text: Roh burst through the surface of the water, paddling madly. Waves rocked softly against a sandbar nearby, and he made for it as quickly as he could, terrified that the dissolution of the temple would pull him back under.
  
  "Roh! Roh!" Luna, just behind him, splashing. "I can't! Roh!"
  
  He took hold of Luna, slipping an arm under hirs. "Kick!" he said. "The sandbar! Saradyn, help Luna too!"
  
  They gasped and splashed their way to the sandy rise. Roh vomited saltwater. Luna burst into tears. Roh did not ask what hodgepodge of memories Luna was struggling with. He could barely cope with his own.
  
  The body of a woman, face down, floated nearby, and Saradyn splashed out to haul her in. It was Yisaoh. He pushed her over and smacked at her back. She coughed and heaved. Blinked up at him.
  
  "Roh?" she said.
  
  "You know me?"
  
  "Many of… a lot of me does. Does that… I can't…"
  
  "She brought us back together," Roh said. "It's… I can't describe it either."
  
  "I've done terrible things," Yisaoh said. "So many terrible things."
  
  "Who…" he hesitated. Why ask her which or who she was? She was all of them, wasn't she? Their Yisaoh, the one who had caught him on the stairs, and Kirana's Yisaoh, and more besides. All and none.
  
  More stragglers made it to the sandbar, many weeping, some hollow-eyed and unresponsive, too shocked to speak, all stunned by whatever lives were warring for dominance in their heads.
  
  Kadaan and Maralah came up onto the beach, dragging Anavha with them. Anavha was crying, calling for Zezili and Natanial.
  
  "Has anyone seen Taigan?" Maralah asked.
  
  "No," Roh said. "Lilia?"
  
  Maralah shook her head.
  
  Saradyn pointed.
  
  Roh turned, hoping to see Lilia, but it was Taigan, sloshing onto the sandbank, one hand pressed against his head. His beard was gone, and a great deal of his hair, burned or yanked out, Roh could not tell.
  
  "That was memorable," Taigan said. He pulled his hand away from his head.
  
  "Taigan?" Roh said. "You're… bleeding."
  
  Taigan stared at the watery red tail of blood snaking down his hand. "I… indeed I am. Oh, that is interesting." He brought up his hands and marveled at the fine cuts and scratches, which still marred his hands, bright and bleeding. "I may even have some bruises!" he cried. He squeezed a bit more blood from the wound on his hand, inspecting it with wonder. "Look at that. It's not healing! How extraordinary." He furrowed his brows. "Wait, how long should this last?"
  
  "For normal people?" Roh asked. "It depends on how deep it is."
  
  "Oh my," Taigan said. "My, my."
  
  "Put pressure on it," Roh said. "Press hard. That helps."
  
  "I don't think I've ever bled this much from a single wound," Taigan said. "This is very curious. Can I die now? That would be… remarkable."
  
  "Better not test that out," Roh said.
  
  Taigan glanced around the sandbar. "Where's Lilia?"
  
  "She… disappeared," Roh said. "After she… I don't know. Brought us all together. Do you… are you feeling strange? Do you have memories?"
  
  "Memories?" Taigan said. "Only the ones I've always had."
  
  "What does that mean?" Luna said. "I… I have…"
  
  "Me too," Roh said.
  
  "Ah," Taigan said. "How… interesting. You carry memories of… other lives? Other worlds?"
  
  "You don't?" Roh said.
  
  Taigan grinned. Clapped his hands. "How incredible," he said. "I am unique! Perfectly singular to this world. How delightful. I always knew I was terribly special."
  
  Maralah said, "Don't get ahead of yourself, Taigan. You're bleeding. What bleeds can die, now."
  
  "Oh, how lovely," Taigan said. "After all we've been through, after all this, you want more death?"
  
  "No," Maralah said, gazing back at the beached Saiduan ship. "I want to go home."
  
  "What happens now?" Roh said.
  
  "Now," Taigan said, "I will go off and have some excellent adventures, and hopefully never see a single one of you again."
  
  Anavha lay on the sandbar, sobbing, hugging himself, rocking slowly back and forth. His mind was crowded with memories, from this life and so many others. Zezili, so many versions of Zezili; he had loved her, she had killed him, he had killed her, Natanial had killed her, her sisters had killed her. Zezili, dying by the Empress's hand. Death, over and over.
  
  But in nearly every memory of his own life he lived. He married Taodalain. He married Natanial. He married Nusi. He lived alone in a print shop in Aaldia. He became a tailor. He had children. So many children! Oh, how he had wanted children.
  
  The wave of memories overcame him. He lay on the sand, eyes squeezed shut.
  
  "Anavha?"
  
  Was that in his head, or here?
  
  Anavha rubbed his face and looked up. There was Natanial, crouched nearby, mop of wet hair hanging into his face. "They aren't real," Natanial said, "they're just memories. Let them come." He brushed the hair away from Anavha's face.
  
  "I don't know what to do!" Anavha gasped.
  
  "I do," Natanial said. "I… Every version of me does. I've been very selfish, Anavha. No better than the others."
  
  "Where is Zezili? Please, I have to know!"
  
  Natanial cupped Anavha's cheek. "Is she always there? Every memory?"
  
  Anavha nodded.
  
  "Not in this one," Natanial said.
  
  "You didn't see her?"
  
  "She isn't on the beach, Anavha. I don't think she made it out of the temple. Neither did that girl operating the mechanism. They're both gone, together."
  
  "Natanial, I can't feel Oma anymore. Is it… did it go away?"
  
  "It did."
  
  "I don't miss it. Natanial, it's a relief not to feel it." Anavha squeezed his eyes shut again, seeking that fine sliver of power, the nagging breath of Oma. But there was nothing. Just him and all of his choices.
  
  "What do you want, Anavha?"
  
  "I want to go home," Anavha said.
  
  "All right," Natanial said, and lifted him up.