Winna began to pray, her words barely a whisper. But there was more pleading earnestness in that hushed, desperate voice than most could summon at a normal volume.

Tears flowed freely down her beautiful face, over her freckles, down her cheek, and sliding off her chin, dropping down onto poor Diana’s pitiful, limp form.

As Lear heard her words, relief and melancholy filled him.

The prayer ended, and she was quiet for a moment, then opened her dark brown eyes. They were full of devastation at the choice she’d just had to make.

“I’m proud of you, Winna.” Lear reached out to put his hand over one of hers on Diana’s fur. “You had the choice between yourself and others, and you chose others. It’s alright. It was a choice well made.”

But her tears didn’t fade. “D-Diana i-isn’t healed, though!” she cried. “I-it hardly matters wh-what I chose i-if the goddess didn’t hear it!”

“Winna, love, sometimes…sometimes the answer is just no.” he told her quietly. “And not because you don’t deserve it, or because of anything you did wrong. Just because it’s no.” He squeezed her hand gently, and grimaced as the pain from the injury spread further.

“Y-you’re both d-dying!” She screamed, shuddering violently from her tears.

Lear hauled himself totally up, and sat beside her, weakly extending a wing out around her, and drawing her close. “It’s okay. Everything has to end at some point, even fey and familiars.”

“I-I’ll go too, soon, though! Not all that long after you two! For as long as I can last after the water runs out! I-I can’t leave here. Th-those shades aren’t going to leave, now that they know I’m trapped in here, alone and trapped!” Winna choked on the words.

“Give me some more credit than that. I might be dying, but I’m still a wily bastard.” he managed a grim smile.

She gave a hysterical snort. “What do you mean?”

“I’m stubborn, and don’t want the shade’s injury to get the best of me. If I take a page from Diana’s book,” he stroked Diana’s fur gently and fondly, “I should be able to do something similar to what she did when she destroyed Veris, and what she intended to do earlier. But…between magical exhaustion and the poison reacting to my magic, I will die.” he paused, “The good news is I’m dying anyways, so I might as well give it a damn good purpose. It should be a massive blast, and will destroy the shades. I don’t doubt more will come if they sense you, but it’ll buy you some time. You’ll have to run, and try to make it to the mountains. There is a path up it, we just didn’t take it because what we did was faster. Take the path, and get to safety. I know it’ll be hard, given the situation, but you can’t stop to sleep. You have to push through until you make it past the runes.”

“I-I don't know if I can do it! N-not alone!”

“Winna, you can do anything you set your mind to.” he told her firmly. “And I need you to live for me, alright? Live the life that we won’t get together. Please fall in love again, with some entirely unsuitable rake like me. Just be happy, okay?”

The woman he loved took a deep, shuddering breath. “O-okay.”

Diana’s breathing paused, then resumed, and they both looked down at her.

“It’s time. Say goodbye, my love.” He nodded at the little cat.

Winna burst into tears anew, and lifted her small friend up with one arm, keeping hold of Lear’s hand with the other, and burying her face into Annie’s fur for the last time.

“I-I love you, my miss! My queen! My Diana! I-I’ll miss you more than you’ll ever know!” she gasped, struggling to breathe in her grief.

The sweet familiar gave the faintest of maows.

“She loves you too. So, so much.”

Lear began to well his magic. It would take a moment to get it all together, and he didn’t want to make Winna linger there for too long after Diana went on. It would only cause her more pain. Instead, he’d take the sweet cat, have Winna stand by the door, and release what would arguably be the largest bomb of magical energy to ever have happened, all with one purpose - to kill shades. The temple would be quite the tomb for Diana and him.

Or that’s what he’d planned to do.

But, as Diana was taking a rattling last breath, a warm glow filled the room, and time seemed to stand still.

Winna’s head jerked up, and they both shifted, looking towards the altar that stood on a raised dais, not far from where they were sitting.

A golden figure formed, and then materialized totally.

A gorgeous woman stood there. She had curly, honey blonde hair, large, azure blue eyes, and features really very similar to Winna’s.

