Waiting on a Bright Moon: A Tor.com Original

Xin is an ansible, one of the magically gifted women conscripted to sing the songs that link the Imperial Authority's home system to its distant colonies. When a corpse arrives through her portal during a growing rebellion, Xin is drawn into a station-wide conspiracy alongside Ouyang Suqing, one of the station's guarded, high-ranking starmages.

Together, the two women form a bond forged out of the trauma an empire has inflicted on them both, set against the cruelty of a regime stamping down a rebellion it can't afford to lose. A short, atmospheric Tor.com original blending science fiction and magic.