Chapter 14: Judgment Under the Lamp

That night every shadow inside the lighthouse stood upright.

They were not human shadows, but the shapes of undelivered letters cast by the lamp. Some waited for apologies, some for farewells, and some only for a very small I remember you.

The old man sat beneath the light and listened as they took turns reading aloud from his silence.

At last the beam stopped on Chaoyin's father's letter. A fine crack opened in the copper seal, and from it came the first true breath of wind.