The next morning, Corrin watched the clearing before Tialdarí recede into nothingness, as Thorn, Firnen, and Kiera flew together towards Hedarth, the easternmost settlement in Alagaësia. The Edda River met the Az Ragni on the flanks of that town, and it was the unnamed river that combined them that would guide Corrin and Murtagh to the Dragon Riders.

The three dragons flew straight there, dawn to dusk each day, and in the evening of the fourth day they reached Hedarth, a tiny cluster of buildings huddled on the edge of the flowing water. Corrin looked east and could see nothing but yellowed grass, endlessly stretching until the horizon met the blue sky in the distance. The vastness of the space made him swallow. Surda was hardly a mountainous country, but the deserts and fields had never seemed as empty or as distant as this place. The town itself seemed cowed by the sheer space of the land, with the tiny buildings crouched low to the ground and all clustered close around the docks by the river, and the dragons and their Riders landed nearby in silence.

Arya went into the town to get the remainder of their provisions; Corrin waited for her on a slight rise of ground, looking out over the river and the uninhabited plain beyond. This, he thought to himself, this is the edge of all that I have ever known. When I leave this place, I leave all of Alagaësia behind me.

I would not, whispered Kiera, have wanted to travel this empty land alone.

Corrin heard footsteps, and a moment later Murtagh stopped just to his left. "Does no one live in this entire plain except the dwarves of Hedarth?" the older Rider asked, frowning out at the waving grasses.

Corrin drew on his lessons without thinking. "There are a few nomadic tribes further out, but they avoid contact with this outpost. Other than them, there's nothing but plants and animals, as far as you can travel on foot."

How is it, mused Thorn, that no dragon ever came this way to explore farther than you can get on foot?

The Riders and their dragons were busy keeping the peace here, replied Firnen. And the wild dragons may have come this way, but none cared to share their findings with others.

"That seems rather selfish," Corrin commented, frowning.

The wild dragons were different from those of us you have known, Corrin. Firnen blinked great yellow eyes meditatively. They were wilder, less civilized, and they cared little for scholarship or history, nor, truthfully, for the other races.

"Indeed," Murtagh added, "and in the end there can't be that much more to this land than there is to the plains of the Empire, if it's as empty as you say."

Well, Firnen hummed, if nothing else, there are the Riders.

No one had an answer to that.

*dragons*dragons*dragons*

They stood in silence until Arya returned, with two dwarves in tow to help her carry the extra saddlebags. She walked to where Corrin and Murtagh stood and joined them so that they all made a line, facing east. Corrin thought to himself that for the first time in the entirety of their acquaintance, Arya looked tired.

"Do you wish to spend the night in Hedarth, or will you leave now?" Arya inquired neutrally. Corrin turned his head to look at Murtagh, who was wearing an odd, bitter smile.

"I very much doubt that I would be welcome in a dwarvish settlement," he chuckled, but with no humor in his voice. "What do you think, Corrin?"

Corrin jumped, not expecting his opinion to be needed. "Well, Kiera and I can hardly stay there if you and Thorn can't," he said.

I don't see why not, interjected Kiera rather tartly.

The serious mood broke for a moment as all three Riders laughed and turned towards her. "It is polite," Corrin informed her, "to not leave one's companions to face the elements alone."

Well, anyways, Kiera continued unperturbed, we can probably manage at least a few more hours of travel before sunset.

Corrin sighed, but a quick glance at the sun revealed her to be right. It suddenly struck him that this was it: the moment when he and Kiera left their mentors and Alagaesia behind. By sunset familiar lands would be behind them, and they would not return for a long, long time.

Arya sighed suddenly, and stepped to face Murtagh. "I wish you luck and good fortune in the East, Murtagh." She kissed him once on the brow, and then stepped away, "Atra esterní ono thelduin."

"Atra du evarínya ono varda," Murtagh replied seriously, returning the elven blessing. Arya nodded and then turned towards Corrin, who was shocked to see a faint glimmer of tears hovering in her eyes.

"Ebrithil," he began, unsure what he was supposed to say, but she held up a hand before he spoke.

"Firnen and I have taught you everything we are bound to. We are your masters no more," she told him, studying his face with emerald-green eyes. "I have no doubt that you will be a great Rider someday, Corrin: learn swiftly and well, for we all need you, more than you know." She leaned forwards and kissed his brow as she had Murtagh's. "Go with our blessings, and be safe."

Corrin tried to respond, but found his throat choked by emotion. Firnen saved him, leaning his great head down to touch his nose to Corrin's forehead. May your journey be safe and swift, he rumbled in his deep voice.

Corrin could summon only two words of the ancient language in response to their kindness; "Elrun ono," he whispered. Thank you.

Firnen nodded, and repeated the gesture for Murtagh as Arya bid farewell to Thorn and Kiera. There was a finality to it, far more than there had been when leaving Ellesméra. That had been the beginning of a great journey, an adventure; this was the ending of their time with the elf queen and her dragon, and their time in Alagaësia too.

As he strapped himself into the saddle, Corrin could feel the same sadness emanating from Kiera, and the combination of both of their sorrow weighed on him terribly. He raised a hand to Arya and Firnen where they stood on the rise above the river, and then Kiera and Thorn were beating up into the blue sky, the setting sun at their backs. When they leveled out, Corrin turned in his saddle, squinting against the sun, to look back at where Arya and Firnen stood.

We will come back someday, Kiera comforted him.

Yes, he answered, but we are not there now.

Arya and Firnen stood there for as long as he could see them. It occurred to him then what a beautiful and sad tableau they made: The last Shur'tugal in Alagaësia, watching as their companions flew away into the distance, and left them behind.