Do Kyungsoo live between the snowy sand and the salty water. It is the breeze in his hair that wakes him up every morning as a gentle compliment, a warning that the day has just begun. It was just another winter morning in South Vansha. Kyungsoo dresses up warmly, with boots and scarves, and goes to the beach to find something to eat, like every other season. Only the beach is covered in snow, which makes him happy. Maybe Goddess Vansha was pleased with their fortune for that season. 

As a Vanshian, Kyungsoo always prayed for the Goddess to return one day. All he ever wanted was for his people to be blessed by the Queen of Snow, and for the land to provide every food they could ask for. Because of Vansha, they were able to plant and raise food on cold ground. So winters were just like any other season, even though he never knew what other seasons were like.

 

By that time of the year, Kyungsoo would simply spend time by the beach. Following the tradition, of every eclipse, he spends a great time collecting shells to make an ornament for the Goddess. And every snowy morning, he wakes up to a warm gift of godly food. For that, he prays. And then eats until the next day comes, and he repeats it all over again. Well, not every snowy day, just when he needs a blessing. 

Like today. 

Kyungsoo went out of the little house wearing warm clothes. He was searching for perfect shells, the glimmering ones. The Goddess usually accepts everything that comes from the sea, but he wants to show his gratitude. He was aiming for the greatest. But as soon as he collected all the shells off the coast, he noticed something strange miles away.

A boy was standing between the sea and the snowy sand, observing the waves breaking through his body. He was all white from head to toe, which reminded Kyungsoo of royalty. "Is he a god?" Kyungsoo murmured, enchanted by the figure in front of him. He was afraid of getting close, but he knew no one lived nearby. So that meant he was a wanderer or even a rover. 

Kyungsoo stood two feet away from him, waiting as if something would happen. Then nothing. He waited until the light of the sun would glimmer through his white skin and shine so bright someone could go blind. Kyungsoo protected his eyes, even feeling very warm with all of that light. As if the sun were being absorbed by his skin, the boy fell to the ground. Kyungsoo fell too, in complete dazzle. As soon as the Sun stopped shining through him, Kyungsoo saw him falling on the snowy sand ground. He was shocked, worried if the boy was nearly alive. He ran towards him, each step marking the sand with his boots. 

When he got really close, he noticed the boy's beauty. All the white in his body was shining. His eyelashes, hair, skin, and lips, everything was made of little stars. Kyungsoo approached a bit closer, even afraid to touch him. What if he was magical? What would that do to him? Whether he was hot or cold, Kyungsoo couldn't tell. He prayed for Vansha, asking for her strength to help the boy. With all the goodness and strength of his heart, he touched the boy's face. It was so cold that it surprised Kyungsoo. Wasn't he absorbing the sunlight seconds ago?

Finally, the boy seemed to feel his touch by opening his eyes to glare at him. His purple-gray iris was so beautiful, and it looked like a rare gem. Kyungsoo couldn't help but stare at it. The boy got on his knees slowly, as if trying to understand what just happened. 

"Kind man, can you inform me how long I have been on this ground?" 

"Are you… God?" Kyungsoo asked, mesmerized by his beauty. 

The boy blinked as if he were pondering his question. 

“Am I?” he murmured to himself. 

Kyungsoo laughed. That boy seems too silly to be a god. He tried to get up, and Kyungsoo helped him, even though his skin was freezing his hands. 

"Well, you fell here on these lands, then you may be just as magical. Do you have a place to stay? Aren't you cold, sir?" 

The boy shrugged. “I don’t feel a thing.” 

"Really?" Kyungsoo was shocked. 

How can a person stay so long in the snow and not feel the body struggle? He was a god, indeed. 

“Please, follow me, sir. I am sure I can be of help.” The boy didn't say a word but followed him without questioning. 

They followed the path to a little house next to the mountains, which was owned by Kyungsoo's family for centuries. As soon as they started to walk, Baekhyun mimicked Kyungsoo’s step, making sure to just step on every single footprint Kyungsoo left on the snow-covered sand. Doh wasn't quite sure why that creature was so magnificently strange. It was like looking at a prickly rose: he was gracious, but so cautious that seemed strange.

They both arrive at the house quickly. Kyungsoo makes sure to lock the door and windows as soon as they step on his hardwood floor, as he doesn’t want any snow to come inside.

“Uh,” he sighs after closing the last window in the room, “Now we are safe. How are you doing? Feeling a little better?” He asks, but the boy is not looking at him at all. He is on the sofa, staring at the string of lights Kyungsoo managed to put over the fireplace. His eyes reflect the bright lights, and they seem a bit emotional. His white lashes blink every five seconds, and his nose is red, indicating that he is finally warm enough.