“M-mama?!” Winna gasped, staring in astonishment.

“Yes, in a way, my child.” the woman spoke. Only it was less a voice, and more like her words hummed through them like a glorious melody.

Lear felt his heart leap, and the intense pain growing in him faded a little as he murmured, “Marna, Winna.”

“O-oh!” the young woman stammered, jaw dropping.

“I thought this appearance might not be so alarming as a great, glowing figure.” the goddess smiled somewhat sheepishly.

Suddenly, Diana stirred in Winna’s arms, and maowed softly. Her fur was glowing with a soft silver light, and she leapt lightly down.

“Diana?!” The little mage was still stunned.

“Hello, my girl!” Marna giggled, coming close, and kneeling, reaching out to stroke Diana’s fur. “You’ve done so, so well!”

“Sh-she has!” Winna choked out. “B-but i-it’s her time to go, now, isn’t it? Th-the answer was no…A-and you’re going to take her home, right?”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Oh, child!” Marna’s face creased with worry, and she reached out to wipe away the young woman’s tears. “Of course not! The answer wasn’t no! It just took me longer than it should have to get here. The bureaucracy in the heavens is more ridiculous than you’d believe!”

“Y-you’re going to heal her?!” Winna squeaked, a look of pure wonder filling her expression.

“My dear, you didn’t travel through mudslides, shades, and sheer terror just for me to not heal Lear as well as Diana!” Marna laughed.

“What?” It was Lear’s turn to be gobsmacked. A human goddess healing a fey person was unheard of.

“But there are some…jurisdictional issues surrounding that point, which is what caused my delay. I was arguing it out with my fey counterparts, and was almost too late. For that, I must apologize.” She bowed her head slightly, then continued, “That said, I’m fully prepared to heal you, Lear, but given my final agreement with the fey gods, I’ll need to mark you as my child as well.”

“I-I’m…I’m fey, though.” Lear mumbled, totally mystified.

“Yes, I am aware.” Marna giggled, reaching out to pat his head. Suddenly, he felt like a very small child.

“What…what will it do?” He asked, a little warily.

“Your purpose will be to help people, but I think you’ve rather come to like that about Winna, which is why you urged her to pick Diana, as she did. The only thing that will happen is the mark will appear on your hand.”

“So…no more…fighting?” Lear was only a little embarrassed by how disappointed he sounded at that.

“That’s not what I said now, is it?” she flashed a brief smile at him. “Not that I approve of bloodshed, but you must do what you have to in order to protect those who are innocent and in need of help. But mostly, I want you to keep Winna safe, and keep her company.”

“Uh…right.”

“But also, don’t feel like you have to care for the world and neglect to care for yourself.” She turned, now speaking really to Winna. “Which is something you should work on, my dear.”

“B-but I’m supposed to help other people!”

“You can do that and still take care of yourself.” Marna said gently. “The gift wasn’t given for you to run yourself ragged. Which you do. And sometimes you let yourself get run over like a doormat. That’s not what it means either.”

“Like when the villagers got mad at you.” Lear muttered.

“Yes. Precisely that. Luckily, your friend intervened. Give her my thanks, it was a kind deed well-done.”

“I-I will.” Winna nodded.

“Now.” Marna reached out and took Lear’s hand. “Do you assent to be my child?”

The fey man arched an eyebrow at her, and asked the most important question, “Can I still marry Winna, if I do?”

“It won’t make you related in any way, so yes.” the goddess nodded.

“Then gods, yes.” he grabbed her hand quickly.

“Lovely.” Marna smiled.

A strange feeling filled him. It was unlike anything he’d ever felt before, and totally indescribable.

Every single bit of pain fled his body. “That’s…an odd feeling…” he muttered.

“It must be!” Marna laughed. “And there we are! All healed!”

Diana purred loudly, rubbing briefly against Lear, who held up his hand to examine the new mark that had appeared on its back. It was identical to Winna’s in shape and size, but his was a dark black.

