When They Bow

The way home is open. He does not take it.

Hul sits in a stone seat in a valley called Cratersfall, surrounded by a faith he did not author, served by people who speak in his name, watched by a girl at the margin who does not kneel. He chose the ground over the sky. He chose it because of her.

Birdie, who has been invisible for the entire story, places her hand on his shoulder and lets the world see her for the first time.

Two beings who were built for war. Two beings who were cast aside. Two beings who found each other in a crater at the bottom of the sky and spent three tellings deciding whether to stay.

They stayed.