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- Holmes: In a blur Tez sees the woman in black from the tavern enter the room and move over to Lana in a series of moves quite acrobatic, but too fast to make out well. Then Lana is unconscious in her arms. She looks at the master of Ruin House and says, "Our bargain is complete, then?"
- Holmes: He nods in reply.
- Holmes: She begins to take Lana from the room.
- Tez: "Hey, stop that!"
- Holmes: The man decides that Tez isn't quite so dangerous, and no longer leans toward his sword. Still nude, he says, "I wasn't expecting to be speaking to you so soon. We were supposed to meet at dinner."
- Holmes: The woman looks back at Tez over her shoulder to see if she's coming after them. Her long dark hair gets in her face.
- Holmes: She does not stop, however.
- Tez: "You can't take Lana!" she insists, running towards the woman. "Leave her alone!"
- Holmes: The woman rolls her eyes, and says, "You're going to fight me for her?"
- Holmes: The Master says to the elf woman, "Please go fetch our other guests. It looks like we'll be having words earlier than expected."
- Tez: "Um... " she looks at the overly athletic woman, then down at herself. "...yes?"
- Holmes: The elf woman heads toward a side door.
- Holmes: The woman sets Lana down and gets into a fighting stance.
- Tez: "Or you could just..give up now!"
- Tez draws her sword and waves it at the woman.
- Tez: "What kind of bargain did you have anyway?"
- Holmes: "He needed this one out of the way, and I wanted her for myself," she replies. "Seemed like good business. Besides, it paid off another debt that I owed."
- Tez: "What the hell is Lana doing that she's pissed off so many people anyway, sheesh!"
- Holmes: "Let's just say that she's become known to some powerful people," says the woman. "Really powerful people. You'd do well to keep your questions to yourself, lest you fall afoul."
- Tez: "Oh please, like i'm not already 'afoul.' of everyone here. But I owe HER a debt, and if you take her, I can't repay it. So put 'er down."
- Holmes: The woman seems to be stuck. She seems to believe that Tez is fully willing to do something here, but not willing to either let Lana go, nor to try to move her, either.
- Holmes: She looks at the Master.
- Holmes: He says, "Fine, wait a while. The others should be here...ah, here they are."
- Holmes: Teodric is escorted into the room.
- Tez looks at the Master too, though her gaze keeps darting back to the woman and lana
- Teodric: Teodric takes quick stock of the situation "Ah one companion unconscious on the floor and the other waving her sword somewhat wildly. I see this isn't going to start as a friendly meeting."
- Tez: "Hi Teo..."
- Holmes: The master smiles, "Yes, and forgive my state of undress. I understand that you are the emmissary of Green Lake?"
- Teodric: Teodric inclines his head slightly "I am, and you would be the master of the house?"
- Holmes: As he replies, a couple of guards push Nula into the room, followed by the elf. "As you suspected," she says, "We found her at the inn."
- Holmes: He smiles at the new arrival, "Excellent. Yes, I am the master of Ruin house. And I believe that this is a friend of yours?"
- Teodric: Teodric grimaces "I suppose putting on a front and lying would just be a waste of our time?"
- Holmes: "I knew he was a smart sort," the Master says to the elf woman. And then to Teodric, "I take it you are from Sel-Kai. Then you understand how the politics of power work, I take it?"
- Teodric: Teodric nods.
- Holmes: "Good," he says. "Here's my offer. I keep this one here. You return to Green Lake, and ensure that nobody - like this one..."
- Holmes: He points to Lana and continues, "That nobody will be dispatched to meddle in our affairs."
- Holmes: "If you do so, then she will be returned in 11 months."
- Holmes: He points to Nula.
- Holmes: "This one," he points to Tez. "Is mine permanently."
- Tez crosses her arms, which is significantly harder while holding a sword than when not. "Oh hell no I'm not. I don't care if you ARE my uncle."
- Holmes: He smiles, "You are as smart as I'd hoped."
- Teodric: Teodric frowns "So you expect me to leave all of my companions, go back to Green Lake empty-handed, AND allow you to continue your operations here?"
- Holmes: "Yes," he replies susinctly. Then to Tez, "I can tell you of your destiny, Tez," says the lord of Ruin House, finally putting on a linen skirt.
- Tez eyes him suspiciously, unsure if that was a compliment or not. "I'll find out what it is on my own, now won't I?" she scowls. Why is she always in the right place at the wrong time?
