“Do you believe me?” asked Casari.

For a moment, the word was caught in Mai’s tongue, but then she spoke it. “Yes.”

Mai knew not why she believed it, for the story was so fantastical, so unbelievable, but she believed it with her heart, and she believed it with her soul.

Mai looked at the man who sat beside her-Fash Realer, Casari is Koranor, Broken, all in one. So ancient, and yet so tired, so human.

“There are still a few things I do not understand,” said Mai.

“Ask. I have not a single thing left to hide.”

“How did you seem so knowledgeable about the world around you, if you were only just rediscovering it?”

“Devin and his thieves told me the date. And then, when I reached Gansu, Moonsinger Fen filled me in on more. You see, while most believed Casari was a demon, the greatest of the sages knew the truth. Moonsinger was such a sage, and he recognized me on sight. Laughing at my misfortune, he told me the rest.”

“And what about your meeting with the Nari, at the Holy Citadel?”

Casari chucked, without mirth. “That was when I learned why I had been freed, Mai,” he said. Slytherayaim sought me out, and said he had to speak with me. And so, at the Holy Citadel, he did.

“He said that Nikui’s fell magics were the only reason the Arathou Dynasty had lasted for eleven centuries, and that now, things were going to be right again. Without saying as much exactly, he convinced me that I would take my rightful place, soon enough.”

Casari sighed. “I so desperately wanted to believe him. It was a lie, though. Slytherayaim wanted to start fresh, find a new Chosen One. That is why he wanted to eliminate me.

“You see, he pretended as if the Nari had freed me on purpose, when in actuality, I had only come out of that crystal as an unintended side effect. The Nari for centuries had been weaving hexes around the Arathou Dynasty, reducing the number of children born of the Emperors, and things of that ilk. Your father’s sudden death was their doing. But in their magic, that they worked, the Nari did not realize that the enchantment holding me would be undone, as well. And since I was a relic of their only failure, they wanted to start fresh. The legends do not state that one will come from the past who will rule the Empire, and the Nari care deeply about such legends.

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“The reason Slytherayaim wanted to eliminate you was much simpler. You are the last of the Arathou Dynasty. The last of Nikui’s spawn.”

As Mai looked at Casari, she finally realized why, once, he had told her that he was within his rights to kill her. She was Nikui’s descendant. She was the descendant of an emperor that, according to legend, had saved everything from the evil Casari. Now she knew how legends could be twisted.

“You knew who I was,” said Mai. “You knew who I was almost from the start. Why didn’t you ever take revenge?”

“Because Iru, and Ty, and all the others,” said Casari, “they all died a very long time ago. Killing you would not help them. I do not believe in vengeance.

“I saw in you innocence, and I nurtured you, to the best of my pathetic ability. I stumbled, I fell, I made so many wrong choices, but I always pretended as if I knew what I was doing.”

Casari sighed. “And now I am laid bare before you.”

He then told Mai of what had happened to him, when he had been without her, and Mai returned much in kind.

“Do you have any idea what my powers over flame are?” she asked Casari.

“Magic expresses itself in different forms,” said Casari. “Sometimes, magic expresses itself out of both a combination of innate talent, and dire need. When Slytherayaim faced you, you had dire need, and so you burned him to hell.”

Mai couldn’t help but smile.

“So you think he’s dead?” she asked.

“Of course not,” said Casari. “Nari are too tough for that. I just am glad that you were able to turn the tables on him, in such an effective manner.”

“Where’s your new owl?” asked Mai.

“Nesting in the outskirts of Xiater,” said Casari. “I told him not to come with me, that I had to do what I had to do, alone. You’ll meet Talon soon enough.” Casari gave Mai a smile, quite warm, under the circumstances, but she did not return it.

“What have we done?” she asked.

“You mean, during our journeys together?” Casari asked.

“Yes,” responded Mai. “At first thought, we did so much. We journeyed from one end of the Empire to the other, and rediscovered who we were. We are people of legend, me, the heir of the Arathou Dynasty, and you, a dynasty’s ghost. We faced golems and madmen, and all the forces of Ehajdon, and the Makini combined. We survived a war. But what have we really accomplished, in the scheme of things?

“The Makini have won their war, and Nari still manipulate all.”

“That is one way to think about things, yes,” said Casari, “but think to your words. We did not save the world, it is true, but you yourself said that we found ourselves. I will add something. Against all odds, we managed to stay alive.”

Mai looked into Casari’s gray eyes. “But we could have done so much more,” she said.

“When I was in that crystal, I had time to think of many things,” said Casari. “And I came to one underlying conclusion.”

Mai heard the pitter patter of snow falling outside. She knew they would have to get going, soon, if they wanted to get to another town, before the roads became bogged down. She knew that they would have to keep running, and so, she didn’t know what she and Casari had accomplished.

“What is your conclusion, then, Casari?” asked Mai.

“Call me Broken. Casari’s days are past. When I called myself that, I pretended to be a demon, and I never want to do that again.”

“Well then,” said Mai. “Broken, what is your conclusion?”

A fierce storm raged within the man who was before her, a storm that despite his wounds, despite it all, would not quench. Broken spoke.

“You don’t have to save the world, to be a hero.”