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Moving with the silence that only vampires could manage, two figures appeared next to Thane, smiling brightly as they watched their Mistress proclaim her love to Lady Ashlynn.

Zedya had seen firsthand how Nyrielle had changed over the months as her bond with Ashlynn grew deeper and Ignatious’s heart glowed with a warmth it hadn’t felt in decades at the sight of the two women’s simple, joyful love for each other.

For a moment, the former Inquisitor’s eyes drifted to the carriage that Heila had just emerged from, lingering on her diminutive figure and the warm smile that formed on her pert lips when the Willow Witch beheld the leader of her coven in the arms of her lover.

On her face, he saw the simple joy of knowing someone you cared for deeply was happy, and for far too many years, it was one that he hadn’t been able to conceive of.

Now, however, thanks to Heila, his hart warmed when he returned his gaze to Mistress Nyrielle and Ashlynn as they grew increasingly oblivious of the people around them

Standing between the two vampires, Thane could only smile at the transformation his Mistress had undergone since Lady Ashlynn’s arrival. Love, it seemed, had the power to heal even the most wounded and walled-off hearts.

Eighty years ago, he’d never expected the woman who offered him the power to avenge his little-sister’s death could care for people as anything more than tools. At the time, he’d accepted his status as little more than a blade in her hand. So long as they shared the same enemies, that was enough.

Decades later, however, he’d found himself searching for something greater that could reignite the passions in his life and restore a sense of purpose to the sword he weilded in Nyrielle’s name.

Now, it seemed he’d finally found a piece of the purpose he’d been lacking.

If he accomplished nothing else, protecting the love he saw unfolding between Nyrielle and Ashlynn was a worthy mission for any knight, even one who had fallen as far as he had.

"I’ll need your help spreading the word," he told his younger ’siblings’ as he turned away from Nyrielle and Ashlynn. "For a festival with this kind of news, nearly everyone will want to offer a betrothal gift, and the preparations can’t be lacking."

"I don’t think the fortress has hosted a celebration like this since," Thane said, trying to think back through the decades before arriving at an uncomfortable answer.

"Since before any of us became her progeny," he said.

There had been celebrations over the years, but when he thought about the incidents that sparked them, they all followed great battles, and each of them blended celebration with mourning for the fallen.

Of course, the Vale of Mists still had its own celebrations to mark the seasons, but Nyrielle herself rarely participated, and none of them could match the scale of what this festival would demand.

"Should we call the others home?" Zedya asked. "There’s time if we can send a fast enough messenger to Airgead Mountain and the Southern Steppe."

"Send messages," Thane said after a moment of hesitation. "But don’t recall them. As important as this is, I’m sure that Mistress has her own plans for dealing with the Lord Jalal of Airgead Mountain and the High Lord Dirar of the Southern Steppe.

If we pull back our support while the Lothians are building their strength at the borders, it might be misunderstood. "

"Sybyll will be upset," Zedya warned, giving Thane a knowing look. "And Airgead Mountain isn’t that far away. She could return in a matter of days now that the nights have grown so long, and return just as quickly. Surely Lord Jalal can do without his ’Crimson Knight’ for a few days."

"You’re pampering her too much," Thane laughed as he recalled the red haired woman who had become one of the keys to forcing Bors Lothian to give up his raids on Airgead Mountain more than twenty years ago. Ever since then, the bloodthirsty woman had been ’on loan’ to the Eldritch Lord who ruled the valuable mountain in exchange for a trickle of its riches to support the Vale of Mists.

"But you always did have a soft spot for her," Thane added, setting a hand on Zedya’s shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. "You can talk to Mistress about it tomorrow before we release the messenger birds. I know she won’t recall Wolstan from the Southern Steppe for this, so I doubt she’ll decide anything different for Sybyll," he said, feeling a slight pang at the dejected look that flickered across Zedya’s face, reminding him of the years shortly after she’d become one of Nyrielle’s progeny.

"But the day will come soon," Thane said, turning away from Zedya and slipping an arm around Ignatious’s shoulders in a brotherly hug. The instant he touched the second eldest among Nyrielle’s human progeny, Ignatious flinched, as though he expected violence from his ’big brother.’

In truth, the reaction wasn’t completely unfounded.

Thane and Ignatious’s relationship had been ’incindiary’ to say the least before Nyrielle had exiled the fallen Inquisitor across the mountains and under his loosely flowing shirt, Thane still bore scars from a few of the burns inflicted by his younger sibling.

If Thane followed the hug with a powerful punch or something worse, Ignatious wouldn’t just have expected it, he felt that the attack was something he deserved for all the harm he’d caused in those days when he was consumed by rage at what Nyrielle had done to him.

When seconds slipped past without any sign of hostility, however, he could only raise a dark brow at the older man in silent question at his unexpectedly gentle actions.

"Don’t look at me like that," Thane said with a gentle smile. "Mistress’s letter mentioned your return and that you helped her to defeat High Lord Hamdi. I won’t hold the past against you," he said, gesturing in the direction of Ashlynn and Nyrielle, who had become completely lost in a world that belonged only to them.

"When our future looks like that," Thane said, "I can’t bring myself to care much for what came before. "

"That’s generous of you," Ignatious said a touch awkwardly.

"But I still owe you an apology. The wounds I inflicted on you.

.. do they still pain you?" If they did, if Thane had been suffering all this time because of him, Ignatious wanted to do whatever he could to make amends for the lingering hurts.

He knew that he still had much to atone for before he could hold his head up high in the Vale of Mists and he intended to make a beginning of that work with Thane, no matter how difficult it might seem.

"Mistress Nyrielle borrowed the help of a Frost Walker sorcerer to quench the lingering heat of your flames long ago," Thane said, clapping the fallen priest on the back and gesturing for both of the younger vampires to accompany him into the fortress.

"Leave the past buried where it belongs. The night might be long, but the three of us have much to discuss if we’re going to give Mistress Nyrielle and Lady Ashlynn the celebration they deserve," he said.

"So, from now on, just put your focus on the future we’re building," Thane said warmly. "I’m starting to feel like it’s one that we all want to see with our own eyes."