Sometimes Xiao Xin would wander off to explore their bamboo forest while Huo Linghun did other things, such as carve tiny statues out of wood. When Xiao Xin returned to their bamboo clearing they would always greet each other with an embrace.

Today, however, things were different. Xiao Xin returned with an owl sitting on his arm and Huo Linghun decided that observing from a distance would be best...

Xiao Xin was lagging behind as they hiked through a beautiful pine forest, but that was something he always did. There were lots of ways in which his curiosity shone through, and lots of things about him that made him a curiosity too, Huo Linghun thought.

When Xiao Xin caught up to him he held something up and asked, "What's this called?"

"That's a pinecone," Huo Linghun told him.

The ground ...

Huo Linghun was lying on their bed in their little bamboo house, the pain he was feeling shining through in his expression. "How did this happen..." he groaned.

Xiao Xin sat beside him, rubbing his sore back. "Remember yesterday when you lifted that big log over your head?" he mentioned. "That's probably what made your back hurt."

Huo Linghun just groaned again in response.

"Don't worry, I'll ...

Huo Linghun suddenly hit his head on a low tree branch as they were walking a forest trail. "Ow!" he exclaimed.

"You wouldn't hit your head like that if you were shorter," Xiao Xin teased, walking under the branch easily.

"Maybe, but I like being tall," Huo Linghun replied, "so I can do this." He kissed the top of Xiao Xin's head right where they were standing. "That's worth it even if I hit my...

"For something called blueberries, the stains they make sure are red," Xiao Xin said. Earlier he had fallen into a blueberry bush and his light gray robe ended up speckled with purple-red spots.

Huo Linghun was trying to wash it off in the river. He scrubbed and scrubbed and when he lifted it back out the spots had all blended together into one big dark splotch.

"It looks like blood," Xiao Xin...

Distant thunder and cloudy skies led Huo Linghun and Xiao Xin to look for shelter. Luckily they were in a vast valley and the cliffs along its edge provided overhangs that would protect them from the incoming rain.

The two of them sat close together beneath one such overhang, watching and listening as the storm grew nearer. The rain started out as a light patter but soon started coming down in he...

Huo Linghun and Xiao Xin had planted their flower seeds in a sunny patch of the bamboo forest. It had been some time and tiny sprouts were starting to poke through. Meanwhile, another kind of flower had grown there much faster.

"Why are you pulling them out?" Xiao Xin asked.

"They're weeds," Huo Linghun explained. "They'll choke our flowers."

Xiao Xin pulled out one of the white fluffy flowers....

There's no one like me, Xiao Xin thought to himself as they walked through a village. He never saw anyone else with a bad arm, a bad eye, and a bad leg. He never saw anyone else get confused over how certain things in a town worked.

Sometimes people stared at him as he traveled through town. Sometimes people stared right past him when he didn't understand something at a shop. Thankfully Huo Ling...

Xiao Xin asked a lot of questions. He spoke a lot about the things that made him curious, things that were new to him as well as things that were familiar to him. He had a lot to say about the things Huo Linghun told him about.

But he didn't talk much about himself. He was mostly quiet on the topic of where he came from. He almost never said in words how he was feeling. But that was okay.

Huo Li...

Huo Linghun and Xiao Xin reunited outside of the town. They had split up in the marketplace, agreeing they could each buy one extra thing besides food, and now they were ready to show each other what they got.

Huo Linghun joyfully held up a book with a fantastically painted cover. "It's the newest story I could find," he said. "We can read it together."

Xiao Xin also smiled joyfully at this- he ...