Dany sits up in a flounce of white lace, seriously considering the scene before them: Liquid Brone, the Summerkind, the shrine to Hera, Bella herself. Each one gets considered two to three times, her ears cocked quizzically. Wheels turn in her head, interlocking gears ticking away.

She points to Liquid Bronze. “I was sure that the Empress of the Endless Azure Skies was going to be marrying me to her daughter, actually. And I’d be wearing a [i]lot[/i] less. There’d be at least [i]three[/i] ancient Swordmasters guarding me, which you would have to take on, and—“

The princess sputters as she is thwacked in the face with her own wedding bouquet. An unrepentant Bella glares at her with an air that suggests she would have at least *considered* leaving her princess to those three ancient Swordmasters. Even so, Redana’s smile is irrepressible.

“I don’t care,” she says, and places her hand on Bella’s. It is soft. Warm. Her palm rests on those talons like a blanket, safe and warm. “My life was a straight line before I left, wasn’t it? That’s why I left. Out here, we can go in any direction we like. A princess can love her maid. A demigodess can love a scout. Anything is possible out here, [i]anything.[/i] The only questions are what we want to do and who can try to stop us— and once we get to Gaia? Once Hades blesses us? Once we’ve made things [i]right?[/i] Who in the entire [i]fuck[/i] is going to be able to stop us then?!”

Her mismatched eyes are full of fire and delight, and she clutches tighter, smiles wider. Not for nothing is she at risk of being another of Dionysus’s favorites, driven mad by love and the wine-dark void.

“It doesn’t matter, as long as I have you, you have me, and we have the freedom to go where we want, do what we want, love like we want, and help who we want! And once we get to Gaia, we’ll open up the Skies to [i]everyone.[/i]”

She doesn’t have a plan. She doesn’t have a carefully-worded wish. She doesn’t know what galactic society is going to look like once chains are shattered and the dead are alive once more. All she has is the fire in her eyes and ears that are willing to listen.

“And we will live happily ever after,” she promises, suddenly as serious as a child. “I promise. Every day I will make it come true. Now, let’s hurry up and make a list of everything we’re going to do [i]together[/i] — we’ve only got forever to figure it out!!”

And, so saying, the Princess of dead Tellus throws herself into the arms of her lover, giggling in an irrepressible joy.

Outside, for at least half of forever, a glittering and clever serpent swims back and forth across the vast gulf of space, scales glittering in the light of frozen suns.