A Promise for Three Lifetimes

A handkerchief wiped away the tears of his whole life. A piece of candy sweetened all the years he had left. The scent of osmanthus perfumed the road ahead for the rest of his life.

From then on, the name he cried out again and again atop the mountains was hers; the will to struggle for survival in the mire was hers; and the longing that kept him tossing and turning in the dark was hers, too.