Auroro knew that to leave the Sky Palace was to leave immortality, but Clay Woman on the Worlds Below beckoned until he could no longer resist her call.

His feet on the earth, he walked with her for miles, marveling at flickering fires, the hot blood of slain deer, vivid cactus flowers, and the glint of her bracelets as she danced for him.

Bright Father soon noticed Auroro was no longer following him through the palace each day, so he searched from his heights until he spied the wayward youth and told him to return.

Auroro threatened to end his mortal life rather than leave, but Clay Woman could not bear his death. She gathered up his favorite things and put them in a chest.

“Keep them to remind you,” she said, unfastening an earring.

Then she kissed him and walked away.

“Come,” Bright Father said.

Twice each day, Auroro opens the chest: at dawn and dusk. If you look up, you will see the colors of his treasures reflected in the sky as he handles them one by one—orange, red, purple, and sometimes gold.