"How is this even possible?" Hannah was astonished, "The stars are just suddenly disappearing?!"

The Gnorbu astronomer took a step away from his telescope, asking Hannah to look by herself with a subtle sleigh of hand. As soon as she grasped a clear image of the night sky, a bunch of stars started tinkling, similar to a light bulb malfunctioning in an empty room. After a couple seconds, one of them ceased its shine, disappearing into the darkness.

"I just can't believe this," she said to herself, "How many stars have disappeared so far?"

"According to my calculations, that's 72 stars tonight. For a total of 300 missing lights since the first one started tinkling a week ago. I dare to say, the has never been an incident like this in the history of Neopia."

Hannah looked at the Old Gnorbu and then up to the sky, hesitant of what to say in such a crisis. After a couple seconds, in a whisper, she was able to say, "What's gonna happen to Neopia's beautiful Sky?"

"That, my adventurous friend, is the reason I called you,' Said the Gnorbu with the warmest of smiles. "Countless mysteries beyond our imaginations have reached your hand in a plea to be deciphered, and without a doubt, you have solved what others never could. I think this is a task I can entrust no one but you."

Hannah was dazzled by the astronomer's trust in a situation of despair. She immediately knew she could not decline the mission, and disappointment was not an option in a crisis of this magnitude. The sky was at stake this time.

The adventurous Usul raised her gaze and, with a confident smile, declared, "Leave this to me. I'll get to the bottom of this mystery in no time."

"That's what I'm most afraid of," said the concerned Gnorbu, "The disappearings are accelerating. If my estimations are right, we only have four nights until the last star fades into the darkness."

"Then I'll be back in three," said Hannah with a determined voice, rushing towards the door.

Hannah exited the observatory in a flash, pondering what her first move would be, only to realise she had no clue where to start. Not a single lead but the vast sky, and time was a factor.

Just a moment before her conviction had a chance to weaken, a familiar voice stopped her on her toes...

"Kanrik!" she shouted, running towards him.

"Shhh! Can't you tell I'm trying to be covert?!" The cloaked Blue Gelert hissed at his longtime friend, retreating slightly to maintain his veil of concealment.

"Oh, sorry. I was just excited to see you," the Usul adventurer whispered bashfully, moving towards him and out of the moonlight. "Why are you here?"

Kanrik motioned for Hannah to follow him as he stealthily slinked away, meandering through the shrubbery surrounding the stone wall of the observatory. There was an opening in the underbrush, and the Gelert paused before it, pointing to the ground.

Hannah’s eyes were adjusting to the blackness of the shadows. As she squinted and allowed the images before her to settle, she could see an opalescent gleam in the dewy grass.

“What is that?” she asked.

“I’m not sure, but I watched it fall from the sky,” the Leader of the Thieves’ Guild replied, the deep scar on his snout outlined by the moonlight.

“Could it be… A star?” Hannah inquired, bewildered by the iridescent light dancing before her eyes.

“That’s why I’m here, Hannah. I’ve noticed shooting stars in the night sky that seem to be travelling downward towards the surface of Neopia. I came to the observatory to see if I could watch them more closely.”

“That’s why I’m here too. We have to figure out why the stars are burning out so we can save the night sky,” Hannah said, determined.

Kanrik nodded. “There are more in the field behind the observatory. Maybe we can watch from there.”

As Hannah lead the way to the field, the Gelert silently bent down to pick up the star shard and put it in his pocket…

"Though the stars fall,

An adventurer they shall call."

"Kanrik? Are you okay?"

Belatedly the Gelert realized that he had doubled over in agony, hands clutching his head, and forgetting that he was supposed to be following Hannah into the field that he said had many more fallen stars. He immediately straightened up, blinking away his own share of stars from his eyes.

"I...uh, it's nothing, Hannah," he said, waving her away. "Go on. I've got your back."

As they continued to walk, Kanrik slid a hand into his pocket, feeling the star he had tucked away. The words continued to echo in his head whenever his fingers brushed up against the shard, which felt mildly warm to the touch, but nothing else happened after that.

"You're right." Hannah's voice snapped him out of his brief reverie. She glanced around at the grass, seeing the twinkling remnants of stars scattered all around them like Lightmites. Then the Usul looked up at the sky. Though the moon didn't seem to be waning, there was something about the sky that was darker, more foreboding, with so many stars gone.

Before she could ask Kanrik where they could watch for falling stars, one of the points of light began to move, descend, and...

"It's falling!" she said, pointing up to it. "Come on, Kanrik!"

