Prologue
Time is capable of much. It may heal or it may hurt, it may draw people closer or drive them apart. It can aid in either remembering or forgetting. Time, like most things, is greatest in moderation, and too much or too little can be disastrous.
But above all, and most importantly, it flows. Despite all attempts to quicken or slow its pace, time does stay its true course. The way of the world—of all worlds, really—relies on this fact, and as much as we wish to disrupt its path, it keeps moving. This, although we cannot always understand why, is a good thing. If time paused, there would be no forever.
And time did flow in the small town of Isle. The legend of Alley Paine was still spoken of between longtime villagers, and introduced to newcomers as well. Her constellation kept watch over the town, synching her story with Isle. It flowed through the rivers and sprouted from the trees and danced in the sky. Alley had kissed the history of her village, leaving all that came across it enchanted in its wake. And with time, the villagers and friends of Isle felt no longer pain when remembering Alley, but joy. Grateful were they for the memories they were granted, for the opportunity to bring happiness back to Alley Paine. It took a few years, as the leaves changed and fell and grew back again, for Isle to heal. But, like all bruises, it finally did. Alley was no longer a sad story. She was a beautiful twist of fate.
And following this ending was born a beginning. This, too, is a way of all worlds. Everything is composed of an endless cycle of death and rebirth; it must be this way, if we are to have eternity.
Three years after young Alley Paine's return to Raleigh, a certain friend of hers decided he was ready to write his own story, to explore the other life of the girl he had known.
Welcome again, those of you who have folded Alley's story into your own. Please make room for another.