Notes

Lux Benigna IV. A planet so cold and so dull that even the most resolute of puritans found it suitably unenjoyable. The winters were bitterly cold, and the summers provided only so much relief until the snow turned into an icy rain that coated everything in a glassy film.

The iceball of a planet was meant to be a simple stop along the way. But as fate would have it, LB-4 was having a bit of a party before Cher arrived. It was near the summer solstice, which meant two things.

One–that it was warm enough for the offworlders to wander into town and enjoy the local flavors and sights. The smells of the fish market, the howling winds that funnel through the mountains at Mountainside, the sound of rain on the bioplastic tents that looked like bounce castles.

And two, that the air would be full of tlinpuff, an intoxicatingly relaxing plant spore that wafted on the eastern wind, leaving the region’s people feeling a little less than holy…