The two of them ran to meet the star's path, which ended in a clump of wildflowers. It lay there, glowing like an ember taken from a fire.

But as Hannah stared at it, her gaze travelled over the other star shards in the field, where they had all fallen, and it was her turn to gasp.

"The stars...they formed a pattern..."

There were multiple clumps of wildflowers each with the same pattern. Kanrik took a look at the fallen stars. “You might be right my adventurous friend. It appears to be some sort of path almost as if it were a map. Perhaps we should follow the arrows of fallen stars.”

The two of them began to follow the stars through the rest of the wildflower clumps until they arrived at the edge of the last clump. The pattern of stars stopped. In front of the two friends stood a rather ominous cave.

“Hannah, do you see any more stars?” Kanrik asked as he put his hand back in his pocket. The words continuing to echoing even louder in his brain.

Hannah looked puzzled as she looked around the cave’s opening. She could not find any more stars. As she looked up, a bright light filled her eyes. She noticed something gleaming from inside the cave.

“Kanrik, I think our next task is to enter the cave,” Hannah nervously said. “I think our next clue lies inside.”

There was no reply from her friend. “Kanrik?! This is not the time to be pulling a joke!” She exclaimed. She turned around, but there was no Kanrik. “Kanrik, where did you go? This is seriously not funny!”

Just then, the light in the cave started to shine brighter and brighter. Then a familiar voice echoed from within the cave.

"Though the stars fall,

An adventurer they shall call."

It was Kanrik’s voice. “Kanrik!! Hold on I’m coming!” Hannah exclaimed as she began to run inside the cave.

And suddenly, she saw a shadow coming from a silhouette.

The shadow got closer and closer until she realised.

"Kanrik!" exclaimed Hannah. You need to see this. I think it can save the stars!"

Kanrik looked at the cave painting and heard a voice, " The wand saves, into the Faerie caves." "We should check the faerie caves!" Kanrik exclaimed. They went back to the entrance.

And then they saw an ancient scroll.

The Gelert was unimpressed. "It doesn't even tell us where the wand is. Not to mention, do you even know how many Wands of Nova are sold and used all over Neopia today? How do we even know the one we'll find in there is the wand that can return the stars to the sky?"

"'Though the stars fall, an adventurer they shall call,'" Hannah repeated. "'The wand saves, into the Faerie Caves.' How many Wands of Nova are in caves instead of in shops?"

Kanrik shrugged. "I guess you have a point. But how do we even find the wand in the caves?" He jabbed the map that his friend was holding without a care for the ancient artefact with the same hand he had slid into his pocket to touch the star shard before.

The map glowed suddenly like a lamp being switched on, bathing Hannah's and Kanrik's faces in bright golden light. With a gasp of surprise, the Usul took a big step back, leaving the map in Kanrik's grasp.

"Kanrik? How did you - "

"I don't - ow!"

While he clutched the map, pain shot through his head once again, causing him to yelp.

"Kanrik!"

Hannah approached him again. But as she did so, she saw words twinkle into life over the map.

"Yet another answers his heart's thrall,

Though the stars continue to fall.

Beware, adventurer, the thief of the stars,

But he will never escape far."

The same words thundered across Kanrik's skull, causing him to drop to his knees, the map fluttering out of his fingers.

"What's going on? Are you sure you're okay?"

"Hannah..."

As his head throbbed with pain, Kanrik was torn between telling the Usul what he had pocketed, and trying to soldier on despite how this star he had picked up seemed relentless in making him regret taking it. Maybe it was pure coincidence that the map warned them of whoever was causing the stars to fall; surely it can't be chastising him for taking a fallen star, right?

Meanwhile, Hannah had picked up the map and was reading the words again and again.

"Maybe we'll finally find out who's behind this in the caves," she remarked. "What do you think?"

Kanrik looked up and struggled to his feet.

"I think..."

"What did you do?" Hannah asked after only a moment's pause. There was no time to waste on surprise.

"I picked up one of the fallen stars earlier. Here." He said, fishing the star out of his pocket, gritting his teeth against the throbbing pain that the action caused in his brain.

Hannah observed his pained expression with sympathy, but her mission took priority over her friend's well-being. "Is that why you've been behaving so strangely? Where was the star originally?"

The Gelert guided Hannah to the side of the observatory where he had picked up the fallen star. Without a word, he took the glowing shard and put it back in the grass; it was clear to both of them that he must return it to its rightful place.

