Kirona stood quietly as hungry flames engulfed the body of her beloved father. She had awoken from her blackout to find Xantos concerned, her sister gone, her mother distraught, and her father dead. The tree trunk had killed him on impact. His body had been destroyed.

Loren, Aslar’s partner, had quickly tracked down and caught Lealsa. The King’s judgement was swift, but Lealsa was saved from Dalian’s dungeons by a surprising interference. Tirant, commander and headmaster at the Guardian Academy, had been paying a visit to Dalian castle. He’d offered to take Lealsa back to the Academy with him. His daughter, who unlike himself had not been born with wings, was “in need of a flying steed”. It was a terrible humiliation for a dragon to be treated as a lowly horse, a slave. The King had agreed to send her away.

It was not enough, in Kirona’s eyes. She saw her sister as not only responsible for the serious injury of her friends, but Aslar’s death as well. Her father would have stayed safe at home if not for Lealsa’s jealous attack. But, then again, Xantos would have never come if she hadn’t, and then she wouldn’t have been able to stop the storm…oh, it was all so confusing…

Kirona choked back a sob. Her mother wept openly. Xantos, who had proven to be a very loyal friend despite his lack of common sense, put a comforting hand on Kirona’s arm. She managed to smile back at him. Oh, to be foolish and innocent like him…

“I’m going to move to the city.” Liara said suddenly, her voice hollow with pain. “I can’t stay in this home. It reminds me of nothing but…”

Ugly silence hovered. They all knew what she was thinking of.

“Well, I’ll find work at the castle.” She finally finished.

“I can’t go to Dalian.” Kirona growled. “I cannot face the world. Not yet. I need to learn more about myself, and my magic. I will not find that within the capitol.”

Liara nodded silently. There was sadness in her eyes, but acceptance as well.

“I understand, my child. My master of the storm.”

Liara and Kirona’s eyes met, and for a moment, they knew each other perfectly.

“Well, then!” Xantos said suddenly, clapping his hands together as though brushing off dirt. “I suppose I’d better come with you, Kirona. You’re FAR too young to be out in the wilderness on your own, you know. You need protection! Plus, I can make rope. It’s a really useful skill, you know. I learned it at the fishing village I used to live in. Have I told you I lived in a fishing village? It was on the ocean. Have you seen the ocean? It’s just grand. Really big, too. Lots of room for you to stretch your wings. You know, that’s a good idea…let’s build a beach house! Yeah…that’d be really great! What do you say? Should we go to the beach? I think we should. Just to, y’know, scope the place out, and stuff like that.”

Kirona stared incredulously at his grinning features, patiently expecting a response. Here she was, at her father’s cremation, and he was babbling about beach houses. The kid was exasperating.

She turned her eyes to the conflagration that was consuming her father. Born from flame, death by flame. Tongues of orange and red danced intricately, spelling out secret messages of love and encouragement.

Kirona smiled. Kaetar, as a fox beside her, rubbed his head against her leg lovingly.

Maybe a little exasperation was just what she needed.

“The beach, huh? Yeah…I could go for that…”

A/N: Woohoo! The ending! D Keep a lookout, there’s another Kirona and Xantos story coming that branches off of this one. I hope you enjoyed this story, and that it wasn’t too terribly corny.