Kymalin laced her left boot with steel fingers. It wasn't cold tonight but shivers ran down her arms in waves. Drodham waited for her like a trap but she had to see Vaeri. During her time in Parkane, as she watched the stars fall atop her, she could only think of one person. The only person she ever did love with all of herself. She has to see him again.

She blew a shaky breath as she pushed herself up from her borrowed bed. She grabbed her sheathed sword hanging by the coat racks and made way to the door. The journey to Drodham would be dreadful as it was treacherous.

Kymalin crossed the maze of corridors she memorized and came to the central courtyard that opened up to the night sky. There, she spotted April leaning against a balustrade by the third floor, poring over her wings.

Wasn't April back to inserting metal feathers in her wings? She squinted to see April pluck a metal feather and chuck it towards the courtyard. Kymalin raised her eyebrows. Weird. April whirled as if sensing Kymalin's attention. Their eyes locked but Kymalin averted her gaze. She turned to go when she heard a metallic thump behind her.

"So," Kymalin faced the air sprite. "You never got to be the High Queen."

April scowled. Then, she clicked her tongue. "I figured it wasn't what I wanted anyway," she crossed her arms. "I want to rest. To be away from all of...this."

Kymalin hummed. "Let me guess," she planted her weight on one foot. "Revenge didn't feel as good as you expected."

The air sprite's head snapped up. Her mouth parted but no words came out. Kymalin smiled. Ah, thought so. April scoffed and scratched the back of her neck. "Yes, you're right," she shifted from foot to foot. "It didn't feel good. In fact, I feel revolted after I..."

"It's fine. You don't have to say it," Kymalin put a hand out to still the air sprite.

"You don't understand," April stepped closer to Kymalin. "I've dreamed of doing it since I heard of the news. Avenging mother and fixing this island....those were all I wanted."

Kymalin braced her hips. "Well, we never really knew what we wanted and what we needed until we got whichever one," she said, drawing from her own experiences. "What are you going to do now that you've resigned your claim to the throne?"

April snorted. "I can still make this island better with that council position," she looked at a horizon by Kymalin's shoulder and frowned. "But first I'd have to stomach seeing that girl wear a crown that's supposed to be mine."

Kymalin chuckled. "You did blow your chance."

"I know," April cracked a grin. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"Go back home to my brother," Kymalin said. Her heart became heavy all over again. Was her brother still alive, even? Veril hadn't reported.

"Does your brother have blue hair and matching eyes with you?" April asked, never removing her gaze past Kymalin's shoulder.

Kymalin knitted her eyebrows. "Yeah?"

"And does he know an old, bald man who had only whites for eyes?"

Janos! Kymalin whirled to see...indeed, Reksha Janos and her brother. Walking on his own two feet. Walking straight. Walking.

"Vaeri!" Kymalin called as she forgot about April and dashed to meet her brother. She threw her arms about him as her heart went on to run races in her chest. She held him at arms-length after a few seconds. "What are you doing here?"

She turned to the blind Reksha. "What is he doing here?"

Janos opened his mouth then shook his head. He ran a hand across his smooth head. "It's best to leave you and the Crown Prince while you...process the news," he walked away before Kymalin could ask what "news" it was.

Kymalin turned to her brother and crouched by him to meet his eyes. He never grew taller even though he was already thirteen. "Are you alright? How was the pain?"

Suddenly, her brother burst into tears and tackled her in a hug. Then it all came spilling out. Ezril, their mother, knew of a spell that could cure him but it required a soul in exchange for the healing. The moment the war was over, Ezril headed to Drodham, cast the spell over her brother, and ultimately...

"She's gone, Kym," Vaeri buried his head on her neck.

The world was still around Kymalin. Her mother wouldn't...

She's too selfish to even think of her dying son. She wouldn't...

It all made sense now. Back when Kymalin was fighting with her mother about Vaeri's illness, her mother didn't say there was a cure nor did she say there wasn't. She just told Kymalin that she would not allow Kymalin to endanger herself in trying to find the answer.

Back then, Kymalin thought it was just her mother's way of telling her that there was nothing to be done and she had given up. Kymalin thought of it as a challenge and set out on her own to find a cure for her brother. She understood it now. It was dangerous because it involved an exchange of souls. Her mother...perhaps didn't want Kymalin to be the one who would have to sacrifice something.

Before she could think of stopping them, tears sprung from her eyes and flowed down her cheeks. She hugged her brother back as her knees dug against the marble floor. She didn't think the day where she would cry for her mother's death would come. She had thought that she'd forever see her mother's face inside that stuffy temple.