The pair waited for the consequence - Kanrik wincing in advance, anticipating more pain, and Hannah with her ears pricked and eyes open as wide as possible, ready to notice the slightest change in their surroundings.

Nothing happened. Kanrik breathed a sigh of relief as he relaxed, but Hannah twitched with annoyance.

"We obeyed the scroll. The thief has returned the star. Now what?" she said, glancing around impatiently. "Why did it matter that you had taken it?"

The Gelert, untensing, took stock of their environment for the first time since returning the star. The sky was still ominously dark, the night air cool and full of the buzzing of Moquots. Nothing seemed to have changed, except…

Kanrik focused on the twinkling star shards before them. He realised as Hannah had earlier, that the lights formed a pattern! Only this time, the message wasn't an arrow but a letter.

"Hannah, look, the stars…"

Hannah noticed it immediately, "L? As in… left, maybe?"

The two glanced at each other, then at the map in Hannah's hands, which showed a path that split off into two directions.

"I guess we know which path to take," Kanrik said with a grin. "Let's go!"

The intrepid pair hurried off towards the Faerie Caverns…

Hannah slipped on a piece of moss. For a moment, her voice was caught in mid-air, but then she felt a sturdy pair of arms catch her. "It's nice of you not to leave me to die this time," she said.

"Aw, come on!" Kanrik set her back on her feet. "That was ages ago. Ever since Galem and Masila betrayed me, I've changed."

"For the better, hopefully," said Hannah with a playful grin.

They were standing now where the wand was supposed to be, according to the scroll at least. But... there was no wand. Not anywhere visible.

Kanrik cleared his throat. "Well, magical powers that be," he said to no one in particular, his voice echoing in the caves. "An adventurer has been called. Now what? Shall the stars continue to fall?"

As if in answer, there came a sudden rumbling. Pieces of wall started to fall towards them. The Usul and Gelert hurried away from the falling rocks and stumbled into an open cavern, where...

Hannah gasped. "A whole pile of stars."

They shimmered in a soft, golden heap, blindingly bright.

Kanrik couldn't speak for several moments. When he did, he said: "Imagine how much this all has to be worth."

"Kanrik!" Hannah whirled around. "How could you possibly be thinking of profit in a time like this?!"

"I mean... I'm... I'm the head of the Thieves' Guild." The Gelert's ears drooped sheepishly.

Hannah's tail was bristling. "Kanrik, be honest with me. Do you actually want to save Neopia? And do you know anything about why the stars were falling in the first place?"

How will this story end?

"Merely a joke, my friend." He met Hannah's fiery gaze with a wry smile, "I've learned my lesson about pocketing fallen stars, I assure you."

Hannah quelled the suspicion in the back of her mind, reminding herself that Kanrik is someone she can trust. At the very least he would not lie to her; that much she was certain of.

The two turned their attention back to the pile of stars.

"Well... what now?"

Hannah's voice felt small as it echoed through the large cavern. Why were the stars disappearing? What did the mural in the cave mean? How did all these stars come to be in this cavern? Who was the thief the map had referred to? Their questions were piling up nearly as high as the pile of stars, yet they felt no closer to any answers.

"Well, tonight is the third night, right? If we start now, we might be able to get all these stars back to the field in Altador with the others. I'm just sorry you won't meet your deadline."

As he spoke, Hannah reached out to start picking up stars to carry them back. However, when her finger brushed the first star, its light began to fade. Then the light faded from the one next to it, and the stars next to that one, and like that the light began to fade from all of the stars in the pile.

The two of them stood there, staring at the pile before them. No longer were they blindingly bright stars, but instead a pile of, admittedly quite shiny, but lifeless rocks.

"That can't be how this ends," Hannah said in disbelief.

Kanrik sank to his knees. He reached out to pick up one of the former stars. It was cold to his touch, and the light was completely gone from it.

He tossed it behind him. "Well, I guess that's it. There's no wand to be seen, and the stars have all faded. We've failed."

"I don't accept that." Hannah could feel the tears beginning to well up in her eyes. They had come so far, and the solution felt so close! She could almost-

Her eyes fell on the rock that Kanrik had tossed behind him. A light was stirring inside it, if only faintly. She took a step closer to it to get a better look.

"Accept it. There's nothing else we can do. The voices aren't saying anything anymore either. We're done." He dejectedly tossed another star behind him.

Hannah watched as it skidded across the cavern floor to stop near the one he had tossed before. They were both glowing now.

"Kanrik?"

