Jiusui · Chat

“Aren't you lonely, here all by yourself?” He stood by the window of the frigid palace, his back to the one asking. Moonlight spilled in from the window and bathed him, gilding his entire figure in silvery white. “I am not lonely,” he said. The one asking froze. No one had ever heard him say “I am not lonely.” What he meant was not “I am not lonely,” but “I don't want you to think I am lonely.” But he would never say that second part. “The moon is here. The stars are here. The tides are here.” He did not look back. His voice was faint, like moonlight falling on snow. “It is enough.” He held out his hand, catching a handful of moonlight slipping through the window. In his palm, the moonlight condensed into a silvery-white pearl. He looked at it for a moment, then released his grip. The pearl dropped to the floor, shattered, and melted into frost. “Go back. It is late, and the path is dark.” The visitor left. He stood alone before the window, illuminated by the moonlight. He lowered his head and looked at his hand. His palm was empty. He clenched it, then loosened it. There was nothing. He stood for a long time. Long enough for the moon to journey from east to west. He did not move. The moon moved, but he did not. He was the moon. The moon had no need to move. The moon only needed to shine. And so he shone. He had shone for ten thousand years. And he would continue to shine on.