I waved, and they gestured for me to join them.

Yes, I’d gladly come. I longed to strip off my muddy clothes and immerse myself in the clean warmth of Charis. I’d spent my life on the outside, out of the only loop that mattered. Now I wanted to come in.

I turned to Marcus, thinking he might escort me in, but he stood still, watching my companions.

Shad got out of the lake, and a warrior put new clothes on him, clean and beautiful. They appeared to be uniquely made for Shad, different from all the other clothes I saw on the hundreds around the lake.

“Those clothes were woven by his service in the Shadowlands,” Marcus said.

Shad ran his hands down the front, as if he’d never felt such material. He raved at the comfort and the style. He skipped away with the lightness of youth, stripped of the heaviness of age and burden. Then he bent down and stuck his face into a fountain of water splashing up from the ground. He drank and drank.

Shad, with a young man’s legs, ran back to the mud room and picked up his old TravelGuide. He opened it up to the middle and read, “You give us drink from the river of your pleasure!”

Malaiki cried, “In your presence is fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures forevermore!”

Shad ran farther in, greeted by applause and backslaps. Malaiki was embraced by loved ones, and Gordy and Victoria soaked in the world of wonder and delight. I smelled the aroma of wonderful cooking. Warrior-servants carried big platters covered with sliced senaba, juice dripping off the sides. My mouth watered. I inhaled deeply, wanting to enter, only wishing I had picked up more stones so I could present more gifts to the King.

Then I trembled as I saw the Woodsman approach Shad, who fell to his knees before him, setting his crown of jewels at his feet. The King picked up the crown, put it on Shad’s head, pulled him up by the hand, embraced him, and cried, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”

Next the King came to Malaiki and lifted her high above his head as if she weighed nothing.

“Welcome, my daughter,” he said. He put her down and took the crown from her extended hand. He examined it carefully, as if peering into each stone. Then he grinned and cried, “Well done, my girl!” and embraced her.

The smile on Malaiki’s face was like nothing I’d ever seen, surpassed only by the King’s smile. In fact, they appeared to be the same smile, his joy hers and hers his.

People surrounded all four of my travel companions, like midwives delivering babies into a birthing room and family members overwhelmed with joy at their arrival. A chorus of welcomes sang out in a thousand languages.