When they rode out of the woods on their seventh day on the road to Vell’s home, they could see that Rett had grown in the past months. He was in the field with Jinann. Sparkra remembered him and called to him. The colt ran along the fence to come as close to his mother as possible. A loud bark sounded and Thor seemed to come from nowhere, tail wagging furiously. He continued to bark and whine as he followed them to the yard.

Nir and Rea were lured from the house by the noise. They rushed to their daughter as she and Senar dismounted. Vell was hugged so tightly that she could hardly breathe. Senar, too, found himself embraced by her parents.

“We were worried about you,” Nir told them.

Vell smiled proudly at her father. “As you can see we are both alive, unhurt, and in theory, still Blessed.”

“What do you mean by ‘in theory’?” he asked nervously.

She smiled. “We kept our promise, but what we did for the Temple was large enough that we are no longer Spirit Speakers, nor Blessed ones. We have been granted the greater powers of Spirit Warriors, the Defenders of the Temple.”

“What does that mean?” Nir questioned.

“We’ll explain everything,” Senar assured him.

Vell and Senar quickly cared for their horses and brought their packs inside. Vell unpacked hers quickly. She found the drawing of Fira at the bottom. Surprisingly, it was undamaged by the rain that had soaked their packs. With a smile she took it to her father who sat in the sitting room looking uneasily at Senar. Vell could tell her father was making him nervous so she handed the picture to Nir. “Who is it?”

He looked at it for a moment. “It’s your Fira. But where did you get it? And how?”

Vell smiled. “Senar made it for me as a birthday present.”

“It’s very good,” Nir admitted, making Senar look down at the floor with an embarrassed smile.

Rea joined them, handing them each their lunch. When Vell showed her the drawing she was also amazed. As they ate, Vell and Senar told about all they had done over the past three and a half months. The only piece of the story they left out was the Place of Choice.

Around evening Rea made everyone dinner as the story continued, both parents interrupting with questions from time to time. The sun was setting as the story came to a close. When asked, Vell and Senar reluctantly admitted to nearly breaking their promise, but reinforced that they hadn’t. They were still talking as the sky turned dark and candles had to be lit.

Vell leaned against Senar tiredly. He put an arm around her and she yawned. As she fought to keep her eyes open she saw Rea smile at them. After a moment she gave up fighting sleep and let her eyes close. The past months had taken so much out of her that she just needed to sleep. The conversation between the other three in the room faded from her ears.