"I don't want to see anyone," Susebron said. "Who are they?"

Amazing how well he can speak, she thought. Never having had a tongue. What did Lightsong's Breath do? It healed more than his body. It gave him the capacity to use the regrow tongue.

"My lord," the guard said. "The visitor... she has the royal locks!"

"What?" Siri asked with surprise.

The guard turned, and-shockingly-Vivenna stepped up onto the roof of the palace. Or Siri thought it was Vivenna. She wore trousers and a tunic, with a sword tied at her waist, and she appeared to have a b.l.o.o.d.y wound on one arm. She saw Siri, and smiled, her hair turning yellow with joy.

Vivenna's hair changing? Siri thought. It can't be her.

But the woman laughed, dashing across the top of the roof. Some guards stopped her, but Siri waved for them to let the woman pa.s.s. She ran over, embracing Siri.

"Vivenna?"

The woman smiled ruefully. "Yes, mostly," she said. She glanced at Susebron. "I'm sorry," Vivenna said quietly. "I came to the city to try rescuing you."

"That was very kind of you," Siri said. "But I don't need rescuing."

Vivenna frowned more deeply.

"And who is this, Siri?" Susebron asked.

"My eldest sister."

"Ah," Susebron said, bowing his head cordially. "Siri has told me much about you, Princess Vivenna. I wish we could have met under better circ.u.mstances."

Vivenna stared at the man with shock.

"He's not really as bad as they say," Siri said, smiling. "Most of the time."

"That is sarcasm," Susebron said. "She is quite fond of it."

Vivenna turned from the G.o.d King. "Our homeland is under attack."

"I know," Siri said. "We're working on that. I'm preparing messengers to send to Father."

"I have a better way," Vivenna said. "But you'll have to trust me."

"Of course," Siri said.

"I have a friend who needs to speak with the G.o.d King," Vivenna said. "Alone."

Siri paused hesitantly. Silly, she thought. This is Vivenna. I can trust her.

She'd thought she could trust Bluefingers too. Vivenna regarded her with a curious expression.

"If this help save Idris," Susebron said, "then I will do it. Who is this person?"

Moments later, Vivenna stood quietly on the roof of the palace, the G.o.d King of Hallandren beside her. A short distance away, Vasher stood with arms upraised, letting a couple of soldiers search him for weapons. He had wisely left Nightblood behind and didn't have anything else on him. He didn't even have any Breath.

"Your sister is an amazing woman," the G.o.d King said.

Vivenna glanced at him. This was the man she was to have married. The terrible creature that she was supposed to have given herself to. She'd never expected to end up like this, pleasantly chatting with him.

She'd also never expected that she'd like him.

It was a quick judgment. She had gotten over chastising herself for making those, though she had learned to leave herself open to reinterpret. She saw kindness in his eyes. How had a man like this ended up as G.o.d King of terrible Hallandren?

"Yes," she said. "She is."

"I love her," Susebron said. "I would have you know this."

Slowly, Vivenna nodded.

To the side, the guards took Vasher around to a changing screen. They obviously wanted to be certain none of his clothing was Awakened. He left a few moments later, wearing a wrap around his waist, but nothing else. His chest was cut and bruised, and Vivenna thought it shameful that he should be forced to undergo such humiliation.

He suffered it, walking across the rooftop with an escort. Siri stood in the distance, watching the Lifeless churn dust in the distance.

She's changed so much, Vivenna thought. When did she become so regal, with that commanding bearing and ability to keep her hair black? Her little sister, no longer quite as little, seemed to wear the expensive dress well. It fit her. Odd.

As Vasher approached, Siri walked back over, eyes watching him keenly. She no longer seemed to take pride in being unimportant. Vasher arrived, and Susebron dismissed the guards. Behind him, the jungles extended to the north, toward Idris.

Vasher glanced at Vivenna, and she thought he might tell her to go. However, he finally just turned away from her, looking resigned.

"Who are you?" Susebron asked.

"The one responsible for you getting your tongue cut out," Vasher said.

Susebron raised an eyebrow.

Vasher closed his eyes, and muttered something. A Command, which Vivenna could barely hear-and, with his hand placed on his chest, it seemed that the Awakening was directed toward him.

She only caught one word. "Return."

He started to glow. Not like a lantern would glow, not as the sun glowed, but with an aura that made colors brighter. Vivenna started, eyes opening wide as Vasher increased in size. He adjusted the wrap at his waist, making room for his growth. His chest became more firm, the muscles bulging, and the beard scrub on his face retreated, leaving him clean shaven.

His hair turned golden. He still bore the cuts to his body, but they seemed inconsequential. He seemed... divine. The G.o.d King watched impa.s.sively. He was now faced by a fellow G.o.d, a man of his own stature.

