelegs next to a small pile of thin twigs of wood.
"A typical pyramid setup, Quilina," a canine girl with a second head between her legs and a tailhand said to the first girl.
"I know, Hayne!" Quilina sneered. "You're not the only one who read the book..."
"So, who's gonna light it?" a third girl ask, a canine with her head at the end of her tail.
"You wanna try?" Hayne said.
"Come on! Shaxaëla is cleary not ready for it!" Quilina protested. "She kept on piling wood in the middle of my perfectly constructed pyramid! The fire needs to be able to breathe, and she just choked it."
"You didn't tell me I shouldn't do that," Shaxaëla said.
"You'd have known if you read the book..."
"Pffft, booooring!"
"One day you'll learn to appreciate books," Hayne said. "You don't know what you're missing..."
A flash of light turned their attention towards the fire pit again, which had already been lit. A fourth girl was holding a knife and a magnesium stick to light it. She didn't look like any of the other four; she had a segmented exoskeleton, horns on her head, four eyes, three arms and three legs. She looked puzzled towards the other three girls.
"What? You wanted this fire to be lit?" she said to them. "So... I thought, why shouldn't I light it up?"
"Where did you learn to light up a fire so fast, Sitarka?" Quilina asked.
"Every Khyrian learns how to light up a fire," Sitarka answered. "In the life I used to live, you never know where you spend the next night..."
"I should've guessed... well, we need to nurse the fire a bit, girls. We should switch to a pagoda setup once the fire gets big enough."

The girls worked on making the fire grow, putting on bigger and bigger blocks of wood on the fire as it was growing. They were starting to feel the warmth of the fire, as the sky around them turned darker and the first stars began to shine in the night sky. When they deemed the fire to be big enough, they sat down around it. Hayne got a bag filled with soft candy out of her bag and showed it to the others.
"I got these from Idris," she said. "I think they're called 'marshmallows'. He told me to put them on a stick and roast them above the fire."
"Is that a thing on Terra?" Quilina asked.
"I guess..."
"Oh, oh, I want one! Can I have one?" Shaxaëla begged.
"Here you go," Hayne gave her a stick and a few marshmallows. She took one and stuck it on her stick and held it above the fire. The others followed suit, until they all had lightly roasted their marshmallow. Shaxaëla was the first to taste hers.
"Ah! It's a bit hot!" she puffed. "But... it's kinda sticky inside... I love it!"
The others took a bit more care when eating their marshmallows, but seemed to enjoy it nonetheless.
"I think I understand why Idris gave these to me," Hayne smiled. She put another marshmallow on her stick and started to roast that one above the fire as well. "So... does anyone have any stories to tell?"
"Stories?" Quilina asked.
"Yeah, it's a Kalasian tradition to tell stories around the fire. Doesn't have to be about yourself."
"Well, ummm... there was this one time... I was just 2, and it was winter, but it was the first time I've ever seen snow. I was thrilled to go play in it, so I hurried outside and..."
"And what?"
"My tail! Freezing cold! I was shivering all over. Foolish two-gannu old me didn't think snow would cold. How quickly I would learn..."
"And? Is there more?"
"Ummm... no, that's it," Quilina hung her head. "I... I'm sorry, but... I don't really have any exciting stories to tell..."
"Oh, oh, I have a story! Do you know how I got this band?" Shaxaëla proudly displayed her tail to the others, showing the pink and blue band below her head.
"Your parents gave it to you?" Hayne asked.
"Ummm, yes, sorta, but I promise it's a good story, OK?"
"Just a moment," Hayne grabbed a notebook and a pencil from her bag, and opened it in her hand. "So, tell us your story."
"So, we were on our theater tour through the galaxy, showing our latest comedy show, Oljax the Bard & The Mischievous Queen. We had done like a few dozen shows already, so many planets I've seen for the first time. It was so much fun! But! This time, it would be different. I can remember my parents being nervous, this seemed like a big deal for them. I soon learned why: we landed on Modrin, and not just anywhere, but at the courtyard of the King and Queen of the Kuzhnian Islands!"
