Outside the palace, two streaks of blue light slowed and finally hovered above the highest sky-island. From this height the reborn Velora Kingdom spread beneath them like a living tapestry woven from blood and snow.
Crimson banners the length of rivers snapped in perfect unison along every avenue. White marble towers rose in spirals that caught the rose-gold dawn and flung it back as liquid fire. Sky-islands drifted in slow, stately formation, their undersides painted with murals of a crowned fox whose eyes followed every citizen below.
The air itself tasted of warm phoenix flame and winter roses, thick enough to drink.
Sonna's long black hair spilled over her shoulders in the high wind, framing a face that had forgotten how to be cruel. Her blue eyes (once tired and exhausted) now shimmered with flickers of warmth.
A soft, wondering smile curved her lips, growing brighter with every heartbeat.