"I don't care if you believe me or not," Vasher said, his voice sounding more... n.o.ble. "But I will have you know that I left something here, long ago. A wealth of power that I promised to one day recover. I gave instructions for its care, and a charge that it should not be used. The priests, apparently, took this to heart."

Susebron, surprisingly, dropped to one knee. "My lord. Where have you been?"

"Paying for what I've done," Vasher said. "Or trying to. My presence is unimportant. Stand."

What is going on? Vivenna thought. Siri looked equally confused, and the sisters shared a look.

Susebron stood, though he kept his posture reverent.

"You have a group of rogue Lifeless," Vasher said. "You've lost control of them."

"I'm sorry, my lord," the G.o.d King said.

Vasher regarded him. Then he glanced at Vivenna. She nodded her head. "I trust him."

"It's not about trust," Vasher said, turning back to Susebron. "Either way, I am going to give you something."

"What?"

"My army," Vasher said.

Susebron frowned. "But, my lord. Our Lifeless just marched away, to attack Idris."

"No," Vasher said. "Not that army. I'm going to give you the one I left behind three hundred years ago. The force by which I made Hallandren to stop its war."

"Stop the Manywar, my lord?" Susebron said. "You did that by negotiation."

Vasher snorted. "You don't know much about war, do you?"

The G.o.d King paused, then shook his head. "No."

"Well, learn," Vasher said. "Because I charge you with this army. Use it to protect, not attack. Only use it in an emergency."

The G.o.d King nodded dumbly.

Vasher glanced at him, then sighed. "Your arms become flesh, your eyes gain sight, your feet learn to step."

"What?" Susebron asked.

"It's a Command," Vasher said. "The one you can use to Awaken the stone statues I left in your city."

"My lord!" Susebron said. "Stone cannot be awakened."

"It can if it has in the shape of a man and has human bones."

Human bones. Vivenna felt a chill. He'd told her that bones were usually bad to awaken for it was hard to keep in them in the right shape of a man during the Awakening process. That, and they took some fifty Breath to awaken each.

But... what if those bones were encased in stone? Stone which held their shape, stone which would protect them from harm, make them nearly impossible to hurt or break...

Colors!

"Go," Vasher said. "There are some thousand D'Denir in the city. You should have enough Breath to awaken them all, and you are of the Tenth Heightening. You can Awaken without touching objects directly, so you need not feel the bones inside to bring them to life. This is an army that, of all men, only you can use. Your thousand should be able to hunt down and fight that army of Lifeless. Their weapons will be virtually useless against the stone."

Susebron nodded again.

"Do better with them than I did," Vasher said, turning away.

Epilogue The next day, an army of a thousand stone soldiers charged from the gates of the city, running down the pathway after the Lifeless who had left the day before.

Vivenna stood outside the city, leaning against the wall, watching them go.

How often did I stand beneath the gaze of those D'Denir, she thought. Never knowing their purpose? Everyone said that Peacegiver had left them behind as a gift to the people, a symbol to remind them not to go to war. She'd always found it strange. A bunch of statues of soldiers, a gift to remind the people that war was terrible?

And yet, they were a gift. The gift that had ended the Manywar.

She turned toward Vasher. He leaned against the city wall, Nightblood in one hand. His form had returned back to that of a regular person, scraggly hair and all.

"What was that first thing you taught me about Awakening?" she asked.

"That we don't know much?" he asked. "That there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Commands that we haven't discovered yet?"

"That's the one," she said, turning to watch the Awakened statues charge into the distance. "I think you were right."

"You think?"

She smiled. "Will they really be able to stop the Lifeless?"

"Probably," Vasher said, shrugging. "They'll be fast enough to catch up-the Lifeless won't be able to march as quickly as men with stone feet. I've seen those things fight before. They're really tough to beat."

She nodded. "So my people will be safe."

"Until that G.o.d King decides to use the statues to conquer them."

She snorted. "Has anyone ever told you that you're a grump, Vasher?"

Finally, Nightblood said. Someone agrees with me!

Vasher scowled. "I'm not a grump," he said. "I'm just bad with words."

She smiled.

"Well, that's it, then," he said, picking up his pack. "See you around." With that, he began to walk along the pathway away from the city.

Vivenna walked up next to him.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Going with you," she said.

"You're a princess," he said. "Stay with that girl who rules Hallandren or go back to Idris and be proclaimed as the one who saved them. Either one will give you a happy life."

"No," she said. "I don't think so. Even if my father did take me back, I doubt that I'll ever be able to live a happy life in either plush palace or a quiet town."

"You'll think differently, after a little time on the road. It's a difficult life."

"I know," she said. "But... well, everything I've been-everything I was trained to do-has been a lie wrapped in hatred. I don't want to go back to it. I'm not that person. I don't want to be."