“Sunaya,” Elnos said, and I lifted my face to meet his gaze. His eyes were sad, but they held no anger as he looked at me. He had to be feeling even worse than I was. “I want you to know that I appreciate all you’ve done to help Noria.”

“Thanks.” I cleared my throat, then wiped at my tears again as I remembered everyone was still looking at me. As I turned to look at them, I was comforted by the fact that I wasn’t alone, and I hadn’t let down all my friends. Most of them were here with me, alive and well, in part because of my struggle to stop the Resistance and help keep our city safe.

“This is not the end for Noria,” Fenris said gently as I stepped out of Iannis’s comforting embrace. “She will pay her penance, and at the end of the three years, she will be older and wiser.”

“Or, she might come out even more bitter than when she went in,” I pointed out, though I knew dwelling on that possibility wasn’t productive.

“Perhaps,” Comenius said, “but at least she will be safer in prison than in the hands of the Resistance. With any luck, within three years, the Resistance will be eradicated. Noria will have to find a more constructive use for her talents at that time.”

“That’s true,” I said, but I wasn’t sure if I believed the words. Noria was far too clever and inventive not to find a way to escape the mines within those three years. Nor would she put her revolutionary ideas aside just because the movement she had joined was no longer active. I only hoped that when she eventually fled, she would end up in a safe place, and not in another dangerous hellhole far away, where none of us would be able to rescue her again.

Epilogue

Late in the afternoon, I sat out on my veranda and leafed through the mail Nelia had brought to me. It had been two days since Iannis had left for Dara, and since he still wasn’t back, that meant no lessons. Rather than risking the creation of another ether parrot, or worse, I decided I would catch up on my social duties.

Nelia had been delighted to assist, and she’d helped me prepare for my interview with a mage society matron, scheduled for late afternoon, before leaving me with the stack of correspondence. She’d already sorted through it herself, separating the messages by tabs in a big folder. There were invitations, bills, and even fan mail from citizens praising my efforts in stopping the rebellion.