Chapter 54: Dearly Departed

When Nienna saw the plumes of smoke coming from Deep and Troubled Waters, her heart skipped a beat. From where they were, they had no way of knowing what state the sanctuary was in or if everyone was okay. Clutching her wounded side, she ran to the edge of the Shattered Ice Floe, shouting and waving frantically in hopes someone from across the water would hear or see her. Seren and Salara followed suit, until they spied movement along the eastern side of the sanctuary. The haze from the smoke obscured most of their view, but soon, they spied the rough outline of two boats floating their way.

“Hello over there!”

Nienna breathed a sigh of relief as she recognized Quint’s voice calling out to them from across the water. She stepped aside and let Seren and Salara help him sidle the boat up against the edge of the ice floe.

“I’m guessing everything went well,” Quint said. His eyes fell down to Nienna’s side. “Well, mostly everything. Are you all right?”

“It’s not bad, but I’ve been better.” Nienna looked down at the wound at her side. Thanks to her Grenth-given power, the bleeding had slowed and the healing had begun, but it was still a serious injury and would need more time before it was completely healed. “I’m just thankful it’s finally over. Lord Aedan Byrne is gone, and the Sanguinary Blade is tucked away safely. The Priory will have to remain content with the copy they made when the real one was stolen.”

“One less dangerous weapon in the world.”

“Make that two,” Nienna replied as she unsheathed the scythe from her back. Thrusting the end into the ice, she held it next to her. “It’s dead, for lack of a better term. A completely unremarkable scythe now. We can put it over the mantel for décor if we want to. How’s everyone in the sanctuary?”

“It seems we got lucky with your theory. There was a definite turning point soon after the portal opened. The connection was disrupted. We managed to get the upper hand, and Danae even got one of her airship’s guns working. Some of them fled. Most of them died.”

“What happened to the mercenary captain?”

He shrugged. “She managed to give us the slip.”

“Hopefully that won’t come back to bite us in the ass,” Seren said.

Nienna nodded with a frown. “Hopefully.” She knew better, though. Loose ends had a way of snapping back at you when you weren’t looking. She leaned in toward Quint and spoke in a hushed tone. “How are my parents?”

Quint paused and looked back at the second boat approaching the floe before responding in kind. “Dee and Clarkus are bringing them over. They aren’t doing well, but wanted to be here for your return and to…they just wanted to be here.”

Nienna frowned. She looked over her shoulder back at Seren who returned to Salara’s side. She had hoped breaking the connection between the frozen and the Sanguinary Blade would cure their parents’ affliction and they could repair the bonds that had to be severed so long ago. She hated having Seren see them this way. She didn’t want their reunion to be tainted with death.

“Who is that?” Salara asked.

“Maybe it’s another boat to take us back,” Seren speculated.

Nienna looked back over her shoulder. “It’s them, Seren. Our parents are on that boat. Dee and Clarkus are bringing them here.”

The young guardian looked over at the boat that was now nearing the ice. “T-they’re here?”

“Yeah,” Nienna replied quietly. “But you need to know, they…look different. They were subject to the Byrnes’ twisted ambitions.”

Seren raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean by that?” She left Salara’s side and joined Nienna near the edge of the ice. She craned her neck to get a better look at the boat’s occupants.

“You’ll see. I just want you to be prepared, okay?”

Quint went over and helped guide the approaching boat in next to his and held it steady as Dee and Clarkus disembarked. Two large figures remained huddled near the stern, shrouded in blankets to hide most of their unsettling appearance to the world. Clarkus held out a paw and helped them to the ice.

“I know it’s jarring seeing them this way. Hell, it must be jarring meeting your biological parents face to face after all these years.”

“You have no idea,” Seren shot back as she looked over at Nienna. “I mean, they left us so long ago and because of all this trouble started by some crazy weapon that nearly killed us. Now all of a sudden, they’re back? How is this not weird? How did you feel the first time you saw them?”

“Honestly?”

Seren nodded.

“It’s hard to describe. I wanted to be mad at them for leaving me. I wanted to be mad at them for not telling me about you. But when I saw them…it was like I forgot it all. I was simply a kid who missed her parents. I try to remember what they did so long ago was for our safety. They wouldn’t have left us if they didn’t have to, and the Byrnes held them for so long. They couldn’t get back to us, even when they tried.”

