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I sat in my small rowboat, battered book in hand. The wood creaked a counterpoint as I hummed to myself, watching the Milky Way as its stars wheeled overhead. The only other sound were the waves as they murmured ancient stories to each other. A lamp perched on the end of a pole at the bow, casting flickering candlelight on the water. The endless lake I drifted on was inky glass studded with diamonds- a perfect mirror to galaxy above. I was wrapped in the peaceful embrace of water and sky, and the horizon where their arms met was invisible. I noticed a dark shape in the water drifting toward me. A battered coracle. When it bumped against my boat, I saw a small girl curled up in.

She stared up at me with wide eyes. We considered each other for a moment. I sat down my book. “Hello,” I offered to her. She took it and examined it, turning it over and around. Then she decided it probably was just a greeting, and offered it back. “Hello.” She hesitated for a moment, unsure of herself. “Would you mind telling me where I am?” I gave the question the thought it deserved and the waves whispered in the silence. “Dreaming, I think. That’s how most people get here.” “Oh. How did you get here?” I smiled, remembering a lifetime ago. It would be good to see them all again, and I was getting close. “I was a wanderer, always exploring new places. One day I wandered a different direction and found myself here.” She nodded, looking unconvinced. “Why are we here?” I slid her a bemused glance. “Most people visit here sooner or later.” “Then why are we the only ones on the water?” “Are we?” I gestured to the lake. Hundreds of what from a distance looked to be reflected stars were actually boats, their lights winking as they spoke to one another. Sometimes you had to have someone else point them out to you before you saw. The girl gasped when her eyes made sense of what she was seeing, and silver lines trickled down her cheek as she stared in awe. “They’re beautiful,” she whispered. “They are,” I agreed, after all this time still enthralled by the beauty of it all. Her tears changed, and now she cried out of sorrow. Swiftly, I tied her boat to mine and lifted her into my small rowboat. I hugged her hard and let her cry. My boat was study. It could handle the weight of her sadness. Her little coracle would fill and sink into the dark under her tears. Given some time it would grow sturdier, and she would be strong enough bear grief. Until then, I would carry some of it for her. “They all have lights to see each other with,” she wept, “and to talk, and to laugh, and I, and I, I’m trapped in the dark.” “Well,” I said, “I can help with that.” I reached over and unhooked the dark lamp that hung forlornly off a pole on her boat. I carefully took out the candle that stood within. It was tall and wide, and would burn for a good long time, if lit. But at the moment the wick stood cold. Carefully I scooped out the burning candle in my own lamp and held it in cupped hands to hers until it caught. I put both our candles away, and rehung her lamp. “Oh!” she whispered, tears drying as she saw her own lamp lit, and glowing like peace to a weary soldier. I smiled to her and gently placed her back in her own boat. As I was untying the rope that bound us together, she asked hesitantly, “Are there others?” I paused and looked at her. “Like me,” she clarified nervously, “with dark lamps?” I started untying again. “Yes. It’s hard to find them though, and they themselves often see the other lamps as stars, like you did.” “Will my candle light theirs?” I cocked my head as I undid the final line. “It may.” She nodded to herself at this, and I saw that her course would lead her all over this endless lake, in search of the dark boats. I smiled and handed her my battered book. She took it, puzzled. “Keep it,” I told her, “I know every page by heart at this point. Read it when your candle flickers in the cold winds, or when the other lights seem so distant.” She nodded solemnly. I gave her one last smile, and shoved her coracle free. She turned to look ahead, starlight shimmering off her head. “And godspeed to you, little star,” I whispered. The waves murmured, sighing of a new story to tell. And my candle, burned down to a stub, went out. The darkness swept around me, and I was a silver song, rising into the sky, friends and family who had gone before there to welcome me home. As I went, I looked back and waved goodbye to a little girl on an ink-dark lake studded with stars who had a blazing light.

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my first serious background drawing! (this surprisingly didn’t take long to finish) i never draw backgrounds/landscapes so this was fun to do! c: reference: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonbeard/6062025035