She thought...

What use was thinking, anyway? She's gone. Kymalin didn't even get to speak with her before she did it. Ezril hadn't even said anything about doing it either.

Kymalin couldn't understand it but her heart shuddered whenever she thought about the trivial fights she'd picked against her mother. She recalled the time she left the temple and vowed to do something her mother was so afraid to do.

It turned out that Ezril was only biding her time. She knew of a way but she let her son suffer more years than necessary. Kymalin understood that leaving the Temple would weaken Carleon and Kymalin wasn't exactly a cooperative daughter either.

She really left her mother without a choice, didn't she?

What would happen if she stayed? If she trusted her mother? She wouldn't have ended as this...garbage. Before she knew it, she had done so many things she couldn't take back. She had caused more damage than she contributed to fixing them. She's...the worst.

"I'm so sorry, Vaeri," Kymalin whispered to her shaking brother. She continued doing so until her tears dried and she couldn't cry anymore. If there was one thing she would carry for the rest of her life, it was this regret.

"Where are you off to, Can?" Nyxis asked. If the pixie noticed he had just given her a nickname, she didn't show it. Not that Canelis was known to show anything aside from aggression and a passive frown.

The pixie studied the hilt of the sword tied at her belt. "After the coronation, I'll go back to my people."

"What about that council position?" Nyxis raised an eyebrow.

"In my experience, government reform will take a long time," Canelis said. "There should be plenty of time to rebuild Yin Alora and Xai Ren."

Nyxis glanced at the sword. "I'm still wondering why you gave that to me and why it didn't go back to you."

"You're human," Canelis' forehead furrowed like it explained everything. She frowned deeper when she caught Nyxis looking blankly at her. "As the Human heir, you would have control over the Warseeker which had the power to null the effects of other thrones. So I gave it to you to null its honing ability."

Canelis waved her hand at his face. "And now that you're...whatever you are, I can't exactly ask you to do that," she rolled her shoulders. "I guess I have to find another human to terrorize."

Nyxis snorted. "Or you could give it to Tobin. He'll take good care of it."

Canelis didn't smile. "I know of that traitor," her tone dropped notches deeper. "Xanthy should deal with him as soon as possible. Allying Cardina to the Sovereign. So...deplorable."

Only Canelis would use words like "deplorable" in a conversation. Nyxis chuckled. "Did that sword ever absorb something from the battlefield?"

Canelis pulled the sword halfway. The moonslight caught the smooth surface of the blade. "No," she shoved the sword back inside its sheath with a resounding schik. The pixie turned to Nyxis and gave him a rigid salute. "Good work, soldier," she turned to walk away before she paused to look back at Nyxis. "Nice scar."

She was smiling.

Nyxis's hand rose to his face. His fingers caressed the line where his scar was supposed to traverse.

"Nyxis!" Kennen Jarmez, the ice sprite heir, called, snapping Nyxis out of his trance. He turned to the direction where the sound came from and spotted Denara and Kennan striding to meet him.

Nyxis turned to say goodbye to Canelis but there was only air where the pixie had once been.

"Who're you talking to?" Denara leaned left and right to look behind him.

He circled his arm around Denara's waist and planted a kiss on her cheek. It felt surreal that he could do things like this...and so much more to the fairy he had never known existed before. "No one," he said.

Kennen stepped into Nyxis's view. The war hadn't wiped the perpetual smile off his face. "How was it being an ice sprite?" he asked.

Nyxis tousled his hair. "It feels...great," he spread his arms and bounced on his feet. "Really, I have no words for it. I just feel light. And free."

Kennen chuckled and tucked his hands inside his wide sleeves. "As you should."

"So what are you going to do now that you're not an heir?" Denara glanced at Nyxis and smoothed his hair out of his face.

Nyxis pursed his lips and pretended to think. "Hmm," he touched his chin even though he knew the answer to that. "I'm going to open an apothecary school, I think. Or a hospital, Or an orphanage. Even a bakery. The possibilities are endless!"

Denara snorted. "A painting studio? A gallery? A school for the arts?"

Nyxis laughed and drew her closer to him. "Anything as long as you're with me."

"Or you could work for the High Queen," Kennan said. "You could help your friend with your...many talents."

Nyxis stuck his bottom lip out. "I haven't looked that far in the future just yet," he admitted. "I'm just...amazed to be alive."

Kennan's smile only widened and his narrow eyes disappeared into slits as he did. "I am too, friend," he said. "I am, too."