Asluk and Iylac dropped Karma and her friends back at Shurli that morning. By dusk, the dragon swooped over Shurli Palace and landed on the courtyard startling a few guards on duty. When Karma, once again, landed on the ground with wobbly feet, thanked the red dragon. Asluk shook his mighty head. "No thanks necessary, Creator." The dragon replied. "We dragons do what we need to do in order to help keep the peace." The red dragon then eyed Karma carefully. His stone face turned soft. "Though it is us who should be thanking you." Karma gave the red dragon a curious look.

"You saved us." Iylac said stepping around Asluk. "Without you, our line would end. Stuck in this form with no way of evolving. We must evolve. It is the natural order of things." The green dragon gave Karma a toothy smile. Karma returned it.

"We must be off." Asluk continued preparing for lift off. He gave Karma a look. "When the time is right once more, we will be honored to have you returned to Dragon Mountain." Karma bowed her head to the dragon.

"It would be my honor to return someday." Karma replied.

"Saluere." Both dragons said and took off into the sky. Karma and her companions watched as the dragons disappeared beyond the horizon. Sighing, Karma made her way into the palace.

"Now for me to do one other thing." She said to herself.

----

Omar and Mika had declared to call it a night and headed to their bedroom while Karma and Jason made their way to the throne room. Upon entering, they saw Termis relaxing on the throne. He had one leg swung over the arm, his back resting against the side, his head laying on his knuckles. When he saw Karma and Jason entered, his eyes lit up. "Why isn't it my favorite Creator!" He bellowed jumping to his feet and spreading his arm open. "Back from the depth of the mysterious Dragon Mountain!" Then meeting Karma and Jason in the center of the room, he winked. "And as you can see, Shurli is the way you had left it." He smirked. Karma rolled her eyes. 

"Thank you, Termis." Karma said. "And as promised, you are free to go." Termis smiled again, but this time it was sad smile. He bowed dramatically at Karma to hide his features.

"Of course, oh great Creator." He said. "I am forever in your debt." Karma sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I'll miss you too, Termis." She said. "And perhaps, one day our paths will meet again... but as of right now, I better not see you in Shurli again. I cannot promise that the council won't have you thrown in shackles again." A twinkle sparkled in Termis' eyes. Giving Karma a squeeze on the shoulders he said,

"I doubt our paths will cross, but I will look forward to it." Then leaning closer to her ears, he whispered, "those council people will have to catch me first if they want me so badly." With a wink, Termis strolled out of the throne room. That was the last time, Karma had saw the man. And for the first time since his betrayal, Karma actually felt sadden by his departure. Karma and Jason spent the next several moments staring at the empty throne.

"So now what?" Jason asked. "You know Head-Council Marcus wants an answer as soon as he and the others are free from the dungeons." Karma sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, I know." Looking at Jason, she smiled. "I know exactly what answer to give them... but," she paused letting her words slowly sink in for Jason. "I need to know your answer first."

----

As usual, the council were not pleased to hear that Karma had refused to tell them her answer as who would be the next ruler of the human kingdom. She told them that they would have their answer during the festival. As she promised herself, Karma held a festival out in the fields in Orina. After the cleaning up from the battle, Karma had the Clans help set up for the festival and asked them to stay and celebrate. A contribute to their sacrifices and help. They agreed, being battle weary and wanted nothing more than to relax.

The festival was held the next day. There was music, dancing, drinking, and some of the Clans favorite party games. The dwarves held an axe throwing contest, which they challenged the goblins to. The ogres wrestled anyone who dared to compete with them. The goblins danced and drank heartily with the dwarves and the humans. The elves held an archery contest, and they defeated most humans who competed with them. Laughter and Joy filled up that field. It was a pleasant feeling for Karma as she stood on her stump watching it all. At sunset, she would be making her announcement. From the corner of her eye, Karma could see the council members sitting on benches waiting for Karma to make her announcement.

They were not having fun at all. Instead, they looked annoyed, especially Head-Council Marcus, who often times went head to head with Karma. They did not agree to most things and often fought with each on their point of views. He can wait, Karma mused to herself. I don't have to tell them anything yet. Karma's eyes drifted over to barrels filled with ale that Karma often saw the dwarves hanging at. They filled and refilled their wooden mugs from the tap. Some of them got so drunk, that they placed their mouths over the tap and let the alcohol pour in, the bubbling amber liquid often waterfalling out.

Seeing the sight reminded Karma of Dagner. Her beloved dwarven friend. He would have loved this. The drinking, the dancing, and the competition. All things that dwarves love. She sighed. Karma was going to miss her drunken friend. If only she would have known about how serious the bite was. But Dagner was stubborn. He never showed anyone that he was pain and brushed it off like it was a mosquito bite. At least, Karma thought. I had avenged him.

