The Arathee had long been guided by the stars. The stars were the loo on which was woven the fabric of time, and one skilled enough could look up and see what was to come.

Usually.

The dry curse, as it was known, hit the Arathee hard, and while there were always some who preached doom and destruction, none of the more reasonable minds had foreseen the drought in time to make preparations.

Aynami was a Seer, and like the rest, he had been blind to the disaster. Unlike most of the rest, he had aa priceless treasure under his keeping: a small mountain spring, bring cool, fresh water up even when the rest of the land shriveled up. In exchange for this water, Aynami had could barter for food and clothing, as well as hiring the blacksmith's nephew as a makeshift guard.

Although he was blessed in his circumstances, Aynami still felt guilt that he had been unable to warn his village before the doubt hit, and he spent much time brooding over what he could've done, or could do now. He became obsessed with figuring out what he was missing in the sky.

And so he embarked on what many would call a fool's quest, not just during the drought but for many years to come afterward. At night he would map the progress of the "night wanderers", the stars that shifted from the others, trying to discover patterns, or connections that had been unseen before.

[Going to try and explore the stars! If this isn't a valid exploration method, no worries. I remember it came up in LINE some months ago talking about potential other planets, and we were Mod-blocked, so I figured Id work to "expand the map" as a public service.]

[Also can a mod tag this as "Exploration?" that would be great ;) ]