Juan stood to speak again, describing the need for the blockade of the Strait of Woes to be dismantled once the world's governments have accepted terms and recognized the new leadership of Cuahalan. He asked that magicians and scientists work together to cleanse the Bay and the water of the poisons there, so that the aquatic life could return. Libra suggested that Pisces be enlisted to lead this effort, if she was agreeable, given her connection to the water.

Orlando brought up the crown Pisces wore which prevented her from using her magical and psychic powers, as Juan took his seat. "Isn't it time to release her, if we can't demonstrate she's committed any crimes?"

Raising his hand, Agrippa said that he would agree to that, if there were no objections. He suggested that fair treatment of Pisces and her daughter Vesica would be a sign of Cashel's commitment to reconciliation. They could choose to settle in Acis, near Malachus' prison, or Anwyn.

"What of the Vimanas?" I asked. "Libra and I won't both need one to pilot, if we're together. Juan intends to relinquish his."

Juan nodded. "I'll use it to aid the dismantling of the blockade, but afterwards, Scorpio and I would share one. I don't wish the command of an airship any longer than is necessary."

Scorpio suggested, "Perhaps Juan's pale Vimana and your white Vimana can remain in Cashel, to be commanded by Agrippa and Ampyx when necessary?" The group assented to her suggestion.

Libra stood to offer a closing message. "When we leave, the Beast, Equis, will be traveling with me and Gemini. I want this to be a symbol of what we are doing: no longer will the world be one of one power subjugating another by force, but a cooperative effort, mutual benefit. A symbiosis. I would ask that the Witnesses, Enoch and Elijah, be given expedited hearings and freed if appropriate. They can work with Dantalion to create a new religion, a union of Urthonian and Urizenite faiths which will usher in the new age of peace and mutual toleration."

Smiling, Libra extended her hands to the group, who were smiling in admiration. "This is a changing of the guard. My child could be the leader of the new faith, Communion. We can choose to believe in this, and create a better world together."

We gathered together in the War Room, perhaps for the last time. Present were Juan, Scorpio, Dantalion, Libra, Orlando, Xicarus, Cainen, Byrn, Ampyx, Agrippa, and me, Oberon, the new Gemini. The events of the war were recounted, and everyone was made aware of what needed to happen next.

Juan explained to Cancer's sons how their father had decided to remain in his aquatic form and join the ocean dwelling population. They took the news stoically, asked a few questions, and nodded their understanding. Juan assured them their father could and would contact them when the time was right.

Libra announced our pregnancy to many cheers and congratulations. The jubilation became muted when she explained that we would be leaving Cashel to reside in Anwyn. Her leadership and mine would be sorely missed, but Cashel had many who could take our place.

Agrippa offered his plan for the trials of the war criminals, such as Malachus and his lieutenants. Murmurs of assent came through the room; executions were expected.

"May I offer a word of guidance? If you simply try, execute, and condemn Malachus and the Sanglorians, you will plant the seeds for violence and the next revolution, which will uproot you from power. What is needed is a unity government, one where the community can heal and members of each group can learn to live at peace with one another."

"The guilty must be punished," grunted Ampyx. "They have committed atrocities and their evil must be atoned for."

Dantalion solemnly bowed her head, and then continued. "Those responsible should still stand trial. But many more have lesser degrees of guilt. I would implore you to seek mercy wherever possible, avoid execution. Surely your prisons are strong enough to hold those deserving of sentences."

"I can build an inescapable prison," offered Orlando. "I've built them before, and spent decades in one."

"A humane prison," emphasized Dantalion, looking directly at her ex-husband Orlando. "Not destructive of character, but educational. And if a curriculum needs to be devised to teach proper statecraft and military affairs, a university should be created."

"If we want a better world than the one we've had, we need better teaching, better tools," said Juan.

We thanked the Witnesses for their counsel and left them to their prayers. Libra and I left the detention cells by winding staircase, arriving in the Great Hall. Neither of us knew what to do next; the Winesses had told us much that was unbeilievable, but we believed them wholly.

The Hall bustled with the the movements of scores of elves and humans, but came to a complete halt at once. All voices were silent. I looked around and saw her: Dantalion. She had returned, followed by Gemini.

Libra must have seen them a moment before me, because she sprinted to embrace Gemini in the midst of the crowd. I couldn't take my eyes off Dantalion. As I came closer, I saw that she was beaming at me, positively radiating goodness and hope.

I embraced the small holy woman as waves of relief swept over me. "I was so worried," I murmured. "I was sure they had found you, or that you'd be gone. We've won. The war is over."

She drew back from me and placed her delicate hand on my face. "Oberon, you have done very, very well. I'm proud of you. And in the process, you have reunited me with my son." Dantalion put her hand on Gemini's arm and drew him forward.

