The world that Tian Lan knew as a mortal was a dark one.
But despite the bleak skies and the constant raging storms, she would dance under the stars and ride with the horses. Her heart was wind and her song was rain upon the northern plains. It was said that the horses and sheep worshiped the Princess of Stampedes and Rain before she had even ascended to Heaven.
But Tian Lan was never one too concerned about the rumors of her beauty and her affinity to the plains. She did not care about the way jealousy threatened her life or how her brothers fought for her hand in marriage.
She didn't care about any of that. Instead, she cared about the dance of horses and the song of the herd. It was within the herd upon a cool night that she saw it. The sky had been as clear as a deep obsidian jewel. Among the darkness and the stars, there it was.
A blue twinkle.