"An' what would I be wantin' with these?" Beldin asked. The brogue, Garion realized, was a way to hide emotions so deep that the hunchback was almost afraid of them.

"Keep them or throw them away." Vella shrugged. "They don't have any meaning for me anymore.'“

"Very well then, me darlin'," he said. He crumpled the papers up into a ball and held the ball out on the palm of his hand. The wad of paper burst into flame and burned down to ashes. "There," he said, blowing the ashes away. "Now they won't be troublin' us anymore. Is that it? Is that all there is to it?"

“Not quite,” she said. She bent and removed the two daggers from her boot tops. Then she took the other two from her belt. "Here," she said, her eyes now very soft, "I won't be needing these anymore." She handed the daggers to her new owner.

"Oh," Polgara said, her eyes filling with tears.

“What is it, Pol?” Durnik asked, his face filled with concern.

"That's the most sacred thing a Nadrak woman can do," Polgara answered, touching at her eyes with the hem of her apron. "She just totally surrendered herself to Beldin. That's just beautiful."

“An' what would I be needin' knives fer?" Beldin asked with a gentle smile. One by one he tossed the daggers into the air, where they vanished in little puffs of smoke. He turned. "Goodbye, Belgarath," he said to the old sorcerer. "We’ve had some fun, haven't we?"

“I’ve enjoyed it." Belgarath had tears in his eyes.

"And Durnik," Beldin said, "it looks as if you're here to replace me."

"You talk like a man about to die," Durnik said.

"Oh, no, Durnik, I'm not going to die. I'm just going to change a bit. You two say good-bye to the twins for me. Explain things to them. Enjoy your good fortune, Yarblek, but I still think I got the better of that bargain. Garion, try to keep the world running."

"Eriond's supposed to take care of that."

"I know, but keep an eye on him. Don't let him get into trouble."

Beldin didn't say anything to Ce'Nedra. He simply kissed her rather noisily. Then he also kissed Poledra. She regarded him fondly, her golden eyes filled with love.

"Good-bye, old cow," he said at last to Polgara, slapping her familiarly on the bottom. He looked meaningfully at her waist. "I told you that you were going to get fat if you kept eating all those sweets.”

She kissed him then with tears in her eyes.