"Your ... biological son? I never knew!" I exclaimed. Dantalion had been my spiritual mentor for years. She had visited me in a Sanglorian prison and I became her follower. "Gemini, you are full of surprises," I said to him. He grinned sheepishly.

"Oberon, I'm not Gemini anymore. Please call me Juan. I want you to become the new Gemini of the Guild. Take my place." He spoke calmly, with a new peace about him.

"I would be honored, my friend," I told him. "But does this mean you'll leave us? We have so much to tell you. A new age is dawning, and we need every possible friend with us."

Reassuringly, Juan said, "I will not leave. My role will now be that of an oracle and advisor. I should not battle or lead any longer, but your cause is righteous and I will help you however I can."

Libra spoke into my mind, telling me to come to one of the detention cells deep within the volcano. Using the location she provided, I teleported and was next to her in a moment, standing in front of the cage holding the two Witnesses.

She put her arm on my shoulder and brought me close to the wires. "This is the child's father, Oberon," she explained to the bearded man opposite her. Turning to me, she said, "Oberon, this is Elijah, and he's just told me that our child will be the union of Urizen and Urthona, bringing peace between our peoples." The man smiled at me. His companion knelt next to him in prayer.

I put my hand to my cheek. "How could that be? Our child would hardly be the first elf-human hybrid, even with magical parents," I wondered, taking Elijah's word as true, even though he'd been a sworn enemy of our cause only a few days ago.

Elijah shook his head, as Enoch rose and stood next to him silently. Enoch offered, "The foolishness of men is the wisdom of god. Consider this: the time has come. It is a new Aeon, one of peace and harmony. Libra represents infinite space, and you, Oberon, the superbly contacted singularity."

Libra said to me, "Sometimes he talks in ways that confuse me, but it feels real, it feels right."

Elijah said, "I know this place is your stronghold, but you are both in danger here. Sharp knives that will draw blood are lurking around every corners, cruelty is waiting for you. It's not by our design, but it is something we can see. You would be safest if you return to the Guild stronghold of Anwyn, where your child can be protected and raised."

Libra turned and looked at me directly. "What do you think, beloved? Can we entrust the government to Agrippa and our allies?"

I stepped back, very unsure and overwhelmed. "We should ... discuss this, with Agrippa, Orlando, Scorpio ..."

"Should these men be freed?" Libra suggested. Both Enoch and Elijah had seated themselves and returned to prayer.

"They will be tried by the Court, but if there's no evidence against them, they'll be released. Besides their defense of the government palace, I don't know personally of any atrocities they've committed." I explained.

"They attacked me and they mistreated Equis, but there will need to be a full investigation for them to be cleared," said Libra, sounding more like her old self.

"Who's Equis?" I asked.

"Oh!" She said, looking wild for a moment. "He's the dragon beast that guarded the palace. We've bonded now."

"Of course," I chuckled.

I sat down in front of their cage. One of them stood and walked toward me. I recognized him as Enoch. Elijah remained in contemplation.

He stood at the fence and watched me. Addressing me, he said: "You serve a false god. We are justified and have committed no crime."

I glared at him. "You will address me as Magus or Libra. Tell me what your plan is. What were you waiting for in Acis?"

Snarling, Enoch said, "Who are you to stand against the force and fury of the living god? I was a normal man once. God took me like an eagle, snatching my hair and dragging me off my feet. Now I can do nothing else but serve."

I shook my head. "How can you reconcile your god with what the Sanglorians and Malachus have done?" I asked.

"The elves are children of a lesser god. They do not have souls like the humans, and we will not be judged for their treatment," spat Enoch.

Elijah slowly came up behind Enoch and put his hand on Enoch's shoulder. "Brother," Elijah said quietly, "I have a new word from our god. Stand down." Enoch bowed obediently to Elijah and knelt to pray.

Elijah spoke to me. "Libra, I apologize for all that we have spoken. I have a new revelation now. You assume we are enemies, wrongly. You have life within you, Libra. You carry galaxies within your womb. Your lover, your child, the gods you serve and we serve will be one. A divine syzygy."

Incredulously, I asked, "What? How do you know I'm pregnant?"

Elijah smiled. "My words will make little sense. Your child is an egg holding infinity. We are stars and do not die. I feel the boy you carry because we are the same stuff." He sniffed the air. "You have been with the Beast. We can smell him on you. He responds to you and knows you. You are the one prophesied."

"I need to get Oberon," I said, standing. "This is all hard to grasp."

"Urthona and Urizen will be one," pronounced Elijah. "Your child will bring peace between our races."

