One thousand winters had passed and Yue had seen them all

Coming and going as quickly as waves on the beach and human lives dying like candles in sharp wind

Stars soaring over the black night skies, a million stars falling and circling and changing and staying the same

And Yue watched as the moon, changing and fading, cycling through the motions

And nights when it was moonless, her pale face not illuminating the darkness, casting them all with no light

The spirits danced in the sky once more, bright lights of color dancing as ribbons, over the Water Tribes

She never thought she could see a spirit die, not within the spirit world, but they faded away all the time

Yue was a constant in this world, the moon who would never die

She had given back what was taken, the life that had so violently ended, in fire and flames, the world painted red

The feeling of bloodlessness, of approaching death of one so great

Blue eyes closing for the last time, dying like a candle and into his arms, gone from the mortal realm

Another moonless night upon the Water Tribes, upon the entire Earth itself, now only the glow of stars was seen

Each constellation glittered above, so often unseen, for even those that charted the stars could not see that a million miles away

The stars had already died

The moon passed, and then shone a sliver of the bright silver face once more to the world, to which people looked up

A passing beauty in this world, a constant for as long as could be believed

I will always be with you, she had said

Both to him, but to the world as a whole, for she would always be with them

Even when the moon had drifted too far away from the Earth, she would still be there, still be with them

She would still be the Moon Spirit

One thousand winters had passed, and he had seen Yue within the spirit world, so high and powerful

But also so sad

One thousand winters had passed, millions of souls had died, and then faded with the time

But she was always there, her candle of life and spirit to never burn out

And she tried not to forget him

And all who came before her