“Hey… did you like the lights?” Kyungsoo asks, sitting by his side. The boy stares at him intensely. His eyes are in dark gray now, as if they are made of twinkling stones.

“How is it possible to catch stars like this?”

Kyungsoo smiles.

“What? This?” He says, pointing to the lights. “Those are not stars. Those are lamps. They shine with electricity.”

The boy blinks, making a cute face of confusion.

“From where I come, we follow the stars. They are not meant to be caught.”

Kyungsoo hesitates, not knowing what to say. But he continues anyway:

“Are you a god?” He asks.

“I am not. I am Do Kyungsoo.”

The boy laughs. He gets up again and seems really well now that he's not cold anymore. Maybe he wasn't used to the winter land.

“I am Byun Baekhyun.”

“Baekhyun…” Kyungsoo repeats, not even knowing why, “Well, you are welcome to stay until you find your family, Byun Baekhyun. Are you lost?”

“No, I’m not. I came here looking for you.”

Kyungsoo gasps.

“What?”

“They said a good heart could help me heal. So I came to find someone who was just as kind as you.”

“Me? I don’t think I have anything to help a traveler like you.”

“I am not a god.” Baekhyun smiles, waving his cold fingers to shake Kyungsoo's hand, "I'm just a traveler. I need to be healed by a pure soul like yours. Can you help me?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm what you are looking for."

The boy's expression was strange again. Kyungsoo took a moment to understand that he was disappointed, even hurt. He let go of his hands and seemed very cautious when he said, "Aren't you? Well, but you wished for me. You asked me to help you a long time ago with your house. Don't you remember?"

Kyungsoo blinks, startled. That was when he was just a child, and their house was damaged from the snowy storm. Kyungsoo prayed for help when he saw a shooting star, and the next day everything was just fine like it never was. He thought Vansha helped them out of her great power but turns out…

"Vansha nikaahla! (For the love of Vansha!). So you are a god, then."

Baekhyun denied.

"No. I'm a star. I fell to earth because of you. Now, I need you to heal me."

The boy stood behind, showing his body to him. He was cold, and as he opened his white shirt button by button, Kyungsoo could see that his chest was opened like a broken gem. Thousands of pieces of the gem were pointing out of his chest. Kyungsoo did not understand.

"I didn't know that my wish was a way of sacrificing. I'm very sorry; I don't feel good about this."

The boy denied it.

“You cannot change what has passed. We can only move forward to what is to come.”

Kyungsoo nodded. He was right, but that doesn't mean that Kyungsoo knew what to do. He looked at his open chest and knew he wasn't supposed to be that cold.

“Do you need a light?”

Baekhyun nodded.

“Can you help me find my light again?”

Kyungsoo did not know how to find somebody else's light, but he agreed to try his best. Baekhyun spent the night in their house, and by the sunny morning, he was feeling a little warmer. Kyungsoo was happy to see that at least a home was serving as a way to make him a bit warmer. They spent a lot of time together, though. Kyungsoo taught him how to turn on the little lamps, and he tried to use his light to “guard them inside” only to discover that was not how it was supposed to work.

“Then what are those little glass cages for?” Baekhyun asked.

Kyungsoo smiled. For a god, he did not know much about the world. He taught him how Vansha made the light come from the magic tree to all the villagers around the four lands. However, there was only him on the snowy beach these days, so all the lamps there were his responsibility.

“So you’re the only one that carries the light around here,” Baekhyun concluded, “Then I’m lucky.” He smiled.

Kyungsoo smiled back. He was the lucky one to have the help of a Star, so all he could do now was return all of his grace. Even so, he did not know how to bring someone’s light back. He looked at every book he had, even the ones his grandpa used to read as sacred. Baekhyun did not know how to read in Vanshian, so Kyungsoo taught him some words like “light,” “sun,” and “moon.”

“How about Star?” He said.

Kyungsoo startled. Of course, that was very important to him.

“It is Täahtee.”

Baekhyun smiled.

“If I’m your Täahtee, what are you?”

Kyungsoo did not know what to answer him. He was nothing, just Do Kyungsoo from the Winter Land. He learned a lot about Vansha to the point he read most of the books on the shelf. Baekhyun even learned how to cook and how to feed too. One night he made a biscuit in the shape of a Star and named it Sirius. It was how they named stars in his land.

“And where did you come from, Byun Baekhyun?” Kyungsoo asked him about one of the coldest nights near the beginning of the crescent moon.

“I came from the Sea of Stars,” he said.

But he never explained how it was. Determined to keep searching for his light, Kyungsoo asked some villagers about it and went deep into the ice forest until they could find the tree. Baekhyun touched the magic wood and tried to absorb its magic, but it did not work.

