“There is still much to do. We have made a beginning-”
She took a step forward.
“Yes, there is still much to be done. You great grizzly graint! And you are flying off again!”
“Hyrklana,” I said. “You know.”
“I know. And you will leave today?”
I took a step forward. We moved toward each other. She raised her arms and I saw the wonder of her face.
There was nothing else in all of Kregen.
I held her, held her close, and I felt her arms clasping me.
“Delia!”
“Dray!”
“I must go to Hyrklana, as you must go about the business of your Sisters of the Rose-”
“Only for Vallia-”
“We are driven-”
“But not for much longer. It will end, one day-”
“Yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel, at last.”
I held her close and I could feel the warmth of her and the tremble between us. All of Vallia, then, all of Kregen, seemed of small moment, tiny, insignificant, beside my Delia, my Delia of Delphond, my Delia of the Blue Mountains…
“And you will fly for Hyrklana today?”
I could feel the growing heat of the Suns of Scorpio burning upon me.
“No, my heart. I do not think I shall leave today.”