“Lovey,” Rhrya murmured as she looked at her daughter. Some of the frost and ice had melted away from her body, but her skin retained a ghostly hue, and her stature was diminished. Her eyes then fell on Seren, and she gasped. Her near lifeless eyes brightened, and her smile warmed an otherwise deathly visage. “It’s you all grown. I’m so glad you found each other.”

“By Grenth’s hand, we did,” Nienna replied. “Though, we didn’t really know at the time.”

Seren flashed a nervous glance at Nienna who nodded and reached out a hand to Seren. The young guardian sidled up to her side, constantly watching the two frozen figures who were strangers to her eyes.

“Please don’t be scared,” Viktor said. His voice was rough and weary, and his facial features seemed even more sunken than before. “I know we don’t look like we used to, but I can assure you we mean no harm. We are just two parents who want to see their children.”

“You really are our parents?” Seren asked.

They nodded in unison.

“We’ll leave you be,” Quint said quietly to Nienna before gesturing to Dee and Clarkus to follow him down the Floe.

The Valar family found a quiet spot on the ice and spent hours speaking amongst each other and catching up on all the years missed. Viktor and Rhrya patiently answered every one of Nienna and Seren’s questions, shared stories, and took the time to drink in the experience. They were a family at last. They conversed, laughed, and cried until the sun hung low in the sky. It was then that a heavy feeling settled in the air, and Nienna got to her feet and rejoined their people.

“It’s time to go,” she said.

Clarkus’ ears twitched. “What about your parents?” he asked.

She looked over at them sitting with Seren and patiently answering her questions. “They’re not coming with us. They’re fading fast. I don’t know exactly why, but they think it’s because the Sanguinary Blade is shielded away without a master. The power that was fueling them is gone. They’ve—they’ve asked for the portal to remain open so they can go through.”

“I’m so sorry,” Dee said, mournfully.

The Shattered Ice Floe fell silent, with only the gentle hum of the open portal still operating nearby as Nienna gathered her will to go say a final good-bye. She had to make herself turn around and walk back to her family even though she wished she didn’t have to. She would have given anything for time to stop so she could all stay together forever, but that was selfish and reality didn’t work that way.

The next few moments were like a blur as they said their good-byes when it was time. Seren couldn’t bring herself to leave, so Nienna put her arm around her and guided her over to Dee who helped her into one of the boats. She wanted to turn around to see them one last time, but her heart couldn’t take it. Instead, she tried to fill her mind with any good memory of them that she could recall. It gave her the strength to let go.

Quint pointed over at the portal that had started to slow its spin. “Alena was working on shutting it down once we saw you all had returned and your parents had gone through. She said it would need time to power down properly so it doesn’t explode. It should shut down soon.” He eyed it and took a couple steps back. “Maybe we should give it some space just in case.”

“She knows what she’s doing. I’m sure it will be fine, but maybe we should stay until it’s completely shut down. Like you said, just in case,” Nienna said.

“I’m curious, how did you make it back alive? I thought you were intent on following through with the instructions I found for you.”

“I’m not really sure. Things didn’t really go the way I had planned down there.”

“So, what does this mean now all this is over?”

Nienna looked around at the others and then back at him. “Maybe it means it’s time for a fresh start.”

They stood there looking at each other, and suddenly all the possibilities gifted to all of them with yet another chance at life came crashing into her. A smile cracked on her lips, like a ray of sun through the clouds. She couldn’t remember the last time she smiled. She looked behind her at the portal still swirling. The mechanical hum was starting to deepen in pitch as it began its powering down sequence.

She turned back around to Quint. “I think it’s shutting down. We should probably get back and see about helping the kodan cleaning up their sanctuary. We owe them a lot.”

Two loud cracks in succession rang out in the air, and suddenly Quint’s expression changed. Nienna was going to ask him what was wrong, but then she suddenly realized her shoulder hurt. She looked down to find red spreading out from a wound on her left shoulder. Her face twisting in pain, she looked back up at Quint. He reached a hand up to the right side of his chest where a red pool of blood was spreading out past his fingers. He looked at Nienna, his face warped in confusion and pain.

“No,” was all Nienna could manage to say as his legs faltered and he fell toward her. Her shoulder erupted in fiery pain as she reached out her arms to catch him, and together they plummeted into the portal as it spun its last revolution.