煅 (duàn) signifies forging and tempering, with fire latent in its very essence. 庚 (gēng), one of the Ten Heavenly Stems, embodies not only metal but also the turning of time—transition, renewal, the passage of ages.

A slender volume of meditations upon life—or more precisely, a beholder's gaze upon it. In the configuration of my Eight Characters, the metal element prevails, with two Geng stems inscribed among the Heavenly. Metal, as is known, must endure the flame to be wrought into form.

The coming year, 2026, is Bing Wu in the celestial cycle—a year wherein both stem and branch blaze with fire. Between awe and unease: how shall this great conflagration temper the metal, how shall it shape the life that bears it? Hence the title.