- Holmes: "No, not this secret," the dark haired man replies. "This has to do with your heritage. With who we are."
- Tez: "You had my family killed, what do you care about heritage?"
- Holmes: "See, that is what you think happened, but you don't know the whole story," he replies to her.
- Holmes: He smiles again.
- Teodric: Teodric glances between the two "If I may interrupt.... I can not and will not accept you terms."
- Tez sidles towards Lana
- Holmes: The man towards Teodric, "Then, I'm afraid that this one is my chattel."
- Holmes: He points to the guards to indicate to them to take away Nula.
- Holmes: "And I think you may have to become a guest of the Lord of Ardania for a while as well."
- Tez: "None of us belong to you!"
- Holmes: The master of Ruin House looks down at Lana thoughtfully, then turns to Teodric, "What if I throw this one in?"
- Holmes: The woman in black protests, "She's not yours to give!"
- Tez considers this, conflicted...even though he's not talking to her
- Teodric: Teodric shakes his head "I
- Holmes: "Come now, that's a good bargain," he says.
- Teodric: 'm afraid that you don't understand. I will make no bargain that allows you to continue here unhindered."
- Holmes: The Master of Ruin House lets out a snort, "Oh? And how do you propose to stop me? Or do you have something more to offer me to get me to stop?"
- Tez jams two fingers in her mouth and lets out a piercing whistle, one long, two short
- Tez hopes they come running instead of going running.
- Holmes: The master turns back to Tez, and steps over to her, "What was that?"
- Tez: "A whistle?" she says innocently.
- Holmes: Just at that moment, a brilliant light fills the sky in the west, and moments later, several armed men come barreling in through the window. Tez's friends must have been waiting just outside.
- Holmes: "You called?" says their leader as he rushes past Tez to take on the house guards holding Nula.
- Holmes: The woman in black suddenly dissapears. Tez can see Lana being dragged out of the room, however.
- Tez: "Help us out here!" she jumps forward, grabbing for Lana, and gesturing at the Lord. "He's in charge!" as in.. point your swords at HIM
- Holmes: The Master retreats to his sword, and is soon using it to fend off the men Tez has called over. He starts to retreat to an archway slowly. "Guards!" he bellows.
- Holmes: Tez can make out some of the men, despite the bandanas they wear over their faces to hide their identities. One of them named Kulost gets a nasty wound before the guards are disarmed.
- Holmes: One guard pulls a dagger, and holds it to Nula's throat, hoping to use her as a hostage.
- Holmes: As the situation starts to look somewhat in hand, several of the men start looting the room.
- Holmes: The master is almost to the corridor.
- Tez: "Stop him!"
- Holmes: The elf woman makes for the door she came in from.
- Holmes: Tez notes that the servant woman climbs in carefully from the ledge...apparently the men had saved her just before.
- Holmes: As Tez usually fights mightily being well built and powerful, but she fights now with an extraordinary ferocity. Still she cannot see her foe, who can apparently move with more agility than a Lemur running from a leopard. Lana's body seems to do a strange dance, and disappears down a hall. Running after, Tez blocks a doorway, and with her attacks, the woman in black is apparently forced to take Lana down a stairway...
- Holmes: A stairway that appears to go down into the ruinous parts of the house...
- Tez: "Lana! Wake up!" she shouts, and barrels down the stairway after her, heedless of the voice in hte back of her head that's screaming at her to stay back
- Holmes: Meanwhile back in the room, Teodric uses his skillful negotiating abilities, and very nearly gets the guardsman to surrender and run off despite the situation. But one of Tez's friends makes a wrong move at one point and blows it, and the guard continues out of the room holding the knife to Nula's neck.
- Teodric: Teodric quickly follows after the man. As he reaches the door he bends and picks up a sword, then continues out of the room.
- Holmes: As they reach a landing, the man looks down and grins. Teodric hears the voices of more guards. If he doesn't make a move, the guard will have reached the safety of the rest of the men.
- Teodric: Teodric laughs at the guard "Do you honestly think we would come in here without a back up plan. It sounds to me as if my men are on their way up and soon you will be trapped. If you give yourself up, then perhaps I can convince them to be merciful. They won't take kindly to you hiding behind a woman though."
- Holmes: The guard looks down over his shoulder and down the stairs. Nula, catching on, stamps on the guard's foot, as Teodric lunges forward. The guard's knife comes down, and Teodric manages to knock it out of his hands. Seeing the other men in the corridor, the guard flees down the stairs as Nula holds on to Teodric and they move back down the corridor.
