A light rain began to fall, as though even the heavens mourned Carter's passing.
Rain soaked my eyes as I waited by the well, year after year, for you to come home.
What I feared most was finding two lines of tears on my face before I even knew I'd cried.
I wandered the mortal world, unable to find the heaven where you had gone.
Bottles and mirrors stood where they always had. How I wished I could forget.
Rain fell again on the day of remembrance. I picked chrysanthemums to send to your side.
Ryan and Beli spent the day in the rain. By the end, they could no longer tell whether what ran from the corners of their eyes was rain or tears.
It was not until dinnertime that evening that Gaban found them and called them back to eat.
They returned to the familiar little house, but the person who had made it home was gone.
Ryan and Beli ate an ordinary meal in silence. Back when they lived at the Orphanage, they had dreamed every day of coming here to eat.
While sorting through Carter's belongings, Ryan found a letter Carter had written to him and Beli. For some reason, he had never sent it.
"A thousand sails pass a solitary figure; the boy returns with a smile!"
Ryan did not know where Uncle Carter had learned those awkward words. Reading them left him aching.
The original saying was: "May you travel through half your life and return still young at heart."
Ryan had once said that line in passing. He had never expected Carter to remember it and make it his own.
*Boys, may you endure hardship and all that life brings, yet hold on to who you are and return with a