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.