As it turned out, Star Bits were indeed a sufficient substitute for hydration and nutrients. Inevitability, Rosalina's original larder either got consumed or spoiled. But the Star Bits she and Luma collected proved more than enough to hold them over. They also snagged a couple more opportunities to add to their existing stock. In the meantime, the travels never stopped. Many weeks went by, although the pair had yet to see anything of interest. Not a planet, not a star, not even a space rock big enough to hold Luma's mother.
I thought there was so much to see in space, the way Daddy talked about it, Rosalina thought despondently. She had to admit, she felt herself becoming grouchy about the whole affair, too. Slowly, a sense of futility crept into the ship's atmosphere. The cosmos was so huge: much larger than Rosalina could have ever imagined. Still, they had yet to find a single thing. Several times, she almost suggested going back home. But she knew deep down she could never bring herself to say those words out loud. She had made a promise to Luma— a pinky-swear promise at that, which was absolutely unbreakable within her mind.
She honestly wasn't sure if she even could return home at this point. They had shifted directions so many times that Rosalina didn't know which way led back to Earth. There were no significant landmarks to guide her back, except maybe that asteroid field they passed forever ago. Though, even if she could figure out a way to return, it would take quite a while to make the journey. Meanwhile, Luma would be in despair the whole time- and probably upset at her as well. These thoughts hurt Rosalina deeply. She tried her hardest to hide those prospects in the back of her mind. The unsettling feelings they produced were almost too much for her to take.
One day, Luma slept on one of the cots while Rosalina watched over the helm. They did this in shifts whenever they needed to catch up on some shut-eye. Though right now, Rosalina felt rather tired, too. She put the ship on autopilot and closed her eyes, intending to rest for only a few minutes. But Rosalina ended up falling asleep, her stuffed bunny held loosely in her arms.
After a few hours, a bright blue light pierced her vision, breaking her from the spell of slumber. She had been dreaming about home, so she believed the light to be that of the morning sun. Unfortunately, she was greeted with a rude awakening. The cold metal seat in which she lay served as a stark reminder that she was not home and that this could not be the sun she knew. Still, this sudden flood of vivid light jarred her senses in a way that she had no other true comparison.
"Mgh..." she mumbled sleepily, trying in vain to shield her eyes; the turquoise glow was almost blinding. She rose, using nothing but her sense of touch to stumble towards Luma. She had a hard time adjusting to such a luminous glow, fighting to keep her eyelids open. She could barely discern Luma himself – or any other object on the ship for that matter.
"Luma! Wake up! Something is causing this...this light! Do you know what it could be?" Rosalina said, shaking the star child gently. Luma blinked his eyes open, only to cry at the intensity of the glare.
"I don't know! I can't – I can't see a darn thing!" Rosalina thought she saw Luma shrug, but she honestly couldn't tell. "Maybe it's a star?"
"Finally!" she exclaimed, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. She hoped Luma was right. She waved her hands in front of her eyes, wishing it wasn't so darn bright. And then, something strange happened. It was almost as if the universe had heard her plea. The luminosity gradually dimmed until it was tolerable. Rosalina wasn't sure what caused that to happen— or why— but she sure was thankful.
"Golly, I can see again! How strange," she murmured. She and Luma both pressed themselves to the windows, finally spotting the source of the light. It looked like a mysterious turquoise ball made of ice. Rosalina squinted at it as it continued to shimmer.
"Hey, Rosalina? Are you thinking what I'm thinking? That's..."
"A comet!" They both shouted at the same time. This realization made Rosalina feel very excited. Could this be it? Were they finally close to finding Luma's mother? Honestly, she refused to even consider the prospect that this wasn't the right comet.
"M-Mama..." Luma sighed, his eyes tearing up. Her friend's cry kindled a newfound flare of determination within her.
"We have to get to that comet, Luma!" she shouted. They both scrambled to the bow and worked furiously at the control panel. After a few minor hiccups, they landed the ship upon the comet's surface. With giddy breaths and rapid heartbeats, they opened the hatch and stepped outside.
"Alright, let's go!" Rosalina held her net in a giddy grip, hoping they could locate more Star Bits. The ground appeared opaque despite reflecting the light rather strongly. Even after announcing their intention to move, Rosalina couldn't help but stare at the brilliant surface for a minute or so. The more she looked, the more it appeared the line between space and surface was blurred. When she finally shifted her feet, she ended up slipping and crashing on the ground.
"Owie!" she cried, rubbing her elbows. "It's slippery and cold. It feels exactly like ice."
"Well, of course it's ice, silly. That's what comets are made of," Luma huffed. "Now c'mon, let's go find my mama."
