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September 11 - September 16, 2023
“I’m relieved your feelings changed—toward both of us.”
“She knew what would happen if the wrong people discovered you were the bloodsake,”
“She wasn’t perfect. She made mistakes, selfish mistakes. But she cared for me more than I ever knew.”
“He’s a smart boy. I see now why you turned down Seryu’s proposal.”
Your soul is my soul, Shiori. You can lie to them, but not to me. What are you hiding?
“We could conjure wings to make a flying horse…enchant a carpet…summon birds to carry us.” He
You know the answer, Shiori. Aren’t you going to say something?
“Life as a crane wouldn’t be the worst fate. I’ve missed being able to talk to the birds.”
“Don’t begin your life together with a lie,”
“It’s only around you that he’s tender and sweet.”
“Food has a magical way of making me feel better too,”
A girl who didn’t have to wonder whether home would ever feel like home again.
“You’re a hard one to track, Shiori. If I didn’t know better, I would think you’re avoiding me.”
“I looked for you. I had a feeling I might find you in a kitchen.”
“Avoiding me. They wouldn’t say why.”
“Shiori, don’t be like this.”
If anything should trouble you, don’t hide from me.”
“Don’t lie to me. Please.”
“Come, walk me home.”
“I have selfish reasons for wanting to keep you alive.”
“Do you know what it was like for me, staying behind when you left for Ai’long? Every day wondering whether I’d ever see you again. After an entire winter of not hearing your voice and not being able to see your face, I wanted to hear you laugh. I wanted to…”
“You could turn me into a crane.”
“I do. You’ll have to tie me up if you want me to stay in Gindara. I’ll not stand by and watch you put yourself in danger, Shiori, not ever again. Whether I am your husband, your betrothed, or simply your friend.”
“I’m naturally reckless.” “And I’m naturally brave.” “Takkan!”
“It smells like you.”
“But mine’s already been won. So the answer is yes, Takkan.”
He rose and hoisted me up with both arms, holding me close so our noses touched, and his breath tickled my lips.
“Your brothers warned me that a lifetime with you would mean plenty of jabs to my pride. But my love for you is far greater than pride, Shiori. Far greater than anything.”
“Surround yourself with those who’ll love you always,”
“through your mistakes and your faults. Make a family that will find you more beautiful every day, even when your hair is white with age. Be the light that makes someone’s lantern shine.”
“I bind you to me, Bushi’an Takkan. Not because my father or my stepmother or my country asks me to do so, but because I wish to do so. I would always choose you. You are the light that makes my lantern shine.”
“It is fortunate that Bushi’an Takkan is a patient man. A good man. For I can name no other who would take you, princess or not, after you have dishonored his family thus.”
“Your mother was stubborn, like you, and often impertinent, like you. But she always considered others before herself. When she fell ill, I swore never to marry again. She wouldn’t hear of it. She wanted you to grow up with a mother. Even if it meant you’d forget her.”
“She loved you as her own. You were the daughter of her heart.”
‘If you wanted to be told you were beautiful, you would hide your scar. But you don’t. It tells your story, a story that’s meant only for those worthy of hearing it.’ ”
“She could see the light in others, whereas they saw only the darkness in her. That was her greatest pain.”
Takkan was stirring. Sunlight poured over his face, chasing away the shadows in his eyes and bringing a trace of color to his cheeks. I dared think it meant he was better.
“Easier than when you had a bowl over your head.”
“For being you,”
“For being mine.”
“If you have children one day, you will understand. When you and your brothers disappeared, I would have given anything—my crown, my kingdom, my life—to have you all safe.”
“No matter how long it stretches, so long as you want me, I will never let go.”
The boy saw not her beauty but the woman he loved.
“We are bound, remember? If you have no heart, I will give you half of mine. If you have no spirit, I will bind yours to mine.”
“Shiori’anma, your soul ebbs between life and death—half bound to Bushi’an Takkan, and half to the heavens. Thus, for the remainder of your lifetime, you will spend half of each year on the moon with me.”
