Aurora landed in the pool at the top of the spire with an impressive splash. She was back in the robe given to her by the Fates as she lay in the water unmoving. Devrim ran to her, his feet nearly freezing in the frigid fountain. Scooping up the Empress, Devrim carried her swiftly out of the water and laid her next to Hanna. As Aurora began to stir, the man heaved a huge sigh of relief. Although he had not wanted to voice his thought, he feared the worst when he had seen her materialize unconscious.

"Give her a moment. It will take time to adjust," Hanna said gently as she watched Devrim cradle the young woman.

The Empress turned her head toward the sound of Hanna's voice. "Am I back?" she asked groggily.

Devrim wiped a stray tear from his eye. "Yes, my love. You are back. I missed you." The moments she had been gone had been the hardest of his life. If a monster had threatened her, he would have slayed it, but the sense of helplessness was much worse.

"Devrim." The Empress smiled as she spoke his name. Her eyes fluttered open, and she saw a look of concern on the young man's face. "What's wrong?"

Devrim hesitated. "Nothing…it is just your eyes. They are different."

With help, Aurora leaned over the edge of the pool and regarded her reflection. Her eyes, normally so dark, were lightened and contained specks of blue. "Oh…" She wasn't sure what else to say.

"Your eyes were a piercing blue when you…left." Devrim was not sure how much more to tell her.

"That is what happens when you meet the Maker. You leave changed." Hanna raised her eyebrows knowingly. Aurora could feel that she was different. She knew who she was and her purpose. There was a great weight lifted from her shoulders.

Devrim looked at the beautiful woman before him. She looked more at peace than she had ever been. If a slight change in her eye color was a consequence, Dervim would happily adapt.

"Do you know what you need to do?" Hanna asked with a twinkle. Somehow Aurora thought the Fate knew what had happened.

"I do."

"What is the plan?" Devrim eagerly awaited her response.

"First things first, I need to make an honest man out of you…" Aurora smiled shyly.

At first the grey-eyed man did not understand, but suddenly his heart swelled. "Do you mean you want to…" he grinned wide as his face beamed.

"Yes. Devrim, my love, my best friend, will you…"

"No!" He stopped her. "You proposed the last time. It is my turn." Aurora giggled when she thought about her proposal when they were ten and twelve. She had asked Devrim to be her fake emperor consort and her friend. There was nothing fake about what she wanted now. Devrim looked at Hanna. "You wouldn't happen to have..."

Hanna, who rarely allowed anyone to finish a question, produced a golden ring. "Is this what you desire?"

"Yes, thank you," Devrim took the jewelry. The couple both looked at the Fate. "Could we have a moment of privacy?"

Hanna looked at them innocently, "No, I want to see this."

Since they could not exactly refute the Fate, the man gave up on the effort. He helped the Empress to stand and got down on both knees. This was traditional, and he wanted to do things right. The surface of the nearby pool rippled as droplets separated from their neighbors and drifted into the air. Like an enchanting dream, the room was filled with thousands of tiny, glittering water-diamonds surrounding them.

"Much better." Hanna nodded approvingly, though whether or not she had caused the wonder remained unclear.

Devrim stared deeply into Aurora's eyes. Her dark hair framed her face as her lovely pink lips smiled at him with all the hope of a lifetime together. The grey-eyed man nearly lost his words. "Aurora, Empress of Valiant and Ruler of the human world, will you do me the honor of marrying me?" He held out the ring for Aurora's finger.

"I will," the Empress bent down and kissed Devrim as she accepted the token on her hand. The deed complete, the man stood and embraced his fiancée. Unlike the peck a moment earlier, he kissed the woman with all the feeling that years of hope and longing could produce. The droplets, which had hung silently about them, burst in a spray of watery confetti. The kissing couple parted as they were covered in the shimmery dew.

"I love you," Devrim said as his arms encircled the young lady's waist.

"I love you too, and thank you." Aurora placed her hand against his cheek.

"For what?"

"For choosing me." She smiled so sweetly that Devrim's heart nearly burst. He remembered the day he had thanked her for choosing him to be her friend years before.

He sighed contentedly. "The feeling, my love, is mutual."

—————————-

As they made their way back to the gathering room, Hanna took a sudden detour. "The others are that way." Devrim pointed, confused.

"I know, but someone needs to see the Empress and me. We can pick them up on the way," Hanna said nonchalantly.

