        Lyra sat patiently on the beach, waiting for the creature to return with its kin.  She idly watched the lightening sky, annoyed by the way that some of the stars moved about.  She had seen a couple pass overhead in a long slow arc, while others flashed red or green or white, and moved about much more slowly, in seemingly random directions.  One of those had even approached over the lake—in all appearances as low as a pegasus flew, not high overhead like a proper star—and then proceeded to stay in place for a little bit, before it turned and went back again, accompanied all the while by an odd pulsing beat.