DragonStar struck the fatal blow to Qeteb. To those who lived outside the borders of Tencendor,
there is nothing left of that land. Only waves.
Axis, as Azhure, opened his mouth to say something more, but the Child forestalled him. He is gone.
Not here. Grieve, if you must, but know also that his time had not yet been completed.
“And what,” said Zared, walking up to Leagh’s shoulder, and looking down in perplexion at his
Child’s face, “do we do now?”
The Child laughed, and thrust her tiny fists into the air. You populate the Garden in peace and
contentedness!
Epilogue
The Corolean Emperor leaned forward on his throne, one hand absently laying to one side the heavy
folds of his purple and gold silk mantle.
“What do you mean, Tencendor is ‘gone’?”
“Highest One,” the Admiral said from his position of laying face down on the floor, arms spread out
to either side of him. His voice was very slightly muffled. “We spent weeks sailing over the entire ocean.
The continent is gone. Sunk beneath the waves. Even the barren land bridge connecting our continents
has gone. Waves. Only waves are left.”
“Nothing is left? Not a single piece of flotsam? Not one puffy corpse?”
“Nothing, Highest One.”
“What happened?”
The Admiral took his time answering, not knowing quite what to make of the hundreds of reports he
had had from, not only the crews of Corolean fishing vessels in the area but also from Escatorian cargo
ships sailing for Tencendor, as well as the odd pirate, who relinquished their information only grudgingly,
and under the threat of having their genitals skewered by hot pokers.
“Highest One,” the Admiral eventually said. “From what I can gather, the land suffered a cataclysm
so complete we can barely comprehend it. The entire continent of Tencendor has sunk beneath the
waves. Even the barren land bridge connecting our continents has gone. Waves. Only waves are left.”
The Admiral paused again, wondering whether to relate the other piece of information that had
persistently come to his ears.
“Tell me!” the Emperor snapped.
“It is said,” the Admiral said very slowly, “that Tencendor was so riddled with sin, corruption and
vileness that the gods decided absolute destruction was better than redemption.”
The Emperor stared, then sat back in his throne, his chubby, sweating face smiling beatifically.
“I always knew they were a bad lot,” he said.
At the very back of the crowd in the public throne chamber, a fair-haired man with extraordinarily
compelling blue eyes grinned sardonically. After a moment he turned away, wincing as some unseen
injury caught at his back, and he faded into the crowd.
The pain of not finding StarDrifter faded. His time had not been right, and he had passed elsewhere, not
into the Garden.
So be it.
Axis and Azhure, as every other person who had passed through death — whether during the final
moments of Tencendor, or ten thousand years beforehand — accepted the joy and
peacefulness of the Garden.
They were contented, as were the entire populations of peoples and creatures who had
entered the Garden.
The Icarii fanned out in the skies, beautiful jewel-like creatures who populated the air with
music and wonder.
The Ravensbund, with Urbeth grumbling good-naturedly at their head, moved to the cliffs and
beaches of the never-ending coasts that bounded the Garden, and explored the mysteries they found
there.
The Avar wandered the Garden, shaded by the ethereal trees, learning the ways of the flowers and
the winds that tipped them into cascades of delight.
They became gardeners.
The Acharites built themselves pale-stoned homes that bordered the glades and walks,
and spent their time — not ploughing — but sitting on doorsteps or in rocking chairs under
verandahs, and passing the time of day with each other, and any other who passed by.
SpikeFeather wandered off with Urbeth’s two daughters, and the threesome explored the more
secretive glades, and kept to themselves.
The Alaunt settled down, and FortHeart gave Sicarius a fine litter.
Belaguez courted Pretty Brown Sal, but she spent her time sliding tantalisingly just beyond his reach.
Axis and Azhure were reunited with the other seven once-Star Gods come back from their spin
through the stars, and they, as had been their wont in the years before the TimeKeepers’
invasion, explored the mysteries they could see circling in the star patterns above their heads.
Theod and Gwendylyr raised their twin boys, and added a baby girl to their family.
