There was a plain where nothing cast a shadow.
Not because there was no light.
There were three moons.
Countless stars.
Great glowing flowers drifting across the sky like slow-moving clouds.
Yet...
every traveler who entered the plain discovered that their shadow had quietly wandered away.
No one chased it.
No one seemed surprised.
The place simply accepted that shadows sometimes needed their own journeys.
The ground was made of smooth white crystal.
Not transparent.
Only deep enough to hold reflections that didn't belong to the person standing there.
Instead of trees...
enormous stems of glass grew toward the heavens.
At their tops bloomed flowers larger than houses.
Each flower glowed with a different color.
One breathed soft emerald light.
Another warm amber.
Another deep sapphire.
Their petals slowly drifted through the air.
Whenever one touched the ground...
it quietly became another moon.
Above...
there was no sky.
Only endless darkness,
filled with impossible constellations.
Some stars slowly swam like whales.
Some opened and closed like eyes.
One constellation was shaped like an unfinished sentence.
No astronomer had ever named it.
Perhaps...
it preferred remaining anonymous.
A woman wandered through the plain.
She carried a lantern.
Inside...
there was no flame.
Only darkness.
Not empty darkness.
Peaceful darkness.
She walked without hurry.
Without destination.
Every so often...
she glanced behind her.
Not because someone followed.
Because habit had become difficult to forget.
Years ago...
she had always walked beside another person.
They had promised...
"Wherever the road ends..."
"We'll see it together."
Life had quietly chosen otherwise.
No betrayal.
No anger.
Simply...
different roads.
Since then...
she had continued walking.
Not searching.
Not waiting.
Just...
continuing.
Far ahead...
someone was sitting beneath one of the giant flowers.
A young man.
His backpack rested beside him.
He wasn't reading.
Wasn't sleeping.
He simply watched the floating petals.
When he heard footsteps,
he looked up.
Smiled politely.
Then looked back at the sky.
The woman almost continued walking.
Instead...
she sat on the opposite side of the crystal path.
Far enough to leave silence comfortable.
For a long time...
neither of them spoke.
The enormous flower above them slowly turned,
changing from emerald...
to deep orange.
The plain itself became warm,
as though sunset had chosen to bloom instead of arrive.
Finally...
the young man asked,
"Have you noticed?"
She looked upward.
"The flowers?"
He shook his head.
"Our shadows."
She looked beside herself.
There was none.
She smiled gently.
"So this is that place."
"You've heard of it?"
"A little."
"What did they say?"
She watched a glowing petal drift past.
"They said..."
"...people come here after carrying something for too long."
The young man laughed quietly.
"I suppose that explains why I'm here."
She nodded.
"It explains me too."
The flower above them slowly shed another petal.
Instead of falling...
it floated upward,
joining the stars.
The young man watched it disappear.
Then asked,
"What do you think shadows do here?"
She answered honestly.
"I don't know."
He smiled.
"I've been making guesses."
"Oh?"
"I think..."
"...they finally become honest."
The woman looked toward him for the first time.
He continued.
"My shadow probably stopped pretending it wasn't tired."
She lowered her eyes.
"I think mine..."
"...finally stopped looking backward."
Neither replied.
There wasn't anything to add.
They continued watching the impossible sky.
Eventually...
the young man broke the silence again.
"Can I ask something?"
She nodded.
"When you remember the road you didn't take..."
"...what hurts?"
She expected the answer.
The person.
The memories.
The promises.
Instead...
another answer quietly appeared.
She whispered,
"I keep wondering..."
"...whether I thanked them enough..."
"...for walking beside me."
The crystal plain became wonderfully still.
Even the stars seemed to drift more slowly.
The young man smiled.
"I've been wondering something similar."
"What?"
He looked toward the constellation shaped like an unfinished sentence.
"I keep thanking myself..."
"...for not being enough."
She looked at him.
Confused.
He laughed softly.
"I've been doing it for years."
The giant flower above them slowly closed its petals.
Night deepened.
The impossible constellations became brighter.
Then...
the woman noticed something.
Far across the plain...
two shadows were walking.
Neither belonged to anyone nearby.
They simply wandered together,
without owners.
Without hurry.
The young man smiled.
"I think ours have met."
She watched them.
"They look..."
"...lighter."
"I think so."
After a while...
she asked,
"Do you think they'll come back?"
He looked toward the wandering shadows.
Then asked a question so quietly...
it almost disappeared beneath the glowing flowers.
"If your shadow returned tomorrow..."
"...would you still ask it..."
"...to carry yesterday?"
The woman closed her lantern.
For the first time...
the darkness inside it became light.
Not because anything had entered.
Because something had quietly left.
Morning arrived without sunrise.
The flowers simply changed color.
Amber became white.
Blue became gold.
The stars slowly folded themselves into invisible birds and flew away.
The young man stood.
Adjusted his backpack.
"I think I'll keep walking."
She smiled.
"So will I."
Neither asked where.
Neither asked for a name.
Some meetings become smaller...
when names are added.
They bowed gently to one another.
Then chose different paths across the endless crystal plain.
For a little while...
their footsteps echoed together.
Then separately.
Far behind them...
two wandering shadows continued walking beneath the impossible flowers.
Perhaps they would return someday.
Perhaps they wouldn't.
It no longer mattered.
Because somewhere along that quiet plain...
two strangers had discovered
that healing
doesn't always mean
finding what you lost.
Sometimes...
it means allowing
your shadow
to stop carrying
what your heart
no longer has to.