Khassian’s heart seemed to slow, to still. Time stopped.

And then the rainbow shimmer began gradually to fade from Orial’s eyes, her skin, her hair.

The spinning, ever-shifting cloud of sound was diminishing, dwindling to a distant murmur. He did not want it to stop, he wanted it to go on forever, he wanted to be a part of it –

One of the dragonflies lifted off her shoulders. The daylight caught starglints of green and sapphire in its beating wings. Caught on an updraft, it began to drift upwards towards the light. Another followed, then another and another until the air was fanned with the tremulous beat of gauze wings.

Jewelled mosaics ebbed and flowed before Khassian’s eyes in a dazzling kaleidoscope.

The swirling wings eddied, formed an ascending vortex, lifting upwards, upwards towards the sky.

Each darting insect trailed a line of melody, creating a glittering contrapuntal texture of interweaving translucence.

The crowd about him gasped, swaying in rhythm with the eddying flight.

‘There! There they go!’ cried children’s voices, shrill with excitement. There was a surge of movement amongst the watchers as they strained upwards – and the host of dragonflies rose, borne on the billowing steam, floating up, up into the pale sky beyond.

One last thread of light still encircled Orial, a thread of molten gold, warm as sunlight.

Touch of a gentle hand in the dark, a voice singing softly, stilling a child’s night fears, laughter trickling back on a summer breeze…

‘Mama?’ she whispered, raising her hands. Golden light trickled through her fingers – and a gilded dragonfly followed the others up into the sky. Orial blinked, blinded by the dazzling light of the sun – and when her sight cleared, all the dragonflies were gone.

CHAPTER 28

The Hall of Whispering Reeds echoed to the hiss of hot springs. All around Orial people were laughing and hugging each other. Children crept forward to plunge their hands into the fizzing steam and ran away again, squealing with delight.

Orial’s mind still glittered with the final flight of dragonflies… she felt light, buoyant, floating on air…

The real world, the everyday world, began to intrude on her consciousness. The gilded vision of the otherworld began to recede, to fade…

Through the rising steamclouds she saw Amaru Khassian staring dazedly at her.

‘Amaru,’ she said, going towards him. She felt filled with warmth and affection for him.

‘I – I’m a little afraid to touch you,’ he stammered.

‘You helped make it happen.’ She stood on tiptoes and brushed his cheek with her lips. ‘For that time you became Lifhendil too. I could not have spun the song without you. One voice alone was not enough.’

‘Lotos Princess!’ cried Jolaine Tradescar, coming forward to hug her.

‘Not any more,’ she said, sadly. ‘It’s over now.’

‘Nonsense!’ The Priestess stood holding out her hands to her. ‘It’s just beginning.’ Behind her clustered the Priests and Priestesses of the Temple, all nodding and smiling.