"You played for royalty?" Quilina asked.
"Not just any, Chtyruci royalty! We look up to Chtyruci so much!"
"Yeah, I've read they were the ones who made First Contact with you and helped you find your way in the Galaxy," Hayne elaborated.
"Uh-huh! So you can imagine what big of a deal this was! So, we got our of our shuttle, and we were building up our stage, when we suddenly got a message: we were invited to dinner with the King and Queen! Everyone was really excited! So, the evening came, and we all went to the royal dining room. I expected it to be massive, but it was very different. It was cosy, despite its size, the whole room was clearly built around the huge tree in the middle of the palace. The entire room was richly decorated in wood carvings. I've never seen these kinds of wood carvings before, all painted in bright colours, so beautiful! But the dining table itself... it was curved, in such a way that the King and Queen could see everyone. The tables were filled with many strangely coloured fruits and vegetables, the best Modrin had to offer. So delicious! Anyway, we sat across from the Queen, and you know what happened? She even talked with us! She had noticed me, I was one of the few kids at the table, most of them where the royals' kids. So, she asked us how hard it was to raise me when we're travelling so much throughout the galaxy, always far from home. I said wherever my parents are, that's my home. She seemed to be touched by it, and she was very curious. Asking us about where we've been, what plays we did in the past. She knew a few of them. But, after dinner we had to get on stage. We'd perform our play."
"And? How did they like it?" Hayne asked.
"Oh, they found it hilarious! The Queen told us she hadn't seen her husband laugh so much in years! So, just before we left, they gave my parents this band made of Modrin silk."
"But wait... your band is pink. Chtyruci can't see any shade of red!"
"Hehe, well, she thought the band was white with blue rims, but was surprised when my parents told it was pink. You should've seen the look on her face! I'll never forget that look, so funny! So... that's how I got this band."
"A good story indeed, Shaxa. Sounds like a lovely time there."
"Oh, I so wanna go back there one day! And you? Do you have a fun story?"
Hayne hesitated.
"Well... ummm... I don't have such an exciting story as you have..."
"Pleeeeeaaaaaase?"
"OK, OK, I'll tell. It happened on a hiking trip, about a gannu ago. My dad loves to go on hiking trails in nature, and he often take me with him. Usually we walked in the woods of Shintako, but this time, dad wanted to go somewhere else, something more challenging: the Tayuki mountain trail. I remember it was quite tough walking up the mountains. I was so glad I took my walking sticks with me, because I didn't think I would've made it without it. It was exhausting, but all that effort was worth it when we got to the top. On one side, we had a beautiful view over the entire valley, stretching out very far. But on the other side, there was a beautiful lake, and that's where I saw them: wild Tayuk-cats drinking at the lake. Such elegant creatures."
"Oh, do they also have two heads like you?" Shaxaëla asked.
"Of course, why wouldn't they? Theirs is a bit further up their belly, though. My dad says we should approach them very carefully. So, we walked towards the lake, slowly, but they were also approaching us. It seems that they were really curious, until they stood right in front of me."
"Aren't they dangerous?" Quilina asked.
"They can be if they're provoked. But if they were, they'd have come running towards us. But these? They just wanted to play with us. Oh, they were so cute!"
"D'awww! I wish I was there..." Shaxaëla said.
"So, what about you, Sitarka?"
"Huh, what?" Sitarka was startled.
"We haven't heard much from you, but I bet you have some thrilling stories to tell."
"Oh, umm... I have, but... they may be a bit scary... things that can't be explained..."
"Ooooh, ghost stories!" Shaxaëla squeed. "Tell us! Tell us!"
"When I still had my clan, we were flying around in our clan's spaceship across the galaxy. Doing all the piracy stuff, you know, raids and such. But every once in a while, we docked at one of the Khyrian starbases. Kuru'Krik'Kaa starbase was our main port."
