>>6339529# # # # # #
Something falls off your eyes.
Soft and heavy and warm.
You open them to reveal the night, the burning flames all around the buildings. The broiling tides of gold washing over you, now splashing upward in one final hurrah, and then falling like a dropped robe.
You stand naked.
Of Lithala’s bandages and honey does not remain anything but the faint smell.
Astoria, her jaw a bloodied mess, glances at you with her empty eyes.
Rubida, still holding your sword, does as well, petrified.
Soralisa is behind you.
You have not seen her, but you know.
Carnaval lets out a keen cry, flexes her wings and takes off, faster than an arrow, a crimson comet rising to the heavens.
You glance at your right hand.
It is metal, now.
An exquisite composition of gossamer gold and the shadows it draws inside its honeycomb patterns.
You clench it.
It feels like your own.
Just—smoother.
The gold covers every inch of your burns.
On your back, thin lines of metal etch what used to be scars, in the shape of the two entwined squares. That also, was corrected.
All falls to its proper place.
“A-Argia?” Rubida croaks.
“Is that you?” Soralisa asks, stepping forward to enter your field of vision.
The wind picks up.
Your silvery hair dances.
That much has not changed.
Your cameo—<span class="mu-i">your</span> cameo—rests upon your chest.
And that scar from so long ago, the one you received in the Well… it does not hurt anymore.
Not even a bit. Your body is whole again.
Anew.
“Always,” you say, stepping forward to drag your girls into an embrace.
<span class="mu-r">Now, about Astoria…</span>
<span class="mu-b">You three should withdraw from here. You never liked being under scrutiny and you need to rest with the girls.</span>
<span class="mu-g">No chance the Stilladìa was there? You take a moment to search through the crowd… if choosing this option please roll a 1d100+48, DC 80</span>
<span class="mu-s">Add a suggestion.</span>
Well, got a lil’ teary eyed there for a moment. Wonder who of you would stay on Ansàrra’s island? 