Istu awakened

EPILOGUE

Erimenes wept for the damage done to Athalau. Limping across the plaza, trying not to put too much weight on a sprained ankle, Fost thought that the devastation didn't look too bad. The city had been staunchly built and most of the buildings had survived.

He stood for a time gazing at the front of the Palace of Esoteric Wisdom without fully realizing where he was. He had lost a lot of blood from wounds he never remembered receiving. He swayed a little and tried to summon the courage to descend into the basement of the Palace and confront what awaited him in the chamber of the Nexus.

Then someone emerged from the Palace onto the portico. She came unsteadily, supported by a young man and a woman in the Sky Guard uniforms. But she came.

When she saw Fost, Moriana broke away from her helpers and ran down the steps. They met halfway across the street, threw arms around each other, sank weeping as their knees gave way.

They kissed. At length Fost pulled back. He could only look at her, unbelieving. When he trusted himself to speak, he asked softly, 'The Ethereals?'

Her eyes fell. A tear traced a trail down one cheek. He shut his own eyes and lowered his forehead to touch hers. The sweat on her hair stung a cut; he didn't pull away. 'And the ones who went with you?'

'Cerestan got too close to Synalon after the power began flowing through her. Rann fought Zak'zar and killed him. He was badly hurt, though. I carried him to the rimwall and strapped him to Nightwind's back.' 'Where is he now?'

'I lost sight of him when I got on Cerestan's eagle.' He bared his teeth and shook his head. 'I hate to say it but I hope he got away. You should have seen him fight, Moriana. I've never seen anything like it.'

She paused, then said, 'I hope he made it, too.' He barely heard her words they came so softly.

He glanced around to see Erimenes staring at the Palace and fingering his chin. The genie's face was drawn with worry.

'Your Highness,' Erimenes said, his voice quaking with emotion. 'I don't mean to interrupt, but… that is…' And while he groped for words to express his fears and hopes, a voice hailed them from the cracked steps of the Palace. 'Highness! You forgot your satchel!'

The trooper brought the battered leather satchel down and laid it reverently next to Erimenes's. He and Ziore drove into each other's arms. Their forms blended into a wavering purple column.

'She was the one who saved me,' Moriana said. 'When I was slipping away, losing myself in the World Spirit, she stopped me, helped me find my way back.'

'She's got my gratitude,' Fost said, hugging Moriana to him. 'What was it like?'

A tremor passed through her. 'Do we have to talk about it now?' 'Never, if you prefer.' 'I may.' He raised his head, asking, 'What're they pointing at down there?'

She looked up at a group who stood at the foot of the Ruby Tower which had miraculously survived the battle.

'I don't – wait! The sun! It's… it's in the west now. It should be well north this time of year.' 'Then…'

'It's true!' cried Erimenes. 'The world's tipped back on its axis. Athalau is free from the ice forever!' He wept again, tears of joy, and the others joined him. Moriana's tears turned sorrowful again, and she clung to Fost.

'Oh, Fost, think of what we've lost! All the people who died. And Guardian. And my City!' She pressed her face into his shoulder. 'And my sister. I only knew her for an instant. One instant out of all our lives.' Her tears poured bitter and free on his mailed shoulder.

'But think of what we've won,' he told her. 'Our lives. The lives of every human who still survives in the Realm – in the whole world. And,' he said, his face hardening, 'a respite from the gods. And you've got a city, Athalau.'

He took her face in his hands and lifted it to his. He paused an instant, uncomfortable, then said, 'And we've got each other.' She grinned and kissed him on the nose. 'That didn't hurt,' she said, and he knew she read his thoughts.

Then he took her by the arm and they rose. Toward them came the folk of their city, of the reborn Athalau, and all were singing.