Zared and Leagh, meanwhile, raised their Daughter through wondrous babyhood, into girlhood, and
then into womanhood. The Woman sat beneath the Tree, and dispensed laughter and advice and
wisdom, and She and the Tree were the centre of Creation.
Sometimes people thought they saw Katie flitting between trees, and in the shadows of glades, but
none ever spoke to her, and the Woman told them to leave her alone.
She has had her share of pain, and now is at peace in her aloneness. Leave her.
DragonStar and Faraday grew restless. Everyone else had adjusted themselves to the Garden, and its
serenity and beauty, but they could not.
They had not been granted the grace of contentedness.
One day, they went to see the Woman. “We think,” DragonStar said slowly, holding
Faraday’s hand tightly in his own, “that there remains something else for us to do.”
Aye. There is.
“But it does not rest within the Garden, does it?” Faraday said.
No.
“Beyond, then?” DragonStar said, and felt a small kernel of excitement flower deep within him.
Aye. Beyond. You have a life that yet lies ahead of you. The wasteland that was Tencendor
has transformed, but there are other wastelands, StarSon, that need your strength, and Faraday’s
love.
The Woman looked at Faraday’s swelling belly. Bear your child elsewhere, Faraday. Give birth
to hope in a desolate wasteland.
“We will never come back,” Faraday said, but there was no anger or regret in her voice.
No. You will find your contentedness elsewhere.
The Woman stood, and reached one hand high above Her. She plucked a fruit from the Tree, and
held it out to DragonStar and Faraday.
Take this, and eat of it with My blessing.
Faraday took the fruit, and cradled it within her hands. “What is it?”
Wisdom and Love.
Faraday’s eyes filled with tears, and she slowly raised the fruit to her lips and ate.
Something in her face shifted, something in her soul altered, and Faraday understood the road before
her.
She turned to DragonStar and offered him the fruit. “Eat.”
And he did, and he, too, was altered.
He looked at Faraday. His eyes were alive with excitement. Faraday stared, and then she burst into
laughter, and leaned forward to embrace him.
The Woman smiled. Step forth, and birth your new world within the wasteland. Go, with My
blessing, My love, and My eternal gratitude.
Axis stared at them. He half raised a hand, then dropped it. “Stay. Please.”
DragonStar smiled gently, and took his father’s hand. “No. We cannot. If we stayed here we would
only destroy the Garden with our restlessness. Our journey is not yet done.”
His eyes flickered over the ranks of what had once been the Strike Force standing in ranks behind
Axis: winged, ethereal, serene. Then DragonStar leaned forward and kissed Axis on the mouth. “We will
never forget you, nor this place. It will become the foundation myth of our children. Goodbye, Axis,
farewell Azhure.”
And, once Faraday had kissed Axis and Azhure goodbye, she and DragonStar walked hand in hand
through the doorway that the Butler opened for them with a reverential bow of his head.
They walked from the Garden into the Wastelands beyond, there to build a life untarnished by fate
and enriched by the gifts the Woman had given them.
They did not look back.
Glossary
ACHAR: the realm that once stretched over most of the continent, bounded by the Andeis,
Tyrre and Widowmaker Seas, the Avarinheim and the Icescarp Alps. It was integrated into
Tencendor during the time of Axis Star Son.
ACHARITES: a term used fairly generally to encompass all humans within Tencendor.
ADAMON: one of the nine Star Gods of the Icarii, Adamon is the eldest and the God of the Firmament.
AFTERLIFE: all three races, the Acharites, the Icarii and the Avar believe in the existence of an
AfterLife, although exactly what they believe depends on their particular culture.
ALAUNT: the legendary pack of hounds that once belonged to WolfStar SunSoar. They followed
Azhure for some time, but now run with DragonStar. They are all of the Lesser.
ALDENI: once a small province in western Achar, it was administered by Duke Theod.
ANDAKILSA, River: the extreme northern river of Ichtar, dividing Ichtar from Ravensbund.
ANDEIS SEA: the often unpredictable sea that washes the western coast of Achar.
ARCEN: the major city of Arcness. Before Qeteb’s destruction, it was a free trading city.
ARCNESS: a large eastern province in Tencendor.