Raindance
an excerpt

Chapter 2--Imber

Imber fumed. The star was dying, but it had no successor. If it couldn’t find another to assume control over Terra’s rains, then what would happen when it died?
Recently the rain star had been paying very little attention to the rains on Terra. Thankfully, most regions were managed well enough that this mattered very little. However, there were, of course, all the other regions, including Imbrion. The land whose inhabitants were so loving of the rain that they had named the place after them currently suffered torrential downpours and floods, and the star who controlled these rains was currently out to lunch and trying to find another star to take control when it died. This search was not faring well, and since time for the stars goes slower than time for Terrans, Imber’s long search was even longer in Terran time. The inhabitants of the land were all very angry about this.
Imber travelled around the sky, asking other stars if they or anyone they knew would be interested in taking on an apprenticeship with it. So far, the other stars it had found were either too old to bother with or already apprenticed to another star. Perhaps it would just have to wait until another star was born. Young stars were always in short supply, for it takes a very long time indeed for them to form. Supposedly Imber had been one of the last to come out of the nursery. Others had always called it stubborn.
Maybe I am, it mused.
Polaris, the star of balance, watched Imber and sighed. The rain star needed to pay more attention to Terra and less attention to everything not-Terra. Mustering its strength in voice, Polaris approached the rain star.
“Imber?” the star of balance said, in a tone similar to that a mother might use when scolding a child.
Imber looked at Polaris. “Yes?” it replied, annoyed and slightly nervous.
“Imber, I ask you—I beseech you, I implore, I demand—to pay more attention to your charge. You may be dying, but that gives you no right to quit your job to find another to put in your place. It’s madness!”
“Why?” the rain star growled. “If I die before another willing star is ready to take my place, then who will take care of the rains?”
“No one, but it seems rather like you don’t care anyways, seeing that you are completely ignoring Terra! The weather down there is insane!”
“Surely it’s nothing worse than desert droughts and large storms. I set the planet on auto-pilot. It should be doing fine!”
“As you yourself admitted, you’re dying. That means your power is failing. That means you should be focusing all your efforts on Terra and letting someone else find an apprentice for you!”
“Who?” cried the rain star. “The other stars are busy with solving crises or training their own apprentices or doing their own jobs.”
“There are still spare stars without powers or other assignments. I currently have little to worry about, so I could search for you.”
Imber gazed hopefully at Polaris. “You would?”
“I, or another,” the star of balance assured. “Don’t worry, Imber. You will get an apprentice, and the legacy of the rain star will continue. Now, I suggest quite strongly that you get working on Terra, and I believe it might do some good to lie off on the rain in some places, namely Imbrion. If you looked, you would see several inches of rainwater sitting on top of the ground. Your ‘auto-pilot’ idea obviously didn’t work so well, eh?”
The rain star glared at Polaris. “Are you insulting my brilliant idea?”
“No. I did not insult your brilliant idea. Not yet, at least. Your brilliant idea is horrible. There.”
Imber huffed. “See if I follow your advice,” it muttered.
Polaris, who had begun to leave, turned back and cast Imber a sidelong glance. “That would not be a very good idea,” it said.
“Says the one who does not believe in the brilliance of stars.”
The star of balance sighed and left.
Says the one who does not believe in its presiding ruler, it thought. That star’s attitude will be its downfall. See if I care when it dies.
Polaris decided to go to visit the nearby star nurseries to see if there was anyone who knew anyone else who would be interested in being Imber’s apprentice, or if any potential takers would be born soon. The star doubted it.
It’s worth a shot, it supposed. Besides, the worst thing that could happen during an apprentice’s training would be for its mentor to die, and in Imber’s case, that wouldn’t be a very bad thing at all.
Of course, that was only what Polaris supposed. And Polaris was a very, very bad supposer.