The Unending Epic Written to Appease a Friend, Tell a Tale, an...

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          May looks up, and is surprised to see the sky so changed. "Oh.." she breathes. The firmament has purpled; violet and indigo swirl together, and as they deepen, gleaming stars like jewels appear on the dome of heaven. "Come." She takes Asher's hand.

          She's blushing with excitement. He lets her pull him up and they climb the stone outcropping. She sits down atop it, gazing at the sky. Asher looks as well, but fails to see what awes her. "They're only the stars," he says once more.

          May takes his hand and pulls, forcing him to sit beside her, and then lies down. "When I was young, trees covered my sky," she says, "and the stars were like small glow flies peeking through the leaves. When I grew older, my father showed me a tree to climb, and within its canopy was a nest that looked up at the sky. A whole window of the stars had opened, and I thought it was beautiful."

          She looks at Asher and her eyes glow as if they've pulled in starlight themselves. "Imagine," she whispers, "the first night that I left my home. I was without mother or father or river, but when night came and I fell to the ground, I looked up, and it was as if the world itself was singing to me. All of these stars, and nothing in the sky to cover them. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and every night since I have thought the same. How can you say 'they are only the stars' when you look at them? It is like looking at an ancient tree and saying 'it is only wood,' or a river and saying 'it is only water.' The stars, they are the beings of the gods. Flaming jewels, souls that are burning with white fire. They gaze down on us. They breathe life into the world. They send the wind and the sun and the rain. And at night, when all their creation and all their selves lay down to rest, they watch over the world."

          Asher is breathless with awe. As May speaks she gestures at the sky, always looking at it as if it would be pain to tear her eyes away. He is amazed at the wonder she sees in the night sky, and humbled that it took her words for him to do the same. He lies down beside her, and looks up at the glowing ether.

          "Do you know the stories of the different stars?" he says after a moment.

          May shakes her head.

          "Would you like to?"

          She turns slightly to look at him. Her eyes are indigo in the darkness. She nods.

          "Well, that one, the one with the red glow," he points at a pair of large twinkling stars, one tinged red and one blue, "my mother always said that was the doorway of Alash. The one he opened in the sky when he first broke the veil between the heavens and the earth. The gods..." Asher's voice floats through the night, telling the story and setting their small stone island adrift in the heavens. May listens with quiet intensity, never speaking, but smiling when Asher stumbles over a part of the tale or when excitement creeps into his voice despite himself. The night wears on, and the pair of unexpected friends look up at the sky, while the stars gaze down.