Twin Stars at Dusk

In the night sky outside the window, two stars shine especially brightly.

One is called Earth. A blue world, glowing softly in the darkness. It has mountains and oceans, flying fish and luminous jellyfish, trees that live for thousands of years. It has a home.

The other is called New Aita. Silver-white and a little smaller than Earth, it shines just as brightly. It has the Evening Star Hall, those flowing patterns, and the Mengwan flowers that bloom beneath the moonlight. It has stories from Earth about the Dujiangyan irrigation system, the Great Wall, and the tulou, along with all those memories of home.

It has a home, too.

The two stars lie billions of light-years apart across the vast universe. Light takes many, many years to travel from one to the other.

But they look at each other.

In each other's light, they see the same things.

This story begins with a girl's secret.

Until she was eighteen, Lin Mengwan thought she was sick. On that day every month, she would sleep through the entire day. She couldn't go on overnight trips or tell anyone why. She lived with her secret, like a lonely planet.

After she turned eighteen, she discovered it wasn't an illness.

It was a connection.

The people of two planets help and redeem one another,

shining in each other's light.

And finding the way home.