Henes looked up from where he had embraced the man who had helped Talion free the captives. They seemed to be unofficial leaders of the hillfolk, and nodded eagerly at the prospect of getting out.<br/><br/>As Kisara and the old man approached the pirate ship, there was a cry of "She's here! I told you!" and the sight of Kersinata frantically waving became visible.<br/><br/>"Well, fuck, you actually did it!" called back Lilan, looking over the side of the smuggler ship as Kisara returned. "We were just going to head off on our own and see how grateful her husband was feeling!"<br/><br/><br/>......<br/><br/><br/>As the boats pulled away from the island, the mists pulled in again and if sinister things were watching from below the water or among the rocks where the battle had occurred, they did so unseen. But for a moment, as the light of caste marks and anima banners faded and returned to normal....it looked different. The ruined structre was intact once more, with a domelike roof, and a complex apparatus of lenses extended into the sky. The island was the top of a tall hill in the midst of a city that stretched around, spires reaching up....and then it was replaced with the familiar obsidian sea and blasted rocks, so quickly that it could not have been anything but a dream.<br/><br/><br/>......<br/><br/><br/>Some time later, the impromptu fleet had been assembled, everyone was on board, and they were setting off away from the island (at Lilan and Santis' equally fervent insistence). The boats were still within the shadowland, though the first faint hints of dawn were starting to creep over the horizon. Soon it would be possible to leave the shadowland, but the unspoken question was hanging in the air of where they would leave to.....