There it was.
That shimmer.
My breath stuttered. It started as a faint glimmer along the aspect lines—Mercury trine Jupiter, Saturn nudging his Midheaven, the Node crossing the IC—and then, as I watched, the lines lifted.
Silver-gold threads rose gently from the laptop screen, weaving themselves into the air between us. They arched andlooped, delicate and bright, forming a three-dimensional web that pulsed faintly with light.
Matthew’s eyes went huge behind his glasses. “Oh,” he whispered. “Oh, wow.”
“You can see them?” I almost dropped my laptop as I whirled to Matthew.
“Faintly, I can.” His eyes were huge in his face.
He could see them.Of coursehe could. Matthew’s chart practically shouted “open to woo.”
I reached out slowly, remembering Gran’s admonition on the crackling pages.Guide, don’t dictate. Weave where the soul already leans.
As my fingertips brushed the nearest strand, a ripple of sensation shot up my arm. Not painful, exactly, more like the zing of static electricity.
Images flooded my mind.
California first.
Matthew in his apartment, alone at a small table piled with notebooks. His shoulders were hunched, blue light from his laptop washing his face. Outside, horns sounded from traffic. He went to campus, out to dinners, smiled at colleagues, but there was a shadow behind his eyes. There were good moments—students who got excited about his lectures, the satisfaction of finishing a chapter. But everything felt… strained.
I ran my hand along another thread as Matthew stayed silent, watching me.
Loren Brae.
Matthew sitting in this very library, laptop open, sunlight slanting across the table. He was laughing at something Lottie said, gesturing wildly with a pen. A noticeboard in the village showed a flyer with Local History Talk at MacAlpine Castle written across it. Matthew helping Lachlan and Sophie set upmuseum displays in one of the castle’s unused wings. Long walks in the hills with his breath fogging the air.
And then, softer, fuzzier, but there—a hand in his. Someone walking beside him, their face just out of focus, but the feeling of companionship was clear. Warmth. Love, built slowly and honestly, nothing like the fast-burning brittle relationships he’d had before.
The threads carrying that latter image pulsed brighter.
“Liora?” Matthew’s voice was soft, reverent. “What do you see?”
I swallowed, heart pounding. “Two main paths,” I said. “One where you go back to LA, slide back into the old life. It’s not…terrible. But there’s just this … heaviness there. I don’t know. Maybe not heaviness, but it’s strained. Tired, I guess? Everything feels like pushing a boulder uphill.”
His mouth tightened.
“And another,” I said gently, “where you stay here in Loren Brae. You cobble together a new kind of career—teaching part-time, consulting on projects, or maybe even starting your own thing. You’re surrounded by people who love you. And … well, there might be someone here for you. A partner. Someone who sees you for you.”
He closed his eyes briefly, a line forming across his brow, as he opened them back up and looked at me.
“What if I’m romanticizing that second path?” Matthew asked. “What if I’m projecting because Sophie’s happy and everything feels like a Hallmark Christmas film and I’ve eaten too many of Hilda’s cookies?”
“That’s fair,” I said. The threads shimmered, waiting. “But your chart backs it up. Look—your North Node is in the fourth house. Your soul’s growth is tied to home and chosen family. You were never meant to be the eternal bachelor professor in the city high-rise. And right now, transiting North Node is conjunct withthat natal placement. It’s like a cosmic highlighter saying ‘hey, over here, this way.’”
He leaned forward slightly, eyes following my hand as I gestured to the glowing web. “And the moving?”
“Ninth house,” I said. “Long-distance travel. That’s being activated too. But instead of the usual Sagittarius story ofI will roam forever and never settle, your chart wants adventure that leads to belonging. Not endless running.”
He huffed out a shaky laugh. “I do run a lot.”
“That tracks, too.”
“Rude but true.”