The moon never answered, just shimmered above,
But her heart lit afire with a dreamer’s love.
Oh silver moon, so high, so wide,
Take me with you o’er the tide.
I'll trade my breath, I’ll trade my tune,
Just let me lie in love with the moon.
The villagers whispered, “She’s lost her mind,”
But the maiden just smiled, sweet, gentle, and kind.
For each night she danced in the glow’s silver sweep,
While the world fell away and she drifted to sleep.
Then one cold morning, the maiden was gone,
No trace in the meadow, no print on the lawn.
But when the moon rises, bright over the lea,
A shadow still dances beneath the old tree.
Oh silver moon, so high, so wide,
She walks with you now, on the other side.
You took her heart, you took it soon,
The maiden who fell in love with the moon.
“Do you think… there’s a heaven for people like us?” Finn whispered at last, his voice so thin and brittle it almost broke apart in the air. He lay trembling in my arms, every breath a battle. His skin still burned beneath my fingertips, damp with sweat and fever. I dipped the cloth again into the water and pressed it gently to his brow, blinking through the blur of tears.
“Of course there is,” I choked, trying—failing—to smile. My voice trembled with the effort to stay strong for him, though the truth was, I was falling apart.
His lips parted, cracked and dry. “What… do you think it’s like?”
I paused, pressing my cheek to his forehead. “I think it’s a place where no one goes hungry. Where you don’t have to steal or hide or run. There’s food—so much food, more than we’ve ever dreamed of. Pies and roasted meat, berries sweet as honey, bread warm from the oven.”
He gave a faint huff that might’ve been a laugh. “Sounds… like a dream.”
“There’s more,” I whispered, brushing his matted hair away from his face. “There are soft beds, and warm fires. Books stacked to the ceiling. Rain that smells clean, not like smoke. Stars so close you could reach up and touch them.”
Finn’s breathing grew shallower. His eyes fluttered closed, but he wasn’t asleep. Not yet. “Will you… be there?”
My throat tightened. “I’ll find you,” I said. “No matter where they send us—I’ll find you, Finn.”
He gave a tiny nod against my arm. “Good. Couldn’t stand it without you.”
And then he went still again, his breath barely stirring the air. I held him tighter, as if I could anchor him to this world with nothing but my will.
“I’m right here,” I murmured into the silence. “I’m not letting go.”
I don’t know how long we sat there.
