Burying the Shadow

by Storm Constantine

  ‘You really have seen wonderful things, haven’t you?’ I exclaimed.

  ‘Nothing as wonderful as seeing you as a real person.’ She smiled. ‘This is all too... hmm, no words for it.’

  ‘Let’s go,’ I said. ‘We have all the time we need now, for words.’

  Rayojini narrowed her eyes and said. ‘Prove to me you’re not going to disappear again.’

  I abandoned propriety and held out my arms. She closed her eyes, and we hugged each other fiercely. She squeezed the breath out of me and then pulled away a little. ‘Still there. Good!’ she said, and then held me close again. ‘Thank... Who shall we thank? I know: thank Eloat!’

  I said it too, and then we walked down the steps together, towards the waiting carriage.