At the end of the crescent moon, they still weren't able to find Baekhyun’s light. It was late at night when they were able to rest again by the fire that Kyungsoo felt something different. He touched his hand while giving him a cup of ginger tea. His hands were hot like fire.

“Baekhyun… you are warm again!”

Baekhyun showed his hands, seeing the light yellow glimmer shine, as if he were a lamp in need of electricity.

“I feel… different now.”

“Do you think… it worked?” Kyungsoo asked, still amazed by his light and warmth.

Baekhyun looked at him, his eyes glimmering a green-yellow light so pretty it seemed to have all the colors inside. Baekhyun took Kyungsoo’s hands in his and closed them like he was trying his best to give him something. Kyungsoo waited and then felt, all over his body, the warmth coming like a cold bath in the Sunny land. His body started to feel really different like his heart was being filled with something amazingly good.

“That’s me. I can see your heart now, too.”

They were both on the floor of the cabin, surrounded by the little lamps that began to shine too. Everything was shining, even Kyungsoo.

“Baekhyun… what is this?”

He smiled, not letting go of his hand. That was the most beautiful light Kyungsoo had ever seen in his whole existence. There wasn't anything to compare. Not the moon, not the Sun, not the Vansha magic on the four corners of the lands. It had nothing like him there.

He was just simply a beautiful star.

“You brought my light back, and for that, I’m very grateful.”

“But… how? Where did we find it?”

Baekhyun smiled again, getting up. He helped Kyungsoo get off the floor and hugged him. Not feeling any piece of his internal gem, Kyungsoo noticed his chest was healed. He had finally found his own light again, shining so bright it could blind someone. But not Kyungsoo. No, he could see him so clearly that he did not even have to blink.

“You helped me with your good heart, Kyungsoo, as I told you before.”

“Oh…” Kyungsoo said, not knowing if he should be happy or sad now that he was free to follow his destiny.

Baekhyun smiled again, gathering their hands together. He was still shining but again tried to share some of his light with Kyungsoo and his house. Every single lamp on the snowy beach had a bit of the light of a Star. Baekhyun gave a piece of his light to shine forever with him.

“That will keep you away from the darkness until the next eclipse.” He guaranteed.

“So… you’ll come back to visit me one day?”

Baekhyun nodded, still shining in all his whiteness and bright yellow colors. They walked together through the beach for Kyungsoo to watch him go away. The moon was about to show herself in the sky again, but Baekhyun said to be waiting for something beautiful to happen.

“I need to wait for it, just a little bit,” he said, as he gave Kyungsoo a look, “I am honored to meet up, Do Kyungsoo. Thank you for teaching me and giving me a bit of your light.”

“I did not do anything special, Baekhyun.”

“You did, though. I do not know what you called it, but in the Sea of Stars, we named it Ágape.”

“Ágape,” Kyungsoo repeated.

“It's coming…” Baekhyun said, pointing to the horizon.

And there, Kyungsoo saw what he meant. A beautiful green-blue sea formed, full of Stars, like all lights were made of imaginary colors.

“Aurora Borealis,” Kyungsoo said, “It’s so rare.”

Baekhyun nodded.

“Just like you,” he said with a smile.

Baekhyun took a deep breath and looked at Kyungsoo for one last time. He gave him a warm hug and a peck on his cheek. Kyungsoo felt like little shocks bubbling there.

“Can you promise something before I go?” Baekhyun asked, holding his hands together like he was trying to form a ball of light. Kyungsoo could not stop staring at that, as if he was made of magic. “Kyungsoo, promise me that you’ll light up for me every eclipse, so I can find you again.”

“What?” Kyungsoo asked, confused by his words.

“If you bring all of the little stars in your pocket, I can find you again. Promise that.”

“I promise!” He nodded, making Baekhyun smile again.

Then he shone brightly. So bright, this time Kyungsoo couldn't see a thing and fell on the snowy sand again. Seconds later, all he had was a Sea of Stars above him. The Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis. Kyungsoo spent the night watching the stars and waiting for something to happen, but it never really went away.

Kyungsoo went back to the cabin and saw everything just lying there as if Baekhyun never really left but just went away for a while. He smiled as he saw his cup of tea and star-shaped biscuits. He did learn a lot with Baekhyun, Kyungsoo saw. He started to clean that little messy table when he saw it on a notebook, a list of words Baekhyun was trying to learn in Vanshian. One, underlined like it’s important, Kyungsoo recognized right away. It said “Lempiä,” which Baekhyun marked as Ágape.

Kyungsoo’s heart clenched with something, the same he felt when he touched his hands before. His light. He now knew what Baekhyun taught Kyungsoo was made of.

Love.