all of me

1/15/1348
late evening

A cloaked figure knocked on the door of a rich villa, the courtyard silent in the crisp midwinter air.

The door opened, and a man who looked perhaps half-elven except for his golden eyes looked out. "Yes?"

"I am here to see Armand."

He looked down his nose at her. "Your name?"

She shook her head. "He's expecting me."

"One moment." The door closed, and the sound of retreating footsteps was heard. After a few moments, Armand reopened the door.

"Callas? I am sorry. Please, come in." She nodded silently and followed him in.

In his study, two chairs were arranged close together, the table between them arranged with a bottle and a pair of crystal goblets. Callas gave her cloak to the dragon who had originally answered the door, and Armand gestured at the chairs. "Please, have a seat. I must confess myself surprised to see you. And alone, as well, unless you've left one of your bodyguards out there in the cold."

She smiled gently at him. "I keep my promises, Armand. You wanted to see me alone, and here I am." She settled into one of the chairs, and Armand poured two glasses of blood-red wine and seated himself across from her. "Tell me, what are we drinking tonight?"

"A French vintage, from Bordeaux. About nine years old now, but it's come into its own just recently. It's one of my favorites, currently."

Callas sipped her wine. "I...assume you heard what happened today."

"After you resurrected me? Only fragments, confused mutterings. Your clerics are in much disarray. What happened? The only thing I was about to find out for certain is that all of the gods are dead. It must be upsetting for you, Headmistress."

Callas shook her head. "I am no longer Headmistress, Armand. Not even in abeyance. Nor is Galvin Headmaster. Elata is the new Headmistress, and Sigurd is the new Knight Commander of the Templars."

Armand furrowed his brow in confusion. "Is Sir Gavião dead, then? But I do not think you would be here tonight if he were. Nor are you as upset as I'd expect you to be if your goddess had truly perished today. Nothing here is as it seems, I think."

She lifted her glass to the light of the lantern, contemplating the ruby light shining through it. "It is both complicated and very simple. Morrigan killed all of the remaining gods except Aine today--but she did so by placing their souls into an orb. We received that orb. And we destroyed it. The gods have perished, Armand. All except Aine, who slipped the trap, and Morrigan, who has been...neutralized."

The light of understanding was beginning to come into his eyes. "Ah, Callas, sweet Callas--"

She caught and held his eyes with hers. "I became a goddess today. I took my mother's place."

The silence between them lengthened and deepened. "In truth, I have no idea whether to tender my congratulations or my condolences."

"Perhaps a bit of both." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I didn't know this was where all of our steps were taking us, but looking back, it seems so obvious."

"And I thought your mother was the mage Sorcha. I am going to have to speak with my sources, I think."

"She was my stepmother, the one who raised me. I am Epona's daughter. As was Beatrice before me. Don't take it out on your sources; what I am was well hidden."

He shook his head and took a sip of his wine. "You are much like her, you know." He glanced at her sidelong. "Too much like her for Aru's comfort, I imagine. Certainly too much for my own."

Callas chuckled. "I think that may be one of the nicest things you've ever said to me, Armand. Thank you. So, did you chase all the reds back south?"

"We did. We killed nearly a full flight of them; it will be a very long time before the Clan of Flame will be a power in the world again. My people were a bit...excessive in their grief. By the way, please tender my thanks to Tamsin when you see her."

"I will. Speaking of the Clan of Flame, I have a gift for you." She rummaged in her pocket briefly, and pulled out a stone. She held it out to him.

He took it from her, holding it to the light. "A black sapphire. Pretty, but I can't imagine you're giving it to me just because you thought I might like it."

"That's Dushela. Her soul, at least."

Armand blinked and looked at it more closely. "Really. And you give this to me why?"

Callas shrugged. "I thought it was appropriate. Do as you like with her. If you keep her around, she'll eventually learn to speak through the stone, but she'll never be able to do anything else. If you destroy it, her soul is destroyed forever. Myself, I'd keep her in a dark place for a long time. Perhaps that'll give her a chance to reflect on her life and figure out where, exactly, she went wrong. Knowing her, she probably won't, but it would be fair to give her the chance." She sat back in her chair, taking a sip of wine.

He set the jewel down on the table, next to the wine bottle. "We'll see. Thank you, I think."

"You're welcome, Armand. So, what are you going to do now? I'm afraid it's going to take a while to rebuild Madrid, there's not going to be much dancing until that's complete."

"First, there will be funerals. We lost about fifty people today; perhaps more, perhaps less, since about eight of us are missing outright. They've probably gone and chased the reds farther than they needed to and will be returning shortly. And then...we will see. The world is changing, Callas. You becoming gods is only the first of it. There is less and less room in the world for people such as myself. I've been smelling change in the wind for a century now. It may be time for us to pass from the world, fair one. When I was young, the world belonged to the elves and the demons. Then, it belonged to us. And now, it seems, the time of humans and other mortals has come to pass. I, for one, would like to stay and share the world. But your kind is suspicious of what they do not understand, and your Crusades were the beginning of the end for us. So many of us perished before we figured out what was going on."

