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Striving folk!

Sorrow songs have lulled to rest;

Seething passions wrought through wrongs,

Led us where the moon rays dip

In the night of dull despair,

Showed us where the star gleams shine,

And the mystic symbols glow—

Liberty, Fraternity!

We have come through cloud and mist,

Mighty men!

Dusk has kissed our sleep-born eyes,

Reared for us a mystic throne

In the splendor of the skies,

That shall always be for us,

Who shall ever sing

Liberty, Fraternity!’

Not one dry eye was left among the Sable Brothers when Riv’s rasped, hoarse timbre fell away.

The only sound was a hitch of breath from Élisa as the group folded into each other in a prolonged, tight embrace.

Much later, nestled in the depths of an expansive home at J’Urg Mihor, two figures lay in a lush bed, their view looking out at a mist-draped nebula.

It tracked in the distant skies, casting a rare cloud-flared shroud over Eden II, prisms of color shot from it, creating a purple-hued kaleidoscope.

Élisa sighed in happiness, snuggling closer to her naked silver lover. ‘That we now are together under that misty splendor is a miracle, my love.’

Riv stroked her back. ‘Was it worth the twenty-odd years apart?’

Élisa sighed. ‘The lost years were a shame, but they only now highlight how much our first love was eternal. Because every day is like the first with you. I still get butterflies every moment I’m in your presence. I keep falling over and over in love with you.’

Riv buried his head in her neck as emotion overcame him, his lips touching her sensitivekoyawith reverence. ‘And I with you. I choose to live in appreciation moving forward, Élisa. To share the rest of the days with you, my sun, my light, my hope. You are My Choice One, My Inamorata. MyKiaMalkia, My Endless Hope and My SilverMalaíka.’

She smiled, cradling his silver head close to hers. ‘Riv Sable, you are the unwavering foundation of my strength and protector. I find refuge and safety in you, for you are the shield that guards me from harm and the stronghold that shelters me from adversity. My first and my last. My all.’