Dusk eluded the darkness as the full moon appeared in the sky—the largest moon in the last nineteen years. It seemed so close, as if it could be touched with fingertips, its light reminding us that we are just a fraction of something much larger: an infinite picture, which we find difficult to merge with as we wander, searching for meaning, searching for ourselves, for our shape and colors, for our place, with no idea what the whole picture should look like. Does anyone know?

  Athos and the great white rock in front of which they had stopped gleamed under the full moon's light. Leon knelt and ran his palm over the chiseled inscription: Bruno of Terrun.

  "Almost three years have passed, Father, and it's as if it were yesterday that I saw your face. They say years have healing powers, that they take away everything they bring. They lie. I still miss you just as much." He paused briefly. "You always said I learn quickly, but no lesson can compare to this one—as I learn to live without you. But don't worry, I won't let you down; I'll learn that too."

  A flock of luxories flew out of the canopy behind the grave. The moon shone as if to awaken the day. The small glade was strewn with moonflower buds and everything seemed so mockingly alive; even the silence smelled of excitement.

  "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that I wasn't your blood and that you lied to me for so many years. I'm sorry for seeing you off with bitterness and anger. I was hurt, so I didn't think about hurting you. I take comfort in not knowing I was going to lose you so easily. Lousy comfort, I know. I was selfish."

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  Leon looked up to the sky.

  "You were saying that Lunary is the night of new beginnings and that the last one changed your life, but I didn't know why for a long time. Then, after the celebration, you found me in the canopy on the outskirts of Terrun. That was the last story you told me... I never got a chance to thank you. I never got to thank you for everything you've done for me. I didn’t know it then, but now I know that family isn’t made up of blood ties, and that, no matter what, I am your son. And I am proud of it. I know you can hear me now..."

  A few hot tears streamed down his face as he lowered his eyes to the ground.

  The murmur of the Terrunians reached the glade; they had already gathered in the Ruvimi Valley, at the confluence of Ibry Creek and Moon Lake.

  "I forgive you, father. I hope you can forgive me, too."

  The moonflower on Bruno's grave quivered. Pearly light emerged from the top, between the delicate, fragile petals lazily parting, and then it gleamed. Another shone after it, then another, and so tiny sources of light were born in the grass in a gentle wave, like tingles on the skin of lovers breathing into each other's necks, from which they descended lower, towards their chest... From the glade of Terrun, lower, towards the Ruvimi Valley.

  Leon mounted Athos and rushed down the moonflower path straight to Moon Lake.

  Luxory – Avian creatures without known powers. They are tiny, like sparrows; they come in almost all colors, and their bodies emit a faint light visible at night. There is disagreement among researchers about the locus with which they are connected. Type: non-aligned. Danger level: ordinius.

  Moonflower – A ground-dwelling maguplantus with broad leaves. It blooms once a year, before the first full moon of spring, releasing seeds in tiny spheres that emit a pearly white light, resembling moonlight, hence its name. The seeds are carried into the air, where rain and wind bring them back to the ground, spreading and multiplying them in this way. Type: lunar. Danger level: harmless.