I could feel his rage. From being whipped, blood drawn from his back, his beautiful wings were clipped to his back. Separated for ages from his brothers and sisters, never knowing his mother and father. Fire was boiling in his belly. He wanted to tear this world apart, and I wanted to do it with him.

Captivity was all we could see. Bars, walls, chains, everywhere we were bound, stifled, repressed. We needed to break out and be free. We wanted vengeance on those who did this to us.

I walked up to him, his sharp teeth poking from his curled lips, and stroked his muzzle. Wrapping my hands in the thick fur of his back, I climbed onto him and sat astride his neck. Sitting with him felt natural, like the extension and completion of my being. The energy that nurtured the life in my womb also flowed through Equis.

Rising into the air together, I wanted to set him free, to send him back to the Bacatete Mountains, to his kin and native environment. The risk was too great. If he attacked the city of Acis where he was held prisoner, the fragile peace we held would be lost. If he returned to the mountains without proper care and supervision, he might die of starvation or be killed by another of his kind.

This beautiful dragon must remain our prisoner, I concluded sadly. Not forever, but his safe return to his home would require study and preparation. With our new psychic bond, I tried to explain all this to him. He grunted and rested himself on the floor of the enclosure, consenting to this arrangement.

I bade him farewell and locked the door to his cage. While my soul thrilled at the discovery and bonding with Equis' life, I knew that I couldn't know full peace again until he had his freedom and his kindred.

Next, I went to the cell where the Witnesses were held, Enoch and Elijah. They had resurrected three days after I killed them, right on schedule, and came to life in our holding cell. The room was caged on all sides so they couldn't burn the guards or set their prison ablaze.

The prisoners sat in the center of the cell, deep in meditation.

After a few days, I was able to leave the medical wing and walk on my own. Strangely, I felt drawn to see the Beast, to understand what that creature was and what it represented. Descending spiral staircases deep into the volcano's base, I found the cage where it was held.

The attendants let me stand in front of the cage. The Beast slept in front of me, snoring quietly. Skeletons and carcasses of the deer and rabbits it had been fed were strewn around the cage's floor.

I studied the creature. It reminded me of a dragon, with a lizard's face, but with a lion's mane and the arms of a bear. Leathery wings were folded on its' back. Where had it come from?

Its eyes opened. I stared into them, feeling a connection, a bond. It knew me. Quietly standing and shaking its massive head, the Beast walked toward me and bowed, in front of the bars. A deep purr rumbled from its throat.

"What's your name?" I asked, wondering aloud. "Are you male or female?" My words seemed silly to me, speaking to a mute animal.

Reaching out my hand, I stroked the Beast's head. A warm glow emanated from it, and suddenly I could see the animal's whole life like it was my own.

He called himself Equis. He was a member of a species of dragon which bred and nested deep in the Bacatete Mountains. Stolen from a nest while only a hatchling, Equis was brought to the government palace and raised by the Urizenite zealots, the Witnesses Enoch and Elijah.

Through cruelty and starvation, the Witnesses has made Equis into the Beast, a fearsome terror to enforce their edicts. But Equis had never lost his gentle soul, his true nature as a protector of the weak and guardian of nature. In me, he recognized someone who could lead him to his destiny.

Tears sprung to my eyes as I processed all that Equis had endured, his loneliness and pain. I demanded the keys to his enclosure from the attendants. They surrendered them reluctantly, and I entered Equis' cage.

When I woke, the Vimana was approaching the volcano of Cashel. Oberon spoke to me, smoothing my hair, and I didn't understand his words at first. They didn't make sense. I asked him to repeat them.

He took a deep breath and said slowly, "When I was healing you and evaluating the injuries you sustained in the battle, I found something else besides your broken ribs and punctured lung. You are with child, my sweet Libra."

Words failed me. I inhaled and my eyes went wide. "A baby? It can't be, I was nearly crushed to death! How?"

Oberon smiled warmly. "You protected the infant, somehow. It is very early in the pregnancy. I examined the fetus, the uterus, placenta, cord ... completely healthy and perfect. Imagine, a life even in the midst of all this death."

"I can't believe, I'll be a mother, and you ... are you ready to be a father again, Oberon?" I asked, not thinking, the words flying from my mouth. He'd only just buried his son.

He closed his eyes and nodded. "I would like nothing more. It is some consolation in my grief that I will be able to raise a child, to teach him all that I know, that I have learned, that I would have given gladly to Marax."

"Where will we live? Will we be safe?" I wasn't used to being surprised; I was always the planner, the one who knew what to expect and what to do no matter what. Now I was rambling and uncertain.

"This is a new age," said Oberon, looking over the water as the walkway descended to the door to Cashel. "We no longer need to be defined by fear and terror. A new era of justice and balance has come. We shall be like the sun, radiating energy, steady and strong."