Another rock landed behind him with a thud. "Alright alright, I'll stop throwing them." Kanrik stood up and dusted himself off. "I just felt like I needed to take my frustration out on something, you know? And they're basically just rocks now so-"

Suddenly, Hannah gave Kanrik a shove with all her might, causing him to fall into the pile of stars.

"Oof! What was that-" He stopped short as each of the stars around him began to glow brightly. The light began to spread rapidly throughout the pile, and there began a great rumbling around them.

The two had only a moment to exchange a look of surprise as the stars suddenly erupted all around them. A chaotic whirlwind of light whisked them into the air as if a tornado had suddenly sprung up beneath them. Kanrik and Hannah clung to each other to keep from getting separated. The roar of the wind was deafening and the light nearly blinding. The stars around them began to crumble into dust, creating a brilliant sandstorm of light.

"Kanrik!" Hannah shouted to be heard over the roar of the wind. "I think I figured it out! The stars are calling on YOU for assistance! This time, YOU'RE the adventurer!" She nearly laughed at the revelation, even as the swirling stardust stung her face and hands. "Think about it! You followed the falling stars to that field. Of the two of us, you're the only one who has heard the stars speaking. The map and the stars only burst into life at your touch! Don't you see?"

Kanrik squinted down at her, but through the dust, she couldn't see the look of bewilderment on his face. Of course, it had not occurred to him that HE was the adventurer the voice had referred to. Obviously, that should be Hannah, right? No, it seemed much more likely that he was the thief. He shook his head solemnly and gestured around him. "Does this look like the work of a chosen adventurer?" He, too, was shouting, "How will we return the stars to the sky if they've all become dust?"

Just then, the wind stopped, and the deafening sound was replaced by silence. The two of them carefully released their grip now that their feet were back on solid ground, and looked around as the last of the dust fell around them like sparkling snow.

"We're... back in the field? How did we get all the way back here from Faerieland?" She turned back to Kanrik, but he was already walking away toward the edge of the field.

"Kanrik!" She ran to him, clutching at his cloak to keep him from walking further.

"Where are you going? Didn't you hear what I said? You-"

"I'm sorry, Hannah, but I think you're wrong." Kanrik cut her off before she could finish. He tried to speak calmly, but Hannah knew him well enough to notice the sadness in his voice.

"I'm not the adventurer. I must be the thief. And I think if you're going to return the stars to the sky, then I should leave so I can't keep getting in the way."

Hannah shook her head, tightening her grip on his cloak. Her tail was bristling furiously, but this time the fire in her was fueled not by suspicion, but by determination.

"Kanrik, you may be a thief, but you're also my friend, and I trust you." She pointed to the sky, and his eyes followed to where she pointed to a completely dark sky, with only a small handful of stars twinkling weakly here and there. "We're almost out of time."

He looked from the sky down to the fiery Usul. Although he was a good bit taller than her, in that moment, he felt quite small beside her. Even as failure loomed and all seemed hopeless, there she stood, confident and determined. Where did she find the energy?

"I trust you, Kanrik. Do you trust me?"

He smiled in spite of himself. "Yes."

He had scarcely gotten the word out before she was marching him back to the centre of where the stardust still lay like a large patch of warm, sparkling snow in the middle of the sleepy Altador field.

"Okay!" She exclaimed when they had reached the middle.

"Go for it!"

Kanrik glanced around in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Put the stars back in the sky!"

He rubbed his temples. His head had been throbbing ever since the caverns...

His heart sank. The caverns! They never got the wand!

"Hannah, it's too late. We don't have the wand, and we're miles from the Faerie Caverns."

"Just try! Concentrate!"

He sighed and closed his eyes. Concentrate on what? He wondered. He tried searching his mind for the voice that had been speaking to him earlier.

"Uh... Hello, mysterious magical voice?" he said to the nearly empty field, but there was no response. Only silence but for the sound of a gentle breeze stirring the grass.

"Hannah, this is silly..."

He opened his eyes to watch as another star blinked out above her. But Hannah was only focused on him.

"Kanrik, please!" Her confidence was wavering, he could see it, but she held fast as she pleaded with him.

"Alright."

He closed his eyes again and focused on finding the voice in his mind again. He tried to concentrate, but found himself thinking instead of a memory. One that he had not thought about for a very long time.

