The Time It Takes To Fall

Epilogue

China, 2020 A.D.

The magnolia trees were not the same ones that had stood in the seventeenth century, but they might as well have been, for the fragrance was just as sweet. In fact, in the hundreds of years that had passed since the fateful Lunar New Year of 1615, seemingly nothing had changed. The flowers were still in righteous bloom and the grass was a sweet blanket to lie upon.

And just as it had been four centuries ago, a boy and a girl laid down upon the grass under the light of the moon, staring up at the sky and marveling in its beauty, not knowing that they were truly talking about one another and the deepest affections they had. For love turns the whole world into a beautiful, fantastic thing, even when nothing has changed.

The pair had their arms about one another, a mess of limbs and holding. Flowers that had fallen from the surrounding bushes decorated their hair with soft pink petals and veiny leaves. They wore modern day clothes, with the both of them in jeans and wearing sweatshirts— the boy's a soft gray and the girl's black. No longer were they adorned by clothes worn by princes or servants, for they were not those people anymore.

In all actuality, they had never been the prince and the servant; they had always been the boy and the girl— lovers who could not be separated by time, no matter how much it tore at them. For their souls were twined together after years of longing and hardship, not as mates as the stories often believed, but as companions who couldn't bear to be separated. Their love was not predestined, but rather neverending. No one had ordained their souls to one another, but once his soul met hers, the only choice had been to love one another ceaselessly.

"Kai," the girl whispered, turning upon her side, her chest halfway on top of his. She placed gentle fingers to touch his pale cheek, stroking the skin as if she could hardly believe he was real. Kai grabbed the fingers and placed them to his lips.

"What is it, my love?" Kai asked, intertwining his fingers with her own. She was looking down upon him, her head blocking out the light of the moon. Her hair fell down around her shoulders, and with the flowers that decorated it and the moonbeams behind her she looked like a goddess.

She smiled at him— the kind of smile that is only meant for one most dear to the heart. It was small, yet powerful in its simplicity, her lips curving just enough to convey the unparalleled joy within her.

"I can't believe we're here again," she sighed, blinking slowly.

"Neither can I, love."

Cinder pressed the most delightful kiss to his cheek, letting her lips linger for only a moment before they wandered to dance upon his other cheek. Her lips brushed against every inch of his face, tracing from his forehead, to the tip of his nose, and finally, to his own lips.

Their kiss was patience, as years of waiting to do this once more had left them with only that one virtue. It was only knowing lips and fluttering fingers and soft sighs— it was a kiss that knew that there were thousands more kisses in store.

They broke apart, and Cinder laid herself down by Kai's side once more, head on his shoulder and hand over his heart. Kai's arm wrapped around her, his fingers tracing down her arm. His other hand rested atop hers, unable to feel his heartbeat but able to feel her which was almost the same thing.

"I never thought I'd see the moon through those trees again," Cinder murmured, her gaze upon the sky. "In all my dying thoughts, I always wondered about this patch of sky, and whether or not this secret still existed."

"Me too," Kai hummed, mapping the stars in his mind's eye. "I always hoped that our hearts could return home one day to rest here in this spot and stare up at the night sky that was once our haven."