“Was Winna’s family’s mark originally this dark?” he asked. “Or rather, her people’s marks, I should say.”

“Yes. It faded significantly over time as the bloodline got thinned out by other people.” Marna nodded, “That’s just the nature of how it works, I’m afraid.”

“Why was my family on the run? What brought us to the area behind the protective runes? I assume my ancestors were the ones who made them, right?”

“Yes, they were.” Marna nodded, but frowned. “As to your first question, they were on the run because they were being hunted.”

“By the shades and other foes, right? Why were they hunting us?”

Marna sighed. “It’s a long story, but…you read about the Untrue and the True, yes?”

“In the books.” Lear nodded.

“The Untrue eventually seized control of the kingdom of Evarin. They’d stopped using any of their powers to help others, and sought only to increase their own power and will and greatness. The True resisted, but their numbers were so few that they couldn't do much, and were forced into hiding within their own kingdom, unable to flee because it was difficult to move in any large numbers. The remnants of those who remained true were hunted down one by one, and killed.” Marna paused, expression deeply sad. “Some of the Untrue did truly despicable acts in my name, claiming that it was my will. Some even sold their souls to dark powers to get what they wanted. When I finally got the approval from the appropriate heavenly committees,” she rolled her eyes at this, “which took absolutely forever, I withdrew my gift, and cast the capital city, which was in a lovely spot on the coast, into the waters so it could never be rebuilt, and wouldn't be remembered.”

“You killed them all?” Lear blinked.

“No, no! The city was mostly abandoned by the time that happened. Sorry, I didn’t mean to make it seem like it happened all at once. The people fled, realizing that their powers were gone. I guess it did lead to many deaths though, in that their immortality was stripped from them as well.” Marna sighed, “It was an unfortunate side effect. Most of them went on to live very normal human lives, just blending into societies all over the place, and trying very hard to forget what they once had been, everything that happened.”

“So…my family remained True? We kept at least some of our powers, and it was only just starting to fade in totality by the time my brothers and I were born.”

“Yes. But your family was forced to flee as well, at that time. It was too dangerous for them to stay in the land that had once been the kingdom of Evarin.”

“But if the Untrue had lost their power, what could they really do that made my ancestors have to flee?”

“Well, the ones that sold their souls for more power had really quite terrible ends.” Marna grimaced, “The evil beings immediately called in the debt, and when it couldn't be paid, they took those souls for themselves, enslaving them for eternity.” She motioned at the entrance to the temple, where the shade still threw themselves against the barrier. “They became shades. They hate anyone with the power of my gift still running through their veins."

“Oh gods! That’s terrible!” I gasped, “That’s why they said that!”

“Said what? I didn’t think shades could talk.” Lear frowned.

“Winna can hear the remnants of their voices. You’ll be able to now, as well, although I don't think they'll come after you, necessarily, given you're still fey by blood, and that will hide my gift." the goddess nodded.

“They said something about starlight the first time they attacked us, then just now called me a child of starlight, and said we were traitors.” Winna said thoughtfully.

“Your last name used to be Starlight, but in an attempt to help hide your identities, it was changed to Starling. The shades weren’t the only evil beings to hate my children. Before the darkness crept in, my children fought long and hard against evil things, and became the focus of their hatred. So, in a similar way to Awenna becoming Winna, Starlight became Starling. Close enough for comfort, but not the same.”

“So they were running from a lot.” Winna said slowly.

“Yes. It was tiring. After many generations, they eventually found their way to the area you now call home, and realized it was a perfect spot for them, because they could surround it with permanent protective runes, the very same that used to protect the cities in Evarin. They can’t keep natural disasters from happening, of course, but they can keep the shades out, and mask your family presence from other evil things searching for them, as well as bring a level of peace to the region that it wouldn't otherwise have.” she explained, “But they still needed to be careful. The runes can only truly keep out the shades, any other enemies could still have tracked them down. That’s why they stopped using their magic in public almost immediately after they went on the run, other than the healing magic, which they couldn't bear not to use to help people. They were still my children, after all.”