Wangchuan used the hand beneath his armpit to tuck the magic ring into his sleeve.
He looked up.
The blue-and-white planet occupied almost a quarter of the sky, so close that he seemed able to reach out and touch it.
"Earth."
"How beautiful."
"But I prefer the moon."
He took two steps forward and stopped where the lunar surface met the horizon.
He spread all four arms.
His own two arms and the two spectral blue arms of Tso Lan extended together.
His fingers spread, palms facing forward, as though he meant to embrace something in the void.
Those invisible lines of gravity woven into the fabric of the universe wound and threaded between his fingers.
Wangchuan closed his eyes, his fingers trembling slightly.
He was sensing.
Every pulse on that blue planet.
The faint shifts of its crust, the breathing of its ocean tides, the flow of pressure differences in its atmosphere.
All left exceedingly faint traces in the gravitational field.
"Mm."
The corners of his mouth curved slightly.
"It turned."
"Earth has turned its narrowest shoulder toward me again."
He slowly opened his eyes, his gaze settling on the planet's outline.
The vast landmass of the Northern Hemisphere faced the lunar surface, the eastern edge of the Asian Continent clearly visible.
"The winter solstice has just passed."
"Though the nights have begun shortening, inch by inch."
"The cold, however..."
He narrowed his eyes slightly, sensing the tremors in the lines of gravity reaching his palms.
"Has climbed up along the veins of gravity."
"Minor Cold has yet to arrive, and the heavy snow has yet to melt."
"The Northern Hemisphere is steeped in the clearest, most forbidding cold of the year."
He looked down at the glowing blue planet, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
"Late December."