Oberon lifted me easily from the bunk where I was resting and carried me down the stairs, from the ship and back into Cashel. Attentive Ingigo physicians received us, and I was taken to the medical wing for fluids and monitoring. Xanthic attendants bearing stretchers with Ampyx, Byrn, and Cainen followed shortly after. I knew that healers would come to visit each of us shortly, fresh and with plenty of energy to restore us to health.

Strong, loving arms held my tight as I awoke. I saw Oberon's beautiful violet furred face in front of me, and I wept. "You're here, it's over, it's over."

"Shh, shh," he said softly. "I've healed you but you're still weak. We're on my Vimana returning to Cashel right now. Agrippa is piloting yours. He has the prisoners with him, Malachus, the lieutenants, the Beast, the Witnesses ..."

"What about Cancer's sons?" I asked. I remembered their shattered forms and the wounds they bore.

"They're on the ship with us, also healing. I couldn't bring them back to full health since I hadn't so much strength. I used most of what I had on you, because you were the most seriously injured," he explained. "You had a punctured lung, a ruptured spleen, and several broken ribs. You easily could have died."

"Did you find Marax?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"I did," Oberon answered, looking away. "It was too late to heal him when I found him. His ventricle had ruptured with the earthquake and a falling building. I had moments with him and he was gone. His grave is near the Crystal Forest."

I held onto his hand and felt coldness wash over him. As much as he'd pretended to have grieved and accepted his son's identity as a Sanglorian soldier, I knew he still dream of reunion with him, of a father and son together. Now Marax was dead and buried, like his mother. With the war won, Oberon no longer had purpose.

Trying to find some words to say, I asked, "What was he like, before he died? You could speak with him?"

"He ..." Oberon stammered. "He recognized me. He was glad to see me, and he claimed his Indigo identity. I was happy that at least he didn't die alone. I'm free now," he whispered, pressing on his eyes. "He's at peace and my country is liberated. I'm free." Tears trickled around his fingers.

I wanted to heal him, to take his hurt away. But I didn't have anything left.

He sat down next to me and held me. I fell asleep in his arms.

I felt my ribs move under my fingers as I tried to breathe. My chest was shattered. Clutching for my sword, I drew it out, wondering if I'd have the strength to wield it.

Cainen had tried to grab onto Malachus, and I watched the last standing son of Cancer struggle valiantly with the Mathmaster. With a swipe of his hand, Malachus lifted Cainen into the air like a rag doll and flung him through plate glass doors at the rear of the room, landing on a balcony. I considered his crumpled body, and decided my strategy.

Using my sword like a cane, I pulled myself up to a standing position slowly. Malachus regarded me quizzically as I lurched towards him. After two steps, I collapsed into a chair next to his desk. I propped my sword up on the desk while he approached me.

When he was close enough to hear my wheezing whisper of a voice, I said, "Yield, Malachus. You'll never defeat us."

He threw his head back with a wild laugh. "Woman, I could kill you with a thought right now. You can barely lift your sword. Who is left to fight me?"

Malachus listened attentively and patiently as I explained. "Cashel has defeated your armies and I have incapacitated your lieutenants. There is no one in the Guild to back you. Gemini has established a blockade at the Strait of Woe that will keep any country from coming to your aid, lest we deprive them of Fluid Karma energy."

"Witch, I told you I'm invincible," he proclaimed when I'd finished, out of breath and words. "I just need to finish you, and I can hold out here in my palace. Something will come up, and victory will be mine. You'll see, if you live that long. This country has been stable and prosperous under my rule. My administration deals fairly and justly."

I chortled even as blood bubbled from my lips. "You can't believe that, Malachus. There's no administration left. You know what you've done, and I know it. The prisons are being liberated as we speak."

Darkness came over the room as a huge black shape descended over the balcony. I had summoned my Vimana. Malachus whirled around and stared at the massive airship, dazed.

"I'll blow this whole place to hell, Malachus." I said. "No holding out, no rescuers."

He turned around, looking sad and tired. "Do it. Come on, just do it." He took of his crown and held it in his hands. "Please. I'm begging you. End us and all of this."

I shook my head. "Malachus, no. We have Vesica. If you surrender, you can see her again, even if you're in prison."

He stared at me. "My daughter is your hostage?"

"She's with her mother, Pisces. She's safe. Just give up." My vision had narrowed; I had only a minute or two to remain conscious.

Malachus tossed his crown onto the tip of my sword, resting on the table. I told him, "Take the chain from my belt and bind yourself."

He complied. With the last of my conscious energy, I called out psychically to Oberon: "My beloved, I need you; I'm at the Palace." Then blackness swallowed me.