- Holmes: One of Tez's friends says, "Time to leave, no?"
- Teodric: Teodric nods "Indeed. Where are Tez and Lana?
- Holmes: One of the men points down a hall, "I think that Tez went that way."
- Teodric: Teodric pauses as if unsure how to proceed.
- Holmes: Tez descends the staircase her voice echoing off the ancient stone walls, carved with strange symbols she does not recognize.
- Holmes: Somehow the place seems to call to her, however.
- Tez firmly decides that the calling is Lana, and not the weird ruins...yeah..
- Holmes: The passage twists but this one, at least, does not branch. Soon Tez finds that she's coming into a large chamber, lit by a brazier near the door. The far end is cloaked in darkness.
- Tez kicks the brazier into the center of the room, hopefully not putting it out. "Come back here, you skinny bitch!"
- Holmes: The coals illuminate much of the room. It looks like some sort of temple hall, with an altar at the end. On the altar is a dim shape lying prostrate. Tez hears a noise near the cieling.
- Tez points the sword up as she looks upward
- Holmes: Tez hears a voice behind her, "So, you've found one of the sacrificial chambers I see?"
- Holmes: It's her uncle.
- Holmes: A pair of guards stands behind him, but he calls them off.
- Tez tenses, but keeps her gaze upwards, "Lucky me."
- Holmes: "This is your destiny, Tez," he says, opening his arms and spinning around pointing at the frescoes on the wall. "Can't you see it...feel it?"
- Holmes: Indeed there is something somehow familiar about the place.
- Tez: "What about the others' destiny? What about everyone whose lives you've destroyed? I don't want to be part of your games."
- Holmes: "Those people lacked vision," he says. "Let me show you what can await you."
- Holmes: He sweeps forward to the altar, and picks up a scepter. He waves it at the wall, and the frescoes come to life.
- Holmes: They tell the story of Klysus, lizard god of life and blood...
- Holmes: and of his son Akalatan
- Tez tries very hard not to look impressed
- Holmes: The story is of how Akalatan formed the Lankan empire, and how, early on, the demigods Sendar and Sendil were banished. And how this pair, before they slept, gave birth to a line of mortals who would one day become mighty sources of power in the religion.
- Tez: "A fancy magic trick won't make me abandon my friends!"
- Holmes: "Ah, but you could make your friends powerful," he says. With another wave of his scepter, he creates a vision of Tez's friend in Ardania, the boy who trained her in arms, all grown up into a handsome man. He toils in obscurity in a stone pit not far from Ardania.
- Holmes: Suddenly the wall becomes a moon of blood.
- Holmes: And the stored essence of a multitude of sacrifices pours out across the space in a deluge.
- Holmes: And into Tez.
- Holmes: The master of Ruin House, apparently not ready for this, is knocked aside.
- Tez: "Not if you kill them. Let them all go, all of them... and I'll stay here for a week, to listen to what you have to say... if I AM the one in the mural, you can't meet your destiny without ME....HOLY..!"
- Holmes: Shaking his head, he stands up and says, "That...is a deal."
- Holmes: "Just one problem, her," Waving the scepter, the woman in black becomes visible. "Kill her, lest she break our bargain."
- Holmes: Tez feels inundated with power, like she can do anything."
- Tez reaches for the power, gathers some in her mental 'hands' and hurls it roughly at the woman in black, with little regret. "I told you I'd fight you for her!" she gloats.
- Holmes: The raw power sprays out again, and finally finds the woman who becomes visible as it covers her. Almost crushed, the woman looks up resentfully at both Tez and the Master of Ruin House, and lying there grasps her broach. She quickly seems to disintigrate, and the motes of her being fly out of the hall.
- Tez: "Damn, she got away..." she pouts a little.
- Holmes: The Master looks troubled by this. "Yes. You held back. You should have let her have all of it. Her mistress will not be pleased. Nor my master."
- Tez glances at her uncle appraisingly, then hurries over to Lana to see if she's okay
- Holmes: Lana wakes groggily. Her uncle says, "Go tell your friends that they are free to go." He gestures to the guards to indicate that she's free to go up the stairs.
- Tez smiles a little at Lana, "We're even, I think. I'm going to stay here for a while, go get Teo and Nula, and get out of here."