"Pick them up on the way?" Aurora voiced her thought accidentally. "Who in the world would want to see me here?"

They snaked between the spires until they came to the place where they had initially entered using the 'palace white'. There was a great deal of shouting coming from inside the chamber, and Devrim and Aurora exchanged a worried glance. In their time at the Mystic Spires, they had never so much as heard a whisper beyond their own party or at the gathering room.

"I need to see Empress Aurora at once!" a voice clamored, "and if you cannot provide her, I need to speak to the Fate Hanna. You cannot have misplaced them both." Aurora's heart skipped a beat. It couldn't be...

"I am sorry, but I cannot allow you to exit this spire without explicit instructions from a Fate, and they are currently convening. You will have to wait." The feminine voice that answered the first was unfamiliar to the humans' ears.

"I need to speak to the Empress also, or at least the elf named Brinn," a different voice said.

A fourth voice boomed over all of them, "She said she cannot help us. Do not pester her."

"Thank you," the womanly voice responded, "as I was saying..."

Hanna, Aurora and Devrim rounded the stair and could see clearly those partaking in the conversation. The Empress stared blankly for a moment to take in the scene. Her Chief Councilman, her elf friend's boyfriend, and her attempted murderer were all circled around a frazzled fairy who was trying to stop them from exiting the intake chamber.

"That will do, Asha. I can take it from here," Hanna said firmly. "I am sorry if my Guardian and his friends caused you trouble."

Asha bowed, her delicate wings fluttering gracefully behind her. "Yes ma'am." She lifted off the ground and shrunk to barely a flicker before flitting out of the room.

Throwing aside her astonishment, Aurora ran and flung her arms around the Guardian. "Chief Zan, it is wonderful to see you!"

Zan staggered backwards a pace, careful not to fall into the gaping, castle-shaped hole in the floor. "Your Majesty!" The Guardian hugged the Empress back. He was too relieved to stand on ceremony. "I am glad I found you." He released the woman and shook Devrim's forearm.

"And Alvar, you are here too," Aurora smiled. "Brinn will be happy to see you."

"Is she alright?" Alvar looked at the stairs expectantly.

The Empress laughed softly. It was nice to see how much the elf cared for her friend. "She is fine. We were heading to see her just now." Aurora regarded the gnome as he bowed his head. "And you are here too…very interesting." Her voice was neither welcoming nor condemning.

Gandr fell to his knees. "I am sorry for my sins against you, and I beg your forgiveness. I deserve to die and in a way, I have. Please believe I am here now to help you."

Aurora looked at Zan who nodded slightly. "Well you may be interested to know that the gnomes no longer want me dead, or maybe they do again…It is so hard to keep up…Anyway," she paused.

"Gandr," the gnome provided his name.

"Gandr," she repeated, "I look forward to hearing the story of this drastic transformation, but for now, I will trust that Zan trusts you, and leave you to his care."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Gandr bent and kissed her feet before retreating.

"Now, why are all of you here?" Aurora was startled when all three men spoke at once. She held up her hands.

Alvar moved himself so that he could be best heard. "The elves received word from our fairy messengers that the humans think you are dead. The King and Queen would not send anyone to investigate so after much deliberation, I decided to strike out and find the truth on my own."

The Guardian was surprised that the elf knew the humans' business, but he agreed. "We received your bloodied shoes as a gift from the gnomes. Your note about who should succeed you was with it. The official announcement to the public will be made soon if it has not already happened."

"That is a problem. Poor Mairwen and Alaron! We must hurry home after we are done here." Aurora took Devrim's hand and they exchanged secret smiles.

"There is more," Zan hesitated. "We have a traitor at the palace. Cafer is a gnome and was the one who ordered your death."

Now that she was holding the grey-eyed man's hand, Aurora only seemed to be half-listening. She pulled her gaze from her love and nodded to Zan. "I know. The gnome king told me. I will deal with him when we return home. I think we shall leave…day after tomorrow?"

The question was directed toward Hanna, who gave an affirming gesture. "That should be plenty of time to arrange everything."

Aurora blushed, and Devrim kissed her hand. The Guardian, gnome, and elf were all stupefied by the other three's calm demeanor. They had brought devastating news, and the Empress had barely blinked. "Your Majesty, what could be so important that we cannot leave right away?" Zan asked at last.

Aurora beamed at him. "My wedding, Chief Zan! Will you give this bride away?"