The comet proved to be rather large. They set off from the ship in no particular direction, looking high and low. When they completed a loop around one section, they moved further down and repeated the process. Rosalina gradually learned how to adjust her movements so she wouldn't slip. (Fortunately for the floating Luma, he didn't have to worry about that.) Even after getting used to the icy surface, she still found herself sliding every now and then.
After what felt like hours of searching, the two ended up at the northern pole. They had scoured every inch, but Luma's mother was nowhere to be found. Rosalina plopped down on the frozen ice with a flop, feeling exhausted beyond belief. Dramatic as it sounded, she felt unable to take another step.
"She's not here, Luma," she whispered, covering her face. "She's not on this comet. All this searching was for nothing." The little girl felt ready to cry when Luma suddenly squealed.
"Look! Rosalina, look beneath you!" Luma pointed at the ground under where she lay. She peered down and saw something so obvious, she wondered how she hadn't noticed it before. There were clusters of Star Bits encased in the ice!
"Pretty good, huh? Finding Star Bits is my specialty!" Luma bragged. Rosalina stared at the frozen space rocks in fascination.
"That's a great find, Luma, but how would we get them out?" Before Luma could answer, Rosalina spotted something else, this time right under Luma's position. She carefully scrambled across the ice and examined the mystery object. It looked a lot like a magic wand, similar to what Rosalina used to play with at home. The wand was about a foot long, with a stick-thin silver handle. At its apex sat a hollow, yellow outline of a five-pointed star.
"What's this?" she asked curiously. When Luma saw the object in her hands, he froze suddenly, staring at it in disbelief.
"T-that was Mama's wand..." he stuttered, little droplets falling from his eyes.
"What happened to her?"
"Oh... I don't know," Rosalina replied softly, gently placing the wand down and hugging Luma tightly to her chest. "I'm so sorry... but this proves she was here at least, right? We finally have a clue."
"I guess..." Luma sniffed in resignation. "Mama was special, though. She used the wand to harbor the power of the cosmos. That wand can do almost anything."
"The power of the cosmos, huh? How mysterious! ...Can anyone use it?"
"I really don't know... I don't think so..."
"Wait a minute." Without even thinking, Rosalina picked up the wand. Feeling a little silly, she gingerly motioned the wand in an upwards motion, not really expecting anything to happen. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head when the Star Bits began to jostle and rise, breaking free of their icy prison. Luma's jaw would have dropped if he had one.
"What the?! Rosalina, how did you do that just now?"
"I... I don't know," she gasped. How did the wand know exactly what she wanted? It was unreal. There was no way this was possible, unless...
Luma frowned in thought. "Now that I think about it, Mama used to talk about a legend. She said her wand would only obey those with a special kind of gift. She never really explained what kind of gift, though... I think it had something to do with having a sincere heart? Maybe?"
"A gift?" Rosalina repeated slowly. "But how can I have something like that? I've never been in space before until recently..."
"Yet you can breathe out here without any help," Luma pointed out. "You brushed off zero gravity like it was nothing when we first collected Star Bits."
"And the comet dimming when I wished for it...?" she questioned.
"Probably your doing, too. Perhaps it's possible because your heart has resonated with the pulse of the universe..." She shook her head in puzzlement.
"I... what? What do you mean by that?"
"I'm not sure myself. All I know is it's an ability seldom accomplished. Even Mama was one in a million." Luma proceeded to beam. "But look at you! I always knew you were special!"
He can't really mean that my love for space is enough to grant me magical abilities? That's wild! But then, couldn't anyone use this wand? Sure, Rosalina always pretended during play that she had special powers. But in the end, she knew it was just that: play. This was real life. Whether it was actually something to do with her heart, or something different, she would never know. Only one thing seemed certain: she was unique in some way.
Cool, but... What now? Rosalina stood up and stretched her arms upwards, trying to ignore a sudden sense of discomfort.
"Well, back to the wand. If this was your mama's, that means she was here at some point, maybe recently. And even though there's ice here, it's still pretty warm. I bet there's water, too, if we look hard enough. We should probably stay here for a while."
"Good thing comets travel on their own. The ship really should rest for a bit," replied Luma.
The two decided to bring the unearthed Star Bits back to the ship. As Rosalina hauled them back in her net, a sudden thought appeared in her head.
I wonder if I could use the wand to help us find Luma's mother? Sure, why couldn't she if the wand was truly capable of doing whatever she wanted? She decided to make that attempt once they had settled in.
And thus, the search for Luma's mother continued as they rode the turquoise comet...