And she kissed me.

Her hand was petal-soft on my cheek, and her mouth was warm as spring after a long winter. It tasted like the fulfilment of every hope I had ever had, this year and all the years past; it tasted like a million hopes that had never yet dared to bloom.

I pressed my forehead against hers, running my hands through her windswept hair. “Why didn’t you ever kiss me at home, then? Why did you come to see the Emperor?”

She winced. “You told me to! And it was a last-ditch attempt at convincing myself I could marry a man. As you can see, it’s ended in spectacular failure. I like women. I like you. I like you so much.”

My cheeks hurt from smiling; my heart hurt from pounding too wildly, too rapturously. “I like you too.”

The tip of her nose brushed mine. “Oh, Jingzhi, what will I tell my family?”

I looked at the pair of phoenixes flying towards us. “Tell them it was the phoenix’s fault.”

Xiayin grinned and laid her head on my shoulder. “What do you think the other phoenix is called?”

“Star Anise,” I murmured, and Xiayin’s giggle tickled my neck as I welcomed Chilli Oil back into my arms.

We fussed over her as she flapped her wings in excitement and basked in the attention. It was a while before I noticed the girl standing before us, holding the darker phoenix. She must have been our age, or a little older. Sweat and wonder shone on her face as she stared at us, at Xiayin’s head tucked into the crook of my neck, at Xiayin’s arm round my waist.

Chilli Oil swivelled her head around too and trilled happily in their direction.

The other phoenix flitted up into the air, hovering closer to us and fanning out her tail. Her tail feathers shimmered with jade-green edges – something I couldn’t see before. Her long neck curled elegantly as she rubbed her head against Chilli Oil’s.

“Rooster, no!” the girl shouted, and at the firecracker laugh that burst from me, Chilli Oil startled and lifted into the air momentarily. And my mother had thought I’d given my phoenix a ridiculous name! The unfamiliar phoenix squawked in reply, yet made no move to return to her human. Her neck twined lovingly with Chilli Oil’s, as we all watched in fascination.

The girl smiled gingerly. “I … I never thought this was possible.” She gestured towards the phoenixes – towards us. Me and Xiayin and the absolute absence of space between our bodies.

“Me neither,” Xiayin said, squeezing her arm tight around me. “But thank the earth and the heavens, we have our phoenixes to show us the way.” She kissed my cheek, and in that moment I could see the light of recognition in the girl’s eyes. A lonely candlewick touched at last with flame.

She was seeing a piece of herself she hadn’t understood until that very moment.

I knew what that was like. I asked her name and where she lived. With relief, I learned that Qianrou’s town was not far from our village. We would not have to part and be strangers on different sides of the country.