- Holmes: Agnes, having passed by the Vajaari encampment, is now passing the two-tree shrine, and notes that Isadora and Okhfels are there, seemingly deep in thought.
- Isadora: "I can't wait," Isadora is saying. "Hard enough for me to let insults pass, but to turn our children out of their home...!" She's pacing, spitting out the words.
- Okhfels: (this is Isadora's style of being deep in thought)
- Okhfels: "And if these folks have lost enough spine that they won't help, then so be it."
- Agnes: Agnes turns the part and rides toward the shrine, not looking back to see what her companions and new pet are doing.
- Holmes: Serama stays a distance away, recalling this place. Dhazari approaches with Agnes.
- Isadora: "I know that we should step back, plan things out, but--there's no future here, right now. You can't build a new house on a nest of vipers."
- Okhfels checks the straps on his armor. Armor he hasn't worn for years.
- Agnes: "You folks are back!" Agnes wears a broad grin. "We just got back too."
- Okhfels: Okhfels doesn't return Agnes's smile.
- Agnes: "We visited my parents -- Aaron needed some repairs, and these fine folks wanted to see a real Murlogi city...what's wrong?"
- Isadora: "The governor appears to have misplaced our house in our absence," Isadora says. "Better luck to you, I hope."
- Holmes: Dhazari sees the looks on their faces, "What is it you contemplate?"
- Okhfels: "If you have any business with him, you probably ought to get it done sooner rather than later." Okhfels looks Dhazari in the eye.
- Agnes: "Gosh. Can't you just have some people build a new one?"
- Holmes: "Ah," says Dhazari, who after all these years understands this sort of subtlety now as it's own sort of truth.
- Isadora: "Not until good foundations are laid," Isadora says to Agnes. "Foundations I should have seen to twenty years ago."
- Agnes: "Well, I guess...was your time in the big city productive or fun or something?"
- Holmes: Dhazari seems to ponder something for a bit. He looks at Aaron in the distance for a moment. Then he turns to Isadora, "I am your servant in this, if you'd have my help."
- Okhfels: "Prophetic."
- Agnes: "I think our trip was too. Funny. There's going to be trouble when I go back next time." Agnes looks back, grinning to Rot-rot, she shouts out. "Now don't kill anyone -- these are friends!"
- Isadora shoots an inquiring look at Okhfels--involve Dhazari or not?
- Okhfels: Okhfels nods.
- Holmes: "We should do it tonight, then," says Dhazari, thoughtfully. "Rahkleth will be out of the city as it's time for the monthly field drills."
- Okhfels: "Yes... that would be best."
- Holmes: "I assume you have Alshor's support?" Dhazari asks.
- Okhfels: "I have already talked to him."
- Holmes: Then something strikes him, and Dhazari turns to Agnes, "I think your father would approve of this undertaking. Would you stand here tonight in his stead to rectify a problem we created the eve of your birth?"
- Isadora: "There may be trouble in lots of places," Isadora says quietly aside to Agnes while Okhfels and Dhazari talk. "There was some dark prophecy in Kaitaine--we actually came back to bring word."
- Agnes: "Oh? That sounds interesting. What's up?"
- Okhfels: "We should tell them."
- Isadora: "He said Kaitaine would be destroyed by fire in seven days' time, and that the same doom would follow for the world."
- Agnes: "Probably a metaphor, you think?"
- Isadora: "Said he was the nameless one," Isadora adds, looking at Dhazari. To Agnes, she says, "He struck me as one of those literal-minded types."
- Holmes: Serama comes walking over suddenly.
- Agnes: "How long ago was the prophecy delivered? Has it come to pass?"
- Holmes: "Did I hear someone utter the words 'Nameless One?', she demands. It seems quite likely that she was listening in on the conversation, but does not seem to care now if anyone knows.
- Isadora: "It was less than a week ago, so it's too soon to tell. He had the priests of Valris worried." Isadora shrugs to Serama. "Doom prophecy from someone in Kaitaine claiming to be him. I have more urgent business, though."
- Holmes: "What were his words?" Serama demands.
- Holmes: "Did he have hair of brown, and eyes of blue?"
- Holmes: "Did he come with four Changramai guards?"
- Holmes: She seems quite uncharacteristically agitated.
- Okhfels: "Sounds like him to me."
- Holmes: "I saw him when I was a girl...in Sherezak..." her vision seems to be to some point a thousand miles away.
- Isadora: "You may have a chance to meet him again soon," Isadora says, "but I have other business before he arrives."
