by N. M. Howell
All the people stay for the trial of the Almighty. To say the people are shocked would not even begin to describe their reactions. We are all disgusted with him and ashamed to have ever believed in him. The trial, though horrifying, is brief. He is sentenced to a gruesome death.
Soon it is time for Thea and baby Nevena to return to Moerdra Castle; she has much left to oversee and a long time yet before she can regain the faith of the people for her family. I kiss Delara’s beautiful daughter and hold her against my heart. So much feeling rises in me when I see this child. I promise her she will be great someday and that she will be loved always. I hand her back to Thea.
“You must be careful, Thea,” I warn. “The world is in an age of peace now, but evil cannot be destroyed. There may be some in the world who will seek to use the Stone. You and Nevena are the only people in the world who can power it. Someone may come for you.”
“I will keep a watchful eye. I have grown some in the last weeks. I can look into the Orwirl myself now and use it in many ways. I will see if trouble is coming. And I have begun training with the blade. My stroke is improving,” she says with a smile.
“You have only to send for me, sweet girl, and I will come.”
“I know that to be truer than anything. I suppose this is goodbye.”
“For now. Until we meet again, my lady.”
“Until then, Winter Queen.”
We kiss and embrace, then I watch her and the baby cross the hall and disappear. It is with a heavy heart that I watch them leave. I am suddenly acutely aware of all the farewells of my life, both those who have simply gone away and those who can never come back. I miss Delara more than ever and my heart nearly bursts with the pain, but the time for tears is passing. I walk out onto the balcony. Eduard is here. For a while we look out over Gardenwall. The people are rebuilding, and in some instances still morning, but a new time has come upon the earth and though we carry those dark days with us always, we shall know a brighter future. Happiness lies in wait.
“So what is next for us, Maerolwyn?” Eduard asks.
“Peace. Hope. Bliss.”
“Perhaps some very heavy fur if we’re to live in the Winterlands.”
“Well, love, we have magic. We’ll just conjure fire.”
“I suppose we will. But you haven’t answered my question.”
“What’s next is that you marry the Winter Queen of the Winterlands. You become king and the people will love you as I do.”
“That does not seem so terrible a future.”
“I should hope not.”
He kisses me. Or maybe I kiss him. Sometime I truly cannot tell.
“I love you,” he says.
“And I love you.”
I stare into his beautiful green eyes. They do not change color anymore, but that is fine with me. I take both of his hands in mine.
“Come with me, Grandestor.”
“I had almost forgotten that name. In fairness, you must let me call you Nevena every once and again, however beautiful Maerolwyn may be.”
“Of course. Now let me lead you. There is a better view of the world we might have.”
I hold his hands tight and then soar. We leave the earth behind. Gardenwall. The Hundred Kingdoms. Glassenross. Up and away we soar. I whisper a charm for us both and our lungs are changed. There are many things that we could say now, many thoughts that might be expressed, but there are times when silence is best and when even the stream of our endlessly changing lives seeks to be still. Gently, we drift into the infinite cosmos and the earth is a blue diamond of promise below.
