They came in quietly, like many do... dust on their cloak, dusk in their eyes.
But they didn’t speak right away.
They warmed their hands by the fire.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLckCKJYJOO
Touched the mug I had already placed before them.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4RUaYtDbT
Looked at me not to ask, but to listen.
They told their story slowly, in pieces, like someone offering stones to a river.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡirusnoxVM9
Not to be kept.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfs9tABBMxs
Just to hear how the water moves around them.
And when they finished… they stayed.
Long after the drink was done.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjk1iTYXSZY
Long after the fire had burned low.
They did not ask for more.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxaIiK7Xy5K
They simply looked at the ledger and whispered:
“Where do the stories go, once they’re written?”
I answered for the first time in years:
“They become the tavern.”
And then, I did what I had never done.
I turned the ledger toward them.
Offered a quill.
They hesitated. Not out of fear.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuTcGNqxXoG
But reverence.
And then they wrote:
I Was Orion's Missing Shoulder
They closed the ledger with both hands.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWopisdvLI4
Pressed their forehead to it.
Then left.
I did not ask their name.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZrCfQvvAs
They did not offer it.
But the tavern knew it.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNruocOCLgD
And now, so does this page.
然後按「加至主畫面」