A Court of Wind and Song

Prologue

Since the dawn of time, it has been told that the sun and the moon were lovers. The two rulers of the sky, separated by both day and night, tragically cleaved from one another. The original star-crossed lovers, fated to only meet in the fleeting moments of dawn and dusk. Eternally forced to die so the other could live, never to exist as one.

But our legends state that the moon and the sun were created together, at the same moment all other things were born, when the holy waters were poured into nothingness from the Great Cauldron, and the world was forged around it. And it was true that they were lovers, upon very first sight, on the very first dawn that ever graced the skies.

And in that same moment, they were cleaved apart.

The eternal rise of the sun, and the death of the moon.

The day was long. Such a wicked thing, the Sun thought, to shine so bright while such sorrow lived inside of her, to be the light of the world when she craved only darkness. A seemingly endless amount of time, while she spied upon the world, watching as flowers bloomed and hearts were broken and forged anew. She saw it all, every moment, heard every song that ever graced the world, felt every wind that blew across the earth. And with every moment, with each passing second, she felt only despair, endlessly drifting across the sky in search of her mate.

And then, the first dusk came.

The sun began her decent, the Mother's holy hands pushing her downwards, away from her lover as he rose from the ashes. And perhaps it was worth it, to die just to see his face once more. While the moon, in all of his quiet strength, raged at the sight of his lover being forced behind the horizon. He rose from death and fell into sorrow all within those same moments, the fleeting moments of twilight.

But the Sun, the Sun would not go. She refused to leave the world without touching him, without feeling him one last time. One final moment of joy, of peace and love, before everything was lost.

And it is said that with that final brush, a fleeting goodbye between two lovers, she graced the Moon with her light. So he would not be alone in the dark, so that she could warm him even from beyond the grave, so that a piece of her would always be with him.

And even with that piece, the Moon despaired at the loss of his mate, at the way the world fell into darkness in her absence.

When dawn came, he was worn. So tired, so very tired, so tired that when he saw his love once more, rising in a shimmering burst of color within the sky, he fell only in pure relief. And the final brush of his love echoed across the sky in the moment of his death, the promise that he would endure it all if it meant she would always return, if only for one fleeting moment. One final kiss, echoed across the last dredges of a growing blue sky. And when the Sun saw what he had done, what he had bestowed upon her with his final breath, she took that kiss and turned it into a star.

So they continued, an endless cycle of death and rebirth, living only for the hope of those fleeting moments. And perhaps, it was that tragic story. Perhaps, for many years- all they had were endings and beginnings, never allowed to coexist. Perhaps that is why so many stars fill the night sky, why the moon fades into darkness slowly and is lit once more with that silver light.

Evidence of their love, echoed throughout the entire universe, surpassing the boundaries of life and death, defying what was meant to be light and what was meant to be dark.

Their tears were converted into rainfall, their rage transformed into thunder, the haze of their sorrow manifesting as clouds that hid them from sight as they wept in never-ending solitude.

Until one day, one final day, the Mother, ever so gracious, took pity upon them. She saw what they had done not as a mockery, not as defiance against the laws she had placed upon the world- but as a culmination of her vision for what we were meant to be. Undying love, no matter the time or distance, willing to sacrifice themselves for one another over and over again. It was proof that good and evil could coexist, proof that darkness and light could be one.