Lightning’s eyes widen as though she heard, as though she understood what Misery thought. As though the telepathy thing worked, the way Jericho said it did. But instead of questioning it, on her face descends a fierce tenderness, a promise that she feels the same. What she said, back in the healing chamber, about their lives being tied from start to end. She meant it. Wherever Misery goes, there she will be. She has dedicated her entire life to their shared cause. Nothing will come between them, nothing is strong enough. Her brother can try. He will fail.

Then their moment of respite ends and the furious guards wrench Lightning away, hauling her back onto trajectory and shoving her forward. Misery knows they will be kept away from each other during the long journey back to the Capital. As they are marched into the gums of the shuttle she realizes she doesn’t even care if Jericho had been right. She’s not alone. There is hope in the future. That’s what matters.

CODA

Stories repeat themselves over and over, the curl of narrative finding familiar patterns to fall into. We end the way we started: with Misery Nomaki imprisoned in the Capital, a raft of offenses to their name, and a clash of opinion on what to do with them. Locked in a dull saint-proofed room and stripped of all their possessions, even their mother’s amulet, Misery Nomaki had no access to the rolling avalanche of events shaping the world around them. The lifting of the siege had undone the delicate balance between Heretic and Faithful, putting under threat the ongoing peace negotiations and tilting the balance heavily in favor of the Heretics, who, after all, saw the destruction at Monkglass as an affront, a breach of the agreement they had clandestinely struck. These dynamics, I am sure, are well known to you. You were privy to the arguments that occurred between the Emperor and his grandmother and their generals and the Church, and envoys from the Heretics, patched in from afar, played a five-sided game of tug over the fate of this so-called Messiah. You likely know how Major Reyes, in exchange for protecting xer lover the Duke, testified against General Tsung, pinning the blame of sedition upon them. You have probably heard that Pyrex Imogen escaped blame, for no one could get an accusation to stick to them. They were not present when the Messiah launched toward Monkglass, after all. And I am sure you know how it all played out. The Throne, eager to rid themselves of embarrassment, wary of the narrative power contained in the archangel mech, agreed to hand it, and its pilot, over to the Heretics. Other compromises were extracted from them as well. But you would be more suited to tell those stories than I.