She’s not levitating, she’s in microgravity. Hearthkeepers often meditate while in torpor, which is the closest thing to sleep for monkey foxes. They don’t lose consciousness during torpor (indeed they can’t lose consciousness without causing brain death) but they are less aware of their surroundings and more lethargic.

And this is the hearth she keeps. A hearthkeeper’s duty is to bring light and warmth, both physical and spiritual, to those around her. In ancient times this meant tending a bonfire for the tribe, but a hearthkeeper’s duties evolved as monkey foxes climbed the tech tree. Bonfires gave way to sheltered hearths, which became coal-fire power plants, then other fossil fuels, fission reactors, and finally the fusion reactor, or star hearth. A hearthkeeper must be a competent engineer as well as a spiritual leader.

This duty of tending a hearth, along with the restriction that only women may become hearthkeepers, has humans comparing hearthkeepers to the Vestal Virgins of ancient Rome.