The First Step to a Journey of 10,000 Miles
"The kitchen will go here, and the library will be over there. The bedrooms can be sorted out later."
"Oh, and the living room can be here!"
Stagnancy and silence ruled over the area for what seemed like days or weeks, but Rosalina and her Luma took it upon themselves to rebuild what they had lost. They had to delve under rubble, sort out build-able and non-build-able materials, and chisel bricks out of uneven rocks using worn out hammers and rusty nails.
In a week, they had only managed to build half-level walls for the kitchen and living room. For the time being, they created a wooden make-do shelter near the willow tree, where they resided most of the time.
The cosmic duo worked in silence before Luma broke the silence with a question:
"Mama, why are we working here? Can't we go back to the Observatory?
Rosalina turned around and gazed into the eyes of her child.
"That is a good point. We could return there instead of having to make a shelter. But..."
Placing a hammer gently on the half-bulit walls, the mother went on, "...where will the others stay? Who will be the one to shelter them and comfort them? I also think...it is a bit fun making the house with our own hands."
Rosalina's head tilted towards the stars, once again leaping into a short-lived reverie.
She recalled dozing in the mushroom spaceship, curled up comfortably in the tiny space. She felt the hue of cyan and turquoise light fall on her eyelids as they fluttered open, awake, and lay at the sight of a blue-green comet. She reminisced the solid, but warm ice beneath her bare feet, and the exhaustion that overtook her as she strolled the comet.
She relived the moments of digging the ground to build a house out of seemingly nothing. It was just her and Luma, making a place for them to live.
"Do you remember when we built our first home, Luma?" Rosalina reminded.
"I do! It was fun building it together with you, Mama!" the Luma remarked cheerfully, happily remembering those shared times.
"Let us create a new home for us to stay, a new home where we can all be safe..." the traveller declared, before the two of them resumed their labour of love.