- Holmes: Serama says with a glazed look in her eye, "I must get back to Sarnak immediately. I need the use of your gate. What would you require of me so I can use it."
- Okhfels: Okhfels shrugs. He had never dealt with such things.
- Agnes: "You could just fire it up, right? If Thrakelust can do it..."
- Holmes: "You will let me use it, then?" she asks.
- Isadora: "Thrakelust might object, but we're going to attend to that," Isadora nods.
- Okhfels: "It's your risk."
- Holmes: "I'll do whatever it takes to get back," she says. Then she falls to the ground screaming.
- Agnes steps back.
- Holmes: A brilliant light begins in the eastern sky, and suddenly grows brighter.
- Okhfels: "I have a bad feeling about this."
- Isadora: "Thrakelust will be distracted," Isadora says, looking unconcerned with any broader consequences.
- Okhfels: Okhfels spares a sympathetic glance for Serama, and then strikes out for the palace.
- Isadora: If Dhazari looks fine, Isadora will gesture towards Serama and spread her hands to say "mystic stuff--maybe you get it, but I don't." With a final sympathetic glance of her own, she strides after Okhfels.
- Holmes: Elle attends to Serama, as the pair leave.
- Agnes: "Aaugh!" Agnes grimaces with her fists against her temples. "That...thing...is screaming..."
- Holmes: After a bit, the eyes adjust somewhat, and in one's peripherial vision, they can see that the thing appears to be a falling star.
- Agnes looks back and forth between the parting crowd and kneels to lay her hand on Serama's head -- trying to quickly pierce the scream's hold on her with some mental calm. "Come on Serama...things are happening."
- Holmes: Agnes' mind soothes Serama's and she's soon standing again, though still holding her head.
- Agnes: "Let's go" and Agnes heads off in the direction that Isadora and company went.
- Holmes: *
- Holmes: *
- Holmes: *
- Holmes: Dhazari catches up to Okhfels and Isadora at the base of the temple, with Agnes and Serama not far behind. Above, on the temple, the gate seems to be doing impossible things. It expands and contracts in sudden spurts, and visions of dreadful places can be seen through it.
- Okhfels: Okhfels strides up the stairs. It feels right to be doing this, now. The moment has come.
- Holmes: Everyone notes that there are figures at the base of the temple as well, praying apparently. Some take note of the new arrivals.
- Holmes: One of them Ambassador Serrin, sees Agnes, and tries to come over to her. As he does, however, he stumbles, and falls.
- Agnes: Agnes strides to Serrin and embraces him. "Things are changing today." She looks up at the portal and back up to Okhfels.
- Isadora: "Take care of him," Isadora calls to Agnes as they keep going. Having the elf out of the way could help a great deal.
- Holmes: "I...." Agnes can see that Serrin is very ill. "I think I'm dying, Agnes."
- Holmes: "I came to the temple, because I don't know what else to do. Our elfin magic has failed to do any good."
- Agnes looks concerned. "Why? How can that be? You're young and...vital?"
- Holmes: "Agnes, I'm so old... but that doesn't usually bother an elf," he says.
- Agnes: "Come, I'll help." Agnes lets the frail elf lean on her as she practically carries him up the steps.
- Holmes: Islitarialind is there as well. She comes over, apparently in a trance. Serrin says, "She's searching magically for the source of the illness. It has to be magic of some sort."
- Holmes: He looks grateful to be carried.
- Holmes: Okhfels reaches the middle of the temple stairs when, suddenly, the gate seems to explode.
- Holmes: And everyone in or around the temple is once again 4000 years in the past.
- Holmes: The people of the ancient city once again look from the shores at the temple. They have a look of dismay on their faces as the see that the temple is sinking again into the lake.
- Agnes: Agnes calls out, starting to feel annoyed. "What's happening?"
- Okhfels: Okhfels is distracted by all this, but only for a moment... for all he knows they are visions thrown at them by Thrakelust. He pushes on.
- Isadora: "One hell of an entrance," Isadora calls back to Agnes, "or maybe the apocalypse. Either way, no better time to settle a debt."
- Holmes: As the elf lady looks at Agnes, slowly a band of grey tendrils can be seen emanating from Agnes. Ending in both of the elves. And it would appear as though the tendrils are sucking away the life force of the elves. Tiny somethings can be seen to be making up the tendrils.
- Agnes: In her state of concentration, Agnes has not noticed the elfin illusion. She continues to carry Serrin after the Green Lake elders.
