Page 165 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

“Tutela vita fons,”I said.

“Fides familia,”they replied.

I held up my hand and Ran jumped from the trees with a mighty roar that seemed to vibrate the very core of the earth.

The crowd ducked as I watched her bank and soar over my people. She flapped her wings, pausing in her flight as her chest glowed red between her glistening scales. She spat a streaming flame upon the massive pyre and the bodies that were laid there covered with gold-embroidered red blankets. Among those bodies was a woman bound in white—Shen’s mother. Others were creatures of all kinds, from the smallest horned rabbit to the largest unicorn.

Ran released a second red stream at a second pyre stacked with rogue werewolves and dark mages and turned Reds who fell in the battle—and my grandmother.

The pyres were a cleansing. A way to burn away what was and commemorate those who’d been threads along our journey as we embraced the growth of today.

A cheer rose from behind me as I watched the pyres burn, shooting sparks high into the night sky. The crackle somehow soothed my soul.

“Graham, Sera,” I began, reciting the names of each who’d given their lives. The people behind me were doing the same as we sent the bodies back to the earth as ash.

“They are no longer with us. They fly the skies of Seventh.Sunt liberi,” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Sunt liberi,”repeated my people.

Epilogue

The water danced, its song sending a wave of peace through those gathered around her. The droplets were sent from high above, falling into a pool lined with luminescent blue and green mushrooms. Fairies with blue, purple, and orange wings fluttered from mushroom to mushroom, touching the round pads and tiny dots upon the surface of the glowing fungus.

No one quite knew what the fairies did nor why they were always found where bioluminescent mushrooms grew. But it was known that should the fairies disappear, so would the mushrooms.

Much as Source was the essence of all things, so too did all things work together to provide a habitable and even noteworthy existence upon the face of the planet. Source was what caused the sun to rise and the moon to share her light. Source was what gave of herself to provide a home for all creatures.

Nymphs dove into the depths of the pool, their faces coming up to grin at us before submerging once more. The boy nymph who I nearly killed splashed and played with the children of Ahhanhi and Anna’s children.

"Curo, what's with the hair? You never wear it down. You look old," Jess said, curling up her adorable little nose as sheran to me, gently pulling at my long, brown hair Shen liked to play with. She heard Brandt call me Curo and had since found it amusing, much to my lack of amusement.

Shen turned to me with a smile. "Curo?" he asked after hearing my little niece call me that.

My cheeks heated. “Don’t you dare, cur,” she hissed.

“Oh, yes Idare,Curo,” he said with a dragon-eating grin, humor coating the bond as he tucked that name away for future use. I glowered at him.

Ran roared from overhead, flinging out her wings to catch the air as she gently alighted on the ground. Jacob fell from her back, landing on his butt with a shrill scream.

"I'mneverdoing that again," he declared. He picked up his glasses that had tumbled from his face during the fall and stumbled over to a tree where a book lay.

He’ll be a dragon rider yet,Ran said, pride in her voice as she arched her neck and gave a shrill battle cry.

I raised a skeptical eyebrow but said nothing.

Fenbutt streaked from the water, coming to a halt before Anna. "Fenbutt, don't you dare—" She shrieked as Fenbutt shook his head first and then the rest of his body, splattering Anna and my parents with a load of water from his fur.

Brandt ducked behind a tree to escape the shower. But when he peaked his head around, Fenbutt shook again, bathing Brandt’s face and making him sputter.

I chuckled, my cheeks hurting from the smile that wouldn't leave my face.

“Fenbutt? Who named a hellhoundfenbutt?” Brandt said, blinking rapidly to clear the water from his face as he stood guard over my sister. I'd assigned him to her personal guard, as he had been so gentle with her even when everyone else was calling for our deaths.

“The same person who named their horseRan,”Shen replied, helpfully.

I snorted. “Says the one who named his werewolfWolf,” I replied.

Brandt stared at us for a moment. He gagged. "You two—" He gagged again as words just wouldn't come. He walked away shaking his head, muttering about crazy lovebirds.

---