A young Kanrik sat up on the roof of a bakery which had closed for the night hours ago. Still, that hadn't stopped him from sneaking in through a door that someone had forgotten to lock. He helped himself to a leftover sweet roll which he now happily ate while gazing up at the stars. In quiet, lonely moments like these, Kanrik had often found himself stargazing. In fact, that was what had caused him to first notice the falling stars just a few nights ago. The stars had always felt almost like friends to him as a young boy. That night while he munched on his stolen sweet roll atop the bakery roof, he had even made up a little game to play with the stars. It was like a mix of Techo Says and connect the dots. He would closely study the stars and which ones twinkled in what order, then try and connect them in his mind in the order they had twinkled.

Present-day Kanrik smiled at the memory. Back then, it had almost felt like the stars were even playing along with him. They showed him pictures of many silly things like Neggs, Petpets, a Nova...

That's it!

Kanrik's eyes flew open as he frantically searched the sky for the constellation. "Please still be there..."

Then he found it. A group of five stars, twinkling weakly.

"Hello, old friends. I guess you were trying to show me something after all."

He connected the stars in his mind, just as he had as a child, and concentrated.

"Adventurer who has held a star...

Think of them and who you are"

He thought about what it had felt like to hold a fallen star in his hand. When he was a boy, he had never dreamed that he would get the opportunity. At first, he had wanted to keep the star for himself. Even though he had joked about selling them, really, his thoughts had been even more selfish than that. He had always thought the stars were beautiful, and seeing one in person it was even more beautiful than he had imagined. He had wanted just one star for himself. After all, he was the Leader of the Thieve's Guild! If he wanted something, it was his right to take it!

But he shook his head. The stars were meant for everyone. They should be there in the sky to light up the night and help other lonely little kids feel a little less lonely. This was one thing he couldn't steal. With this thought, the pain in his head receded.

Still, he thought about the fallen star, and what it had felt like to hold it in his hand. A memory he would be able to treasure even if he didn't have the actual star. It had been warm, smaller than he had expected, and so much lighter than it looked. Almost as light as a-

He paused, realizing there was now a weight in his hand.

He looked down to see his hand grasping a Rod of Nova. Hannah had noticed it too and was staring with her mouth agape in disbelief.

He raised the wand to study it, and it glowed with reassuring power. He waved the wand around at the field. As he did so, the stardust around them began to glow again. Faintly at first, but then it grew to a blinding radiance that forced Hannah to shield her eyes. Fallen stars all across the field began to shimmer back to life.

Kanrik smiled.

"Alright, friends. It was great to see you, but it's time for you to go back where you belong so that everyone can enjoy you!" With that, he pointed the wand to the sky.

As before, the stardust swirled all around them before suddenly exploding upwards into the sky. Hannah and Kanrik watched in awe as the glowing stars spread all across the night sky like brilliant, glittering fireworks.

When it was all finished, the sky shone brightly with twinkling stars, and the first hints of morning sunlight peeked over the horizon.

"I told him we'd do it in three nights!" Hannah said triumphantly.

Kanrik looked to his hand, noticing the wand had once again disappeared.

"Guess I won't be selling the wand, then." He said with a grin.

Hannah elbowed him playfully, and they both laughed.

Hannah laid down in the grass to gaze up at the stars. "You did it, Kanrik! I knew you could!" She beamed up at him, her smile almost as bright as the stars above her.

He smiled too, but then it faded as he sat down beside her.

"But then, if I was the adventurer, who was the thief? And how did those stars end up in the Faerie Caverns?"

Hannah thought a moment about this.

"I think... you WERE the thief."

Kanrik looked at her in surprise. "Hang on, but I thought you said I was the adventurer?"

She laughed. "You are the adventurer! AND the thief! You're both! Have you ever heard the phrase "my own worst enemy?" I think it's kind of like that. The voice was warning you that in order to restore the stars to the sky, you had to resist the temptation to steal the stars to keep them for yourself."

Kanrik nodded quietly. He knew she was right.

"Alright, that makes sense, I guess. And the Cavern?"

Hannah gestured up at the sky. "Do you notice anything different about the sky?"

Kanrik studied the stars for a moment. "There are... stars?"

Hannah chuckled. "Yes, there are stars. In fact, I'd hazard to say there are even MORE stars than there were even before they started falling!"

"But how is that possible?" Kanrik asked incredulously.

"Well," Hannah propped herself up on an elbow while she thought. "I don't know that we'll ever know for certain, but I think those stars in the cavern were there for a really long time before we found them. And the stars fell so that they could be reunited with their lost siblings. That's my guess, anyway."

The two sat in silence for a long time, until well after the sun had risen so that the stars were no longer visible in the bright morning light. But even though they couldn't see them, they felt comfortable in the knowledge that the stars were there to stay.

The End