- Holmes: The elf lady, unencumbered makes her way past Agnes, and stands in front of her path. In this world of memory, her beauty is somehow even greater, but also terrible to behold. She says, "It is you who poisons us! Cease this immediately!"
- Okhfels: Okhfels continues on. He knows where Thrakelust will be, he can't be distracted by this drama.
- Agnes looks at the woman she loves uncomprehendingly. "Me..?"
- Holmes: As they reach the top of the pyrimidal temple of yellow stone that is the temple, they find Thrakelust there...hovering in midair on his back, apparently unconscious. The two spirits are there as well in the sky, scorpion looking menacing, and badger looking tenacious.
- Agnes: "I...I'm sorry for the thing with your mind. It was a mistake. I talked to my dad about it and we worked out some things that will help me not to...do that again. But I would never hurt you -- you must know that!"
- Isadora: "We came for him," Isadora says to the spirits, stepping up next to Okhfels and pointing to Thrakelust.
- Holmes: The badger says to Isadora, "why did you not come for us on that day last time? Why must the temple sink again?"
- Isadora: Isadora, not expecting this of all questions, is actually blinking back *tears* if Okhfels looks over at her--though it's not clear whether they come from anger or sadness. "I came, but he stood between us and you saw only him. I don't know why the temple sinks."
- Holmes: "It is not as it should be," the scorpion says. It points a claw at Okhfels, "This one gave his might so that we could stay."
- Holmes: "And you," he says pointing to Isadora, "gave up your home."
- Okhfels: "Things are falling apart because they were based on a lie."
- Okhfels: "His lie."
- Holmes: "The error repeats itself," says the badger. "Different, but the same."
- Okhfels: Okhfels points at Thrakelust, just to make sure there's no doubt."
- Isadora: "What do you mean?" Isadora asks the badger. "He's fled his enemies for too long."
- Agnes is having trouble paying attention to the overload of surreal interactions while she quietly reaches out, trying to establish a network of mental links with those around her.
- Holmes: "Life for life. The error must be erased by another's memories being erased," says the Badger. "Who will give themselves so we can erase this one?"
- Holmes: He points a claw at Thrakelust.
- Okhfels: "Take both of us."
- Isadora: "Erase? What will happen to Green Lake?" Okhfels recognizes that tone in Isadora's voice--she's hearing the chance to do something big, and it's pulling her like every other grand idiotic gesture.
- Okhfels: Okhfels waits to see what this brings.
- Holmes: In the distance, crossing the paths of the conjoined moons is a bright star falling suddenly. The scorpion says, "Green Lake will remain, we will remain. The temple will remain. But the error will be gone. The memory will be right."
- Holmes: "You offer both of you for this?" it asks.
- Okhfels: Okhfels looks over at Isadora. "I can't see any other way."
- Okhfels: "We always knew we would go together."
- Isadora: "Kids need to learn to stand on their own two feet sometime," Isadora says to Okhfels, smiling crookedly.
- Okhfels: A tear drops down Okhfels' cheek.
- Okhfels: Okhfels looks up at the spirits. "Set someone caring to look after our children."
- Isadora stands on her toes to kiss it away. "None of that. My only regret is being fixed right now," she says, and smiles at Thrakelust's floating body.
- Agnes: As the drama unfolds at the top of the pyramid, Agnes is at least partially successful as Thrakelust's life unfolds before her -- the good and the bad in equal measure. Of particular interest is how he subverted the object of the quest twenty years prior, inserting himself as the agent of the guardian spirits. Agnes, having trouble dealing with the deluge slips to a crouch, keeping the link to Thrakelust open.
- Holmes: The spirits of Okhfels, Isadora, and Thrakelust all seem to begin to meld themselves together slowly. As this happens, they all seem to fade, like a memory that doesn't hold it's place any longer. As they do so, the spirit off in the distance that inhabits the place where the orchard used to be, forms a new house there, one that it promises to watch in perpetuity.
- Holmes: And then, suddenly, the world rushes back to it's normal self.
- Holmes: The temple is still there. And the spirits can still be felt. Green Lake is safe.
- Holmes: But there are three less people on the temple than before.
- Holmes: At the base of the pyramid temple, Fahd stands, somehow knowing, but having no spirits to escort this day.
- Isadora: As she faded, Isadora was grinning with impartial joy at her beloved husband and her beaten enemy, the two things she cherished most in the world.
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