Callas tilted her head. "I don't know. I think we need dragons. We need the ancient and powerful among us. It keeps us humble."

"There will be people rising to take our place. There always are. Don't fret, my sweet Spaniard. We aren't leaving tomorrow."

She sipped her wine. "I have to confess that I'm glad. I'd miss you. Fencing with you is forever entertaining, and I'm at last learning to hold my own."

"Would you, then? I'm glad to hear it." He gave her a charming smile. "But the thing about being friends--and sometimes more--with goddesses is that there is nowhere they cannot find you. Which is, I admit, both a blessing and a handicap."

"I do hope you're not counting me among the more, Armand."

He raised his eyebrows in mock shock. "I would not dream of it, my lady. Well...I would dream. But nothing more. Odd, how life works. When I asked you to dance when I first met you, I saw nothing but a relative innocent who I thought would be an amusing tumble." He looked down at his glass, seeming to be speaking only to himself. "I have a weakness for goddesses, it seems. And the children of goddesses." He shook his head and looked up. "I apologize. I ramble."

"I blame it on the wine, myself." And they were off again, enjoying the riposte of conversation, laughing and finishing another bottle of wine as the candles in the room burned low.

Finally, Callas stood. "I fear I must be off. I still have things to do before the sun rises." She walked out on the balcony off the study, leaning on the stone railing, looking out over the city of Madrid. A few fires still burned, giving the sky a reddish complexion.

Armand came up beside her. She could feel the heat coming off of him, the gold dragon's fire banked but still present in his human form. "I have enjoyed this evening, Callas. Thank you for coming."

"It was my pleasure. And before I go, I have one gift left to give you." She held out her hand towards him. "Come with me, Armand. There's something you need to see."

He took her hand, and she closed her eyes. And then they were in the dream realm, moving swiftly through the ever-changing landscape.

In his own study, Arumaga was sitting behind his desk, talking to a translucent Callas. The glass paperweight he held in his hand shattered, Callas snapping at him. They watched as Callas made her offer to Arumaga, her eyes intent on his.

Armand shifted and muttered, "I did not want to see this--"

Callas shook her head. "Hush, Armand. This isn't where the story ends."

Madrid, the poison being slipped into the gold dragons' wine by the spy, the antidote and the potion that would cause all of the gold dragons to sleep added by Gaius. The note from Aru, explaining that if he encountered no resistance, the white dragons would go home and only the orc army would be left, avoiding a battle that would damage both sides immensely.

Aru sweeping over the city with a wing of his people, turning north, and going home.

Then they were in Denmark, in the coldest reaches of a glacial area, watching Marcus and the dwarves struggling through the snow towards the cave. They saw Aru approach the small group and lead them into the glacier, and the battle between Nikodemus and Aru. Nikodemus escaping, leaving one great wing behind, and Aru staying rather than pursue.

And Aru pulling the fallen Galvin into his lap and praying to Epona. They saw Epona answer, and Galvin return to life.

The scene shifted; they were in Versailles, Tennant felling guards as he made his way to Gemma, Aru attacking Morgan le Fay at the cost of his own life. Aine holding Aru's body, rocking and weeping; Epona shedding her own tears but finally pulling Aine from his body, taking it, and disappearing. Callas' voice murmured close to Armand's ear as he watched, transfixed. "He died to get my sister Gemma out, to give us a chance to defeat Lazlo and live long enough to become what we are. One last thing, Armand, and then we'll be home."

The companions standing in a room, the sleeping Gemma on a couch before them; Gavião reading the note from Aru. Demons like that don't die easily, nor do inner demons. But today, mine did. I ask just one thing. Don't follow my path, any of you. Anger and vengeance led me to this fate. Love is what gave me salvation. Some of you believed in me before I did, I need you to believe I did the right thing. I did it for love, my love for all of you.

And they were back on the balcony. Callas let go of Armand's hand. Tears ran down his cheeks from those gold eyes as he bowed his head.

Callas said, quietly, "I wanted you to know the end of Aru's story, what he did before he died. And why he died. It may not be enough to let you forgive him for his failings, but you deserve to know what happened."

"Yet again, lady. Yet again, you have taken something I thought I knew and turned it inside out. I--" He broke off, seeming to run out of words. He closed his eyes and turned away from her.

He felt her hand on his shoulder. "I have a feeling that I will never be able to grant an unmixed blessing, Armand. But Aru balanced the scales before he died. And, yes, I loved him, though I never got the chance to tell him. I can only hope that he knew." She took her hand from his shoulder, and he felt her step back. "Goodbye. I'll be around."

He turned in time to see that Callas was gone and in her place a large raven perched on the balcony railing. He held out his hand, and the raven climbed onto it, her black talons tickling his skin. He said, "Goodbye, Callas."

The raven tilted her head, croaked once, and then spread her wings and winged her way into the night. And in the reddish light of the city where the fires still burned, the form of the raven twisted and expanded, becoming vaguely reptilian, and then between one heartbeat and the next the form of a great silver dragon soared through the smoke, winging upwards and away.

Armand stood, watching the place where she'd disappeared, for a long time after even his sharp eyes lost her in the dark sky.

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