What sadden Karma even more was that his ryder wolf, Hanley, would never see her dwarf friend again. Short after her return from Dragon Mountain, Karma went into the stables and spotted the ryder wolf sleeping in a stall. Karma didn't have the heart to tell the beast what happened to Dagner, but she knew that the ryder wolf would be happy here in Shurli surrounded by people she knew since Dagner did not have any relatives or family that she was aware of.

Her eyes then wondered over to the music and the dancing where she saw Omar and Mika twirling around among the other clans and humans. They were happy and were enjoying one another's company. Karma knew that they would soon want to head home to their daughter, Hope. Which the thought sadden her to see her elven friends leave, but she knew she would see them again. It would be a matter of time.

They were all good friends and would visit each other as often as they could. Karma felt a light touch on her forearm. Looking down, she saw Jason smiling softly at her. "You know," he said. "There is dancing going on, would you care to dance with me?" Karma grinned and took the hand that Jason offered her.

"It would be my honor." She stepped down from the stump, careful not to step on Samson who was laying there napping. The big ryder wolf had no clue of the events that had happened over the past several weeks. Only that he was being feed and well cared of. Curled up next to the white wolf was Angel and on top of her was Shari. The ferret watched Jason lead Karma into the dance floor. Karma wrapped her arms around Jason's neck and Jason held her by the waist. The ferret watched as they swayed and turned in circles to the music. Not wanting to miss out, Shari jumped from Angel's back, who watch the ferret with a sleepy eyes, and scurried over to the dancing couple.

Jason took turns often spinning Karma around in circles and catching her by the waist. Karma laughed and was enjoying herself for the first time in a long while. When they got close to one another the world seemed to pause. Hesitating at first, Jason leaned in closer to kiss Karma, but he didn't get the chance as Shari ran up Karma's leg and popped himself in front of Jason's face creating a barrier. "Hey!" Jason said in surprised to be met with a furry face. Karma laughed and they continued to dance. Shari, as if were his mission to stop Jason from kissing Karma, scurried across her arm and hid in her hair. Jason huffed in annoyance but laughed nonetheless. They danced, ate, and drank the rest of day, and when sunset came, Karma looked at Jason who nodded in encouragement. Karma, dragging Jason along with her, went over to her stump and stood on it. Looking down at her sleeping wolf she said,

"Samson, if you please." The wolf's ears perked up and he looked at Karma for a moment. Then standing up, Samson released a powerful howl that caught everyone's attention. The music stopped and the people began to gather around. When all eyes were on her, especially the councils'. Karma cleared her throat. "Attention everyone if you please." She waited for most of the murmurs subsided, Karma continued. "Ever since I had dethroned Termis from his spot on the throne several years ago, the human kingdom was left without a ruler..." looking around the clutter of people she could tell that she had many the humans' attention than the other Clan members. Shifting her eyes over to Council members, she could see Marcus's eyes on her, waiting for Karma to get on with what she about to say. "I am here to announce that I have chosen the new king of the human kingdom."

Stepping on the further side of the stump, Karma motioned for Jason to get up. He hopped on the stump, losing his balance slightly. Karma grabbed his hand and entwined their fingers together. "I would like to introduce you to Jason Owens. Your new king!" The crowd cheered. Mostly the humans for it has been a long time since they've had a proper ruler. "Jason is generous, smart, and has everything that is acquired of a ruler. We had talked the day before, and he has agreed to be your new king." Jason waved awkwardly, not really use to all the attention. Karma nudged him with her shoulder for him to say something. Jason cleared his throat and the crowd slowly went quiet.

"It was never my intention to be a king when I first came into Arula." Jason began. "But after seeing many suffer after the destruction of what the Cloaked man has caused, I wish to right the wrongs. I can only hope that I will be the king that you wanted." Jason paused. "Thank you." The crowd cheered once more.

"Now," Karma continued. "I do believe we were in the middle of a festival." Everyone cheered again and went on to enjoy what was left of their night. Karma looked over at the council members. Head-Council Marcus nodded his head with approval then stood up with his members and walked back to the palace. When the crowd thinned, Omar and Mika met up with them. Karma and Jason hopped off the stump to greet them. Omar place his hand on Jason's shoulder.

"Congrats, my friend." The elf said. "I wish you the best of luck." Jason expressed his gratitude.

"When will be the coronation?" Mika asked Karma.

"We decided in a week." Karma told Mika. "That should hopefully give everyone enough to defuse from the festival and the battle." The elf couple agreed.

