Rise and Shine

"What is taking so long?" Devrim paced below the Mystic Spires. "Something is wrong. I know it." 

It was into the early hours of the morning now, and the two ladies had departed many hours before.

"Patience," Hanna told him, even though she did not feel like being patient herself. 

This was their one and only chance to restore the magic. There was no back-up plan. How could she not have seen this coming? Her foresight was better than this usually. The Fate felt like she had failed. 

"You should all rest," Alaron looked at the others around the small fire. "You all look ready to fall over. I don't know how His Majesty is still standing at all." 

"I sat enough today...yesterday?...riding a leopard. If I sit now, I won't be awake for more than a few moments. I cannot do that to Aurora. She deserves my full attention until she returns." Devrim resumed his pacing. 

"You are making me dizzy, Lover Boy," Brinn tracked the man with her eyes. "Rory will have no idea if you stayed awake or slept while she was away. Nor will she care. Actually, she would care. She would tell you to rest while you can." 

"The same would go for you, you know," Devrim shot back.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "I'm not married to her. I don't have to obey what she wants." 

"So you would obey Alvar if he told you to sleep?" The Emperor raised his eyebrows at the news.

"No. That's how humans work. Elves are free to ignore their husbands at their leisure." The Princess tried to remember how she got into this predicament. She was becoming too tired to care. 

"Would you at least consider resting," Hanna took on a gentle tone. "At least lean up against something and close your eyes. That doesn't count as sleeping because you are still sitting up." 

Brinn considered the words and decided to take them. Cuddling up against a mound of dirt, she shut her eyes, but not before saying. "Get some sleep, Lover Boy. When Rory returns she will need your shoulder to rest on." 

The words cut at Devrim's heart, but he could not heed them. There was too much nervous energy in his body to stop moving. 

"If I bother you so much, I will leave you all in peace. Good evening." Devrim gave a curt bow and turned to walk through the verdant hills. 

"I will take this," Renat stood before Alaron could. "Keep watching up there and let us know the moment anything changes."

Following the Emperor, Renat fell into step beside his father-in-law. The only thing to light their path was the milky glow of stars overhead. 

"I could use a walk as well, Your Majesty. May I join you?" the scientist asked politely.

"Did they send you to babysit me?" Devrim spat. He shook his head. "I didn't mean to sound so harsh." 

"No one sent me. I wanted to come. I am just as worried as you are, and I think a walk would do me good." Renat had not wanted to seem rude earlier by wandering off. This was the perfect reason to get out as much nervous energy as he could. 

"You feel it too, don't you? That something is very wrong?" The Emperor's voice was so soft that the other man could barely make out the words. 

"I feel something. But it is more of a dull ache. I am hoping it is just the fact that I miss Mairwen terribly and nothing more." Renat tried to sound more positive than he felt. 

"We need to get up there. I should never have let them go." Devrim balled his fist and looked up at the Mystic Spires dangling defiantly overhead. 

"They wouldn't have listened if you tried to make them stay. Mairwen has been itching to prove her worth ever since she was injured. I do not think there was anything we could have done to change their minds." Renat knew deep down this was true. 

Both women had done what they thought was right. Holding them back would have damaged their relationships with the women they loved. 

"Then let us go and help them. Surely there is another dragon that can reach the bottom of the Spires. We can have Justum lower a rope to close the distance. I will go and talk to Edjer now. If he will not help me, I will go dragon to dragon until someone will." Devrim turned on his heels to march toward the Dragon King.

"Your Majesty..." Renat grabbed the Emperor's arm. 

"Don't try and stop me. I am determined. I don't care if he is sleeping. I do not know how he can be sleeping at a time like this anyway." Devrim jerked away from the other man's grasp.

"Not that. Look!" The scientist pointed up. 

Freezing in his tracks, the Emperor stared at the Spires. The sky around it lit. The sun was beginning to rise after an excruciating night. 

But that wasn't all. 

"We need a better look!" Devrim motioned for Renat to follow him. Together, they moved out from under the mystical building and examined the tallest of all the towers.

I was the place where the waterfall should flow. Something else was flowing out of the hole. 

"Light!" Renat's mouth hung open at the spectacle. 

Pure light, more potent than the rising sun, was shining from inside the tower. 

"What does it mean?" he asked the Emperor. "It's a good sign, right?" 

Before Devrim could answer, the light slowly faded. 

"You did see that?" the grey-eyed man blinked. He was beginning to doubt his own eyes. 

"I did. Maybe their attempt failed. But I saw a bright..." the scientist stopped as a single drop of water landed on his tunic. "Rain?" 

"It doesn't rain here." Devrim looked at the drop. What he saw made him gasp. "Move!" 

He pulled the younger man out of the way just as a second drop fell from above. It soaked into the ground. 

The earth rumbled. At first, it felt like one of the dragons had woken and was making a stir, but the shaking grew much deeper and more profound. 

As if something inside the earth was shifting into place. 

The grass around them, what was left of it, began to shift as if blown by a strong wind. Yet the air was still. Then the verdant patches grew. Their height did not change, but they slowly grew over the gashes in the ground, mending the broken soil until it was flawless once more. 

The pile of corpses was swallowed silently by the ground, giving all those who lost their lives a proper burial. There was a sound of cracking stone coming from the palace white. Devrim knew if he went to examine it, the door to the Storehouse was being magically repaired. 

'Magically!' The Emperor's heart leapt. 

More drips came from above until a small stream flowed from the top of the falls. The stream grew until a torrent of water tumbled from above. Hitting the ground, the falls began to mist.

As the sun rose higher, it was suddenly obscured by the welcome sight of white all around them. They were once again inside the mighty Dew Mountain. 

"They did it!" Devrim whooped. 

All around people were celebrating. The Fates' skin began to glow and those who were on the verge of death rose with new life. 

The water's power was mighty. 

Hanna floated over and gave the Emperor a hug. "I will give one to your wife when she returns as well. You all have done very well." 

"You will have to get in line on that hug," Devrim grinned. "Even at your fastest, I don't think you will be able to beat me to see her. How long do you think it will be before she comes down?"

Renat was equally eager to see his bride, and he listened intently for the answer. 

"Hard to say. But I would think soon." Hanna stepped back as another being entered their midst suddenly.

"Justum!" Hanna graced the other Fate with a hug that started both of them. "I am glad to see you alive and well. How are the Falls?"

"The Falls are well, I believe. I already had enough power to get down to you." Justum pried the lady off of him. 

"That's wonderful. My wife and daughter truly did it!" Devrim beamed. 

"They did," the stern Fate spoke slowly. 

"Then why didn't you bring them down with you?" Hanna chastised her companion. "You know they cannot come down on their own."

"I would have," Justum paused. He sighed before continuing. "But they are gone."