"If we look backward instead of forward," he went on, "might we not discover that one thing set in motion sets all else moving? Tug the edge of a spiderweb and the center moves. But I have no intention of lecturing you. Tell me, rather, why you have left your palace."
Jen recounted what had befallen him during his first journey and explained the purpose of his second.
Master Hu shook his head. "My dear boy, have I failed in your instruction? Have I not taught you to avoid useless pursuits and the pointless waste of time?
"An old tale tells of a traveler who kept walking northward," Master Hu continued. "At last, he returned to the spot where he began. The Kingdom of T'ienkuo? If, indeed, such a realm exists, it is any place you make it to be. Therefore, why seek what you have already found?"
Jen puzzled over this. By the time he grasped what Master Hu meant by it, Voyaging Moon had already understood. Smiling lovingly, she took Jen's arm.
"Come, dear Jen," she said. "Come home. If, that is, we ever truly left it." And that was exactly what they did.
Lloyd Alexander, The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen
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