"That's a weird name for a station," Hayne said.
"I've heard the Translator translates it in syllables you understand. You should hear it in native Khyrian. Wait, let me try..."
Sitarka tried to override the Universal Translator, letting out some sounds that sound like a mix between bird and reptilian sounds: "*Click!* *hum hum* *crack!* *caw!*"
"Knot my tail!" Shaxaëla blurted. "Is that how your people speak?"
"Yes... and my Zhareni foster parents speak like this as well. Shows again we're closely related peoples. And my actual name in Khyrian is *hiss* *tick!* *rattle* *caw!*"
"You guys are weird..."
"Oh, you think that's weird? Well, let me tell you about Khyrian starbases then. These places are big, very big. Built and expanded over many thousands of years. They're placed in the depths of deep space, far from any star or planet, only Khyrians know where they are. But these ancient starbases host many secrets in their corridors. Dark secrets you may find if you took a wrong turn while you walk through the station. And I took one of those wrong turns.
So my clan was taking their loot from our docking port to the central market of the station. I was following them. However, Khyrian starbases are like three dimensional mazes. They were built without a plan, and it's easy to get lost... especially when you can't read. Well, on that fateful day, I fell a bit behind and my clan already went around the corner. I hurried to follow them, but then I ended up at a split in the corridor, and I couldn't see them in either hallway. So I had to pick which way to go... and I picked the wrong one. When I was halfway down the corridor, the lights went dark. All I could hear was the humming of the space station's reactor. I walked a few steps, when I suddenly heard an eerie voice that came from around me... even though I was alone..."
"Voice? What voice?" Quilina asked. "What did it say?"
"Well, I can only justify what it sounded like in Khyrian..."
Sitarka prepared her voice again, letting out a very haunting sequence of sounds: "*Croak* *hiss* *rattle* *low growl* *click!* *caw!* *caw!* *rattle* *crack!* *screech!* *low growl*"
Quilina had backed off when she heard the sounds Sitarka was making. "Th-th-that's terrifying!"
"Does it mean anything?" Hayne asked.
"Yes," Sitarka answered. "It said: 'who dares to set a foot in my corridor?'"
"Oh no, a scary figure!" Quilina said.
"So, how did you get out?" Hayne asked.
"Well, I've heard some stories from clan members who came across these situations. They told me I should show no fear. So, I calmly said to the voice I was on my way to the market and I must have taken a wrong turn. The voice only said four more words: 'turn around, and go'. I went back the way I came, and eventually met up with my clan at the market. They were very concerned about me when I returned. But I've never seen who spoke these words in the corridor... Nobody knows... There are many mysteries still to uncover. Even mysteries nobody knows they exist..."
"I wish I could explore a Khyrian starbase someday," Hayne said. "They sound like those from my adventure books."
"Sadly, it's just for us Khyrians," Sitarka sighed. "I wish I could show you all our ships and starbases, but... the Galaxy hates our guts, and in return, our people don't trust any other species. We've always been on our own..."
"Maybe one day there will be peace... The Galaxy has more than plenty to help the Khyrians out, but nobody dares to help. This mistrust... it stands in the way... Someone needs to break that cycle!"
"I wish I could... but... I don't know how..."
"Perhaps you can do it with stories."
"Really? But I can't read or write."
"No, but you can tell a great story! You can learn how to read, and when you can do that, writing should come easier. It will open an entire galaxy of knowledge for you!"
"Will you... will you help me with that?"
Hayne smiled. "I would be honoured, girl. Perhaps you'll become a great writer some day."
The Khyrian girl smiled back at her. "Yeah, that would be something..."

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It's summer time, and here we have the girl quartet of the Galactic Scouts around a campfire. I had this scene in mind for a long time, and the amazing  elke made this scene come to life, probably one of my favourites so far! The only thing it was missing was a story to come with it. Well, here it is then. I hope you enjoy reading it!