"We go now," Vell declared.
The general scowled. "You don't want to wait? Pack something? Think for more than a breath?"
Vell shook his head. "We've got what we need. And it'd be rude to make them wait, wouldn't it?"
The general approached Vell, and for a moment, it seemed like he might say something, but he didn't. He just looked at Vell, then extended a hand.
Vell took it, firm and silent.
There was nothing left to say. Everything that had to be said, they had said months ago.
Nearby, Cadre stood stiffly beside Sonder. "You'll come back to visit though, right?"
Sonder gave a short nod. "I hope to. I just don't know when."
They hugged, briefly but solidly. It helped, a little. It eased their anxieties, and then they let go.
"We're ready," Vell told the elven emissary.
The air shimmered, then split open with the same pressure they had felt before.
The emissary stepped through, and Vell and Sonder followed.
On the other side, they didn't emerge into a room, or a hall, or anything of the like.
They stood on a wide platform of pure white crystal. One of many, floating together high in the sky on a ring of a much larger disc. It stretched out around them like an island in the clouds.
Vell glanced over the edge. The drop was dizzying. Elves wouldn't fall; their grace wouldn't allow it, but anyone else might, just from fear alone.
Looking around, there were no buildings, no towers, nothing except the crystals and the sky.
Overhead, a flock of massive birds soared, their shadows drifting across. The only kind of darkness that could be found up here.
Without pause, the emissary led them toward another platform.
There were no markings or indications that it was any different from the rest.
They walked across the crystal in silence. No footsteps echoed. No wind stirred. Just a strange stillness.
This new platform shimmered faintly under their feet.
Sonder moved closer to Vell and glanced down, reaching for his hand for safety.
The emissary raised his hand—not to signal, but simply to will.
The platform answered.
And suddenly, they were no longer in the sky.
The floating platform was gone. The endless drop, the clouds, the birds overhead—all vanished.
Instead, they stood once again on a platform of the same white crystal, but now it was grounded, nestled in the soft green earth.
Grass rolled out in every direction, dew-fresh and perfect, bordered by rows of low, flowering hedges that shimmered faintly in the light. It smelled of lavender.
Ahead, a castle rose.
Not a fortress. Not a palace. Something other.
Its towers spiraled skyward. Its walls shimmered with silver-stained glass.
It looked like something from a dream.