Life, Burning Away

She watched the flames crawl downward from the top of the paper in her hand. Its life burned away so fast, flickering upward into the ether, it had to struggle downward for sustenance. Something about that felt profound. She placed it on the bottom of the structure she'd built from paper, kindling, and logs in her small home's lovingly-restored fireplace.

The flame flickered. Smoke drifted up the outside of the woodpile. She nudged the paper farther under until its smoke, its heat, its life had to rise through the tinder she'd set down before it could escape to the heavens. This also seemed profound: Life, burning away, put to work before being permitted to finally depart.

With a cough, the rest of the tinder took flame. She watched as the flame licked, gnawed, and finally inhabited the kindling, then the logs. The fire purred. Its heat caressed her on its way up into the skies.

She didn't look away. Not even as the bright, antiseptic lights flooded her home. Not when the agents burst in moments later, come to take her away for the crime of producing heat so wastefully. She went peacefully. She knew what her life burned for.

Parable of the Farmer

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Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, a young moisture farmer wished for a bigger life. While out seeking lost droids, he met a robed stranger, hungry in the desert. The farmer gave his lunch away without hesitation, at which point the stranger swept off its robe to reveal one of the wish-granting aliens of Navin Yine. "I will answer three questions," said the alien. "But know that the answers may not please you."

"How can I become a pilot for the rebellion?"

"Take your speeder into the city and walk into the third cantina you see. Buy passage on the hairiest person's ship."

The farmer dashed away that moment, not even saying farewell. He followed the alien's instructions and took flight that very evening. He had a great adventure, rescued a princess, and flew for the rebellion, destroying a great enemy fortress.

Taking refuge from the enemy on a planet of ice, the farmer saw a vision while on patrol: the alien of Navin Yine. "What is your second question?"

"How can I defeat the Empire?"

"Leave your friends, take to the wing, and leap space in the direction you face when you blink the thirty-second time. Travel as many light years as the number of people you can name, and land there."

Taking the alien's directions, the farmer left that very day. He lost his wings to a swamp, served a wizened creature for a year and a day, and discovered his inner magic. With this, he overthrew the Emperor and freed the galaxy.

Years later, when he had suffered betrayal and all his apprentices lay dead or monstrous, the moisture farmer sought out the alien. "All I want is to fix the mistakes I've made. How can I make up for all the damage I've done?"

"Take flight once more," said the alien. "Point your wing at the first star that catches your eye, and fly as many parsecs as you can count regrets. Live there, and you shall find what you seek."

He lives there still.