“B-but…” Pinmei stuttered. “How will stories make the emperor immortal?”

Yishan laughed his bold and irreverent laugh. “How do you think?” he said. “The emperor was always trying to steal immortality. He never understood immortality is a gift that has to be given. A gift you will give him, even though he does not deserve it.”

“Me?” Pinmei said. “I will give him immortality?”

“Yes, you, my friend I will never forget,” Yishan said, and his wrinkled hands grasped hers. “And that is truly the only immortality that matters.”

He released her, and as he bowed his head at Amah, Pinmei saw that instead of the red string, the jade bracelet was on her wrist. As she lifted her arm to look at it in the moonlight, she saw the old man was walking up the mountain. Yishan was leaving.

“Yishan!” Pinmei cried. “Will we see you again?”

He turned and grinned at her. “Every night,” he said, cocking his head at the huge moon above. As Pinmei looked up at it, she thought she saw the silhouette of a rabbit sitting at the top of the mountain, waiting. Yishan’s smile turned soft. He swung the Iron Rod to point up at the sky beyond them. “Look,” he said.

They turned. A silver mist was rising from the snow and a delicate arc of light had formed above them. Tints of rose and gold and violet were washed upon it as if painted by the softest brush. It glowed with the light of the Sea King’s palace, shimmered with the reflected colors of Lady Meng’s tear, and shone with the gentle splendor of the moon itself. Pinmei knew, of all the wonders she had seen on her journey, this rainbow by the light of the moon was the loveliest of them all.

Amah looked at her, eyes glistening. “Nuwa is smiling at us,” she whispered. Pinmei nodded and, almost in unison, they turned back to see Yishan.

But he was gone. A warm breeze blew around them, and water was dripping like strings of pearls from melting icicles. The swallows, drowsy from their long naps as mussels, were singing, and a silver sea of clouds had drifted up to where the mountain met the moon.

Amah turned to Pinmei. “Let’s leave this place,” she said. “Do you know the way?”

Pinmei took her grandmother’s arm.

“Yes,” Pinmei said, and she smiled. “I’ll take you.”

CHAPTER

75

He was free.

He leaped on the wind, drinking in the delicious cold air. It flew him upward, higher and higher, until he burst through the thick clouds to where the sky flowed into the edge of the sea.

Ah, the black waters! He let it wash over him. Wonderful, wonderful water! The cool, tranquil blackness.

A thin wave coiled toward him. It was the snake. It looked at the tortoise with shining eyes, and he let it wrap around him in a loving embrace.

Below, the moon floated and the stars swam.

The Black Tortoise of Winter had returned home.

CHAPTER

76

In the City of Bright Moonlight, after the snow had melted away, a boy—or was he a man?—leaned heavily on a stick and shuffled down the Long Walkway to a pavilion. Panting, he rested on its railing. Above, the sky was the brilliant blue court artists could only imagine, and the sun was so warm he was glad to have the shade. He smiled to himself. What a feeling, to be too warm!

“Sifen!” a voice called his name. “Sifen!”

The boy turned and his smile widened. It was Yanna.

“We heard from Old Sai and Suya,” Yanna called out as she ran to him. “They said some men have already returned to the village.”

“Good,” Sifen said. Yanna sat down next to him.

“I bet all the men will be back soon,” Yanna said. “Now that the Vast Wall is abandoned, men have been streaming into the city every day!”

“Has the palace provided for them?” Sifen asked.

“We don’t have to,” Yanna said. “What used to be the House of Wu has opened its doors to all travelers—the new owner, I guess she used to be the servant there—is truly a hero to…”

Yanna stopped in midsentence and rose, looking down the corridor. Sifen pushed himself up with his stick to follow her gaze. Three figures were walking toward them. The bright sun cast them in shadow, but he could see the shapes of a girl, an aged man, and an old woman.

“Who is it?” he asked Yanna.

“My… my… my father!” Yanna almost shrieked, the words trailing behind her as she burst forward, running faster than a flying dragon, to meet the visitors. The silhouette of the man also broke away from his companions, rushing toward Yanna with open arms. The two embraced tightly, laughing and crying at the same time, and Sifen could not help doing the same at the pure joy of their reunion. Even the peonies seemed to be exploding with happiness, their vibrant colors radiating in the sun.

The elderly woman and the young girl stepped forward, their faces also smiling with delight. The boy cocked his head. Did the girl seem familiar? Now she was walking toward him, calling his name. Yes! Now he knew her! She was…

“The Storyteller’s granddaughter!” Sifen laughed. “What are you doing here?”

“Sifen!” Pinmei cried out. “I was about to ask you the same question!”

“Well, I asked first,” Sifen said, grasping Pinmei’s arm.

“We are here to return the stonecutter to his daughter,” Amah said, “and to return a special paper to the king of the City of Bright Moonlight.”

“My father is at his Pavilion of Solitude,” Sifen said, waving his hand toward a remote building far down the lakeside, “painting as usual.”

“Your father?” Pinmei said, and shook her head as she looked at Sifen’s gleeful face. “The king of the City of Bright Moonlight is your father? I should have known.”

Sifen continued to grin, but then, as if remembering his manners, he bowed to Amah. “You must be the Storyteller,” he said, and then looked at Pinmei with sudden concern. “Where is your friend? The boy in red?”

“He too had to return something,” Pinmei said. “But he is probably home now.”

“As I am home now too,” Sifen said, and if it was at all possible, his grin grew broader, as if trying to include the entire garden and sky. “But tell me: What happened? You made it to the city, obviously. Did anything happen on your travels? And what is it your friend had to return?”