"And we will stay that long then." Omar said. "We want to see our friend be crowned, but we also need to head home. We have a daughter to get back to who needs her parents." Karma smiled understandingly.

"Of course. Hope needs you more than we do." Omar glanced down at their still entwined hands and smiled.

"I know." The elf said and shared a knowing smile with his wife.

----

It was the day of the coronation and Karma had decided to walked into the library before the event. She walked along the room hardly believing that it has been nearly two weeks that she had ended the cloaked man. She passed the aisle in which it all happened. There were still burned marks where Brutus as blew his fire in from the still broken stain glass window. Karma rolled her shoulders still feeling the heat from the fire. Looking on the ground, she saw the black blobs that will forever stain the wooden floor. The cloaked man's body was gone, taken to an unmark grave. Thinking about the man made her wonder where his strange creature, the bat-rat thing, had gone off to. She slightly wondered if it flew off to Dragon Mountain to live out the rest of its life. Sighing, Karma continued to the fireplace.

The fire had died a long time ago. Nothing left but charred wood and ashes. Squatting in front of the gap, Karma peered in closer and what she saw made her eyes widen. Reaching in, Karma grabbed her book. The book was all but repairable. She held the familiar leather in hands. What was once smooth was rough and destroy. The pages were black and curled up on each other. The pages threatened to turn into dust at the slightest touch. Karma sighed again. She was upset that her life's work was nothing but burnt pages. It was hard to think of time that she didn't spent drawing in its pages. It was also hard to think about no longer having to draw in it. Not to create anything anymore, to put things in this world. The thought depressed her.

I guess that's what happens when you make the decision to burn it. Karma said to herself in acceptance. Still looking down at her book, Karma turned on her heels and paused when something shiny catch her eye. Glancing down at the floor, Karma saw a familiar object. Her key. Picking up the metal object, Karma held it in the palm of her hands. With her thumb, she traced the dragon that rest on the top of key. She suddenly wondered if her book was trying to tell her that the dragons were the key to her knowledge of this world. If somehow, her book wanted her to go to Dragon Mountain and talk to the scaly beast. She grinned. What a ridiculous thought. Right? She shook her head, dropped the key in her pocket, and began to leave the room.

As she passed one of the tables, Karma heard purring. Not sure where the noise was coming from, Karma spun in a small circle. Then on the table, paws slowly started to appear. Karma watched as the rest of the cat appeared in front of her. Chuckling, Karma rubbed her knuckles over the cat's head. Moss responded by purring louder and bump his head against Karma fist. "Thank you." She said to the cat referring to when Moss jumped on the cloaked man, giving her time to toss her book into the flames. "I'm sorry I cannot repay the favor." Showing the cat the book, she continued, "I can't make more of you. So I guess you're one of a kind." The cat looked like it could care less about having more of its kind running around. Smiling, Karma continued to walk out of the library with Moss in tow.

Karma went down a couple of halls and went through a doorway that led to a balcony. She placed her book on the railing, careful not to let it drop and leaned against it staring out into the courtyard. Moss jumped up on the railing beside her. He settled down on his hunches peering down at the guards that walked along the garden. "May I join you?" Karma turned her body to see Jason walking onto the terrace. He was wearing a red robe with a white puffy collar. The traditional coronation wear. Karma grinned.

"Nice robe." She said as Jason came up beside her. He snorted.

"I'm beginning to question your creativity here." He motioned to the robe. "This isn't what I considered fashionable." Karma giggled. She reached up and brushed aside his bangs so that she could see liquid brown eyes. Karma loved Jason's eyes they were perfect in every way.

"You can thank my ten-year-old brain for that." She giggled again. They both laughed and stared out into the courtyard. Karma looked up at the sun. "The coronation will start soon I imagine." Jason wrapped his arms around Karma middle, pulling her in close.

"Yeah I imagine." He said in no rush to be crowned. Karma wasn't either. Shifting, Jason said, "I know you're not wanting to become a ruler or anything, but would you ever consider ruling beside me?" Karma wiggled around so that she was facing Jason. She rest her arm lazily on his shoulders.

"Are you asking me what I think you are?" She said her green eyes staring into his brown ones. 

"Only if you are wanting to." He replied. Karma smiled sweetly. She leaned in and kissed Jason lightly on the lips. Jason's smile went lopsided by her action.

"I would want nothing more." She whispered and grinned back. It was Jason turned to kiss her back, more deeply than the last. In this moment, Karma finally felt like her life was heading in the right direction. Her world, for once, was at peace. And so was she.

••••
*1 "Saluere." ~ "Best wishes"