When Gemma bound the magic to the earth, to the realms and all that inhabited it, she changed The Tree.
If you could see it now, you'd be astonished. It's a huge, growing green thing, bursting with life and energy. Of course, that's the way the once-called Winterlands are. Beautiful.
Kartik spends a lot of time there. It's nice to see the Forest Folk—Philon and Asha and even Gorgon—sit beneath his branches and talk tings over. He can feel the magic coursing through his vei—his roots, and the magic is Good. And Gemma. Gemma is good, even if he can't touch her, hold her. Seeing her, even as a tree, is almost enough.
The rest of his time he spend across the river,t hat forbidden place of passage most mortals call Heaven.
Amar is there. It's good to have his brother back; he never thought he would. But the magic changed things.
Kartik has matured a lot since his brother's death. They've come to discuss something they haven't before: the Ladies.
"Man," Kartik says to his brother, "I turned into a tree for her, and I never even got laid."
Amar smiles.