"Lord Seliph, this is goodbye, isn't it?" The old bard was the last of Seliph's companions, but he too had to leave.

The prince forced himself to smile, and at once he remembered his mother's words to him: treasure those around you, honor them while you still can. "Everything, Lewyn..." he struggled to find the right words, "Thank you for everything you've done, for all of us. Without you, we'd have been lost. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you."

Lewyn grinned his lopsided grin. "I only did what I had to, you know," he said with a lofty shrug. "I am the wind, a gentle breeze tasked to guide you all through the darkness. But you young crusaders... you're the very light which illuminates the dark. Don't forget that."

"Lewyn, I've had a hunch for a while, but now I'm finally sure. Growing up in Isaach, I've heard stories of how dragons dared not interfere in mankind's problems. But you," Seliph said with reverence, "you were different. You've been with us, every step of the way. As long as our world lives on, we won't forget you. Legends of your generosity will weather the endless ravages of time. As both a hero from far away, and as Forseti of the Wind."

The bard smiled wanly, then turned to leave.

Seliph breathed deep and felt his eyes tearing up. It was over. They'd made it through, somehow, but all the friends and allies he'd met along the way had left. After all, without them, who would rebuild the broken world they'd inherited from their parents?

From beside him, Julia smiled and took his hand in hers.

The prince looked to her questingly. "Julia," he whispered. "You'll stay here?"

She smiled warmly at him. "I'm yours as long as you'll have me."

"But you... we'll," he shook his head. "We can't."

Julia's face quirked into a cute moue. "But you promised. Forever, remember?"

Seliph laughed despite himself, but the prospect was daunting. Would Grannvale's people even accept such a thing? But the reassurance in Julia's violet eyes was enough for him. He wrapped his arms around her, embracing her with adoring kiss.

They parted, and the prince loosed a painful sigh. "It's hard to believe that they're all gone, just like that."

"Well... the people of Belhalla are all here," Julia offered helpfully. "They love you, remember? Besides," she said with a cryptic smile, "we don't have to be alone, you know..."

The prince snorted in response. "Julia, don't joke about that," he warned.

Julia merely pressed close to him, leaning against his broad chest. She closed her eyes, and a blissful sigh passed her lips.

Seliph thought back to the campaign, during the jaunt from Thracia to Peruluke. After she'd finally reciprocated his feelings, the nights they'd spent together...

The young lord froze, dwarfed before an endless immensity. "J-Julia..." he barely managed.

But the imperial princess' smile was as radiant as always, perhaps even more so. "Like you already said... there's no undoing the past, is there?"

He held her tight, cherishing the moment in the face of any anxieties he had. "But I... how do we?" Seliph couldn't find the right words.

His beatific lover simply continued to press close, enjoying his warm embrace.

"Julia," the young lord finally managed. "You can't—the scandal of a bastard child..." He felt his mind reeling as he sorted through his thoughts for some kind of solution. "You could go to Spirit Forest. Later, I can adopt the child as my own."

"I'm not leaving you," she said firmly.

"We can ask someone... maybe Delmud, to take your hand. At least that way they won't be born a bastard. Velthomer isn't far, after all."

Julia looked up to him, and the same moue from before was there. Her violet eyes caught his gaze, and he knew there was no point in continuing this conversation. Seliph ran his fingers through her silky hair and forced himself to smile. He let out a deep breath, equal parts resigned and cathartic.

She tittered in response, and there was never a sound more beautiful. "Remember what you said, love? As long as we're together... there's nothing we can't do."

The endless immensity before the imperial prince was beginning to look less impossible by the second. Julia's radiant smile could melt away all of his fears and anxieties. They were together, and that's what mattered most.

"The holy war is finally over," Julia said somberly. "And fate was a hard mistress along the way. But I'm glad, Seliph. Everything that's happened... without it, we wouldn't be together here and now."

Seliph felt as though his heart might explode for love of this girl. He found the words etched onto his heart and decided to put all his faith in them. "Julia, I love you."

She smiled her cryptic smile, and he knew in that instant his heart had been right. "And I you, milord," Julia said, beaming.