Glimmer's Long Journey Home

Born in a burst of light

Far, far away, deep inside a great glowing star, a tiny spark of light was born. Her name was Glimmer, and she was one of countless sparks bursting outward in every direction at once, racing off into the endless dark without ever looking back.

Racing through the dark

Glimmer had never seen anything like the space around her — no ground to land on, no wind to ride, just black, black distance sprinkled with faraway stars, each one glimmering exactly like her. She wasn't scared, though. She was the fastest thing in the whole universe, faster than any comet, any rocket, any wish. Even so, the dark stretched on and on, farther than anything she could imagine.

Years without slowing down

So Glimmer kept going. She didn't get tired, and she never once slowed down. Comets swept past her with their icy tails streaming like ribbons, and clusters of other stars twinkled in the distance, but still she traveled on, for one year, then two, then more years than she could count. Somewhere far behind her, on a small blue planet she couldn't yet see, whole seasons rose and fell without her ever noticing.

A blue dot ahead

Then one day — one very, very long day — Glimmer spotted something new glowing softly ahead: a small blue-green dot, wrapped in swirling white clouds. It grew bigger, and bigger, and brighter, until she could see oceans and mountains and forests all at once. She had been traveling for so long, and here, finally, was somewhere to land.

A journey ends in her eyes

That very night, in a backyard on that little blue planet, a girl named Nora lay on a blanket in the grass, looking up at the sky. She found one bright star and wondered exactly what Glimmer had been wondering the whole way: how old is this light? Just then, Glimmer streamed down through the clear night sky and landed, at last, in Nora's waiting eyes. She had traveled for years to reach this one perfect moment — and Nora, without knowing it, had just made a very old friend.