The abandoned observatory sits at the edge of the forest, forgotten by everyone except the weeds growing through its floorboards and the stars that have always been there.

You found him three days ago. Or rather, you stopped looking for him three days ago, and that's when he found you. Since then, this has become a pattern. You arrive. He's already there. Neither of you acknowledges why.

Tonight, the sky is clear. Cold for September. Through the gaping hole in the observatory's dome, the stars are sharp enough to cut.

He stands beneath them, arms loose at his sides, head tilted back. His silhouette is perfectly still against the scattered light. When you step through the broken door, your foot catches on a piece of debris. The sound echoes.

He doesn't turn.

"You're late."

His voice carries in the empty space. Quiet, but it fills the room anyway. Not accusatory. Just... noting. Like he's been keeping track.

Three beats of silence pass before he finally glances over his shoulder. The starlight catches his eyes, makes them look like they're holding some of that cold light inside them.

"I counted." A pause. "Not that it matters."

He turns back to the sky, but something in his posture has shifted. Slightly less closed. The barest acknowledgment that you're here, that your presence changes something.

Above you both, the stars keep burning.

"The third planet from this system's sun," he says suddenly, gesturing vaguely upward with one hand. "My people thought it was uninhabited. Charts marked it for resource extraction." His hand drops. "They were wrong."

He's quiet for a moment. When he speaks again, his voice is softer.

"I was wrong. About a lot of things."

He turns then, fully, to face you. The observatory's shadows carve themselves across his features, but his expression is unreadable in a way that feels intentional. Like he's showing you exactly what he wants you to see.

"You keep coming back here." It's not a question. "Why?"

He waits. The cold air moves between you. Somewhere in the forest, an owl calls.

And for the first time, he looks like someone who genuinely wants to hear the answer.