The moon was high in the sky. Despite its crescent shape, it illuminated the sandy beach expanding for as far as the eye could see. One lone star was near it, dimly twinkling in the pre-dawn light.
"I wonder if that's where you are," she whispered, her voice lost against the sound of crashing waves.
And as my twinkling self gazed down on her from my corner of a newly formed nebula, I wished I could respond. It had been years since I departed, and I had grown more abstract and formless than expected. But the light persisted, the love remained, and seeing the galaxy reflected in her eyes reminded me of the form I once had. The one with toes and eyes. The one that sneezed and danced.
But, as always, the relentless rising sun interrupted our fleeting connection too soon.
She sighed and laughed, trying to push away the sadness. "Such a silly thought."
And yet, in her heart it felt true. Perhaps it was. Either way, it was a comforting thought, in its way. Not as comforting as a physical presence, but better than complete absence.
In the growing light of the sun, she pushed herself from the rock into the water, swimming deep into her ocean home. The cool water flowed over her tail as she passed schools of fish and the predators that hunted them. On the sandy bottom, she met others of her kind.
"I saw it again," she said.
"How long were you up there?" said her sister. "You know it's not good for you."
"But--"
"Stop. Stop right there. I do not want to hear another word about this. First you think you're in love with a human. As if. And now? Now you think he lives in the sky? Do you realize how crazy you sound?"
She wept, salty tears dissolving in an ocean current that could never carry away her sadness.
"But I know that I, too, will be a star someday. If only there a way to be one now. I miss them so much."