A/N: Not the last of Yubro’s story, but the last of this one.

Epilogue

"If the sun must set, then at least let it rise in glory."

-Corama Proverb.

"There it is."

Yubro nodded. He had a death-grip on the mane of the nearest stallion, and as long as he led him, the rest of the herd would follow. Of course, Elperi had helped by hovering above them and shooing them along with the instinctive terror they seemed to have of the viaquia. Probably they would have the same terror of any predator, Yubro thought.

But he wasn’t thinking of Elperi right now, even though he was the one who had just spoken. His eyes were fixed on Rowan.

It shone in the sunlight, silver city, city of the master torturer and the Councilmaster and the Captain of the Guards. City of the Deerfriends. Yubro had to imagine that many of his ancestors had lived in the city, since he knew they had, and yet there was barely any connection there. It had never felt like home to him. The wild lands around it, where his friends lived, were his true home.

But he had fought to save it, fought to bring corame in, and now he would bring the horses.

"Your life will change," said Elperi softly.

Yubro turned and looked at him, and found that he could still smile, after all. "But not," he said with equal softness, "in the way that I feared it would."

Elperi raised polite eyebrows.

"I won’t be bludgeoned into politics and left bleeding," said Yubro. "No one will try to compel me again, not the way they did before." He looked back at Rowan, and felt something like satisfaction grow in him. "They will have to deal with me as someone who did a wonder, and something greater than stopping a plague. The horses will live and grow and breed. That cannot be undone."

"I know," said Elperi. "But your life will still be in danger."

Yubro smiled, not looking at him. "Yes, but it matters more, now. It is the life of someone who has done what I have done. Before, I was almost willing to lose my life in the service of a greater cause, since that cause existed and mattered in the world in a way that I did not."

"You mattered to me-"

"As the shadow of what I might become. Not so much what I was."

Elperi grunted, but did not try to deny it. Yubro turned and looked at him, and smiled so sweetly that the viaquia looked at him in wonder.

"They cannot take that from me," he said. "And I am gladder than I can say that you were there to witness their birth, Elperi."

"You will be in more danger, though," said Elperi, as if he wanted to remind them both of that.

"Yes, but I will have you there to protect me."

Yubro reached out, and Elperi clasped his hand. They stood a moment longer in the light of the rising sun, gazing into each other’s eyes.

Then they turned and started herding the horses down the hills, to give Rowan her first glimpse of them.