I stayed as a guest in the River Palace for many, many days, and Lord Hebo spared his time to personally guide me to all the spectacles of his domain.

Slowly I opened up more and more, and was able to make the conversation less one-sided, with comments that surprised him rather than tickled him, and I even laughed whenever he had teased me!

He had told me so, so much about himself and the things dear to him, so I began telling him about my life upon the Lunar Palace as well. I told him about my work making medicine, and how I had spent my free time in games and studies.

We chatted day in and day out, and it seemed that nothing in the world could separate us.

And when it seemed as though we were running out of things to say, he would even take me to the surface world in cognito!—bringing me to wet markets and festivals at night when they hung lanterns everywhere along the riverside.

My hand was always intertwined within his, and there were times when his hand had touched upon the back of my waist!

—It was an electrifying touch!

…yet I did not cower from it.

…and I noticed as I looked around, that everyone seemed to have gathered in pairs, doing the very same things.

…even things that I had thought too embarrassing to be done in public.

…but nobody seemed to feel embarrassed, when their attentions were all taken up by the person beside them.

…So slowly, I allowed him to put his arms around my shoulders too, as he led me around, pointing out to me what was what.

‘Look!’ he said, pointing at the brightly lit boats with colourful people singing and dancing upon the river. It was a mystery to me how they were able to keep standing and moving around energetically without flipping themselves.

‘What are they singing about?’

‘They are acting out a play in honour of a very important god to their lives.’

‘Which one’s the god then?’

He pointed to a man dressed in bright golden robes with scaly patterns, and I turned back to him with a laugh.

We were always laughing like that.

One day, feeling indebted to all the hospitality that he had shown me, I asked to borrow his stage for a small performance of the dancing and singing that my sister had taught me.

Lord Hebo clapped his hands.

All was dark around me.

As everybody’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, green lights began to glow upon the stage.

They illuminated my hands and feet, as I began my performance.

Instead of moving ever so slowly along the surfaces of the chamber, as they always did, the glows instead drifted mellifluously within the darkness, carried by my movements…

Like flowers in a river…

Like fireflies…

Like snow.

Lord Hebo went completely silent, and I became nervous whether I had made an utter fool of myself.

Then as I was dancing, he clapped.

Light yellow wisped around me in a thin haze that revealed and concealed at the same time.

It approached my from every angle, and the intangible touch of it seemed to caress against my very skin...

It shone upon my hands and arms…

…upon my waist…

...my neck…

…my face.

Before I realized it, Lord Hebo had lifted me up within his arms.

The yellow light illuminated his beautiful face.

And when he lowered my body, it was right there, smiling before me.

I lay there, cradled within his arms, like a helpless animal.

And yet I had never felt so powerful in all my life, as I stared into his passionate gaze.

He gently brought me to my feet, but instead of letting me go, he spun me into his embrace again.

‘... Lady Xuanzan,’ he said gently, yet full of emotion, ‘I had never felt like I wanted anything this badly before, until a piece of the moon fell that day, and brought you before me. You are the brightest, most beautiful and innocent maiden I have ever laid eyes upon, and my only regret now is how I was never able to meet you earlier. For now that I’ve met you, I cannot imagine what it will be to no longer have you inside my life!’

His arms were strong, and yet I didn’t feel hurt as he tightened his grip around me.

‘...Lady Xuanzan… won’t you become mine, and share the rest of your life with me?’

At that moment, everything seemed right.

It felt like everything had been meant to be.

Even all of the sadness and anguish that I had felt.

Everything in my life was to bring me to this moment, here.

Before him.

‘... I am already yours, Milord.’

In that very instant, Lord Hebo showed me he was capable of holding me even more tightly, and he lifted me up again.

Brought my face before his.

Our lips touched.

I was… not sure when they parted.

Everything was a blur then.

I remember that everything had happened in the ceremonial hall.

But then somehow I was back in my guest bedchamber again.

…or it was not mine.

I couldn’t be sure of it by then.

All I had eyes upon…

Was Lord Hebo.

As he slowly bared his youthful, powerful, masculine form before me…

‘My Moon Maiden…’

He took me into his passionate embrace, and gently revealed mine…

‘My River God…’

That night, I was taught about an entire new world that I had never known before.

Sensations that were wholly new to me.

Actions and reactions beyond my understanding, let alone my control.

And purposes for things I had always thought to be arbitrary.

That night, I thought that Lord Hebo knew more about me than I had known about myself.

As he showed sides of me I had never been aware of.

Immodesty. Yearning. Shame. Pleasure. Weakness.

Uncertainty. Greed.

But finally, it all settled into peace and calm.

And a truth that I was confident of.

That I was meant to be the one beside him.

I rose the following morning with a wide-mouthed yawn, feeling like I had slept the best sleep in my entire life.

But when I heard a soft clap turning the lights back on, and looked at Lord Hebo smiling beside me, memories of all the things I had done the night before flooded back.

And I was red as a cooked crusty.

I hid myself back beneath the blankets with a start and a cry.

I had thought that everything I had heard or seen last night was merely a dream—a drunken fantasy fueled by seaweed wine.

I wasn’t prepared to accept it all as reality.

I couldn’t believe it.

I had—slept with a man!

Until last night it was just a word whose meaning I did not understand, only that I wasn’t really supposed to do it.

But today, not only did I understand—I had also done it!

Why was I not supposed to do it again!? I tried to remember in panic, fearing that Sister was going to shave my fur once she found out.

But suddenly, the blankets were ripped away from me.

Revealing Lord Hebo, with a dashingly smug expression upon his face.

‘Pretending that last night had never happened, now are you?’ he said in mock-accusation.

I scrambled to cover myself up again. Intelligent thought failed to come together inside my head as I flailed about.

‘No! I-I-I—I just—it’s just!’—

Lord Hebo laughed.

‘You’re cute when you’re embarrassed!’

He caught me, and rolled together with me back onto the bed again.

His strong figure was very warm.

‘What are you so worried about?’ he brazenly teased his fingers around me, tickling my weakest spots. ‘Lighten up!’

When my nervous expressions finally contorted into a smile, he turned my chin, and stole my lips again.

‘... You’re my woman now. And nothing bad will ever happen to you.’

His golden eyes as he said these words were so beautiful, I never wanted to look away from them again.

‘...Really?’

‘I swear upon the pride of the Lord of the Rivers.’

I laid my head upon his chest.

‘...I believe you’, I whispered fondly.

I thought again about my life until now, and felt that it was all worth it.

I looked at Lord Hebo.

‘...I see with that gloomy expression that you still need some convincing.’

He grinned at me.

‘Need me to turn the lights off again?’

‘No, actually, teach me that!’

‘Teach you what?’

‘The light-clap trick!’

‘Ah!’ he said as he took my hands into his. ‘First you have to understand that there are little creatures floating in the water, then you channel your magical energy into them at the right frequency to make them glow…’

This was the man who was going to make all my troubles and worries disappear.

‘Like this.’

…

…What followed were the happiest days of my life. We were together day and night, never letting each other out of our sights. At every given opportunity, Lord Hebo would use it to show his love to me. And shy as I was I learned to show my love to him as well.

Those happy days passed us by like the rapids of the Yellow River. I wished they would never end, but all good things did.

It would be hard to put a finger on exactly when it ended—when the last vestiges of my happiness had transformed into sadness and misery again.

But it all started with a letter.

And an arrow.